Racial Discrimination and Its Impact on Starbucks Coffee Shop

Running head: RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
Topic: Racial discrimination and its impact: A contextual analysis on Starbucks coffee shop
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
To: The HR manager of Starbucks
From: Name of the author
Date: 26th January, 2019
RE: Racial discrimination and its impact: A contextual analysis on Starbucks coffee shop
Introduction
Discrimination in the workplace increases when the victim is being protected depending
on a particular category. In the Equal opportunity Act 2010, depending on the personal
characteristics such as age, gender, religion, race, disability, sexual orientation, national origin
and pregnancy, discrimination in the workplace is highly prohibited (Dalton & Villagran, 2016).
Analyzing the situation in Starbucks, it has been identified that racial discrimination has become
major concern for the authority. The racial discrimination issue has been aroused in Starbucks
after the article, which has been published in a Californian newspaper. Depending on the skin
color racial discrimination has been aroused in the workplace, which has influenced the customer
relationship. The study will shed light on the emerging racial bias and its impact on the
organizational culture by highlighting Starbucks.
State problem
Coffee shop racism has been exposed in Starbucks by the two customers (Romano, 2019).
Due to black skin tone, people face disappointing behavior from the service providers in the
coffee shop, which has created dissatisfaction among the customers. Therefore, it can be said that
in the Starbucks coffee shop racism practices, the Americans racial divisions have been exposed.
In the year 2018, two black men were arrested in Philadelphia (Time.com, 2019). After this
incident large numbers of people have aroused their voice against the racial bias, which have
been faced by them in the stores in Starbucks. Not only the customers, but also the impact of
racial discrimination has been shown on the employees. Due to the racial bias in the workplace,
the working environment as well as the service standard of the employees has got affected
(Theguardian.com, 2019). It cannot be denied that racial discrimination in the workplace brought
huge impact on the behavioral characteristics of individuals which drive the negative culture in
the workplace. On the other hand, depending on racial bias, the diversified working culture in the
workplace gets affected that increases the rate of employee complaint and drive the lower growth
rate. An article published by BBC, where it was mentioned that by helping the minority ethnic
people in America, the economic progression can be introduced (Time.com, 2019). Therefore, it
can be said that, it has become necessary for dealing with the racial bias regarding issues so that
efficiency can be maintained in the workplace.
Proposed solution
Analyzing the background of the racial discrimination issue in Starbucks, it can be said
that, it has become necessary for increasing awareness among employees regarding the different
employee discrimination regulations (Logan, 2016). In order to avoid the racial bias in the coffee
shop, training and development practices needs to be introduced, where the individuals will be
able to understand the importance of diversified working culture. On the other hand, it can also
play an effective role for improving the internal culture in the organization. Hence, depending on

2RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
the situation in Starbucks, it can be assumed that awareness initiative through the training and
development process may help to deal with the situation.
Scope
Due to emerging racial bias in the workplace, it has become a burning topic in the current
situation. In that case, the research topic will be ‘Racial discrimination and its impact: A
contextual analysis on Starbucks coffee shop’.
Research questions
 How the social media played an influential role for exposing the racial discrimination
practices ion Starbucks Coffee shop?
 Why racial discrimination has become common practice in American coffee shops?
 How racial discrimination influence the behavioral characteristics of individuals in the
workplace?
 How the solutions can be implemented for avoiding racial discrimination in the
workplace?
Methods
Research philosophy
Among three types of research philosophy such as positivism, interpretivism and realism,
positivism will be selected. By choosing positivism research philosophy, the causes behind
emerging racial discrimination in the Starbucks coffee shops can be identified. In this research,
interpretivism and realism will not be applicable as management related activities are being
discussed in these philosophies.
Research approach
In order to conduct the research, the deductive research approach will be selected by me.
As the research will be conducted depending on existing models and theories, in that case, the
deductive research approach will be appropriate for conducting the research. Inductive research
approach is being chosen when the researcher developed new models or theories through the
research (Flick, 2015).
Research design
Research design helps to develop a framework, in which the research technique and
various components of the research are being discussed (Mackey& Gass, 2015). Research design
can be classified into three types such as descriptive, explanatory and exploratory. For this
research topic, the descriptive research design will be appropriate. Using the descriptive research
design, it will be easier for me to interpret the topic in detail. Exploratory research design helps
to investigate the relationship between the topic variables and in explanatory research design,
casual effect of the research issues are being identified. Therefore, it can be said that exploratory
and explanatory research designs will not be applicable for research.
Data collection