Starbucks Corporation: Case Study in Motivation and TeamworkBecause of rapid globalization over recent years, competitionaround the world becomes more intense, especially for the serviceindustry with similar products. The most critical point forbusiness to achieve success is not only the quality of productsthey supply, but the atmosphere of cooperating and the amountyielded from teamwork in retail sales. Therefore, it turns out tobe essential for companies to motivate, reward and train theiremployees to be the best quality personnel. Starbucks Corporation,the most famous chain of retail coffee shops in the world, mainlybenefits from roasting and selling special coffee beans,and othervarious kinds of coffee or tea drinks. It owns about 4000 branchesin the whole world. Moreover, it has been one of the most rapidgrowing corporations in America as well. The reasons why Starbucksis popular worldwide are not only the quality of coffee, but alsoits customer service and cozy environment. Starbucks establishescomfortable surroundings for people to socialize with a fair price,which attracts all ages of consumers to come into the stores.Besides, it is also noted for its employee satisfaction. Theturnover rate of employees at Starbucks was 65% and the rate ofmanagers was 25% a year However, the rates of other national chainretailers are 150% to 400% and 50% respectively. Compared withthem, the turnover rate of Starbucks is much lower than otherindustries on average.As a result, Starbucks is one of the optimalbusiness models for strategies of employee motivation, customersatisfaction and cooperation of teamwork. The history of StarbucksStarbucks began by three friends, Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, andGordon Bowker, who knew each other at the University of Seattle, in1971. A sales representative, Howard Schultz, decided to be a partof Starbucks, as director of marketing and retail sales,after herealized the atmosphere and environment of the company.In 1985Howard Schultz chose to establish a new coffee shop, named IIGiornale, in Seattle. After the next two years, due to thesuccessful strategy of Schultz, the original three owners ofStarbucks decided to sell their corporation to Schultz. ThenSchultz gathered other investors and changed the name of IIGiornale to Starbucks. He sought to pursue his dream to makeeveryone taste his coffee, so he focused on the rate of expanding.At that time, he though that the most efficient way to grow theamount of branches was to set up new stores in other places. InI987, Starbucks had the first overseas store in Japan. Until theend of 2002, Starbucks has developed from 17 stores to 5,688spreading over 30;it has grown over 300 times in these ten years!In Fortune magazine, Starbucks was ranked the 11th best company towork for in 2005 in the USA and then rose up in 2006 to 29th. In2007, it was ranked as the 16th best. In the same year, Starbuckswas also voted as one of the top ten UK workplaces by the FinancialTimes. Motivation Motivation is a vital factor for business in theproduction process. Labourers are not machines, and can not alwaysdo the same task with equal passion. The chief executive officer ofStarbucks corporation, Howard Schultz, considers that the reasonfor success in Starbucks is not coffee but employees. He firmlybelieves that the spirit of Starbucks is employees and feelshonoured about the value of Starbucks employees. Starbucks offersan interactive structure that makes personnel throw themselves intotheir job.1)Equal treatment: The managers in Starbucks treat eachemployee equally and all of the staff are called ‘partners’, eventhe supervisors of each branch. In order to narrow the gap betweenmanagers and employees, they also co-work with the basic levelstaffin the front line. Due to this, they can maintain a goodmanagement system and create a much closer and more familiaratmosphere than other places. Not only do employees enjoy their jobbut customers are also affected by their enthusiasm. 2) Listen toemployees: Starbucks has a well-organized communication channel foremployees. It places great importance on labour. For example,managers plan the working hours per workers and arrange theschedule of time off, according to the workers’wants in order tomeet their requirements. There are interviews weekly to see whatemployees’ needs are. The partners have the right to figure outwhat is the best policy for them, and the directors show a respectfor each suggestion. Starbucks even wants every employee to join inmaking and developing plans, then work together in achieving theirgoals. As a result, the policies and principles are communicatedbetween all staff, and there is no limitation in employees’personal opinions.3)Good welfare measures: All employees, includinginformal personnel, are offered a great deal of welfare policies,for instance, commodities discounts for employees, medicalinsurance (including health, vision and dental) and vacations.Moreover, the partners who work over 20 hours a week are entitledto benefits. Starbucks also thinks that debt financing is not thebest choice, thus it chooses to allocate stock dividends to allemployees with a free script issue. By this policy, the employeescan get benefits from the dividends of the company. Because ofthis, they have the same goal; in other words, they are motivatedto increase the sales to earn more profits.To Starbucks,theemployees are the most important asset .Teamwork1) The strategiesto keep good relationships: Starbucks establishes a well-developedsystem to keep good relationships between mangers and employees. Asmentioned,they use the title “partner” regardless of the level ofthe worker, which narrows the gap of bureaucracy. Furthermore, theyco-work in the first line to eliminate the distance betweendifferent statuses. Thirdly, the numbers of employees are usuallyfrom three to six. Such a small size helps staff get to know eachother easily and deeply. Suggestions and complaints made byemployees are treated of equal importance. In the same way, theyhave a right to participate in the process of revising companypolicies. In that case, each staff member thinks that they alsoplay an important role in company operating, and they jointly workout the direction of Starbucks. All this gives employees respectand a sense of participation.2)A goal of public welfare: Starbuckscontributes part of its profits to public service. As a consequencestaff have an idea that what they do for Starbucks is for societyas well. With regard to goals, Starbucks set a challenging andspecific goal, and it allows all partners to decide the direction.Conclusion:Starbucks changes the behaviours and view points ofglobal consumers of coffee, and this successful example has caughtglobal attention. Nowadays, it is not only one of the fastestgrowing corporation, but also an outstanding business model withlow employee turnover rate and high profit performance. Starbucksshows that motivation is the key factor of a companypolicy,opposite to the principles of classical management which isonly concerned about production and ignores workers’ ideas. A goodrelationship between managers and employees could maintain a highquality of performance. We can learn from Starbucks: using thecorrect strategy leads to success

Required: Read the case study on Starbucks and answer thequestions that follow. Remember to ALWAYS answer in FULLSENTENCES.

Questions:

5) How does Starbucks manage to keep good relationships betweentheir managers and employees (8)

6) Name the five issues that teams should take note of andaddress if necessary, before these issues become a crisis. (5)

7) The staff at Starbucks are empowered and motivated employees.Briefly explain, in your own words, the three principles thatStarbucks implement in motivating their employees. (9)

8) Management needs to commit to certain aspects in order toempower employees. List four of these aspects. (4)

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

5 Starbucks manages to keep good relationships between their managers and employees through several strategies Firstly they treat all employees equally and refer to them as partners creating a sense o... View the full answer