(Read the below case to answer the remaining questions)

Star Coffee started off as a street vendor initiative outside IIM Ranchi campus. It soon became a five-store chain in Ranhi and was successful enough to expand to the rest of the country. Many established players, such as Cafe Coffee Day and Costa, were competing in the same labour market. Star Coffee had intentionally adopted a low-cost model as they did not have the luxury to hire experienced baristas (coffee makers) for the job. They had a mix of very few store managers, a few experienced baristas, and mostly fresh management graduates from IIM Ranchi, to manage their outlets.

Every employee, particularly the fresh management graduates, hired for a retail job, was trained on a long list of items. This includes a history of coffee, knowledge of the different kinds of coffee and then preparation of the perfect cup of coffee etc. Further, beverage preparation training occupied even more time, involving activities such as grinding the beans, steaming milk, learning to pull perfect shots of espresso, memorizing the recipes of all the different drinks, practicing the making of different drinks to customer specifications. Also, they were trained how to clean the milk wand on the espresso machine, explaining the Italian coffee names to customers, sell the merchandise, make eye contact with customers, and take personal responsibility for the cleanliness of the coffee bins.

The stores were not big enough to afford different people for different roles. Hence, the baristas were trained in the operational aspects like weighing beans, opening the bag properly, capturing the beans without spilling them on the floor, holding the bag in a way that keeps air from being trapped inside, and affixing labels on the package, exactly one-half inch over the Coffee logo. The baristas were also trained on customer services, retail skills, cash register aspects, and accounting.

The fresh management graduates hired from IIM Ranchi were also trained to support the store managers. Their training covered the practices and procedures as set forth in the company's manual, managing information systems, and the basics of managing people. These were important for the fresh management graduates, as future store managers, to understand and appreciate the cost leadership strategy of the organization and innovate processes to ingrain the same in their behavior, and the behavior of the other staff members in the stores.

In the initial stages of the business, since the store managers were held accountable for the training of the new recruits, they would more often than not train the new recruits themselves. The training was usually successful as it had a personal touch to it. However, now the chain was expanding at the rate of one store each fortnight. Each time Star Coffee opened stores in a new market, it undertook a major recruiting effort. Eight to ten weeks before the opening day, the company placed advertisements on hiring. In the beginning, the sheer number of new people coming into the system had thrown the old system off guard because there were not enough experienced people to take charge of the new recruits. Also, store managers were busy in their operational responsibilities like store management and customer service.

There was also an emerging problem of attrition. Apart from coping with the new recruits, all stores had a steady stream of baristas and fresh management graduates leaving the job. The problem was not only due to the increased volume but also due to the added complexity of the business owing to the different cadre of employees; the managers, the baristas, and the fresh management graduates.

Questions:

1. Identify and categorize the different cadre of employees in Star Coffee into different employee types as given in the framework developed by Tamara Erickson along with researchers Ken Dychtwald and Bob Morison. Articulate the rationale for assigning a particular cadre into a particular employee type.

2. Create the various elements of guiding philosophy and tangible image as per the framework proposed by James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras.

3. For the fresh management graduate cadre, design an initiative to provide a signature experience that is tailor made for their employee type, as identified by you. Articulate how the initiative encompasses the purpose and mission of the organization, as created