Leadership, Management, and Operational Strategies at Starbucks

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and management practices within Starbucks. It begins by defining and comparing the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers in operations, highlighting the key differences and interdependencies between these roles within the context of a large organization like Starbucks. The report then delves into how leadership and management functions apply in various situational contexts, exploring different leadership styles such as autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire, and assessing their suitability for Starbucks. Furthermore, the report applies various leadership theories and models, including situational leadership, systems leadership, and contingency approaches, to the operational challenges faced by Starbucks. Key approaches to operational management are evaluated, with a suitable one suggested for the store. Finally, the report assesses the impact of factors within the business environment on operational management and decision-making at Starbucks, providing a holistic view of the company's leadership and operational strategies.

Management & Operation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................3
P1) Define and compare different roles and characteristics of leader and manager in
operations....................................................................................................................................3
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................5
P2 How the role
of a leader and the function of a
manager apply in different situational contexts.........................................................................5
P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
.....................................................................................................................................................8
leadership and contingency........................................................................................................8
TASK 3 .........................................................................................................................................10
P4 Key approaches to the operation management and suggest suitable one for the store. ......10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................12
P6 Assess the factors within the
business environment impact operational management and business
decision-making.......................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCE.................................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Management and operation is most essential part of an organisation now a days.
Operational management is an area of functional management in which various activities such as
production, optimum utilization of resources and managing other operational aspects. The
current trends is very realistic and complicated as because of involvement of technology and
advance workforce in an operational aspects. This report will be carried on Starbucks which is
the leading coffee company with the chain of coffee café's and outlets. This company was
founded in Seattle, USA in 1971 and now they are operating nearby 28218 outlets worldwide.
This assessment will focus on different roles and characteristics of the leader and manager and
discussion regarding the various function of the manager. This report will also put light on
various leadership situation and approaches to the operation management. Also, It will put
emphasize on the importance and different factors affecting the business environment in an
organisation.
TASK 1
P1) Define and compare different roles and characteristics of leader and manager in operations
Operation management is defined as the area of managerial concept which is concerned
with designing and controlling the various process of production and restructuring the business
operation again and again. In context with Starbucks, leader and manager are two most key
person who is responsible for functioning and productivity of an organisation.
Leaders: Person who lead their team or group of individuals on the front-line and with
the purpose to motivate and coordinating accordingly to achieve well-defined goals and targets.
Manager: The common person whose tasks and responsibilities is to manage and control
the functional activities of an organisation such as fund out flow, production function, staffing
etc. At some context, work and responsibilities of the both key managerial person are interlinked
and similar.
For big organisation namely Starbucks, it is necessary to understand and analyse skills,
traits and knowledge of the leader and manager. This will be best explained by doing brief
comparison are as follows:
Basis Leader Manager

Traits Those people who have traits and
skills such as effective
personality, positive attitude
speaking and listening skills,
communicate skills etc. to lead
and motivate their team member
to work and perform their tasks.
Manager is the key person who
have traits such as people
engagement, customer enrolment
and speaking and listening skills,
attractive personality to inspire
people and coordinate their
employee to attain targets.
Roles and responsibilities The main duty, roles and
responsibilities of the leader is to
motivate and enhance their team's
confidence level to work and
perform their tasks and work
assigned effectively and with full
dedication.
Main roles and responsibilities of
manager is to manage and control
functioning, operation aspects
such as production, supply chain
management, optimum utilization
of resources etc. and coordinating
their workforce and employee's
Authority and power Leader's power and authorities
are always comes from their job
role and profile. Apart from this,
there motive tasks is to lead and
manage their team or group of
individuals to achieve group's
target and that will results in
organisational productivity and
efficiency.
Manager's power and authorities
are defined by their senior and
top level management regarding
what they need to do and perform
in their job tenure. Manager have
different classification such as
human resource, financial,
operation and marketing etc.
They need to be dedicated and
fair towards their power and job.
For Starbucks, various roles and characteristics of the leader and manager are necessary
to be discuss and analyse to understand their accountability and perfection to attain and achieve
organisational goals and targets. The above discussion are as follows:
Roles and characteristics:

Leader:
Strong supporter: Leader's main tasks and role is to support and motivate their team or
groups to make realize their actual potential or abilities. For such role, leader needs to have
characteristics such as accurate listener, employee engagement, analytical an convenience skills
and perfect attitude and personality to motivate and empower their employee to attain
organisational goals and targets.
Representative: Leader needs to act as representative of the company as well as team
supporter in several conditions. In context with Starbucks, leader needs to have characteristics
such as confidence, motivation, personality and belief to take initiative and responsibilities to act
as the representative.
Manager:
Effective leader: In context with Starbucks, manager should be able to lead and manage
the workforce and overall employee in an organisation. To perform such role, a manager must
have traits such as emotional stability, enthusiasm and self assurance etc. Manager should ensure
that his traits and skills must contribute to various functioning of the management.
Key personnel: Manager is considered as the person who sit on major responsibilities. In
context with Starbucks, an effective manager needs to realize their importance and potential to
act as key personnel inside and outside an organisation. In context with Starbucks, manager
needs to be dependent and have traits such as decision making, effective management and
training skills etc.
After such discussion, it is advisable that Starbucks should provide effective training and
development to their employee and workforce to be dependent and can hold such prolonged
responsibilities and duties of leader and manager. Along with this, both the key personnel needs
to enhance their motivation and confidence level to handle various work pressure and
responsibilities in an organisation.

TASK 2
P2 How the role
of a leader and the function of a
manager apply in different situational contexts
In context with Starbucks, both leader and manager needs to realize and know their roles
and function in order to attain well-defined goals and targets of an organisation. In context with
Starbucks, there are various leadership situations which is necessary to know the suitability and
to realize how long the leadership will be carry on. Different leadership situation are as follows:
Autocratic: This type of leadership allows leader to take full and ultimate control of
decision making without any consultation from an authority. In context with Starbucks, leader
must possess high level of power and abilities to influence their team member and individual.
For this organisation, it is necessary to enhance the morale and confidence of an employee to get
effective output and results. On the other side, team member are no more longer to take separate
decision. The major disadvantage would be rising of the clashes and conflict
Democratic: In this type of leadership, team members are independent and have right
and freedom to participate in an activities, function and decision making of an organisation. In
context with Starbucks, democratic leadership can easily apply to this organisation and would
become beneficial to gain positive and effective results for an organisation.
Laissez-faire leadership: Under this leadership, leader do not exercise their power and
control on its employees directly. If an employees is highly experienced and motivated and also
needs supervision, Laissez-faire leader will fail to provide feedback to their employee's who are
in under their supervision. In context with Starbucks, this kind of leadership is also associated
with leader who is not engaged in supervising own team, failed to provide feedback, lack of
control etc.
Starbucks should use democratic leadership approach, where every employee have
freedom and power to share their own idea and knowledge to implement strategies and plan ta
attain well-structured goals and targets.
Function of manager: In context with Starbucks, this is necessary to know and analyse several
function of the manager according to the Henry Fayol. These brief explanation of functions are
as follow:

Planning: This is the primary and foremost function of the manager. In this stage,
manager needs to plan and implement various strategies and process to achieve an organisational
goals effectively. In context with Starbucks, manager needs to plan various things such as what
sort of goal or targets, organisation needs to achieve and how to attain such decided objectives.
After such clarification, planning comes into the light and process. Organisation needs to do brief
market research before formulating various plans and strategies for achieving well-defined goals
and objectives.
For example: Starbucks has decided to raise their business and customer by 5 percent of
gradual increase. For this, they need to implement well-structured plan and strategies to drive it
into the real business.
Organizing: This is the second stage of this whole functional process. In this function,
top manager used to delegate particular task and work to their employee to complete it in early
time. In context with Starbucks, top manager needs to analyse and know the abilities and
potential of each and every employee in order to achieve organisational goals effectively.
For example: Starbucks has recently decided to assign and delegate to do brief research
on consumer behaviour towards coffee and its suitability in the future. For this, they setup a team
of almost 4 members and assigned their duties to make it possible.
Commanding: This is the third stage of the manager function. In this, manager needs to
give command and order to their co-employees to perform their task and work in the proper
manner. In this process, manager needs to give proper training and development to gather
information and knowledge.
For example: Starbucks top manager and personnel's has commanded their employee's
and workforce to conduct brief survey and market observation to implement plans and strategies
to achieve their target of 10 percent rise in the business of the Starbucks.
Controlling: This is the fourth stage of whole manager functional process. In context
with Starbucks, manager needs to look at and control the various activities and task performing
by the workforce of an organisation. For having better performance and efficiency, proper
training and development is required for every employee to achieve company goals and targets in
an effective and efficient manner.

For example: Starbucks needs to raise their employee's work accountability and potential
to achieve the target of 10 percent in the business and customer strength. In could only be
possible by which giving effective training and development to their employee.
Staffing: This is the last stage of manager function process. In this, manager can hire
appropriate candidate for defined and available job position and roles. In context with Starbucks,
if the senior wants to hire prospective candidate, they may need to follow complete process of
the recruitment along with training and development. It will be useful to gain and achieve
competitive advantage of the business.
For example: Top executives or manager has decided to hire new candidate in their
organisation to achieve the set objectives of 10 percent increase in the sales and revenue along
with the customer belief and loyalty. For this, top manager will extra workforce efficiency to
achieve defined goals and targets of the Starbucks.
P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency
Complex leadership requires leader with effective skills, talent, skills, knowledge,
charisma, etc. Leadership theories concentrates on successful leaders action and qualities. These
theories are developed with better understanding of – expectations and requirements of
individuals at workplace, how different leadership styles affects both leaders and followers
behaviours, attitude, competence, etc. and suitability of various leadership behaviours in
different situations. These theories also determines modern employees and their requirements in
the organisation. In context to Starbucks UK Limited the leader should understand needs and
expectations of employees to engage them in decision making process and to provide freedom
for attaining objectives according their views and ideas. The leader can use different leadership
theories to determine employees in the organisation, which are described under.
Situational leadership:- Situational leadership is an effective style or behaviour to
understand individuals or employees in the organisation. It was developed by Kenneth Blanchard
and Paul Hersey. This style determines that there is no appropriate style of leadership in different
situations. It assumes that style should be selected according to the suitability of situation and
task. In context to Starbucks Limited, this theory assumes that effective leaders are those who are
capable of adapting their behaviours according to the situations. It will assist in developing

individuals and groups in the organisation. Applying this theory in Starbucks Limited will
establish kinship and motivate individuals to achieve best through their efforts and practices.
Strengths of situational leadership
 It assist leader in interpreting properly and effectively to deal with the situations.
 It creates an ordinary language of execution.
Weaknesses
 It create confusion between employees and the organisation.
 It is a technique of management instead of leadership style.
Systems leadership:- System leadership approach refers to the product of the attempts of
various researchers to make an in-between field of existence of all sciences. It gives a gloss of
terms through which researchers from various areas can be determined and provide structure for
the interpretation and display of actuality and phenomena. In context to Starbucks Limited this
theory it help in knowing leaders determination to resolve problems in the extrinsic environment
and relations with individuals and other elements in the organisation. It provides framework for
creating ideas and reduces complexity of situations. Applying system theory in Starbucks have
various advantages and disadvantages.
Strengths
 It improves organisation's flexibility to accept different changes in the environment.
 It makes similarity in decision making process.
Weaknesses
 This theory cannot be applied in smaller organisations.
 It does not define inter-dependence nature.
Contingency leadership:- Contingency leadership approach concentrates on need of both
situation and leader's personality to operate in that condition. It was developed by Fred Edward
Fiedler. In context to Starbucks it determines two leadership styles- relationship motivated and
task-motivated. It involves three factors which are - it deals with the broad atmosphere of the
team and their feelings – loyalty, trust, confidence, etc. for the leader. It clarifies all information
about the task and its achievement. And last is position power which refers to the award or
punishment for employees or individuals for their work. Using contingency theory in Starbucks
limited will have both positive and negative impacts which are given below.
Strengths

 It is a flexible theory and can be used in different situations.
 It provides information about leadership styles which is very important for the
organisation.
Weaknesses
 It is complex theory of leadership, because it is difficult to apply.
 It undergoes from inadequately of literary study.
TASK 3
P4 Key approaches to the operation management and suggest suitable one for the store.
Operation management is the managerial concept in which various activities such as
production, resource allocation and manpower empowerment are regulated and control with the
common purpose to achieve organisational goals and targets. In context with Starbucks UK
Limited, there are different approach to operation management which is necessary to analyse and
know how operational efficiency and effectiveness can be improved and achieved in the coffee
outlets of the Starbucks coffee which is as follows:
Just in time: It is the type of inventory management method in which materials, good
and labour is used to arrive in the outlets and utilized in the production process. In Starbucks
outlets , store manager needs to order the raw material from suppliers according to the
production requirement. Generally company uses this inventory strategy to enhance their
efficiency and productivity by saving wastage of the goods and which will also inventory
carrying and storage cost.
Total quality management(TQM): It is the continuous process of detecting and
reducing errors in the manufacturing, supply chain management, customer experience etc. It
aims at making the production process accountable and productive by providing proper quality
of the products or service. In context with Starbucks, it is necessary to avoid wasting inventory
and ensure maximum quality improvement. Six sigma and TQM both are similar at some
context. TQM focuses on ensuring that internal guidelines and process standard in the production
would reduces error, whereas Six sigma use to reduce defects.
Kaizen: It is an approach that enables continuous improvement in the production and
operational process. This approach is generally used in the pharmaceutical sector to bring

continuous improvement in the product quality. In context with Starbucks, it will lead to lower
down the defects, eliminate waste, boost productivity and promote maximum innovation etc.
This approach focus more on less wastage, people should be more satisfied and commitment to
customer commitment etc.
Starbucks uses Kaizen approach in their coffee outlet. Because this approach will bring
effectiveness and productive in their operational aspects by ensure the continuous improvement
by detecting any kind of defects, error and wastage in the production process of the coffee. It is
the prime responsibility and duty of store manager to make sure this.
Role of the store manager
For sustainable performance of the Starbucks, it is a roles and responsibilities of the store
manager to act for ensuring profitability from the coffee outlets. In order to gain operational
efficiency, it is required to understand and analyse the role of the store manager as an operation
manager. In the Starbucks outlet, store manager needs to make sure about the availability of the
raw material, optimum utilization of the resources, cost saving, time and wastage saving,
improved customer experience etc. The main role of store manager is to check that whether
workforce is enough or not. They also need to make sure that customer must be self-satisfied by
the coffee, snacks, breakfast and other services etc.
Apart from this, it is also that major duty of the store manager to save cost as well as time
in the coffee making process by using the advance technology and equipments.
P5 Importance of operation management in the store
Operation management has evolving one of the most evolving topic of the current
business scenario. It deals with conversion of raw material into the final products and services. In
context with Starbucks, there are various importance of operation management in their store
outlets which are as follow:
Optimum utilization of resources: In context with Starbucks, operation management will
plays an important role in effective allocation of the resources for attaining the business
objectives and targets. In resources, it covers cost, raw materials, manpower, time and other
physical evidence etc. For Starbucks. Systematic approach would result in the achievement of
productivity and effectiveness.

Maximisation of profit: In context with Starbucks, if advancement in the technology
and skilled manpower would work, it would result in the high and gradual increase in the
revenue and profits. This leading coffee outlet should provide effective and valuable training and
development to their employee.
Hence, it is concluded that it is necessary to understand value and important of operation
management for the maximization of the profit and enhancing the productivity and efficiency.
TASK 4
P6 Assess the factors within the
business environment impact operational management and business
decision-making
In context with Starbucks Limited, various business factor have put impact on operation
efficiency and productivity at the bigger level. Various factors such as innovation, competition,
supply chain defects, government policies and physical location etc. are some of the factors
which has impacted over operation management of the Starbucks company. As it is one of the
leading coffee company around the glob, which is focusing towards providing pure and complete
customer satisfaction to their customer. Hence, it is required to analyse and know various key
outsider's factors which can help in making the customer service best and suitable are as follow:
Physical location: Now a days, location has put emphasize on the behaviour and attitude
of the customer in the operational aspects. If location is not appropriate such as far away from
the customer reach or any political influence etc. In that case, business and operations would get
affected. In context with Starbucks, this coffee giant needs to select most suitable and
appropriate location for opening further more outlets to maximize customer satisfaction.
Government policies: Interference of the government authority lies when there is a
something illegal or unlawful thing happening in the business. Government policies such as
increased tax rate, tariff plans, high import and export duty on the raw materials could the
operation aspects of the business. In context with Starbucks, coffee company needs to work over
making several rules and regulation to tackle such regulation, as company can't go against it.
Such policies can put impact on the overall working of an organisation.