Leading Business Organisations: Starbucks Leadership Analysis Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership principles and strategies, using Starbucks as a case study. It begins by exploring fundamental leadership questions, key aspects of leadership, and various leadership styles appropriate for a VUCA business environment. The report then delves into organizational mission, vision, and the contributions of individuals, leaders, and stakeholders to achieving these goals. It examines leadership strategies, including change leadership and organizational potential, within different business contexts. Furthermore, the report explores motivation theories, including content and process theories, and the application of the appreciative inquiry technique. The second part of the report focuses on Starbucks, analyzing Kevin Johnson's leadership as a servant leader, and provides recommendations for sustaining the company's success and competitive advantage. The report covers topics such as communication, empathy, listening, and how they relate to Starbucks's success. It also discusses the challenges faced by Starbucks in the 21st century, including the impact of VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity).

Leading Business
Organisations Student
Guidelines

Table of Contents
PART 1............................................................................................................................................4
1.a) Fundamental questions that leaders need to ask themselves................................................4
b. Key aspects of leadership........................................................................................................4
c) What is a leadership theory/ style............................................................................................4
d) Leadership styles appropriate for VUCA business environment............................................4
e. Why do aspiring leaders need an in-depth understanding of a range of leadership styles......4
2. a) Organisational mission and vision.......................................................................................5
b) Contribution of an individual to execute the mission and vision............................................5
c) Contribution of leaders to executing the mission and vision...................................................5
d) Contribution of stakeholders to executing the mission and vision..........................................5
e. Why do aspiring leaders need to be able to evaluate the contributions of the above?.............5
3. a) What is a leadership strategy...............................................................................................5
b. What is change leadership.......................................................................................................6
c. What is organisational potential...............................................................................................6
d. What is a business context.......................................................................................................6
e. Why do aspiring leaders need to understand a broad range of leadership strategies that can
be applied in in a variety of different business contexts?............................................................6
4. a. What is a motivation theory.................................................................................................6
b. What are the two categories of motivational theories.............................................................6
c. What is the contemporary term for employee motivation.......................................................7
d. What is the ‘appreciative inquiry technique’...........................................................................7
e. Why do aspiring leaders need to be able to critically evaluate a range of motivational
theories within a specific organisational context?.......................................................................7
5. Covered in ppt..........................................................................................................................7
PART 2............................................................................................................................................7
Introduction..................................................................................................................................7
Why does Johnson have such a strong personal brand as an effective global leader?..............11
Provide two recommendations as to what you believe Johnson could do to build on his current
success and maintain Starbuck’s sustainability and competitive advantage.............................12
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................13

REFERENCE................................................................................................................................14

PART 1
1.a) Fundamental questions that leaders need to ask themselves
Leaders play the progressive role in terms to motivate the personnel and build efficient
image in terms to carry out business processes suitably (Codreanu, 2016). For that I believe that
being a leader I need to ask myself whether I am able to formulate effective relationship with
other members to sustain the trust. Along with that I need ask whether I have relevant
information to deliver the same to team member that helps to attain collective goals.
b. Key aspects of leadership
Adequate knowledge: As per my opinion it is the responsibility of leader to update their
existing knowledge in terms to tackle the external situation and leads to critical thinking ability.
Effective communication: It is the other key aspect of leadership, based on which I can
deliver the relevant information based on fasts and figure which leads to more clarity.
c) What is a leadership theory/ style
Leadership theory or style systematically focuses on the trait as well as behaviour of the
particular leader. For instance, if a leaders is relationship oriented then they are more likely to
follow participative style. It judicially help to encourage manpower to put best possible effort via
application of significant leadership style (Becker and et. al., 2016).
d) Leadership styles appropriate for VUCA business environment
Transformation style: As per my opinion this leadership style helps to tackle uncertain
and unpredictable situation as here efforts are put in to bring the continuous changes in order to
accommodate the need of external stakeholder within dynamic environment to attain shared
vision.
Democratic style: At times leader need to changes the policies and working patter within
short span to tackle VUCA business environment. So the employees are forced to adopt the
changes in order to flourish business.
e. Why do aspiring leaders need an in-depth understanding of a range of leadership styles
Aspiring leader focuses on the deep insight of leadership style as they gain the relevant
information on the basis of functioning. Along with that it maintain the long term commitment of
an employee because it determine them the opportunity to function and gain sustainable

direction. Thus, it guides better responsibility in terms to carry out functioning and perform
responsibility effectively.
2. a) Organisational mission and vision
Mission defines the procedure as well as structure on the basis of which employee carry
out their performance to reach out particular objective (Christopher, Mena and van Hoek, 2018).
Vision refers to the future position that an organisation need to attain for which the performance
are carried out.
b) Contribution of an individual to execute the mission and vision
Individual or employees are the main asset of company that actually transform vision and
mission into reality for organisational success. They significantly contribute to enhances the
revenue and long term profitability of firm.
c) Contribution of leaders to executing the mission and vision
Leaders are more prone to build the strategy in order to accomplish the mission and
vision. This is further communicated to an employee as it leads to guidance and gauge the
effective success strategy.
d) Contribution of stakeholders to executing the mission and vision
Stakeholders include the involvement of diverse parties like employees, customer,
investor, creditor, government and so on which are the driving factors and help to influence the
performance of firm (Doppelt, 2017). Their involvement is the valuable source like investment
of funds by investor and loyalty of customer helps to attain long term vision and mission.
e. Why do aspiring leaders need to be able to evaluate the contributions of the above?
Aspiring leaders exhibit the contribution of diverse parties such as leaders, employees
and stakeholders because it leads to core advantage that help in better accomplishment of
opportunity. Favourable contribution of different authorities leads to innovative thinking and
carry out performance in significant manner.
3. a) What is a leadership strategy
Leadership strategy is to map out functioning and align the contribution by directing the
efforts of manpower in appropriate direction (Gehrke and Claes, 2017). With the help of
extrinsic motivation such as promotion and recognition they get the work done and supervise to
constantly enhance the current performance.

b. What is change leadership
As an organisation function in dynamic environment so the Change leadership is the
ability of leader to carry out communication in such a manner the staff understand the essence to
change their prevailing working pattern.
c. What is organisational potential
Organisational potential depict the capacity to organise work in order to expand the
productivity of firm (Galbraith, 2017). This possibly improve the working processes, system as
well as procedure which empower the workforce to perform their roles and responsibility
suitably.
d. What is a business context
Business context comprises of the role of factors that can affect the functioning and
directly impact the performance. It involves the decision based on which strategic initiatives are
taken to attain the goal accordingly.
e. Why do aspiring leaders need to understand a broad range of leadership strategies that can be
applied in in a variety of different business contexts?
Based on my opinion aspiring leaders prepare the vital strategy in favours of business
context. They basically work on the skills of manpower and make a competitive team that can
carry out diverse activities and overcome the hurdles. Along with that employment relation are
maintained for sustainable performance.
4. a. What is a motivation theory
Motivation theory includes both intrinsic as well as extrinsic factors that are the essential
drivers to produce the desirable outcome (Gassmann, Frankenberger and Sauer, 2016). This
possible maximises the potential and generate the interest of staff to carry out work willingly
within stipulated time frame.
b. What are the two categories of motivational theories
Content and Process are the two category of motivation theory that comprises of theories
like Maslow's hierarchical need, Vroom's Expectancy theory and so on. Content theory focuses
to motivate the human behaviour and process theory represent how manpower gets motivated.

c. What is the contemporary term for employee motivation
Contemporary within motivation defines how fairly each and every employee are treated
within an organization (Gopalan and et. al., 2017). As per Equity theory the contemporary word
is used for justice or fairness where employees are treated and gets remunerated on unbiased
basis.
d. What is the ‘appreciative inquiry technique’
Appreciative inquiry (AI) techniques is used for change management that defines how the
work is being carrying out where focus is given to direct the performance of firm. This leads to
the long term growth opportunity where organisation pays attention to strength its capability.
e. Why do aspiring leaders need to be able to critically evaluate a range of motivational theories
within a specific organisational context?
Leader on the basis of motivation theory can establish the creative team that work for the
organisational success (Harkiolakis, 2016). This generates the ability to reduce the chances of
employee turnover rate where everyone function to enhance the performance of firm with the
significant effort of inspirational leadership.
5. Covered in ppt
PART 2
Introduction
Starbucks is the well known coffee house chains which was founded in Seattle and has
become the largest coffee selling company. Currently the company operate over thirty thousand
areas and constantly upgrade the flavours with the purpose to serve the people with diverse taste
as well as preference (Lesser and Ban, 2016). It even upgrades the technology like vending
machine to deliver the significant experience to the customer and retain their trust. Various
advertisement techniques such as use of social media, website and magazines are used to attract
the customer where the constructive feedback as well as review of people is considered. Being
premium brand successfully encourages the high as well as middle income people to become the
part of company and enhances the revenue of company.
An overview on servant leadership style and challenges associated while practising it
Servant leadership style primarily focuses on the growth as well as development of an
employee by ensuring affirmative interaction with one other and perform the task by enriching

person development. Unlike other traditional approaches here the power is shared with different
team member that collectively work in order to promote the offerings of company. This may
involve the methods like brainstorming as well as group discussion processes which widen up
the arena to think and incorporate the suitable strategy for the welfare of an organisation. It
significant involves the traits like communication, empathy, listening in order to develop the
vital capabilities. This term was coined by Robert Greenleaf in 20th century, being researcher he
identifies the demerits associated with autocratic leadership style such as restricted thinking and
less employer employee involvement. So with the assistance of Servant leadership develop the
perspective to be the part of an organisation that limits the chances of turnover as well as
engagement rate. According to the study of Starbucks Kevin Johnson, CEO of company was set
out to become servant leaders that remained determined in terms to tackle adverse situation and
bring out favourable innovation with full courage and determination. Constant efforts were made
to groom the skills of employees and maximises their ability in terms to build desirable human
connections. Efforts were made to distinguish the services of Starbucks from other rivalries by
keeping precaution for the maintain hygiene factor and promote wearing green apron for the
internal staff throughout the world. Initially Johnson served company as a part of board of
director but his huge determination led him to become CEO in the year 2017. Immense effort of
the servant leader in terms of opening Reserve and Roastery store not only helps the company to
sustain existing customer but attract potential ones as well. For example, these stores offer the
opportunity to new customer in terms to experience the taste of various coffees that are
transformed from unroasted beans into the coffee mug. Further, with the passage of time increase
in competition and impact of digitalization leads to immense pressure on company in terms to
constantly update their production methods. Certain external challenges that can be faced by
companies like Starbucks in the 21st century due to VUCA includes sudden or rapid changes that
directly affect the functioning of firm representing Volatile nature. Along with that the constant
change in the prices of the commodities affect the strategy as well as demand of commodity
(Miranda and Allen, 2017). This term refers to the material quality which identifies that how a
firm can develop better things in order to get long sustainability at marketplace. So application of
Servant leadership within Starbucks is the challenging situation because here the firm need to
make the quick decision on the basis of fluctuation. For instances, as the preferences of customer
constantly changes in this case latest desire needs to be acknowledge by analysing the data and

feedback of existing customer. People are becoming more prone toward fitness so valuable
ingredient needs to be added in terms to deliver value. Along with that uncertain condition
representation unforeseen situation that can arises either due to human or natural calamity. So to
deal with uncertain situation the firm need to carry out pre planning which can mitigate the
negative effect of external environment. It even involves the changing preferences of customer
which is challenge for servant leadership. So Starbucks company with the help of competitive
team need to evaluate the changes in advance and make appropriate decision. In order to secure
interest of employee the manager of company needs to offer desirable security to their employees
in form of medical insurance and job security to retain their trust and successfully cope up with
the challenges.
The objective of Starbucks company is to deliver supreme quality of product to maintain
valuable experience leading to enhancing the footfall of company. But due to complex
environment at times firm faces difficulty for which with the assistance of shared power and
growth efforts effective processes are identify that leads to stable condition. Along with that it
helps to gain the advantage of being first mover and bring innovation in coffee houses.
Furthermore, Ambiguous encompasses unclear situation for an organisation either due to the
lack of data or information which makes it difficult for them to reach out to a solution (Smith and
Cockburn, 2016). So based on the cultural different and liking of people leads to the ambiguous
situation due to which the staff may find difficult to reach out to a particular solution. Starbucks
company have the centralised database that leads to the unambiguous result and help the team
member to attain shared vision within stipulated duration. Hence, training and development
practice helps to enhance the existing skill and capability of overall staff leading to generation of
clarity. This led the competitive team to overcome the challenges preferably.
A critical evaluation of Kevin Johnson’s leadership style focusing on Starbucks improved
financial performance, its ethical challenges and the views being expressed by some of its
current and former employees
Kevin Johnson joined Starbucks in year 2009 as a board member and since then he is
contributing in the development of the organisation with his effective leadership style. He has
taken initiatives to improve the financial performance and respond to the ethical challenges
which are faced by the organisation. The main objective of him is to improve the market position
of the company and expand the business in different locations for which he has used situational

leadership and modified his behaviour according to the situation faced by the enterprise (Pruzan
and et. al., 2017). Like, to remain ahead of the competitors like Barista the company come up
with the innovative concept such as Reserve and Roastery store helps company to bind new
relationship with the new customer by providing them tasting room. Along with that online
delivery of offerings are highly promoted by the company which together increasingly led to
enhance the financial performance of entity. With the leadership of Schultz’s the company was
desirable enough in terms to achieve the target, the earning per share was maximised from 15%-
20%. Later on Johnson was appointed and the former leader who was Schultz’s accepts that
Starbucks has been taken into the new direction where situation are analysed and treated
accordingly. The wide presence and brand image of company helped to sustain the interest of
existing employees as well as attract fresh talent to incorporate better performance. Further,
continuous expansion in size lead to bring change in work pattern for all the staff members
where attention was given on the participation rather than forcing them to work according to
him. This assist Johnson to achieved higher support of all the subordinates which was beneficial
for the attainment of long term business goal. He directed and supported all the staff members to
be delegated towards their work which has leaded the organisation towards success. He trained
the employees to be perfect in their jobs so that they can contribute in the attainment of long term
business goals. Different initiatives for opening new cafes were also taken by him as he was
willing to grow the business so that profitability and market share could be increased. The
situational leadership helped him to make changes in his behaviour according to the employee's
attitude and market situations so that effective decisions could be taken for betterment of
business. He said that six to ten reserve stores of Starbucks will be opened which will help to
bring financial discipline for the organisation. With the help of it the enterprise will be able to
offer higher monetary resources to the shareholders in term of dividend which will be beneficial
for the enhancement of operational efficiency. His discipline and commitment towards the entity
has extended the growth of the organisation in USA. For the purpose of making improvement in
the customer service of the company he is planning to launch new and innovative beverages in
China. This decision of him resulted in development of business at global level. In order to be in
touch of large number of customers the entity launched mobile order application in the market
which lead the company towards growth due to increased market share.

There were various negative implications of his leadership which were increased
workload of all the employees, continuous changes in their jobs etc. Due to this their engagement
level in the work was decreased and affected the overall performance of the company. In opinion
of Andrew Charles the plans which were formed by Johnson will work surely or not it is not
confirmed because the future cannot be predicted. By paying attention towards this he can
formulate effective strategies for future and find ways to deal with all the negative situations
which may take place in future.
Why does Johnson have such a strong personal brand as an effective global leader?
Kevin Johnson CEO of Starbucks is considered as a Global personal brand as he was able
to create influential image amongst both internal stakeholder and external stakeholders. Basically
a leader conveys their personality, if found distinctive and unique allow the person to become
global leader. This support business to cope up with the crises by responding as per the situation
leading to effective management of crises. Kevin Johnson being the situation leader participates
in significant growth and successful of Starbucks company due to which he is recognised as the
global leader. Johnson in his personal and professional life have always given value to promote
desirable amount of change due to which CEO became more keen in terms to expand the size of
physical store to give tough competition to other rivalries. Along with that Johnson used to carry
out direct communication with their employees that boost up their confident and enhanced
overall performance. Installation of latest technology and equipment has become common in
terms to take the company at new platform where they share the position of global dominance.
Being Charismatic leader Kevin Johnson apologised the audience for their controversy under
which black men was arrested at Starbucks Philadelphia store, simple suspicion instigate
company and its members to go through bad time as residence were protesting against the
company. Here the CEO faced the media and accepted their mistake which helped to manage the
crises without any further damage. These entire instances lead Kevin to become one of the most
successful global leaders. Currently, the leader is responsible to manage the international
functioning that includes marketing, human resource, technology by building strong presence in
the digital platform. Being a foresight visionary leads led him to appeal the interest of customers
by working on the online platform and establishing strong position of company amongst
customer (Schiller, 2018). This enhances the customer base of company and helped Johnson's to
leverage the advantage of strong position. He mainly focuses on the data analytics based on

which changes needs of the customer are accommodated which leads to the constant growth of
the sales of company (Ward, 2016). For instance, due to the changing trend the focus is given to
anticipate the chances such as people are becoming more fitness freak so accordingly variety of
beverages like low sugar are served to cater diverse need. So the CEO was also able to maintain
the relationship with internal and external stakeholders by maintaining ethical considerations that
widen the overall revenue. This demonstrates that the leader fundamentally focuses on each and
every parameter with respect to maintain the image of company and enhance the brand image
within global platform. Based on market research effective strategies are prepared to invite the
customer and transform the first time customer to the loyal ones. Thus, most of the company
support determine Johnson's is a global leader because their effectively managed the nutritious
value and widen the scope for customer. Therefore, pre decision making ability help to establish
the unique image and retain the existing customer.
Provide two recommendations as to what you believe Johnson could do to build on his current
success and maintain Starbuck’s sustainability and competitive advantage.
The encouraging role of Johnson's company has desirably maintained the image of
company and gain sustainable growth as well as development. It has enhanced the image of
Starbucks worldwide so here are certain recommendations which are described below:
 Starbucks manager should on the continuous basis analyse the external environment as well
as situation so that favourable decision can be made as well as implemented by company.
Although it is one of the most well-known organisation but there is a huge competition
within coffee house (Young and Ghoshal, 2016). Due to which Johnson who is the global
leaders need to take precaution in order to retain top most position.
 Furthermore, to gain core competency Starbucks company should constantly work on the
digital media in order to significantly enhance the market size by generating traffic rate.
Optimising the online tools helps the firm to gain result at real time based on which
necessary actions can be carried out and modifications are made immediately.
 The company need to provide training to their staff on regular basis that they become
competitive enough in order to deal with extreme situation.
Conclusion
From the above discussion it has been analysed that Johnson is the aspiring global leader
of Starbucks. On his journey he faced various complexities in order to build the image of