Starbucks Organizational Behavior

Starbucks Organizational Behavior

A company’s understanding and use of organizational behavior concepts can make or break it. Just as important, if a company ignores these same concepts, it can easily spell disaster.

Starbucks intertwines and successfully uses three main organizational behavior concepts to increase the strength of the organization: organizational culture, organizational structure and motivation. The implementation of these concepts has definitely benefited the company, creating a monopoly in the United States as a coffee retailer and service company.

Organizational Culture

In the text, Organizational Behavior, Stephen P. Robbins defines organizational culture as, “a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other organizations” (2005). Starbucks has a very strong organizational culture and strives to maintain that it.

Everything centers on the organizational culture within Starbucks. While being a customer service-based company and understanding that the customer satisfaction and loyalty are what will make the company profitable, Starbucks takes a different approach to customer service than other companies. By hiring employees that fit in the organizational culture (ICFAI, 2005) and treating their employees well (Lefevere, n.d.), Starbucks brings in and retains customers through their happy employees. The qualities that Starbucks hires for are “adaptability, dependability and the ability to work in a team” (ICFAI, 2005). The culture is supportive and laid back (Montana, 2005). Howard Shultz, Starbucks president and CEO, has the theory “that if you treat your employees well, they will treat your customers well” (Starbucks, 1997).

In the excerpt from ‘Starbucks’ Human Resource Management Policies and the Growth Challenge,’ it is stated, “Starbucks was one of the few retail companies to invest considerably in employee training and provide comprehensive training to all classes of employees, including part-timers” (2005). This dedication to educating and training employees demonstrates the commitment to service that the company has. Having employees be able to answer customer questions is considered a part of reducing the cost to service each customer and also create customer loyalty and keep the customer returning time and again. Employees are trained for 24 hours and managers choose classes for another eight weeks (Nelson, 2000).

The company culture really does overflow to the customers, as most patrons can attest. To maintain the culture, Starbucks has adamantly refused to start franchises and the company itself owns the majority of the locations. In the Frequently Asked Questions on the Starbucks website, the exception of franchising