University Assignment: Organisational Behaviour of Starbucks

This research paper provides a comprehensive analysis of Starbucks' organisational behaviour. It delves into various aspects, including leadership styles, communication networks, decision-making processes, and negotiation strategies. The study highlights team-building approaches, training programs, and the company's innovation culture, discussing the required changes and the application of the three-phase model of planned change to address issues like discrimination. The paper also examines the organisational structure, mission statement, strategic objectives, and the vital aspects contributing to Starbucks' success. Furthermore, it identifies the sources of resistance to change and suggests mitigation strategies. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and emphasizes the significance of the company's inclusive culture, shared values, and commitment to innovation, offering valuable insights into Starbucks' operational dynamics.

Running head: ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR 1
ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
(Research paper on Starbucks)
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ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR 2
Abstract
The research paper focused on the organisational behaviour of the Starbucks which
had explained the company's leadership, communication networks, decision making,
negotiations process, organisational change, power, politics, organisational culture and
innovation, goals and structure, strategy, technology, and organisational design. The study
had identified the discrimination against the minorities as one of the enormous challenges in
the company and to solve it, Three-phase model of planned change had been used. Changes
had been done in the team due to the culture of the Starbucks which mainly includes a
combination of the inclusion and diversity of the organisational values in it. In order to
analyse the environment of the company, a small discussion on the structure of the company
had been done. In addition, a vital aspect of the company had been focused that had played a
significant growth in its business sectors.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................4
2. Brief overview........................................................................................................................4
3. Discussion..............................................................................................................................5
3.1 Team building...................................................................................................................5
3.1.1 Approach to accomplish team-building and drive innovation...................................5
3.1.2 Training programmes for teams.................................................................................6
3.1.3 Decision making........................................................................................................6
3.2 Change Management and Innovation Culture..................................................................7
3.2.1 Changes required in the company..............................................................................7
3.2.2 Three-phase model of planned change......................................................................7
3.2.3 Viability to achieve the planned change in the company..........................................8
3.2.4 Sources of resistance and ways to mitigate them......................................................9
3.2.5 Company’s culture, shared values, and common cultural assumptions....................9
3.2.6 Company's process of innovation............................................................................10
3.2.7 Leadership in the company to infuse innovation.....................................................10
3.3 Organisational structure..................................................................................................10
3.3.1 Company's mission statement, code of ethics, and organisational chart.................10
3.3.2 Strategic objectives..................................................................................................11
3.3.3 Advantages of the organisation's form.....................................................................11
3.3.4 Structure defining the company’s strategy..............................................................12
3.3.5 Structure type...........................................................................................................12
4. Vital aspects of Starbucks....................................................................................................12
5. Conclusion............................................................................................................................14
References................................................................................................................................15

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1. Introduction
Starbucks is one of the reputed companies in the world that offers high-quality coffee
to its consumers. The company offers a better selection of teas and some other variants that
suits the interests of the customers. It was founded in the year 1971, which had now expanded
into 30000 retail stores over 80 markets globally (Starbucks, 2019). The primary mission of
the company is to nurture the spirit of humans into one cup for one person. As a result, the
coffee that is offered to the people possesses higher quality. The company is not only a
profitable but rather a responsible one where it lays equal emphasis on its relationship with
the consumers. It is a considerable company which had been satisfying the needs of its
customers through its employee strength of 300000.
Figure 1: Starbucks company logo
(Source: Starbucks, 2019)
2. Brief overview
The paper would involve an introduction to the company where several aspects of it would be
discussed. Some of them are the company's leadership, communication networks, decision

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making, negotiations process, organisational change, power, politics, organisational
culture and innovation, goals and structure, strategy, technology, and organisational
design. In addition, the body section of the research paper had given a discussion on the
topics of team building, Change Management and Innovation Culture and the organisational
structure of the company. Some questions would be answered regarding the importance of
technological innovation by the company with a proper analysis of the organisation's
environment.
3. Discussion
3.1 Team building
Team building could be defined as the process of accumulating the different
individuals into a cohesive team so that the customers can accomplish the goals set up by the
company. The various sections of the team building are as follows:
3.1.1 Approach to accomplish team-building and drive innovation
Starbucks had been able to develop a good relationship between the employees in the
company. As a result, they had been able to deliver the tasks within a limited time (Liu &
Zhang, 2019). They even try to use the partner tag to define the employees, which show that
everyone is respected irrespective of the position. In these companies, the team usually
comprise of three to six members, and this helps them to work for a common goal. As a
result, they could even participate in the stage of revising the policies, and that helps the
company to create an inclusive team. The outcomes are that with proper participation of these
employees, there is a better brainstorming session through, which they could give their ideas
for the organisation (Mason, Cole & Goza, 2017).

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This helps the company to create better products that could help it to remain
competitive in the beverage sector. With properly trained employees, they can interact with
the customers, which allows them to know the demands of them. This had helped the
company to introduce new segments like the Cappuccino Freddo which had been inspired by
Greece (Sebastian, 2018). The product innovation taken in the Starbucks is entirely
sustainable and are designed in such a way so that there is less effect on the environment
which also goes credit to the leadership styles used in those firms.
3.1.2 Training programmes for teams
There are quite a vast number of training programmes at the Starbucks which had
helped its employees to perform at their best. One of them is the Barista basics training
programme through which, the barista is given the necessary training skills so that they could
deal with the consumers in such a manner so that it could retain them in the future (Starbucks,
2019). There is also the retail management training programme through which the employees
learn to solve the problems which helps them to maximise the profits. The result of this
training programme is that the teams are better in handling issues with the consumers and
maintaining relations with them (Kang & Namkung, 2017). Due to this, the company had
been able to retain and attract most of its customers in recent times, which had contributed to
the profitability of the company.
3.1.3 Decision making
The decision-making process of the employees is perfect as everyone's opinions are
equally valuated, and this helps them to work as a team to achieve the common goals. In
addition, the company even gives an equal value to the ethics in the decision process where
its decision making is quite in alignment with the mission statement of it. As the employees
are given an equal opportunity, it helps the team members to collaborate properly, thereby

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enhancing the communication to be more useful than ever before. This is due to the company
policies that had been adopted in this firm, and it is one of the essential reasons why
Starbucks is one of the successful companies (Walrave et al., 2018). For example, when the
managers had to introduce new products, they were not sure whether the unique flavour
would suit the needs of the customers and so they launched the green tea Frappuccino which
suits the needs of the customers belonging to different tastes. For this to be done, they had
taken the help of several communication networks which revolves from sales promotion,
social media, advertising to the public relations.
3.2 Change Management and Innovation Culture
In order to stay on the market, there had to be some changes which are done by the
manager and that involves a certain kind of innovation in the product line. This is brought
about by change management (Rosenbaum, More & Steane, 2018).
3.2.1 Changes required in the company
The company had already been facing backlash due to the diverse issues, and this had
allowed the managers to take legal action against them. It had even been seen that the
employees belonging to the minorities group often face some discrimination in one form or
the other which had been observed in case of the Philadelphia stores. That is why the
managers in the company should be rigorous in handling the diversity in the company (Rubin
& Abramson, 2018). One of the changes that the manager could bring in the organisation is
the promotion of the people belonging to different cultural backgrounds. In addition, the
leadership style of the company should; be made flexible so that the organisation becomes
more diverse and any discrimination should be stopped to maintain the mission of the
company (Norbom & Lopez, 2016).
3.2.2 Three-phase model of planned change

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The Three-phase model of planned change states that the problems in an
organisation had to be estimated with the help of three steps, namely unfreeze, change and
refreeze. In the unfreeze stage, the problem is reviewed at a ground level. The next step is the
change where the organisation had to spend some of its time to solve the issues. The last step
states that the difference had to be applied and executed in real time. From the perspective of
the model, the manager had to check the diversity problem and to investigate the issues which
are creating problems for the minorities (Hanifah et al., 2019). After that, the manager had to
check what type of changes could be used which could vary from maintaining the balance of
the diversity to the improvement of the management system so that the problems could not be
solved. The last step is to use the technique to solve out the issues which are affecting the
performance of the minorities in real time scenario.
Figure 2: Three-phase model of planned change
(Source: Hanifah et al., 2019)
3.2.3 Viability to achieve the planned change in the company
The changes in the company could be applied with the help of the following
techniques:
Force coercion

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The manager had to punish the people who had been charged with disrupting the
environment of the workplace. This would prevent the people from taking any step that could
challenge the diversity issues in Starbucks (Green, 2016).
Rational persuasion
The manager must be very rational in the approaches to bring certain changes ion the
organisation so that the problems could be solved out easily. Such actions are significant in
the unfreeze and refreeze steps that had been discussed above.
Shared power
The manager should be giving special training to the employees on the anti-
discriminatory approaches so that the discrimination against minorities does not happen in the
workplace. This often takes up too much time to execute them successfully (Garthwaite et al.,
2017).
3.2.4 Sources of resistance and ways to mitigate them
The main sources of resistance come from the white people who might object to the
actions of the manager in achieving the diverse culture in the workplace. However, the
manager could take up certain steps to solve the resistance (Hossain & Islam, 2015). The
manager should be strict in dealing with the issues by giving the right punishment so that the
problem does not get repeated. This would help the manager to create a diverse workplace
leading to the growth of innovation and creativity in the company.
3.2.5 Company’s culture, shared values, and common cultural assumptions
The culture of Starbucks mainly includes a combination of the inclusion and diversity
of the organisational values in it. Some of the benefits of the company are the servant
leadership, openness, diversity, relationship is driven performance and communication across

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the team members (Gilmore, 2017). As diversity is one of their central cultural values, so, the
manager had to use strict action as per the company's policies to maintain the inclusion in the
workplace. In addition, the servant leadership of the company helps the employees in the
company to develop irrespective of their colour, thereby making it one of the reputed
companies.
3.2.6 Company's process of innovation
The company's inclusive culture plays a vital role in bringing creativity to the
products made by Starbucks, thereby leading to better innovation in their new products. In
addition, the company uses data from the stores to align the products on the menu in par with
the preferences of the customers. Moreover, with the help of data, they can create products
that satisfy the desires of the customers (Rachel, 2018).
3.2.7 Leadership in the company to infuse innovation
The manager in the company displays the servant leadership so that every employee
gets developed (Baldonado, 2019). This shows that the manager gives equal importance to
every employee. As a result, the employee can be more participative in their approaches
leading to cerate better products which reflects the culture of innovation in the company.
3.3 Organisational structure
Organisational structure defines the framework by which the activities had been
performed to achieve the organisation goals.
3.3.1 Company's mission statement, code of ethics, and organisational chart
The mission statement of the company is to nurture the spirit of humans into one cup
for one person (Starbucks, 2019).

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The code of ethics of the company helps it to protect the culture and to help the
partners in making ethical decisions at the workplace. The company tries to preserve equality
among diversity in the workplace (Gupta, Nagpal & Malik, 2018).
The organisational chart is given below:
Figure 3: Organisational chart
(Source: Starbucks, 2019)
3.3.2 Strategic objectives
The strategic objectives of Starbucks are to expand the retail business in newer
markets so that they could increase their market shares. Another critical strategy of it is to sell
the coffee belonging to high quality (Nan & Li, 2017).
3.3.3 Advantages of the organisation's form
The advantages of the organisation's structure are that the efficiency of serving the
customers is high as compared to the others. As a result, the products are being designed in
such a manner so that better products are being given with the minimum rate.

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3.3.4 Structure defining the company’s strategy
The structure used by the company represents the strategy. As the company tries to be
the forerunners on satisfying the desires of the customers, so, it requires flexibility to change
the model as fast as possible to remain competitive (Aksoy, 2017). In this case, using the
mechanistic organisational structure adds an extra benefit to the company's target of
achieving its goals.
3.3.5 Structure type
Starbucks modifies its structure depending on the needs of the customers so that it
could remain competitive (Giantari & Jatra, 2019). As a result, it uses the organizational
design of matrix structure where the divisional and functional elements are integrated. That
is the reason, it uses the mechanistic structure.
3.3.6 Controls in the company
The mechanistic organisational structure had better controls over the other structures.
The main reason is that the structure is centralised, and this is due to its tighter control over
the entire company, so, the efficiency in the business process is high.
4. Vital aspects of Starbucks
The most crucial element that the company had been successful due to its consumer
education. Through its proper implementation of tools and techniques, it had been able to
know the interests of the customers, and this helped it to design the products. The company
had been able to build a relationship with the customers in various steps so that they could
know the demands of the customers (Mohammed, 2018). The result was that the company
used several tools like data analytics to understand the preferences of the customers. As a
result, the menu created in the stores had been designed based on the needs of the customers