What makes a good company culture at Starbucks

Starbucks Culture

Starbucks has emerged as one of the most prominent and talked-about countries in the United States and perhaps even the world. One of the primary drivers of their achievement and performance is there very strong and heavily enforced company culture. Some people are wont to malign company cultures like Starbucks but there is no denying where it has gotten the company. This brief report shall explore key elements of the corporate culture of Starbucks, the effectiveness of Starbucks when it comes to their offerings, a key management competency that a manager at Starbucks will or should have and an evaluation of Starbucks and the ability to achieve long-term sustainability. While some of Starbucks' methods are controversial, their results cannot be argued with.

Analysis

While looking at Starbucks and what they say directly about their company culture might be useful, it is indeed better to look at an authoritative third party and how they view the same. In the end, it is clear that Starbucks has at least five major elements to their company culture that should be assessed and taken into account. These include servant leadership (employees first), the relationship-driven approach, collaboration and communication, openness and inclusion and diversity. When answering the question as to how the management and leadership could and should be enforcing those five ideals, pretty much all of them have directly to do with management. For example, servant leadership cannot be effected unless the leadership is clearly acting with the employees in mind first. Obviously, the employees cannot do this on their own even if they wanted to. Thus, the ladders must be involved in the creation of that paradigm to put it lightly. Much the same is true of inclusion and diversity. The managers and leaders of Starbucks are going to be the ones doing the hiring and firing and thus they are on the front line of whether the company is inclusive and diverse. That being said, the front-line employees have to be part of welcoming those diverse and different parties to the company. However, even that is part of what the leaders and managers do given that the company will rise, fall, evolve and change based on what the manager puts into place and keeps there. If management is not mindful of what they are doing and saying (regardless of what policy says), then what happens in actuality will be different than what is stated (Ferguson, 2015).

The other facets espoused in the company culture of Starbucks requires direct and consistent managerial intervention and that presence has to go all the way to the top of Starbucks. Indeed, collaboration and communication is something that sort of happens naturally in some environments. However, some companies are prone to use a "top-down" communication style that precludes people down the ranks from coming up with their own innovations and solutions. This bottom-up innovation can be squelched or even suppressed if the company leadership is not open to hearing about solutions from people down the chain. Based on previous history with Starbucks and what they assert to be the case, it would seem that Starbucks welcomes solutions and innovations irrespective of what level of the company that the solution comes from. Much the same thing can and should be said about the openness of a company. If a company has firm command and control on what is done or not done with a company, then people will probably tend to be less open or they will at least be constrained by what is going on with the company and its operations. The point is that if the company keeps a very tight hold on what is going on in the company, then openness and collaboration/communication will tend to be restricted along those lines. Even the relationships in a relationship-driven approach will be constrained or limited based on what the company line or policy happens to be and who has the rank to offer their views and who does not (Ferguson, 2015).

As far as Starbucks management and their effectiveness in bringing forth a strong flow of products and innovations that keep their customers coming, they are very good in this regard. There are consistent and ongoing options including Wi-Fi in the lobby and an array of products that can be used at home such as cups and beans. There are seasonal products and offerings that come and go such as certain flavors during the holiday or other seasons. Just a few of these include peppermint, pumpkin spice and S'mores. There are other things that are more malleable and subject to change that are nonetheless doing well. These include the Refreshers and other teas that they offer as well as the idea that just about anything they sell in terms of coffee can be done hot, iced or as a Frappuccino blended beverage (Starbucks, 2016).

They also are careful to have a variety of beverages that range from the sweet and smooth to the strong and bold. There are also the home-based brewing options such as with Starbucks and their own machine as well as the Keurig makers. Regarding the latter, it is probably wise for Starbucks to make sure of the very popular Keurig makers while they work on perfecting their own home coffee makers. The Verismo line is promising but is still in relative infancy compared to the other makers out there. In short, Starbucks is doing well because they are not just letting things stagnate and sit still. They keep bringing out new options and plans while at the same time keeping what has gotten them to the dance, so to speak (Starbucks, 2016).

As for what key management competency that a Starbucks manager must or should have, it would simply be to align and mold to what Starbucks expects of them. Indeed, managers that come onto Starbucks or that are promoted from within need to ensure that they are a voice of the higher executives' image and message. If not, then the manager will probably not fit with the company and perhaps someone else will have to be brought online if that person cannot or will not stick with the image of Starbucks. To use something that is less than obvious, Starbucks managers need to know how to manage and delegate in a fast-paced environment. Starbucks drinks are made fresh but this does not mean that the people ordering them do not want them fast. There is obviously a needed balance between the lobby customers, the drive-thru customers and supplying things for everyone and everything involved including coffee, ice and straws, among other things. The latter of these two competencies is that this is just one way that a manager can exhibit the servant leadership that was mentioned earlier as being one of the cornerstones of the Starbucks way and methodology (Starbucks, 2016).

Finally, we come to whether and to what degree Starbucks is operating in a self-sustaining way. The main way that this would exhibit would be where Starbucks gets its coffee. It certainly does talk a good game when it comes to this. Rather than get their coffee from the cheapest source no matter what, Starbucks states that they put an effort towards "ethically sourced coffee." Even if some quibble about what that means and whether it is the good thing that Starbucks claims it to be, the idea that is that Starbucks is only getting their coffee from sources that meet the CAFE standard, which is short for Coffee and Farm Equity Practices. It is no small thing for Starbucks to do this and be this committed given that 209,000 tons of coffee are bought by Starbucks every year. CAFE standards are all about sustainability and not leaving farmland and local farmers with nothing to use or employ for the future (Craves, 2015).

Conclusion

In the end, it is clear that Starbucks is very much a work in progress in many ways. At the same time, there are many things that they have perfected and moved on from for the most part as the technique and history behind these proven methods are what they are. Even so, everything is worthy of review at some point in terms of efficacy, ethics and whether there is a better wayt o do things that is not yet realized.

References

Craves, J. (2015). Starbucks Claims 99% -- "Ethically Sourced -- ™ Coffee, But What Does That Even Mean?. Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. Retrieved 23 October 2016, from http://dailycoffeenews.com/2015/05/15/starbucks-claims-99-ethically-sourced-coffee-but-what-does-that-even-mean/

Ferguson, E. (2015). Starbucks Coffee Company -- ™s Organizational Culture - Panmore Institute. Panmore Institute. Retrieved 23 October 2016, from http://panmore.com/starbucks-coffee-company-organizational-culture

Starbucks. (2016). Starbucks Menu - Quick Breakfast Ideas. Starbucks Coffee Company. Retrieved 23 October 2016, from http://www.starbucks.com/menu

Starbucks. (2016). Store Manager. Starbucks. Retrieved 23 October 2016, from http://www.starbucks.nl/media/Store-Manager_nl_tcm15-20825.pdf