OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Structural Frame Worksheet

Olivia Boatman January 25, 2022 OGL 481

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

I have an internal role with Starbucks as a shift supervisor. A shift supervisor is in charge
of the floor while they are in the store, meaning it’s my job to give barista breaks, have
enough product for customers through pulling food and entering store orders, and making
sure baristas have the resources they need to do their job. It’s important for me to know
my fellow partners (employees) because it’s my job to put them in a position on the floor
that they enjoy and can succeed in.

Starbucks has been experiencing a lot of scarcity with products due to supply chain
shortages that the world has seen during the pandemic. These shortages arose because
COVID-19 caused many manufacturing facilities to shut down, the transportation of
goods was more difficult throughout the pandemic, and the labor shortage that resulted
from uncertain times left many jobs needing to be filled (McCarthy, 2021). Most of
Starbucks’ distribution centers were low or completely out of everyday products that we
use in store. Distribution centers also felt the effects of the labor shortage and had trouble
finding employees to fill the open roles in our hubs. Starbucks didn’t even have truck
drivers to deliver our product if the distribution centers had it. This resulted in many
difficult day-to-day interactions with baristas and customers. Starbucks mission is to
nurture the human spirit, but this shortage often times caused people’s spirit to become
disheartened. Starbucks was once a reliable place to get coffee, breakfast, and a smile.
But throught the pandemic, we saw this notion change and customers felt frustrated with
partners because they weren’t able to get their favorite menu items.

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

Starbucks has a well defined structure. Organizational goals, strategies, technology,

people, and environment are understood and utilized to guide decision making. The
Starbucks brand is important to the organization, using mostly Starbucks’ own brand of
syrups, alternative milks, and beverage components. These items come from our
distribution centers, which have been experiencing a lot of shortages during the
pandemic. Starbucks’ structure influenced this situation because of the importance of the
Starbucks brand and an unwillingness to stray from this. Stores were out of syrups,
beverage components, cups, lids, and many more items. It’s not that these items don’t
exist anywhere else in the world, it’s that Starbucks had no interest in using products in

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 their store that they didn’t create. Another aspect of Starbucks’ structure that influenced
this situation is how decisions are made. Starbucks corporate typically makes all the big
decisions for stores, especially about which products we use and where they come from.
It’s never up to each individual store to figure this out. Because of this, stores had no
other option in what products were available

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

An alternative course of action for this case would be to use other materials that are
available to us. Often times if a product’s availability will be scarce, Starbucks gives us
specific brands to use instead. For example, if lemonade will be scarce in the coming
weeks, Starbucks tells us to use Simply Lemonade and only this brand as an alternative.
During the course of the pandemic, we were told to just roll with the punches. There are
alternative courses of action that we can take as an organization like using generic cups
and lids, but we weren’t given any alternatives.

This course of action would be more beneficial because it aligns with Starbucks goals and
mission as an organization. The mission is to nurture the human spirit through coffee and
genuine connection. Supply chain shortages plummeted the morale of baristas, making it
hard to create genuine connections in stores. Constantly having to say the same things
over and over during every interaction throughout your day can become tiresome. This
can also weigh heavy on customers whose expectations are always unmet. Through
finding alternative brands to use during our supply shortage, Starbucks goals could have
been met in a much better way because customers would still have the option to order
their favorites, even if it’s not a Starbucks branded item going into the cup.

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

I agree that the Starbucks brand is important and should be valued. Bolman and Deal tell
us that a good strategy is specific enough to give direction but elastic enough to adapt to
changing circumstances (2017). Our strategy wasn’t elastic, and this is what I would do
differently. Lienency in this area could have made daily interactions that baristas have in
Starbucks stores much more positive.

Changing everthing about what Starbucks offers isn’t very reasonable in a short period of
time, but there are items that we could have used that weren’t available in our distribution
centers. Items like lids, sleeves, or rags are all items available elsewhere that are less
important to the Starbucks brand but essential to actually sell products. This is what I
would do differently. I would do my best to preserve the Starbucks brand, but negotiate
what items are truly worth being out of.

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 References

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing Organizations (6th ed.). John Wiley & Sons. 

McCarthy, B. (2021, October 17). Here's Why the Supply Chain is a Mess - and Will Be For a

While. Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved January 16, 2022, from

https://www.tampabay.com/news/business/2021/10/17/heres-why-the-supply-chain-is-a-

mess-and-will-be-for-a-while/