OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Ethical Frame Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the political frame
2. Apply the political frame 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.

Competitive salaries for store managers must be revisited. In September of 2021, the
company announced that they were increasing the hourly wages to $12 an hour for baristas and
$15 for the shift supervisors. Nothing was announced for store managers. Our compensation did
not change. Yet our workload continues to grow. Stress has become synonymous with our daily
lives and Starbucks seemed to have forgotten what our company was built on, its people. 
The situation at our stores has become unbearable at times. With product outages and labor
constraints, the partners and I are tired. Our stores are severely understaffed and we need more
partners in our stores. We need more labor hours to serve our customers. An increase in
compensation might not be an answer but it’s a good incentive especially nowadays, the cost of
living has gone up especially in Texas.

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

Starbucks’s commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment that reflects the
communities it serves continues has been a top priority since the beginning of the pandemic. To
further enhance the formality and transparency around partner hiring and promotions, Starbucks
will implement a number of commitments related to its policies and procedures for partner
promotions. Starbucks has also launched a mentorship program to connect Black, indigenous,
and people of color (BIPOC) partners to senior leaders in the Company, committed to new
Partner Network investments, expanded mental health initiatives, and committed to significant

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wage increases (Starbucks, n.d.) Starbucks has claimed that putting the needs of the partners is
their top priority. Kevin Johnson, Starbucks CEO, emphasized that listening to the needs of the
partners, was the first and utmost critical commitment of the company. Listening to feedback
about where and how the company could do better in taking care of their partners was Kevin’s
top priority with the help of his senior leaders and board of directors (Starbucks, n.d.) Starbucks
ongoing initiative in promoting inclusion, equity and diversity has not only changed the way we
recruit Starbucks but it created new programs such as Career Progression and partner
development coversations are held more often. Trainings on equity, inclusion and diversity have
been made available for all partners.

3) Recommend how you would use organizational ethics for an alternative course of
action regarding your case.

Starbucks has always made the Fortune 500 Most Admired Companies to work for
because of it’s continued efforts and core values of taking care of its partners and its
customers. It’s current initiatives and programs in inclusion, equity and division have created
a great starting point in ensuring that all partners feel welcome. Their listening efforts
through biweekly open forums have been awe-inspiring. Senior leaders are more present in
those biweekly open forums. However, the groundwork they laid out for inclusion, diversity
and equity programs such as the Career Progression, which allows partners to post for jobs in
other fields and stores within the company, has not been enough to combat the current
situation of staffing and hiring in our stores. We are still short-staffed.

My recommendation for Starbucks is to expand the Career Progression by expanding the

training programs in recruiting and staffing for all store managers. After all, our training
programs for store managers have not been updated for a few years. In these training
programs, we can learn more about inclusion, diversity and equity, as well as addressing our
own biases during the recruitment processes. Our current applicant pool has not been varied
as it used to be. Starbucks can use its influence through social media by advertising our
current hiring needs. We can have more visibility through social channels as well as having
current partners visit colleges to share their experiences at Starbucks. I believe Starbucks can

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 use its popularity and invite people to apply to our stores. Starbucks can revamp its
Opportunity Youth initiatives in other major cities to recruit young professionals in inner
cities. This was a success in major cities like Los Angeles and Phoenix but it has not been
active for a few years. Opportunity Youth is an initiative started by Starbucks in 2016 to
create a pathway to meaningful employment for young people (Starbucks, n.d.)

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

As a tenured Starbucks partner, I have witnessed major milestones of our company. I

have seen the progression of our company from promoting people from within to hiring fresh
graduates from Arizona State University through its scholarship program. What Starbucks
has done is admirable but there is always work to be done. We have to evolve our vision and
values as a company. The cost of living, since the pandemic has started, has skyrocketed
these past few months. I would love to see the influence of my senior leaders to further
discuss equity pay with the board of directors. I would love to see changes in our store
manager training programs and enhance career progression highlighting diversity, equity and
inclusion. Hiring young individuals is not enough but teaching them how to show up in an
interview, prepare for an interview and follow up is just another step to take that I think
would benefit Starbucks and our youth. As powerful as we are as company, Starbucks can do
so much more in helping its own partners and the young American professionals.

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 Reference

Starbucks. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2021, from

https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/starbucks-partners-use-civic-engagement-to-
strengthen-their-communities/.

Starbucks. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2021, from

https://stories.starbucks.com/uploads/2021/03/Starbucks-2021-Civil-Rights-
Assessment.pdf.