Free Essay about Starbucks' Organizational Culture and Values

An organization that I have once worked for is Starbucks Corporation, which is a coffee company. This company has been operating since the year 1971, and it has many stores in different parts of the world. Due to its excellent performance, the company has managed to stay at the top of its industry.

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Visible Organizational Culture

The visible organizational culture is among the unique characteristics of the organization. This is because it plays a significant role in influencing business and workers performance (Marques, Camillo, & Holt, 2015). The visible organizational culture infused all the aspects of the company. The following are the major features of company's visible organizational culture:

Openness

Workers at Starbucks are free to speak up to the management. This is because of the open forums practiced that encourages workers to freely communicate and even ask the superior questions. This organizational culture has empowered workers and also promoted innovation.

Collaboration and Communication

Collaboration is encouraged in the company through effective communication. Workers in the company, such baristas, communicate effectively and this makes it possible to meet all the demand of customers. The order fulfillment process of the company has been effective due to collaboration and teamwork that has made things efficient.

Relationship-Driven approach

Starbucks supports friendly and warm relationships. For examples, workers show friendly and warm bonds with each other. This feature also extends to customers. Customers are normally treated with warmth (Marques et al., 2015). In essence, the company has succeeded in creating a coffee culture, which drives the demand of customers through emphasizing good relationships as well as offering specialty products.

Inclusion and Diversity

The visible organizational culture is shared by the anti-discrimination policy. The policy discourages all forms of discrimination relating to sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, gender, life experiences, cultural backgrounds, age, religion, ideas, and thoughts. Good relationships among workers and sharing are facilitated by this feature. All these are facilitated based on diverse ideas. Moreover, this feature makes customers feel welcomed.

Company's Values

The performance of Starbucks is measured based on its values. Everyone in the organization tries to improve the values. Basically, all the decisions in the firm are driven by the values. This shows that values play a significant role when it comes to the attainment of the business' goals. The first value of Starbucks is creating warmth and belonging culture that welcomes all people (Qian & Xing, 2016). Secondly, the company tries to act with courage in order to challenge the status quo. Thirdly, Starbucks would like to be present in many places and connect with respect, dignity, and transparency. Finally, the company tries to deliver its best in all that it does and holding itself accountable for results.

Espoused Cultural Values

These are values desired by the company. Starbucks has espoused cultural values that it communicates to people through its mission, core values, and vision. The first type of espoused cultural value that the company communicates is open communication. It is the goal of the company to have all workers, irrespective of their position, interact and communicate effectively. By doing this, all workers should be free to ask questions and provide feedback. Since workers are referred as company partners, their input and suggestions are readily accepted and taken into consideration.

The second type of espoused cultural value communicated is diversity and inclusion. Workplace diversity has gained popularity in different industries. Similarly, Starbucks tries to have a diverse workplace through seeking a more creative, collaborative, and cohesive work environment. Additionally, through diversity and inclusion, the company tries to serve all customers, irrespective of race, religion, and gender among others.

Another espoused cultural value is serving quality products and uplifting the lives of customers. Starbucks, just like every other company, would wish to serve its customers quality products that satisfy their needs. It becomes possible to uplift the lives of customers through offering them products aligned with their needs. Achieving all these will ensure that the company attracts and retains enthusiastically satisfied customers at all times.

Enacted Cultural Value

These values show how the company behaves. Starbucks sources its products from farmers practicing sustainable agriculture. Also, it trains farmers on sustainable farming. Through doing this, the company promote sustainable farming and environmental protection.

On the other hand, ethnic diversity is 35 percent higher in Starbucks (Trillium Asset Management, 2018). Also, every year, the company increases the ethnic and racial diversity of the senior executive team by 10 percent. As a result of embracing diversity, the workforce culture has been enhanced. The culture now promotes a new idea, economic growth, and innovation.

The cultural value of open communication has not only enhanced the good relationship, but it has also created an environment where workers are empowered. Workers are now cooperating and collaborating effectively to execute and support all business processes efficiently. Most customers prefer Starbucks to other coffee stores because the quality services, business cost-effectiveness, and customer experience they receive. All these are attributed to the cultural value of open communication.

How the Company's Culture has contributed to the Organization's Performance

Due to its good culture, the organization has now managed to become a corporate culture champion. The company has managed its culture effectively to an extent where the culture has turned out to be its strategic asset. There are certain things that have been enhanced by being a corporate culture champion, which has positively contributed to the performance of the company.

The first thing is that the company's core values have been clearly defined. Currently, the management, as well as all the employees, knows what is important to the organization. Basically, values are important to the success of an organization because they are drivers of financial performance. The culture of Starbucks ensures that there are some elements touched on by the values (Shirdastian, Laroche, & Richard, 2017). These elements are the treatment of customers, company process orientation, the standard of accountability and performance, treatment of people, and openness to change and innovation.

Secondly, the company's culture has ensured the workers understand and readily embrace all the values. Employees are regularly trained on what the organization values as well as what the values mean in the context of the business. Thirdly, the behavior is monitored constantly to examine consistency in regards to cultural norms and values. Monitoring is very crucial in determining the level in which behavioral norms (actual behavior) align with state value (desired behavior). Normally, this is usually carried out through the performance management system. Additionally, the company's culture promotes setting of specific, measurable goals that improve the management. This is necessary since it helps the organization come up with a focus for improvement together with specific methods for monitoring progress.

References

Marques, J., Camillo, A. A., & Holt, S. (2015). The Starbucks Culture: Responsible, Radical Innovation in an. Handbook of Research on Business Ethics and Corporate Responsibilities, 302.

Qian, Y. A. N. G., & Xing, T. U. (2016). Starbucks VS Chinese Tea-Starbucks Brand Management Strategy Analysis in China. International Business and Management, 12(1), 29-32.

Shirdastian, H., Laroche, M., & Richard, M. O. (2017). Using big data analytics to study brand authenticity sentiments: The case of Starbucks on Twitter. International Journal of Information Management.

Trillium Asset Management. (2018). Starbucks - Workplace Diversity (2018). Retrieved from http://www.trilliuminvest.com/shareholder-proposal/starbucks-workplace-diversity-2018/