Analysis of Workplace Critical Thinking at Costa Coffee: A Report

This report delves into the concept of critical thinking within a workplace context, focusing on the British multinational coffee house, Costa Coffee. It begins by defining critical thinking and its importance in rational decision-making and problem-solving. The report explores the relationships between beliefs, attitudes, and values, and their impact on organizational culture and employee performance. It differentiates between these elements using a comparative table. The report then applies theoretical models such as the OCEAN framework and Hofstede's cultural model to analyze Costa Coffee's management practices. It examines how these models can be used to understand and improve employee behavior, fostering a positive work environment. The report concludes by assessing the influence of these factors on workplace behavior, with a focus on operational management and the alignment of employee efforts with organizational goals.

Developing workplace
critical thinking

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................2
Explanation of beliefs, attitude and value along with difference between them as per
theoretical model....................................................................................................................2
Explanation of role at workplace along with management theories relevant to role.............6
Critical assessment of my belief, attitude and values on particular management theory in
context to operational management........................................................................................8
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................9
Critically assess the impact of beliefs, attitudes and values on own workplace behaviour.. .9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Critical thinking is refers to the process as well as ability of an individual to think
rationally and clearly for determining the logical connection between ideas. It is all about
believe, carefully analysing, problem solving, judgement, understanding and moving on with
better thoughts which results into positive outcome (Christiansen, Prescott and Ball, 2014).
Critical thinking is not only relay over thinking analytically or different but it also involve
emotion as well as intuition. In addition to this, critical thinking is about coming up with creative
solution to a problem in order to bring up new idea which is useful and relevant to particular
task. It perform a significant role in evaluating new idea, selecting appropriate one and then
modifying them as per the current situation.
Critical thinking is consider as a that mode of thinking about any problem, content or
subject in which thinker enhance the quality of thinking by effectively analysing, assessing and
then restructuring it. In addition to this critical thinking entails effective communication and
problem solving ability which is very essential for key persons of an organisation in order to
keep the organisational strategy much effective and competent that can deal with competition
present in market. Hence, skill of critical thinking is very essential for human resource
department as they are responsible for formation of strategy regarding the management of
employees as well as aligning their efforts toward the accomplishment of organisational goals. It
consists of diverse culture as it employs individuals from several different regions which are
different in term of their custom, belief, language, culture etc. Thus it is crucial to manage the
cultural diversity effectively by making a proper framework of management.
The company selected for this project is Costa Coffee which is a British multinational
coffee house, headquartered in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. It was founded in year 1971 within
London which was operated as a wholesale operation for supplying roasted coffee to specialist
Italian coffee shops or caterers (Rudge, 2016). Now it is consider as a second largest coffee
house chain around the world and largest within UK as it maintain around 2,121 restaurants
around the country and over 6000 Costa Express vending facilities and around 1280 outlets
throughout the world. This report contains a detail description regrading the beliefs, values and
attitudes along with difference between them on the basis of theoretical model. In addition to this
it also assess the impact of these factors over workplace behaviour. Apart from this, it also
encompasses implementation of academic models and theories.
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TASK 1
Explanation of beliefs, attitude and value along with difference between them as per theoretical
model
Attitude, belief and value are consider as a factor that have direct influence over the
culture of an organisation which in turn also influence the growth as well as success. This is
because these factors are consider as an internal characteristics of an organisation which helps
employees to grow and perform their operations effectively to achieve success. These factors are
different in term of their impact as well as outcome they have with the implication over
particular situation (Shoulders, Follett and Eason, 2014). Hence these factors posses certain
differences which can be better understood with the help of following table:
Difference between Values, Beliefs and Attitudes
Value, attitude and beliefs that an individual employee contains has a great influence over
the performance of an organisation as it affect the way employees perform their duty. This is
because a satisfied employees always have a positive attitude toward the management and put
their efforts to work over the instruction of management. As a result of which employees become
able to accomplish their targets much effectively (Alfaro-LeFevre, 2015). This is the main reason
behind the success of Costa coffee as it put more emphases toward the satisfaction of its
employees at workplace. As a result of which it has been claimed that around 40000 staffs of
Whitbread which is parent company, are the most satisfied quantity over high street as well as in
hotel industry. This in turn improved the performance of employees and they become able to
attract around 3.8 million customers on weekly basis which has enhanced the sale up to 7.1%.
But these factors are different from one another in term of practices and because of which it is
very essential for Costa coffee to manage them accordingly. The difference between these three
is explained below:
Basis Value Attitude Belief
Concept Values are basically
derived from cultural as
well as social influence of
a person.
Attitudes are the factors
which totally relies over
personal experience.
Apart from this
information integration
Belief are something
more then attitude as well
as value because it is
related with formation of
ethical behaviour to
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theory also help a
person in enhancing
their information as well
as knowledge from
different field for
improving their overall
attitude among others.
perform work within
society. It also contribute
toward developing ethics
as well as morale within
an individual.
Definition It is defined as an element
which help in guiding up
behaviour of an individual
over specific time period.
Values are the one which
motivate an employee to
perform in particular
direction (Rutter and
Brown, 2015).
Attitude is defined as a
tendency to react
positively or negatively
over a particular
situation or event. These
reactions contribute
toward exerting
favourable or
unfavourable behaviour
of employees at
workplace.
Beliefs are considered as
an understanding which
is already prevailing
within the community.
This may be due to
religions that are being
told by our ancestors. At
workplace the
performance of
employees get affected
by that belief which an
employee holds for
management.
Significance Value support in
differentiating and then
deciding what is good or
bad, right or wrong etc.
Costa Coffee managers
must focuses toward
fulfilling the expectation of
its employees for creating
value in front of them. This
in turn help employees in
Attitudes on the other
hand are likes as well as
dislike toward certain
object which guide up
the actions of individual
in particular direction.
Coast coffee must
focuses toward creating
value among its
employees so that it
Belief help in identifying
the attitude as well as
opinion about several
other aspects of external
environment. In order to
develop a positive belief
of employees toward
management it is very
essential for Costa coffee
to analyse the beliefs of
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performing work in right
direction.
would be able to get
favourable attitude from
its employees whenever
they take decision.
employees and then try to
mould it in positive
manner so that
performance can be
improved.
Flexibility Values are consider as
permanent in nature and
they are usually formed up
in long period of time.
Hence in order to create
value among employees,
Costa coffee is required to
put efforts for long
duration for which it can
reduce the workload of
employees by dividing
work into 3-4 shifts.
But on the other side
attitude is an element
which can be changed as
per experience. Hence
Costa coffee must
focuses toward
providing positive job
experience to employees
then the attitude will
always remain
favourable to situation.
Belief is not build in a
single day rather it
depends over the
experience that a person
had throughout his/her
life. Belief is generally
form up as per the norms
or facts followed by
society, reference group
etc. with which an
individual lives and
belongs too. Hence Costa
coffee must focuses
toward spreading positive
behaviour within the
workplace by keeping the
policies more favourable
toward employees.
Hence from the above given information it can be said that value, belief and attitude are
different in term of their characteristics and must be manage individually for getting more
positive result. This is because these factors have direct influence over the growth as well as
success of an organisation (Lutchman, Ghanem and Maharaj, 2016). These elements are all
contribute toward forming up an individual's behaviour at workplace. Therefore it is very
essential for Costa Coffee to work toward improving the value, belief and attitude of employees
so that it will result in improving their performance and also contribute toward the
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accomplishment of organisational goals as well as targets. Hence in order to understand and
improve the behaviour of employees toward their jobs as well as responsibility following
framework can be used by Costa Coffee.
 Analysing of Costa Coffee using OCEAN framework:- This is one of the most
prominent theory of personality which divides an individual behaviour in five basic
dimensions known as extraversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness and
neuroticism (The Big Five Personality Traits Model, 2019). By considering these factor
among its employees working at managerial level, Costa Coffee become able to identify
the reason behind the behaviour a manger exert toward its subordinates (Chaffee, 2014).
This in turn help in improving the organisational culture for employees so that they can
perform operations effectively and contribute toward the accomplishment of goals and
objective. This is because these personality traits are directly linked with the belief as
well as attitude that a person have to because of value it gain through job. Hence
implementation of this model will help in improving the culture of organisation which in
turn contribute toward improving the employees' belief, attitude and value toward
management.
 Analysing Costa Coffee using Hofstede's cultural model:- In order to identify the
belief as well as values which employees share it is very essential for a company to
understand the culture in which an organisation follows. Hofstede formulated a
framework which consists of five major dimensions which support in learning different
cultures. These factors are power distance, masculinity, individualism, uncertainty
avoidance and long term orientation. As per the dimension of Hofstede model, it has been
identified that Costa Coffee follows a low power distance dimension for maintaining a
better culture which is friendly to its employees (Franco, Butler and Halpern, 2015).
Apart from this corporate beliefs in respecting its employees at workplace and providing
them equal opportunity to prove themselves. In addition to this it has been found that
costa coffee maintain a big team hence it is low at individualistic but high at collectivism.
In term of uncertainty avoidance company take lots of risk by expanding its franchises
over several different locations or countries. Apart from this masculinity and femininity
is one in which equal opportunities is being provided to employees despite of performing
any kind of discrimination at workplace. Therefore it can be said that Costa Coffee is
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having femininity culture as it work over one basic principle which state that caring for
environment as well as society which is a long term aspects.
Conclusion
From the above discussed information it has been found that Costa Coffee is one of the
well known brand with a biggest market base which is a main reason behind its sustainability
over such competitive marketplace. This become possible due to the strong organisational
culture that Costa Coffee has formed because the performance of a company is directly linked
with the culture in which business operations performed. Costa Coffee have a culture of
collectivism where employees work with coordination over single objective and get equal
opportunity at workplace.
Explanation of role at workplace along with management theories relevant to role
Costa coffee is one of the leading and well-known brand which maintain a chain of
coffee-house throughout the world. In this company I have been appointed as an operation
manager and I am responsible for managing the resources that are required to perform operations
as well as monitoring of work done by employees engaged in operational activities. In addition
to this my responsibility is to ensure effective execution of operations so that there would be
maximisation of productivity by minimising wastage (Materne, Henderson and Eaton, 2015).
After having the experience of around three years I have observed that Costa Coffee implement
several management theories and framework in order to manage workforce effectively and to
enhance the controlling practices. This is because, management theories are usually consists of
certain type of rules which provides guidelines to an organisation regarding the way through
which they can manage operations effectively that leads to most positive outcome. In addition to
this it also help in providing a pathway through which managers can guide and align the efforts
of its subordinate toward the accomplishment of organisational goals and objectives. In addition
to this, theories also support in motivating employees to work properly. The theories which suits
to my role is explained below:
Theory of scientific management theory:- This theory was given by American
mechanical engineer named as Frederick Taylor, which state that management is an art which
must be conducted with some suitable efficiency as well as skills for which a proper framework
is required so that practices can be performed in systematic manner (Waring and Evans, 2014).
For this Taylor created scientific management theory which put more emphases over the fact that
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forcing people to perform better and work harder is not the best way to optimize result. Instead
of that Taylor suggest that task must be simplify for increasing the efficiency of employees as
well as organisational productivity. The main objective of this framework is to provide an
guidelines regarding the way in which manager and supervisors can implement their skills as
well as capabilities in order to achieve organisational goals. This framework is implemented by
an organisation to ensure labour productivity as well as economic efficiency with an
organisation. Costa Coffee is an organisation which operates its business at large scale and for
this it requires efficient plans, policies and strategies for achieving positive outcome in term of
profitability. Being an operational manager basic principles that must be followed from scientific
theory are authority responsibility relationship and scalar chain (Finlayson, 2016). Under this
number of evidence are supported to proof an hypothesis which represents fact regarding the
chance of getting better outcome. This is a coordinative assemble of several observations as well
as explanation which works within a wide range of conditions. This theory is suitable according
to my job role because main aim of mine is to enhance productivity and by implementation of
this principle I would be able to determine several aspects that can be consider in order to
enhance the productivity.
Another principle of scientific theory state that separate planning must be performed for
several activities and even for group of employees for ensuring that workers get regular
encouragement as well a operational efficiency. Being an operational manager I am responsible
for considering several techniques such as motion, time and fatigue so that each worker can
perform their work effectively as per the time specified for their operations. The main reason
behind considering this theorist and implementing scientific theory is that principles provided by
FW Taylor can be properly moulded by organisation as per their internal factors and can create a
productive work culture at workplace.
Bureaucratic theory of management:- As per the view point of Max Weber,
bureaucracy is consider as one of the most efficient way to establish an organisation and its
administration. This is because theory suggest that in such king of organisation everyone is
treated equally and labour division is also describe clearly for each employee. Being an
operational management this theory is more suitable to my role as well as practices I perform in
Cost a coffee (Griffin and Care, 2014). Implementation of this theory help me in better
understanding of regulations as well as authorities that may affect the operations of an
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organisation and may create legal compliances. In addition to this, theory also explained an
organisation by classifying it into a hierarchy for developing a clear and defined structure.
Hence, this theory help in improving the flow of information from top to lower level
management which support in bringing clarity within the authority responsibility direction and
relationship which help in improving the overall performance of staff members.
This theory includes several features like hierarchy of authority, division of work, clear
rules and regulations, technical competence, record keeping and impersonal relationship. These
all work toward creating an effective organisational structure which help in improving the
culture of Costa Coffee (Bureaucratic Theory by Max Weber, 2019). The main reason behind
selecting this theory is that it help me in getting specialised operations from my subordinates, it
also enhance my predictability regarding the outcome of particular result and at last it help in
forming up an effective structure which leads to maximum utilisation of resources at minimum
cost (John and Roberts, 2017). The theorist Max Weber has been selected because he has
provided modern principles that are related with my role as well as objective of improving
operations by maximising production at minimum cost. These are performed with the help of
bureaucracies that help in effective flow of information.
Critical assessment of my belief, attitude and values on particular management theory in context
to operational management
Management theory is consider as a concept that help in improving the strategies and
guide a manager to manage organisational practices effectively. In addition to this, it also help in
assisting employees toward aligning their efforts for accomplishment of organisational goals.
Being an operational manager within such as big brand i.e., costa coffee, management of
employees in this department become more crucial as it may affect the performance of
organisation. Theory which best suited to my role and responsibilities is Scientific management
theory which is given by Frederick Taylor. This theory focuses over improving the efficiency as
well as skills of an individual working within the organisation. For this Taylor suggested that the
work perform over operational floor is repetitive in nature where employees have to perform
similar task each day (Thornton III, Mueller-Hanson and Rupp, 2017). This doesn't lead to
enhancement of skills as well as efficiency of employees neither it contribute in increasing the
productivity. Hence, an operational manger must focuses toward brining innovative way to
perform operation on regular interval which help in increasing the efficiency of operations.
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I belief that this theory is more effective and fruitful in improving the performance of
employees at workplace this is because it work over a principle i.e. “Development of each and
every person to his/her greatest efficiency and prosperity”. This is one of the most crucial
principle that must be implemented within managerial practices as the main role of mine is to
improve efficiency as well as productivity of employees to achieve operational targets. But on
the other side main drawback of this is that it delays the operations as by working over
development of each employees it become harder to manage with the organisational targets. In
addition to this there is a principle of Taylor i.e. “Science, Not rule of thumb” suggest that
employees must not stuck with a set routine rather it constantly experimenting new techniques to
improve work (Rubenfeld and Scheffer, 2014). For instance, I usually try to shuffle the task or
duty of my subordinates or team members so that they would be able to learn new things. This
will help in improving the skills or capability of employees by making them more flexible
toward challenges. But my attitude toward this is negative as regular changes within working
process may affect the quality as well as efficiency of operational and may also delay the work.
Apart from all this one of the principle given by Taylor i.e. “Harmony, Not Discord” state
that an organisation must focuses toward creating such an environment at workplace where there
is harmony in practices and each individual is being provided with equal opportunity. This is
consider as one of the most valuable practice that an organisation can consider in order to make
its culture more cooperative. This is because occurrence of mental revolution help in ending up
all the conflicts that are present among employees and benefit them. The main reason behind
selecting the Fredrick Winslow Taylor is that it work over basic principles that contribute
toward creating more and more involvement of employees toward the organisational goals or
objective. Hence this will help in enhancing the culture of organisation by getting more
employees engagement and job satisfaction that fruiterer contribute toward increasing the
productivity of Costa coffee.
TASK 2
Critically assess the impact of beliefs, attitudes and values on own workplace behaviour
Within each organisation, workers as well as managers work under certain pre-set
behaviours which ensures the efficiency as well as its effectiveness. This behaviour is actually
form up by the attitude, value and belief that employees have toward their job as well as
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management under which they work. This in turn have a direct influence over the performance of
employees (Olson, 2014). As a person I value enthusiasm, integrity, commitment to hard work
and growth which also I represent in my working practices as I also put extra efforts toward
making my subordinate work effectively by providing them proper guidance and equal
opportunity. This in turn enhance the morale of employees as they feel attached with company
as they get freedom to share their view point and opinion. Apart from this, being a manager I
believe that it is my responsibility to control the work done by my employees by setting up my
virtues idol to them which they prefer to follow for performing their duty. Hence from the above
given discuss it can be said that attitude, belief and value which I posses constitute my workplace
behaviours and form up my working style. This can be better understood with the help of
OCEAN model which consider around five personality trait that has an influence over the actions
that are performed by an individual (Nafukho and Muyia, 2014). These personality traits are
Openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. From all these trait I
stands over conscientiousness which state that a person having capability to leads team,
processing work effectively by formulating proper plan, organise and try to complete operations
in systematic manner that bring more positive outcome.
Being an operational manager at Costa coffee it is the responsibility of mine to ensure
that operations are performed in effective manner along with the development of employees
efficiency. In order to perform this role effectively value, belief and attitude plays a significant
role in forming up a behaviour which help in keeping employees motivated and align toward the
practices they perform. Being an operational manager I personally belief enhancement of
employees efficiency is only possible when a manager perform operations with its subordinates
by proper coordination rather then assigning task individually and pressurising them to perform.
This only leads to employees dissatisfaction at workplace. Hence, I work with my employees at
Costa Coffee in order to guide them over the operations they have to perform in order to ensure
effectiveness in operations. This also help me in forming my operation by considering ethical
values of mine which do not allow me to being bias or partial to anybody and provide them equal
opportunity and support at workplace. It will support in increasing the involvement as well as
motivation of employees toward work which in turn help in improving the market performance
of Costa coffee. These both are my personal belief as well as value which I usually consider
while performing my duty. Apart from that, these things are also consider by Taylor in principle
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