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Part 1: Management Practice
A Manager’s Dilemma
Suppose you’re a recruiter for a large retail chain and want to get college graduates to consider
store management as a career option. Using what you learned in Part 1, how would you do
Global Sense
What issues might Deutsche Telekom face in recruiting female university graduates? How could
they address those issues?
What issues might it face in introducing changes in work-family programs, and how could they
address those issues?
What do you think of Obermann’s statement that having a greater number of women at the top
will enable the company to operate better?
What could other organizations around the globe learn from Deutsche Telekom?
Companies should realize that minorities and women make up a growing percentage of the
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CONTINUING CASE: STARBUCKS
Foreword
"I hear, and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand." Sharing this Chinese
proverb with your students early in the semester will serve as an introduction to the value of
learning through the case study method. Case studies give students vicarious opportunities to
Part 1: Starbucks—Introduction
Discussion Questions with Answers; Teaching Suggestions
P1-1. What management skills do you think would be most important for Howard Schultz to
have? Why? What skills do you think would be most important for a Starbucks store manager to
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P1-2. How might the following management theories/approaches be useful to Starbucks:
scientific management, organizational behavior, quantitative approach, systems approach?
P1-3. Choose three of the current trends and issues facing managers and explain how
Starbucks might be impacted. What might be the implications for first-line managers? Middle
managers? Top managers?
P1-4. Give examples of how Howard Schultz might perform the interpersonal roles, the
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P1-5Look at Howard Schultz’s philosophy of Starbucks. How will this affect the way the
company is managed?
P1-6.Go to the company’s Web site (www.starbucks.com) and find the list of executives and
their biographies. Pick one of those positions and describe what you think that job might involve.
Try to envision what types of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling this person would
have to do.
P1-7. Look up the company’s mission statement and guiding principles at the company’s Web
site. What do you think of the mission and guiding values? Describe how the company's
guiding principles would influence how a barista (a coffee-house employee who prepares and
serves specialty coffee and other drinks) at a local Starbucks store does his or her job. Describe
how these principles would influence how one of the company's top executives does his or her
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tasks they're assigned to do. In making decisions to direct the growth and development of the
company, a top executive is guided by Starbucks' principles to encourage the highest standards
of excellence in contributing to the simultaneous financial profitability of the company and
benefit of the communities served by the organization around the globe.
Managing Your Career If You Were a Barista, What Would You Do?
If your classroom has Internet capabilities, visit “Hot Jobs” on the Starbucks Web site at
[http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/hotjobs.asp]. (If you are unable to access the Internet
in your classroom, you may give students the address of the Web site and encourage
them to visit the site individually outside of class.) Click on the “Job Search” link and ask
students to suggest a few positions listed on the “Job List” displayed on that screen.
Managing Your Career
If You Were a Barista, What Would
You Do?
If your classroom has Internet capabilities, visit “Hot Jobs” on the
Starbucks Web site at [http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/hotjobs.asp]. (If
you are unable to access the Internet in your classroom, you may give
students the address of the Web site and encourage them to visit the site
individually outside of class.) Click on the “Job Search” link and ask
students to suggest a few positions listed on the “Job List” displayed on
that screen.
By examining these links, students will discover additional information
describing the responsibilities of a Starbucks barista. After your students
have explored these links, have them compose a list of skills and traits
needed by a successful barista. In addition, ask them to respond to the
following questions:
• What types of positions with Starbucks are available at the
present time?
• How do the responsibilities of a Starbucks store manager differ
from those of an assistant manager?
• How do the responsibilities of a Starbucks retail manager differ
from those of a store manager?
• What types of positions are listed in the area of human resource
management?
• In what areas of the United States are positions currently
available?
• Are job openings available at international locations? What types
of international employment opportunities are offered at the
present time?
P1-8. Starbucks has some pretty specific goals it wants to achieve (look ahead to Part 3 on
page 343 for these company goals). Given this, do you think managers would be more likely to
make rational decisions, bounded rationality decisions, or intuitive decisions? Explain.
Only rarely, if ever, do managers have the luxury of making a decision under conditions of
P1-10. What kind of decision-maker does Howard Schultz appear to be? Explain your answer.
P1-11. How might biases and errors affect the decision-making done by Starbucks’ executives?
By Starbucks’ store managers? By Starbucks’ partners?
P1-12. How might design thinking be important to a company like Starbucks? Do you see any
indication that Starbucks uses design thinking?
