OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Structural Frame Worksheet

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

The situation that I have chosen to analyze is one in the organization Starbucks Coffee
Company regarding a project and period of research testing their Tryer Innovation Lab
did in support of using personal cups to drive sustainability and meet the company
mission of giving more back to the environment than it takes. My role in this situation
was as a lab partner who participated in the research as a subject matter expert, testing the
prototypes and giving qualitative feedback on the iterations. During the process, I worked
to help improve the prototype to make it easier for baristas in Starbucks stores to build
beverages in to pour into customers’ personal cups.

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

The structure of Starbucks Coffee Company is a matrix organizational structure which is

includes both horizontal and vertical structures. There are many chains of command and
departments that are overlapping and collaborating in order to combine both functional
and divisional aspects. In regard to vertical coordination within the company, the higher
level executives are those that control new development for future store formatting,
equipment iterations, rules and policies, and management changes. This does put
employees at the operating core in a position that is dependent on higher level leaders to
have awareness for their needs. In regard to horizonal coordination within the company,
the Tryer Innovation Lab is a wonderful example of lateral movement within an
otherwise large and overwhelming company whose ideas and designs could get lost.

The Tryer Innovation Lab is a wonderful example of how the matrix organizational
structure can be successful because the horizontal coordination gives room for lab
partners in TLAs (time-limited assignments, like the one that I was part of) to
communicate their in-store needs or innovative ideas to project managers and program
teams in the corporation who can then take their feedback and use their own specialties to

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 make change. This situation is a great example of this, because the work of the higher
level employees is to prioritize sustainability, but it takes feedback and testing from in-
store partners who know the procedures and processes and know how the prototype
would actually be used in practice to successfully create a version that would benefit the
project. For this reason, the type of structure is beneficial to the situation due to the fact
that the operating core voices are being heard by the strategic apex and this drives the
influence of the company and their mission.

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

If I were to go with an alternative course of action in this situation, I would want to allow
the higher level team to have more control over the action planning and performance
control of the prototypes because it would measure and motivate efforts that are more
individual rather than open-ended. When testing something so qualitative that has less to
do with procured timing and numbers and more to do with how the baristas and
employees feel using the new equipment. In this situation, I would have created a system
that didn’t just test the length of time it takes Starbucks baristas to currently make
beverages and interrupt their routines to use customers’ personal cups; I would rather
create a testing system that receives feedback from each of the new prototypes and
discusses the ease and procedure of the new material instead. Higher level program
managers on the sustainability team working on this project can then look at all of their
options and know that they exercised each of these and can make a higher level decision,
rather than putting it all in the hands of the baristas who were testing the equipment.

While the current structure is very helpful and supportive because it allows for this cross-
level communication and practice, I do believe that the process of testing with baristas
who are unaware of the additional costs and procedural issues that could come with
multiple rounds of testing, trying different materials, and emotional upset from customers
and in-store partners may mean that further conflict could arise. I also believe that while
the sustainability team has a fantastic idea about using personal cups to save more plastic
and therefore result in less waste, there is something to consider in that they will still be
creating new equipment using additional materials that may not be recycyled or
sustainably sourced. Also, if more and more people begin to use their personal cups in
stores, there will need to be additional vessels in which to store the beverages that are
being made in order to build the drinks until they are poured.

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

In all honesty, I believe that the TLA system that the Tryer Innovation Lab set up in order
to gain personal feedback from partners in stores has allowed the organization to thrive

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 by socially giving access to employees who may not otherwise have felt that they had a
voice or say in how the company operates or how the newest equipment is developed. In
other types of testing, such as trying out new machinery or store layouts, the feedback of
these store partners is essential to understanding pieces that may be logistically missing
that would not have been otherwise pointed out by higher level employees in the strategic
apex. For instance, a program manager might not know that when a certain amount of
people are working, one person has to be doing dishes and the floor plan is actually one
less person than expected when making plays. The same is true for procedural issues such
as this one.

The matrix organizational structure with both vertical and horizontal coordination allows
for control of work from the strategic apex that has more background and foundation in
engineering, project management, or business and can help create and establish
management methodology that not every barista or store manager has the experience or
expertise to practice. However, the absolute pillars of the corporation are those working
in stores, because the support partners would have nothing and no one to support without
those distributing the product. The cross-functional and cross-level work that occurs in
the Innovation Lab is necessary for the continuous success of new products and processes
created by the project and program teams, and I would not change this structure because
it is creating more equity and visibility for the needs of workers in the company. It allows
more baristas and employees from stores access to communicate to those in the
corporation who are making decisions that impact them, and the work is more accurately
analyzed in this structure.

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 References

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2021). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership

(7th ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Prengaman, P. (2023, September 20). Citing sustainability, Starbucks wants to overhaul its

iconic cup. will customers go along?. Associated Press News.

https://apnews.com/article/starbucks-cup-disposable-sustainable-climate-

5a3a5d7d4a66725f9747cbab23cb586d

Warnick , J. (2019, June 11). Inside the Tryer Center, the Starbucks lab where anything is

possible. Starbucks Stories. https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2019/inside-the-tryer-

center-the-starbucks-lab-where-anything-is-possible/