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Part 2: Management Practices
A Manager’s Dilemma
Using what you learned in Part 2, especially Chapter 6, what would you do in this situation?
Jim has a difficult decision to make and his actions should be guided by both legal and moral
requirements in this instance. Because of the potential exposure, Jim should immediately
contact the local health department and notify them of any potential exposure danger. As part
of this process, the local health department may have a plan in place to notify the public, in
which case the issue of public notification is not a decision to be made by the manager. If after
testing of the potentially affected employee there is a case of exposure, the health department is
likely to require the company to follow procedures regarding public notification, employee
testing, building decontamination, and a mandatory shut down. At this point, Jim could notify
the public of his company’s concern for customers’ well-being and assistance in how to react to
any potential exposure. Events like this point to the need for companies to develop a policy on
Global Sense
What global attitude do you think would most encourage, support, and promote cultural
awareness? Explain.
The ethnocentric, polycentric, and geocentric views vary by their degree to which the holder
adheres to the belief that their culture is the best and their willingness to accept best
approaches from other cultures. An ethnocentric attitude is the parochialistic belief that the best
work approaches and practices are those of the home country (the country in which the
company’s headquarters are located). A polycentric attitude is the view that employees in the
host country (the foreign country in which the organization is doing business) know the best
work approaches and practices for running their business. A geocentric attitude is a world-
oriented view that focuses on using the best approaches and people from around the globe.
Managers with this type of attitude have a global view and look for the best approaches and
people regardless of origin.
Would legal-political and economic differences play a role as companies design appropriate
cultural awareness training for employees? Explain.
The answer is yes, companies should include these elements in their cultural awareness
training as a country’s national culture plays a large role their legal and economic systems. It is
difficult in many cases to divorce a country’s culture from its political system; it’s almost an
argument of ‘which came first the chicken or the egg?’ The answer in this case is that the
culture of the country is the lower part of the iceberg that develops the systems that people see,
such as the political and economic systems.
Is diversity management related to cultural awareness? Discuss.
The answer to this question is that from the company’s perspective cultural diversity is a form of
diversity, similar to gender and age diversity. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, for
example, made it unlawful to discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, or
religion. Equal opportunity for employment allows for the entry into the American workforce of
increasing numbers of individuals from cultural groups historically discriminated against.
Pick one of the countries mentioned above and do some cultural research on it. What did you
find out about the culture of that country? How might this information affect the way a manager
in that country plans, organizes, leads, and controls?
Students can find information on cultural differences from several sources including the
United States with Japan, the United States is more individualistic than Japan, while Japan is
higher on the dimensions of masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation.
What advice might you give to a manager who has little experience globally?
There are a variety of training programs put out by organizations that can help managers
increase their cultural awareness. These programs can educate managers on theories such as
Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture or GLOBE. Managers can also contact resource
groups that work with cultural minorities, such as Hispanics and Asians to get more information
on how these cultures impact work related behavior. Another recommendation is that managers
can expose themselves to other cultures by interacting more with individuals from other cultures
or by traveling internationally.
Continuing Case
Starbucks—Basics of Managing in Today’s Workplace
Discussion Questions with Answers; Teaching Suggestions
P2-1. Do you think Howard Schultz views his role more from the omnipotent or from the
symbolic perspective? Explain.
P2-2. What has made Starbucks’ culture what it is? How is that culture maintained?
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of these three Starbucks founders served as a basis for the subsequent composition of the
mission for the company, as developed by Howard Schultz. Students should recognize that the
original passionate commitment to quality, "world-class" coffee, and individual education of
Starbucks' customers inspired Schultz to envision the possibilities for maintaining, developing,
and expanding the company's emphasis on a caring, respectful, and diversified culture.
The company's culture is maintained through the company's mission, the six guiding principles,
and the daily decisions and actions of the partners from top to bottom. Schultz also recognizes
how powerful and how important it is to maintain the relationship he has developed with his
partners.
P2-3. Does Starbucks encourage a customer responsive culture? An ethical culture? Explain.
P2-4. Describe some of the specific and general environmental components that are likely to
impact Starbucks.
The three ways that the external environments affect managers are its impact on jobs and
employment, amount of environment uncertainty, and nature of stakeholder relationships.
One of the most visible areas where we've seen how the external environment affects
P2-5. How would you classify the uncertainty of the environment in which Starbucks operates?
P2-6. What stakeholders do you think Starbucks might be most concerned with? Why? What
issue(s) might each of these stakeholders want Starbucks to address?
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P2-7. Why do you think Howard Schultz is uncomfortable with the idea of legislative lobbying?
Do you think his discomfort is appropriate? Why or why not?
Ask your students to discuss their perspectives regarding possible reasons for Schultz's
discomfort with the idea of legislative lobbying. For example, could the appearance of trying to
get things like tax breaks, reduced health care costs, and trade deals, contradict or compromise
the image of the company? Especially in today's climate where Washington bailouts and
handouts are often viewed negatively by the public, is legislative lobbying beneficial? However,
P2-8. What types of global economic and legal-political issues might Starbucks face as it does
business globally?
P2-9. You’re responsible for developing a global cultural awareness program for Starbucks’
executives who are leading the company’s international expansion efforts. Describe what you
P2-10. Using information from the case and information you pull from Starbucks’ Web site, what
global attitude do you think Starbucks exhibits? Defend your choice.
P2-11. Pick one of the countries mentioned as an important target for Starbucks. Make a
bulleted list of economic, political-legal, and cultural characteristics of this country.
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P2-12. What workforce challenges might Starbucks face in global markets in regard to its
partners?
P2-13. How does Starbucks manage diversity? What is Starbucks doing to manage diversity in
each of the four areas: customers, suppliers, partners, and communities?
P2-14. With more than 235,000 partners worldwide, what challenges would Starbucks face in
making sure its diversity values are practiced and adhered to?
P2-15. Starbucks defines diversity on its Web site in the form of an equation:
Explain what you think this means. What do you think of this definition of diversity?
P2-16. What other workplace diversity initiatives discussed in Chapter 4 (besides employee
resource groups) might be appropriate for an organization like Starbucks?
P2-17. Go to the company’s Website [www.starbucks.com] and find the latest corporate social
responsibility report. Choose one of the key areas in the report (or your professor may assign
one of these areas). Describe and evaluate what the company has done in this key area.
P2-18. What do you think of Starbucks’ goal to recycle all four billion cups sold annually by
2015? What challenges did it face in meeting that goal?
P2-19. Why is the concept of “empowering” employees important in doing business ethically?
P2-20. Again, go to the company’s Web site. Find the Standards of Business Conduct
document. First, what’s your impression of this document? Then, choose one topic from one of
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This document can be found at http://www.starbucks.com/about-us/company-
information/business-ethics-and-compliance. It should be obvious to students that Starbucks
puts a lot of time and energy into providing a high level of ethical standards for their employees.
Divide your class into small groups of four to five students to address this question. Then, have
each group develop a short written response, which one group member can share with other
students in a discussion involving the entire class. The possible topics include:
• Workplace Environment
• Business Practices
• Intellectual Property and Proprietary Information
• Community Involvement
P2-21. What do you think the company’s use of the term partners instead of employees implies?
What’s your reaction to this? Do you think it matters what companies call their employees? (For
instance, Walmart calls its employees associates.) Why or why not?
P2-22. Howard Schultz is adamant about providing the best “Starbucks experience” to each and
every customer. As a store manager, how would you keep your employees from experiencing
high levels of stress when lines are out the door and customers want their Starbucks now?
P2-23. Would you classify Starbucks’ environment as more calm waters or white-water rapids?
Explain. How does the company manage change in this type of environment?
P2-24. Using Exhibit 7-9, describe Starbucks’ innovation environment.
Exhibit 7-9 describes the structural, human resource, and cultural variables that are important
P2-25. Review the company’s mission and guiding principles (at www.starbucks.com). Explain
how these might affect the following: managing its external environment and its organizational
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culture, global efforts, diversity efforts, social responsibility and ethics issues, and change and
innovation issues.
Innovation is the key to continued success for Starbucks. They have to be innovative, forward-
thinking, and nimble in order to succeed in a challenging and competitive industry. The
implications for managers as they plan, organize, lead, and control are that innovative issues
and aspects need to be in the forefront as decisions are made. Managers should ask whether
decisions and actions being considered would help the company be more innovative and thus
