Imagine you are an executive for an organization of your choice, and you are preparing a report for the board of directors about the organization’s direction.
- Describe the organizational structure and design.
- Examine the organization’s differentiation and growth strategy.
- Analyze strategic options and a management approach the organization uses as it relates to the organization’s goals and strategies.
- Analyze the corporate culture and methods used to influence employee satisfaction and retention.
Solution
Starbucks Introduction
Every organization intends to make an effective organizational design and the structure. The purpose is to enable the pertinent workflow and meet the goals and objective in an effective and lucrative manner. The company management can make different strategies, which can be aligned with the main goals and objective of the company. The business sustainability depends on the organizational structure, design, and different strategies. The role of the corporate culture is also in the limelight, as all strategies are to be involved in the culture of the company. Starbucks Company has gained the success due to the remarkable execution of all these aspects.
Starbucks Background
Starbuck is an America coffee chain. It is a prominent company, which offers high-quality coffee products in different countries. The company was founded in 1971. Main products of this coffee chain are Coffee beverages, smoothies, tea, baked goods, and sandwiches. Due to effective organizational structure, culture, design, and strategies, the company has sustained its brand image. The business expansion is quite visible, as this company is operating in 26,696 countries. A well-directed structure has enabled the firm to several trends in the coffee chain industry. Flexible design, culture, and structure are key sources of the success (Starbucks, 2018).
Starbucks Organizational Structure
Starbucks Company is containing the matrix organizational structure seems unique, as it is the matrix of different organizational structures. Functional, geographic and product divisions and teams are some important features of the structure. Each department is separated, which justifies the functionality. Three businesses divisions such as Asia, America, and Europe have been created. On the other hand, the company is dealing with several product divisions such as coffee products, merchandizes mugs, and different backed products. In this effective structure, teams are quite visible at the bottom line of the company to serve customers exceptionally. Thus, the matrix structure is pertinent to goals and objectives of the company (Starbucks, 2018).
Starbucks Organizational Design
The organizational design elements of the company are specialization, span of control, departmentalization, centralization, and decentralization, chain of command, and formalization. For instance, people are specialized at the retail level such as taking orders, handling cash and operating espresso machines. The span of work control is in the manager’s hand. Functional department, customer department, geographical departments, and product departments can be seen in this company. Power is delegated to the bottom line of the company, which justifies the decentralization. The chain of command starts from the CEO and board of directors. Also, the formalization has been justified through employee training and development in the company.
Starbucks differentiation
Starbucks Company is containing the differentiation strategy. The intention of this company is to make its products different from other coffee competitors. The innovation in the product mix and supply chain process has helped to justify the differentiation strategy. Special coffee products along with some remarkable sustainable initiatives have made this company quite different as compared to other coffee players in the competitive market. The broad differentiation is a key source for this organization to make the difference. For Instance, the company usually focuses on special ingredients to make special coffee products, which are undone by other companies (Trefis Team, 2016).
Starbucks Growth strategy
It has been revealed that the primary growth strategy of the company is the market penetration. The main intention of the company is to maximize revenues and profitability from existing markets. The management believes in the business expansion. Many coffee stores have been opened by the company. It seems better market potential, which allows the company exists strongly. Interestingly, with the passage of the time, the management of the company investigates those areas in the existing markets, which are undone. It increases the sales volume and targeting as well, and it has a direct impact on the company’s growth.
Starbucks Strategic options
The main strategic option for this organization is the business expansion. For Instance, the company can increase its business in Asian countries, as these are potential markets. Furthermore, the product mix diversification is another strategy option for this company. Coming up with several products varieties can help the company target new areas and enhance the visibility of the attraction. In competitive markets, mergers & acquisitions or strategic alliances are also prominent strategic options for this company to make the difference and sustain the business for a long run. To consider these strategic options, a pertinent management approach is required (News.starbucks.com, 2017).
Starbucks Management approach
The Starbucks Company has depicted the modern management approach, which depicts the execution of theory Z, quality management, management by objectives and situational leadership. For example, the management is looking to increase the employee loyalty through securing jobs and facilitating on and off the job. Moreover, the management has focused on exceptional quality measures to sustain the high quality and differentiated products. The management depicts organizational objectives, which are accepted and appreciated by employees. Despite having the democratic leadership style, the management is quite capable of adjusting the leadership style to create an impact on people (Lebowitz, 2016).
Starbucks goals and strategies
The management approach is related to the goals and objective of the company. The modern management approach is based on the modern industry trends. For Instance, regarding the internal business process, the objective of the company is to retain best employees, and it is due to the theory Z. The primary objective of the company is environmental stewardship, community involvement, and ethical sourcing. Thus, this approach contains the quality, leadership, and management by objectives to align with these primary objectives. The modern approach has been aligned with modern objectives of the company. Suitable coffee products and green retail processes are main goals, and this management approach is quite pertinent to meet them.
Starbucks Corporate culture
This coffee chain is demonstrating a brilliant corporate culture. The main feature or aspect of this culture is the servant leadership. It refers giving preference to employees of the company. The employee involvement and openness are two key elements, which make this corporate culture quite unique and lucrative. People love to work in different teams and collaborate to meet goals and objectives of the company. The integrated communication has helped the company engage employees. Employees have emotional and sentimental attachments with the company, and it is the core value that the company has created for employees (Wright, 2014).
Methods used to influence employee satisfaction and retention in Starbucks
Starbucks company us using many ways to retain and satisfy employees. For Instance, the company provides the honest and open work environment for employees in order to retain them in the company. Good and efficiency work is recognized and rewarded accordingly, which create an impact on the employee retention. The company derives the satisfaction through developing skills. As far as the employee’s satisfaction is concerned, the firm management ensures the social connections to create the positive impact. The company enforces the happiness through socialization (Wright, 2014).
Conclusion
In end, it is to conclude that the Starbucks Company has gained the success through several strategic considerations. From organizational structure to growth strategies, the company depicted its evolvement. Both, internal and external business processes are affected due to organizational design, growth, management approach, and many other cultural considerations. The success has been sustained by the management due to some changes with the time. Being a director of the company, I can predict the sustainable growth of the company in next decade.
References
Lebowitz, S. (2016, March 3). 2 brilliant management strategies Howard Schultz used to build the Starbucks coffee empire. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/management-strategies-of-starbucks-ceo-howard-schultz-2016-3
News.starbucks.com. (2017, March 22). Starbucks Outlines Strategic Growth at 25th Annual Meeting. Retrieved from https://news.starbucks.com/press-releases/press-release-starbucks-annual-meeting-2017
Starbucks. (2018). Company Information. Retrieved from https://www.starbucks.com/about-us/company-information
Trefis Team. (2016, October 13). Starbucks Is Maintaining Its Competitive Edge. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2016/10/13/how-is-starbucks-maintaining-its-competitive-edge/#78dc0969759c
Wright, G. (2014, November 5). STARBUCKS GETS IT – HOW HAPPY EMPLOYEES RESULT IN HAPPY CUSTOMERS. Retrieved from http://www.chiefmarketer.com/starbucks-gets-happy-employees-result-happy-customers/