Leadership and Operations at Starbucks: Theories and Applications

This report delves into the leadership and operations management strategies employed by Starbucks. It begins by defining leadership and management, exploring various leadership theories such as the Great Man theory, traits theory, and path-goal theory, with examples of their application within Starbucks. The report then examines the functions of a manager, including planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling, and their significance in the context of Starbucks. Assignment 2 further analyzes different leadership approaches like situational, systems, and contingency leadership, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses in the work environment. It critically assesses the effectiveness of relationship-oriented approaches and their impact on employee productivity and brand value. The report also explores key approaches to operations management, including quantitative and qualitative methods, and their role in achieving business objectives. It highlights how Starbucks can improve operational efficiencies to meet its goals, considering factors within the business environment that influence operational management and decision-making. The analysis considers both internal and external factors, providing a comprehensive overview of Starbucks' management and operational practices.

MANAGEMENT
AND OPERATIONS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
ASSIGMENT:1 ...............................................................................................................................4
1.1) Definition ............................................................................................................................4
1.2) Theories Of Leadership.......................................................................................................5
Function Of The Manger............................................................................................................6
ASSIGMENT :2 .........................................................................................................................6
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................6
1.1 Role And The Function Of Leader And Manger In Different Situation. .............................6
1.2 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency within the context of Starbucks......................................................7
1.3 Assess the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to situations (situational
leadership) within the work environment. .................................................................................7
1.4 Critically analyse and evaluate the different theories and approaches to leadership used
(e.g. situational leadership, systems leadership, task or relationship-orientated approaches)
and their effectiveness in Starbucks. ..........................................................................................8
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................8
2.1 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and
managers play in Starbucks.........................................................................................................8
2.2 Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business
objectives with examples from Starbucks...................................................................................9
2.3 Evaluate how leaders and managers of Starbucks can improve efficiencies of operational
management to successfully meet business objectives...............................................................9
2.4 Critically evaluate application of operations management and factors that impact on the
wider business environment in relation to Starbucks..................................................................9
TASK 3 .........................................................................................................................................10
3.1 Assess the factors within the business environment in which Starbucks operates that
impact upon operational management and decision-making by leaders and managers. .........10

3.2 Analyse how these different factors affect the business environment and wider community
of Starbucks...............................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12
..................................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
In very company there is a important role of the managers and the leaders. Leader who
lead the team, group, organisation, country and manger is person who control all the managerial
activities by his skills (Lindström and et. al., 2012). The both have their own function,
responsibilities and roles in the organisation. In this report the company which is taken for
analysis is star buck which the most famous company for providing g the premium coffee range
to the customers for giving the total different and unique experience of coffee. Starbucks expand
its business to world wide.
ASSIGMENT:1
1.1) Definition
Leader:- leader is person how lead the any group, team in the organisation or any country. The
leader who use his/her leadership skill to guide its team for competing task.
Manager :- a person who plan and control the business activities and apply its managerial skills
in the organisation for proper allocation of resources.
Roles and characteristics of leader:- following are the roles of leaders.
 leaders are necessary at all the level of the organisation:- leaders are having different
roles at different levels like in top management leader participate in making organisation
policies, in middle level every different department control by the leader and over see the
activities of the subordinates.
 Combines the employees personal goals to the organisation goals:- through its
leadership qualities the leader manage its team to achieve the personal goal and also
accomplish the organisation goals.
 Leader stand for the company:- Leader participate in meeting, conferences, also
communicate with the outside public and also control its team for respective its particular
department.
In context to the company Starbucks the leader is appointed by the company and the
leader is responsible for the marketing activities in outside the organisation. The company will
give chance to become a leader if any follower is doing its best it can be convert into leader.
According to CEO of the company they want their leader as more innovative who has ability to

see their employee as a most profitable resources and has a clarity of mission and vision of the
company.
Roles and characteristics of managers:- following are the roles and characteristics of the
mangers.
 Manger is a spokesperson of the company:- managers has to report to the seniors about
organisation function and its every department functioning. Manager stand behalf of the
company. He has to give the information to the share holder about the new product, the
financial position and other information.
 Manger act as entrepreneur and resources monitor:- manager act as entrepreneur
design new product and services for the company plan for the resources needed for the
company process.
In context to the company star buck is famous for its coffee so the manager has a
responsibility to mange the the store properly, to see resources are maintain to its adequate level
and managers has the responsibility to bring in idea in world of coffee. The create new concepts
to give its services in a different style.
1.2) Theories Of Leadership
Theories of leadership:- following are theories followed by the Starbucks.
 Great man theory:- in this approach it indicated that leader are born not made. The
person is having the leadership traits from the time he/she born.
 Traits leader:- for the leadership the person should have the some qualities and traits
like person, energetic, honesty, intelligence, confidence.
 Path goal theory:- in this approach the leader should gave clarity of the path where
companies want to reach and according to that on the leader guide the followers to follow
the particular direction.
In context to the company star bucks follow the drive in the early leadership theory in
that they have the leader with high self confidence and they control their subordinates in manner
so that there is absence of self doubt.
Function Of The Manger
The main functions of the manger are as follow

 planning:- planning is a process where mangers see what the resources that to be needed,
what to be done and how it to be done.
 Organising:- in that the manger is allocate all the resources to its respective place and
make the structure how the organisation can functions
 staffing:- in staffing the manager is deciding which person is suitable for which place
and for which profile in the company.
 directing:- in directing the manger is giving the particular path and objective for which
the organisation work and employees has way that what they to do and in what manner.
 Controlling :- mangers has to control all the activities conducting the organisation so that
they can achieve their goal and their excepted performance can meet the actual
performance.
In context to the company the need the manger who can handle the store activities and its
employees. They has to communicate with religion mangers. They make sure that the operations
of the store should be conducted as per the guidelines.
ASSIGMENT :2
TASK 1
1.1 Role And The Function Of Leader And Manger In Different Situation.
Role of the leader in different situation
Leader has to perform different activities at different time the leaders role is flexible in
nature they have to change according to the time and the situation. If the employees are not
happy with work the forming technique can be followed by leader in which they form the group
of its team member can have talk, discussions and create the friendly environment. To take the
new idea from the team the leader can do the brainstorming activity every team member can
contribute its own idea on particular situation (Baboli and et. al., 2014).
Functions of the mangers
Like leader manger also has the flexible work nature manger perform different function
in different situation. Sometimes uncertain situation take place and the manger has to perform
their role to handle it. For example the customer has the served the wrong order and the customer

gets annoyed. At that point of time manger talk to customer make apologies to the customer and
find the reason for the problem and ensure the customer that mistake will not be repeated.
1.2 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership,
systems leadership and contingency within the context of Starbucks.
Situational leadership:- in this leadership style the leaders and managers change their skill and
styles according to the situation. In today's dynamic word this approach is very useful because
organisation needs are keep changing according to time and for this mangers and leaders have to
apply different concept with that situation (Brennan and et. al., 2011). In context to the company
Starbucks adopt its coffee style and flavours according to the countries.
Systems leadership:- in this approach the leader will use the part of the organisation to enhance
its skill and to improve its performance. In context to the Starbucks the leader make use of its
employees, its resources to maintain the coffee quality and sustain the brand name.
Contingency leadership:- in this approach the leader assume that this is the only particular
solution for the particular situation. The dependent variable are effecting both internal and
external environment. In Starbucks maintaining the quality of coffee only the one solution to
get the core competence , to sustain the organisation performance (Ale, S., and et. al., 2010).
1.3 Assess the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to situations (situational
leadership) within the work environment.
Strengths:-
 increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the leader.
 When the leader has adopt the leadership style to compete the particular task this can
improve the accountability and also enhance the leadership skills.
 The relationship of followers and leader can be improved. Followers feel more trusted
with the leader and they feel more confident to follow the leader.
Weakness:-
 wrongly assumed:- some times the leaders take information are more subjective and
they make wrong assumption. This results on the organisation performance, individuals
performance and team leader perform , it take lot of time to make corrections and
incurred cost (Chen, Cand et. al., 2011).
 Less followers participation:- followers take the inspiration from the leader as there are
confident with work but some time because of the over confident they delay the task and

it finally decrease their productivity. The leader give the task to the followers but when
followers not able to complete the task the leader have accountability to its senior.
1.4 Critically analyse and evaluate the different theories and approaches to leadership used
(e.g. situational leadership, systems leadership, task or relationship-orientated
approaches) and their effectiveness in Starbucks.
Relationship-oriented approaches is technique by which the leader make strong bond
with the team members. This can help the followers to improve their skills as there is friendly
atmosphere with there leaders. The leader can encourage their team members and the leader can
sustain the performance by adopting these skills (Lisi, 2010). They enhance their leadership
skills as they have the different circumstance faces by internal and external environment. The
leader train the employees to do the task on the given time and that can increase the employees
productivity. If the leader is properly handling the operations and the its team it lead to the
smooth business activities and the brand value increase.
TASK 2
2.1 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and
managers play in Starbucks.
Quantitative approach:- in this approach company will use the mathematical approaches to
solve the problems like linear programming, critical path method. Company used this method to
get the solution. They feels that it is relevant because it included facts and figure. And
calculation can give the exact solution.
Qualitative approach:- in this approach the company analysis the factors which are variable
like human customers, preference , their taste and customer buying behaviour. Star bucks use
this approach to see what is demand of the coffee in the market. Which flavour customer like the
most. What range customer prefer to buy (Woo and Lee, 2011).
2.2 Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business
objectives with examples from Starbucks.
Following are the advantage of operation management:-
 it can minimize the cost of the products.
 It leads to smooth working in all the department.
 It helps the company to make their customer satisfied.

 The company can generate the profits if the operation management activities held
properly.
Starbucks insure the hygiene level in their stores. Coffee jars should be clean and the
coffee should flow on floor. There are various department which have different accountability.
Their is store manger who always there on the store and mange the store. And other employees
having their own responsibility (Lindström and et. al., 2012).
2.3 Evaluate how leaders and managers of Starbucks can improve efficiencies of
operational management to successfully meet business objectives.
 They deign the new product and services to get the core competence in the market.
 They clarify the job description to the every employee of the company so the employees
know what they have to do and to whom they should report.
 Company should make the schedule of employees timing, their task, their deadlines. So
that the flexibility maintain in the organisation.
 Company should repair the coffee machines time to time. So the productivity level can be
maintained.
2.4 Critically evaluate application of operations management and factors that impact on
the wider business environment in relation to Starbucks.
Factors impact on business environment are as follows:-
 political:- government policies can effect on star bucks management system like tax if
they hide the tax they company reputation can be exploit.
 Economical:- inflation rates can make changes into the prices of the coffee.
 Social:- people references and social groups intends to increase the fashion of having
luxury coffee experience (Baboli and et. al.,2014).
 Technological:- companies fast system can help the management in operation to serve
the coffee in quicker time.
 Legal:- having the child labour in store can lead to t legal issue for the company.
 Environmental:- Starbucks is having the eco friendly packaging and they use organic
coffee material.

TASK 3
3.1 Assess the factors within the business environment in which Starbucks operates that
impact upon operational management and decision-making by leaders and managers.
Leaders and managers took decisions in favour of organisation, subordinates. This
decision making is very crucial part of the organisation because its took lots of time and cost.
They gave lot of courage and gather information. A good leader having the big responsibility as
he is having for knowledge and skills. The political environment of UK is very stable they have
the certainty in their government policies (Brennan and et. al., 2011). The economical factor in
which the per capita income of the UK citizen is around $40000 which is very high so the
company has the good scope of selling the premium coffee and the demand is also there in the
market. Social factor, the people of UK prefer coffee and the social group are influence by each
other there is culture of drinking coffee in the morning. Star bucks coffee is fashion trends
because of its brand name and packaging. Starbucks in UK use the high technology in the store
they record the order in system and and employees will prepare the coffee by fastest coffees
machines. Star bucks is using the green ego friendly packaging which contribute to the
environmental factors. They promote the product recycling of the coffee mugs by using the
different material with is environmental friendly and do not harm the animals and environment.
3.2 Analyse how these different factors affect the business environment and wider
community of Starbucks.
All these factors influence the Starbucks community as the company thinks it is
necessary to regular monitor these factors because it help to get the information about the
external environment (Ale, and et. al., 2010). Company also make changes in the policies and
operation according the external factors because companies has to make its product more
attractive comparison to there competitor. On the basis of the external factors analysis company
take the important decision to sustain in the market. After these factors company make its
segmentations and targeting the population suitable for these company product. Like people with
low income is not the target market of Starbucks. The education factors is also very important in
context to this company because the menu of the Starbucks is more complex than other coffee
brands. Technology factors also affect the business decision as they have to make the coffee
shop more high technology as the Starbucks is coffee brand many business man comes there for

their business meetings and many people do their office work on their devices with having coffee
for that reason the company decide to make there coffee store full Wi-Fi accesses. Like this
company take many decision from analysis the external environment.
CONCLUSION
In this report the Starbucks company has to be taken and role of the leaders and function
of the manger has discuss. How the mangers and leader took the decision to increase the
productivity of the employees and sustainability of the company performance. After the
different leadership style discuss and how this leadership style are used by the Starbucks for
smoother operations. After that the operation management approaches are given in context to
the company. What are the various factors that influence the Starbucks company and how
leaders and mangers took decision keeping in mind those factors. Analysis has been done for UK
market basis on the external environment factors.

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