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
that?
One way to do this is through organizational culture. Culture plays an important role in attracting
Global Sense
What issues might Deutsche Telekom face in recruiting female university graduates? How could
they address those issues?
Get students to think about how Deutsche Telekom would attract only female applicants. In US
What issues might it face in introducing changes in work-family programs, and how could they
address those issues?
While some employees are appreciative of work-family programs, others might see them as
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
global workforce and consumer market so managerial talent must be drawn from an
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
“learn by doing.” This method of study facilitates the application of knowledge learned in the
classroom to the real world of business for students who have not yet experienced challenging
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
have? Why?
As chairman and chief global strategist of Starbucks Corporation, Howard Schultz needs to
have strong skills in each of the areas identified by Robert L. Katz: technical skills, human skills,
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
informational roles, and the decisional roles.
Howard Schultz wears many managerial hats during the course of each day. Acting as coach
and mentor for his executive team, he plays an interpersonal role. Schultz must be able to work
P1-5. Look 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
job.
Before answering this question, students will want to review the six guiding principles of
Starbucks outlined in the Part I case. You might want to ask them to address these principles
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
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
P1-8. Starbucks has some pretty specific goals it wants to achieve (look ahead to Part 3 on
page 285 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.
P1-9. Give examples of decisions that Starbucks managers might make under conditions of
certainty. Under conditions of risk. Under conditions of uncertainty.
Only rarely, if ever, do managers have the luxury of making a decision under conditions of
certainty. Most managerial decisions must be made without the benefit of having all pertinent
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?
Have students divide into three groups, each representing the three different employee groups:
executives, managers, and partners. Have each group go through the list below and give
several potential biases that could occur for their employee group.
• Overconfidence
• Immediate Gratification
• Anchoring
P1–12. How might design thinking be important to a company like Starbucks? Do you see any
indication that Starbucks uses design thinking?
