OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Ethical Communities Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the four ethical communities
2. Apply the ethical communities to your personal case situation

Complete the following making sure to support your ideas and cite from the textbook and other
course materials per APA guidelines. After the peer review, you have a chance to update this and
format for your Electronic Portfolio due in Module 6.

1) Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

In April 2018 two African American men were waiting for a third business
partner to joing them in a café of Starbucks. The store manager of the Starbucks had
approached the two men and asked them to leave if they were not paying customers.
When the two men stated they were waiting and would make purchases when their other
friend arrives. The strore manager then proceeds to call the police and have the two men
arrested and removed from the store. I during this time was a district manger in south
central PA only a little over an hour a way from the area the store was located at.

2) Describe how the ethics of the organization influenced the situation.

There are a few ethics related situations that came into play on this day that
allowed for two customers to be discriminated against. The first and probably most
relevant ethical related choice that was made on a localized level which was the creation
of policy to remove no purchasing customers. This policy was unethical in that it was
created to eliminate or reduce the presence of the homeless population in the café stores
causing disturbances, but really it allowed for stores to edit their demographics. Stores
should be welcome places for anyone to visit and should not be a place where anyone
feels excluded.

The second shinning exam of how there were unethical or lacking ethics was on
the staff working at this specific location. When the police showed up they asked how the
store wanted the situation handled leading to the arrest. Because the store manager was
given this option and was racially profiling the two gentlmen she told the police that the
store wanted to have them charged. There should not be anyone leading a team that
allows their personal unethical biases to make choices on behalf of the company.

1
 3) Recommend how you would apply one of the ethical communities for an alternative
course of action regarding your case.

The communitie that would be applied best to this situation at Starbucks would be The
Fmaily community being that if there was a focus on compassion this issue would not
have occurred. “A compassionate family or community requires servant-leaders
concerned with the needs and wishes of members and stakeholders,” (2017) if the leaders
had been coming from a place of creating the community they would not have allowed
policies like they did. For a representative of the company to racially profile customers
and stand there and have the arrested due to a loop hole is a policy is obsured.

Caring and loving which is a main concept of the The Family community is what
Starbucks tries to portray as their core values. Leaders needed to focus in on this more
prior to this public situation than waiting till after it had happened. Starbucks took the
steps after in reactive mannor to get the staff trained on how to not let unconscious bias
cloud their judgemnet and decisions. For me as a representative of the company it was
disappointing that there was not more of a sense of family and that people who would
make these types of calls were employed.

4) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned
about ethics.

What I would have done differntly based on the learnings around ethics is that I would
have worked with my team of store managers to create better policies. Having them look
at the situation from the customers view and leading their teams taking the moral high
ground. If they would take the time to find ways to handle the homeless population while
still creatining a welcoming and inclusive environment.

I would have challenged my team to think for themselves and not to be afraid to
challenge the status que and stand up for what is right. Linking back to the spirit of the
organization who prides themselves on becoming a third place for people to come for
coffee and connection. Reminding all of the partners working in the store of the
importance and significance of the siren going back to the symbolic menaings.

2
 Reference or References

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing Organizations. In Reframing organizations

artistry, choice, and leadership 6th ED (p. 393). Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass.