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OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA- Ethical Communities Worksheet
Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the symbolic frame
2. Apply the symbolic 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.

I have worked at Starbucks for 3 years. I started as a barista and am now a
Shift Supervisor. I was moving to a neighboring store over a year ago. There
are many events that happened over the next year, but I was working for a
manager that was not a good leader. He often cussed out his employees and
customers. He complained about others and then made us seem like we were
the problem. I was not happy to work there and talked to my husband about
quitting often.
The final thing that pushed me over the edge was there was another
employee that was touching me inappropriately. I talked to my store manager
and he informed me that he would talk to this person. A few weeks later I
approached him again about another instance and was informed that he would
be talked to. Then that employee approached me about what was going on and
why I was acting strange around them. I then proceeded to have a very
uncomfortable conversation with them about keeping hands to themselves.
This pushed me to call my district manager. We had several very long
and extremely stressful phone conversation. This resulted in a investigation and
within a few weeks both the employee and the store manager were gone.
This was an extremely hard time for me, but I learned so much. I learned
that if you want to have your voice be heard… you must speak up. I learned that
I am stronger that I realized. I have learned to care for myself, how to keep my
mouth shut when needed and how to speak up when needed, and how to help
other employees in similar situations. I would never wish something like this on
anyone, but I can say that I came through it stronger.

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

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The ethics of the organization influence a situation in many ways. they had an
open line of communication for me to talk with someone. Once I did have a talk,
they opened an investigation and proceeded to take the next steps.
Starbucks prides itself in being ethical. I believe once the information was
obtained by the higher authorities that they were able to do something about the
situation. They really strive for connections. I feel like they could have made a
difference sooner though if there had been more accountability for the store
manager.
3. Recommend how you would apply one of the ethical communities for an
alternative course of action regarding your case.
I believe Starbucks could have put a little more structure into how they hold
their store managers to the standards they say they have. if the store managers
had more accountability and the employees in the store had more
communication with the district manager, I feel like instances like this would be
avoided or not turn into such a rough situation.
Starbucks also believes in connections. They pride themselves on getting
customer connections and partner connections. It seems in this instance the
partner connections were not looked at very well. if they store manager had been
more caring with compassion and concern for others then this story would have
been extremely different.
4. Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have
learned about ethics.
At this point in my life if this situation happened again I would not let it
continue for as long as I did. Often people with power become dominant and
authoritarian in their leadership. This is what happened in this situation. The
leader was not kind or caring but only concerned with himself and the bottom
numbers.
I believe Starbucks tries hard to have a great ethical and spiritual core.
However, it is an extremely large corporation and people can slip through the
cracks. If there is not a standard held the same at every store that is other than
numbers on a paper, then instances like this will continue to happen. If I was in
this situation again, I would work more towards justice and seeing the wrong
made right versus just trying to stay alive from day to day. I was ultimately the
one who made a stand, but I wish I would have made a stand sooner. I believe
that ethics are important in this was a case where I stood by and did nothing for
almost a year.

References
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Starbucks. (22, January 14). Retrieved from Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starbucks
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and
leadership (6th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass (Perusall Version Only)