Principles of Human Resource Management in the Starbucks - Report Example

PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT MGT 5A1 TRAINING IN STARBUCKS KATHERINE ROBINS JASMINE ABOUZAKI-FIELDS JAD ZNIBER LORENZO MACII WORD COUNT: 1464 OCTOBER 26, 2012 History Starbucks Corporation’s first coffeehouse opened in Seattle, Washington, on March 30, 1971. The three partners and founders were Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker. Since its opening in 1971 with one store, Starbucks has now expanded to over 19,000 coffeehouses in 60 countries. The CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, has played a large role in the expansion and success of the business. The company’s mission statement is “to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.”1 Starbucks refers to all employees, (full and part time) as “partners.” They offer various job opportunities such as baristas, supervisors, managers, and even professional service occupations. Current Training Starbucks’ training program has helped to contribute towards the success of the company. Their goal is to enrich the customer’s experience and to always deliver premium products. During new employees’ first weeks, they undergo a minimum of 24 hours of training. The training includes aspects such as acquiring knowledge of Starbucks itself, specifics of brewing coffee, usage of the machinery, retail skills, and customer services. Furthermore, this includes a four-hour rigorous instructive session on how to make the best cup of coffee. In addition, more training is provided during promotional periods, as well as during introduction of new products. Starbucks is very focused on the whole experience for the customer, in order to retain customer loyalty, hence the demanding training program. Starbucks offers an intranet service, which allows employees to access recipes, key points, and company updates. This intranet service helps to further the employees’ coffee comprehension. Significance and Training Objectives Starbucks’ main objective is to have their employees trained at a high standard to reflect the reputation of the business. Their products and services are known for their consistency and quality. If they would be careless in this area of the business, loss of sales would be very detrimental for not only the company, but also reputation, and customers.CEO, Howard Schultz stated; “We built the Starbucks brand first without people, not with consumers, the opposite approach from that of the crackers-and-cereal companies. Because we believed this was the best way to meet and extend the expectations of employees who were zealous about good coffee.”2 Motivating Employees During Training   Starbucks success is clearly due to its unfailing quality drinks.  This is a direct result of their investment and time spent on employee training. More importantly it’s the culture that has been implemented that has created a significant number of motivated employee’s. Through surveys they have found out that 82 percent are satisfied.  (SMP) This is because Starbucks doesn’t treat employees just as employee’s but as important partners. (SMP)  According Arnold World Wide Study: “The average Starbucks barista gets more training in a year then the average employee in a communications company.” Learning, for employees is the most important motivational factor. However, a study states that there was a huge misunderstanding when it comes to the perception of employee training.  90% of employees say that they learn by figuring out on their own, however only 25 percent of executives think that employees learn on their own. (Thornton) This questions the whole training concept that Starbucks adapted. Starbucks executives still hasn’t grasped the perception of the employee training and as soon as they do they will save time, money, and increase motivation for employees.  Establishing Training Needs   Starbucks focuses on analyzing needs with their current employees because they concentrate on improving and refining their current skills through retraining on the best practices in the industry.   Performance Analysis Performance analysis is the process of evaluating the performance of the employees and to verify the deficiencies. Then to determine what the employee should correct through training, in order to reach significant level of quality performance.  Moreover, to decrease any deficiencies during the work hours, training will be reinforced in order to be more efficient. To improve the service, new ways of analyzing performance should be implemented. Developing a Training Program Starbucks vice president for human resources uses some simple guidelines in training candidates for new positions: "We want passionate people who love coffee. We are looking for a diverse workforce, which reflects our community.” (Holmes K.) Developing an operational employee training program is fundamental to the long-term success of any business like Starbucks. Training programs offer multiple benefits for employees as well as the corporation. Clear understanding of guidelines, job roles, goals and company philosophy lead to enhanced motivation, morale and competence for employees, and higher incomes for one’s commerce. Training is a means to a precise end, so keeping goals in mind during the development and implementation stages of your training program will contribute to creating a distinctly outlined and effective program. For employee training to be prosperous, the management should: Offer a well-crafted job description. Provide training compulsory by employees to meet the fundamental skills for the job. This tends to be the supervisors obligation. Improve the understanding of comprehension, abilities and skills that the business will need in the future. Explore for knowledge opportunities in everyday situations. Describe the development process for employees and urge them to create distinctive development strategies. Encourage employees when they recognize knowledge activities that make them important to one’s company, both now and in the future. For employee development to be achieved, the individual employee should: Search for learning possibilities in everyday activities. Recognize goals and behaviors for development and make an individual development strategy. Training Techniques Starbucks use many different ways to training their employees. The methods shown below are pertinent to the Barista position: On-the-job Training Job instruction Training Computer based Training Internet-based Training On the Job Training On the job training concentrates on acquiring abilities within the workplace generally under normal working circumstances. The objective of Starbucks is to complete the training course principles, known as individual study and participation in courses and conferences. This service permits companies to quicken the growth of their technical skills, interpersonal and management without interrupting the activities of production. By training on the job, the customer has the opportunity to gain experience from the specialist. With these methods Starbucks will have professional growth, in which the working environment is used as the way of learning. Job Instruction Training Job instruction training is a useful method used by Starbucks in training employees. It is a step-by-step simple technique and helps with all manual skills and procedures. There is a trainer who acts as the employees supervisor but can be anyone, even a co-worker. There are a series of steps that they follow for this method. First they prepare the trainee with an overview of the job as well as its purpose and the results that are needed. After that the trainer must demonstrate the task to the trainee, then allow for the trainee to mimic what they have seen and try out on their own. Then lastly, they can provide feedback and help where necessary. These steps can then be written on a small card and put in the workers pocket or wherever convenient so that the learner can refer back to it when teaching another. Computer-Based Training They also use computer-based training, which is conducted interactively on computers. This training uses many tools such as pictures and videos. Computer based training is effective but is slowly being replaced by interned based training. Internet-Based Training Internet-based training is accessible from different portals, all depending on the complexity of it and the software that is being used. It is just as dynamic as computer-based training. Generic information and instructions for the baristas can be given through the portals but execution is left out. When it comes to making the real coffees the trainee will need to be at the machine themselves. The advantages of this type of training are: repetition, the lessons on the portal can be repeated as many times as needed and one never needs to be missed. Accessibility is another advantage as you could be practically anywhere to see the information. Recommendations In order for a training program to be effective, it must always take account of the changing needs of the consumers so that the employees are better equipped to handle such dynamics. In this regard, it must be stated that Starbuck’s training program is very effective in all regards as it effectively ensures that the employees are well acquainted with all the specific skills required in the market. However, it is also important to stress the need for a continued revision for the training program in order to take into account the frequent changes realized in the market. Starbucks has been in the market for several years and many competitors have actually been copying some of its ideas and formulae. In order to limit much of the threat that can be posed by the competitors, much of the focus should actually be geared towards the training of employees. Differentiation tactics should therefore form an important consideration and this would call for a total redesign of the programs in the organization beginning with a focus on the training of the employees to match the changing situations While the basic training process is always mandatory for all the employees at the organization, there is certainly little focus with respect to individual development at Starbucks. In this respect, it is important for the organization to introduce policies that would encourage the employees to further their training and development in order to enhance their career growth and propel their prospects in the industry. Without doubt, developmental learning is one of the most important aspects in an individual and it should therefore receive much support and assistance from the management of the organization. In order to facilitate this, the human resource department should provide support in terms of funding and time for the employees to effectively develop themselves. In whatever case, a training program can only be effective if the employees themselves recognize the need for the training and therefore utilize this acquired knowledge for the betterment of the organization and for their own progress. In this regard, there should be awareness on the aspects of training not just as a basic prerequisite but as a fundamental component of the individual and the organization. While challenges and other limitations are certainly expected in the course of these operations, it is also hoped that options will always be available to address many of these challenges and ensure that the training program serves the very interest it is supposed to addresses. With respect to internet based training, there is certainly a lot of potential in this respect and the organization should keenly focus in this area in order to develop a better training program. The advances realized in information technology should actually form an important impetus for the organization to redesign its training needs and objectives in a way that matches to the changes. All the employees of the organization should be able to access all the available training programs through the organization’s intranet. Considering the multinational nature of the organization, it also becomes effective for the organization to place much focus on training the employees on the different cultures that exist in the areas where operations are conducted. In such a way the employees will be in a better position to handle entirely all the challenges that normally confront them in the course of their operations in different cultural backgrounds. The objectives of most training program in normally to ensure that employees are well versed in all the specific issues and aspects relating to the operations of the organization. In this regard, the importance of training cannot really be overemphasized. Nevertheless, employees normally expect some kind of advancement in the job as a consequence of their effort to individually develop themselves through the various training programs offered by the organization. Therefore in order to facilitate and enhance the efficiency of the training at the organization, it is much important to ensure that the employees are always promoted with respect to their training and development. This can act as a motivation to all the workers of the organization to take advantage of the training available in the organization and develop themselves effectively. Consequently, the organization will greatly benefit from the pool of better equipped employees who will work for the betterment of the organisation. These recommendations are therefore meant to provide a guideline to the betterment of the organization. Considering the dynamic nature of the industry, it is expected that changes will always be realized in the course of operations which can create the need to change some of these recommendations. In any case, it only calls an improvement of the existing programs. Conclusion Starbucks reputation is very high within the coffee industry as well as it leading in HRM. Starbucks provides outstanding benefits to all its workers and its training scheme is extremely thorough and effective. In conclusion we think that if Starbucks decided to train staff again once a year they will achieve very high benefits as well as employee satisfaction. Additionally, if Starbucks were to find a way to create training for transferred partners then their cost savings will rapidly decrease. However, it should be considered that there are certainly some risks with respect to such a proposition. Nevertheless, the organization can ensure that it closely operates with these partners in order to facilitate the mutual understanding and enhance the efficiency of the organization. It is certainly realized that the training program at Starbucks is one of the best in the industry and this can be realized in the manner at which the organization has managed t o stay ahead of its competitors in the industry despite the competition. In order to make the operation even better and to provide better prospects for the organization, it would be important to consider the above recommendations as a way of bettering the organization through an effective training program. Bibliography: Starbucks, 2010.Continual training, annual report 2009-2010.Portland: Starbucks. http://starbucks.co.uk/ Argenti, P, 2007. Strategic Corporate Communication.1st ed.: Tata McGra-Hill Education. (2012). Starbucks Motivational Principles. Available: Starbucks Motivational Principles. Last accessed 24/10/2012. (SMP)   Interchange Project/Patrick Thornton. 2011. Average Starbucks barista gets more training in a year than the average communications employee. [ONLINE] Available at:http://interchangeproject.org/2011/10/17/average-starbucks-barista-gets-more-training-in-a-year-than-the-average-communications-employee/. [Accessed 26 October 12]. (Thornton) Read More