Custom «Consulting for Starbucks» Essay Paper

Starbucks as a corporate has shown without reasonable doubt that it is effective and efficient (Reuters, 2012). It started in the year 1971 in Washington, Seattle; by the year 2003, it had been identified as the best coffee shop in Seattle. The following years for the company only got better, with the reports of increased growth and profits. Starbucks would provide quality coffee to the consumers setting a mark as distinct company that would go on operating for a long period. The company continued to expand in many countries and today, it stands out as the most successful company in the United States of America (Reuters, 2012). When you talk of Starbucks today, people envision some coffee beans that have been freshly roosted, and a hot cup of coffee, or maybe tea. Their product strategies and ways of operating are attractive to anyone who is interested in learning how to operate in the competitive global economy.

This project identifies the concerns of Starbucks' employees and makes recommendations regarding how to satisfy those concerns, thus resulting in an overall increased organizational effectiveness (Miner, 2005). The main objective is to study the company’s internal organization and quality of work that is expected to translate into improved customer service and satisfaction. In order to perform an accurate diagnosis of the organization, the project will use a variety of data collection methods to extract relevant information. By using the range of methods like Unobtrusive measures, Observations, First round Interviews, surveys and second round Interviews, we are facilitating data collection that represents a combination of foundation information, real life observations, and direct responses from members of the organization.

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After collecting data from the two interviews and one survey, we will analyze the data, by applying both quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques. First, for qualitative tools, we will use content analysis to summarize all data from interviews into meaningful categories in order to discover any issues or attitudes among the group. Second, for quantitative tools, we will calculate the means, standard deviations and relevant correlations to summarize the survey data to better gauge what issues the employees value most, and to examine any variance in their responses.

Upon entering into the diagnostic analysis, the initial presenting opportunity for our client organization was how to increase organizational effectiveness during the economic downturn. Based on the model that we are planning to apply to Starbucks, organizational effectiveness can be measured by the alignment or congruence that exists between the strategic components of the organization. As a result, we have to analyze the current state of alignment, together with the economic situation held constant, in order to expose congruence weaknesses between work, people, the formal and the informal organizations and think of recommendations that will improve alignment and result in a more effective operation. By including questions that relate directly to our hypotheses, we will be able to use the questionnaire as a test that will help to identify potential issues that need to be addressed. 

A comprehensive analysis of the organization includes several aspects. For one, one must study the mission statement of the organization. From the onset, the organization was the one that would become the best in provision of coffee in the global arena. This would be accomplished without having to compromise with company’s principles. In the ultimate end, the company wants to establish itself as a globally effective brand, with quality being the key in their everyday vision (Reuters, 2012). Following the environmental concerns in the globe, its mission statement has been revised to include the role that it would now play; meaning that it would continue to play a key role in leading the countries towards sustainable environmental goals.  

Carrying out a SWOT analysis of the company, there are several key findings (Reuters, 2012). The strengths of the company include a high profit margin that is nothing comparable to what some of the companies in the same field experience. In the year 2004, the profits of 600 million were recorded and a record has continually grown. In its expansive measures, it has reached over forty countries, with more than 8000 outlets. The corporate prides together with the offers that they give to the employees reducing their turnover. Employees are also introduced to skills and remuneration that guarantees their welfare.

However the company has their own weaknesses (Reuters, 2012). In order to remain competitive, they have to continue innovation of their brands, which they fail to. For example, concentration on average industries may not work for their benefit in the near future. Further, as they concentrate their market in United States of America, their competitors may take advantage of this. Their threat is mainly depended on the brand, coffee, if in case people will change their tastes and preferences in the future. Nevertheless, they have opportunities in production of promoting the welfare of their employees. The company has an approach that would actually help in penetrating into broader markets with ease.

The performance of the activities that direct the flow of goods and/or services from companies to customers has taken different turn recently. This is particularly occasioned by the wake of globalization which has facilitated a lot of competition between sellers and service providers. A key concept of combating such challenges is through employee welfare management. Employee brand basically refers to the reputation of an organization as an employer towards its employees. The global management community has since then adopted this terminology. Ideally, the intents and purposes held in the company are to make the workplace a better place for both the key stakeholders and the employee at large (Kaliprasad, 2006). This is indeed an art and science that is concerned with maintaining, attracting, engaging and retaining initiatives which the organization targets to promote the welfare of the employee.

Study Challenges

With this kind of project involving surveys, self-determined questionnaires, and mailed questionnaires presented a possible disadvantage of lack of interest by the potential participants. Therefore, there would certainly be good measures put in place to combat the problems seen in the return rates. The study also found a way to deal with the matter later in the process. Another drawback to the questionnaire use was the absence of the procedures to help out the participant at the time when they are stuck on the way. The Likert type of scale has found a lot of application when it comes to the assessment of the process of research in quantitative form. Owing to this same reason, the survey instrument in this study made use of a Likert-Kind of scale in assessing in quantitative manner the level of employee welfare that was felt in the organization and also the degrees of satisfaction from the various workers and customer satisfaction through the creation of starbucks brand.

The study conducted was concentrated on one company that meant that the data collected is reliant on the quality of information, which is extracted from this sample population. The other limitation for the study was based on the research method. As such, the use of questionnaires for data collection presents limitation, based on the fact that respondents may not cooperate. Another challenge was realized in the threats to validity that are most likely to occur with quantitative survey approach as part of the mixed approach. This is especially where there are such things like possibility of having untruthful as well as inaccurate reactions, the absence of the ability of seeking clarifications in the event that the participant will be stuck on the way and may be the absence of flexibility in the items that the participant will respond to. This was, however, considered to be of little effect since a comparative analysis in the study methods would help in coming up with the right conclusions.