OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Choosing an Organization Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Identify an organization and situation you want to study over the remainder of the course.
2. Describe the organization and the 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) Name and describe your organization.

The organization I chose is Starbucks Corporation. Starbucks was established in

1971 as a bulk coffee, tea, and spice distributor located in Seattle Washington. Over the
years, it grew into a global organization with almost 35,000 company-operated
locations worldwide. Starbucks is a retail food service organization but has always
focused on creating a values-driven culture and having an inspiring purpose that impacts
more than just the product they sell.

The organization has heavily focused on such things as greener retail, sustainable
coffee, and strengthening communities through the everyday actions of their stores as
well as the many projects they are involved in at a corporate level (Culture and Values:
Starbucks Coffee Company, n.d.) They are a company that is both focused on growth and
profits, but at the same time heavily focused on values, empowerment, an inspiring
purpose, and the employee experience.

2) Describe your role in the organization (it can be an internal or external role).

My role in the organization is that of an internal employee. I work in the capacity

of a District Manager. My role includes the responsibility of supporting the overall
operations of between 10-20 stores with a focus on financial improvement and portfolio
growth. This is done through coaching and developing Store Managers and influencing
behaviors that drive sales, profits, employee experience, and overall customer
satisfaction. As I do not work directly in the stores, I lean into creating a culture of
mentorship, trust, and support that allows my team to grow and fail in a safe
environment.

3) Describe the situation, including information you think the will help the reader
understand the most important elements of the situation. (This will require
selectivity: part of the art of case writing is separating the essential facts from the
mass of information that might be included).
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 The situation that I will be analyzing in my PCA is that of a tough decision that
had to be made regarding the employment of two people. I was managing two districts while
another District Manager was being interviewed and hired. After the hiring
decision had been made it was found out that one of the locations that this new DM
would be covering had employed his niece as a barista. The difficulty was that we were
unsure if this would be a conflict of interest, or what our next steps would be if it was a
conflict.

The situation took about a month to resolve and there were multiple factors that
we had to consider. For example, a District Manager in our same Area had previously
had a niece who worked in his district for almost five years, and there were no issues
raised. This new DM had an estranged relationship with his family and had only met his
niece a few times and they did not have any actual relationship beyond that. The Barista
had been employed in her store for over two years now and there wasn’t another location
in the area that they could transfer to. She would not be managed by the DM, but the
relationship would be “indirect” as he would be her Boss’s Boss. In addition, as an
organization, we consider the employee experience as critical and do not want to have to
decline the offer to the DM or separate the barista. Finally, as our mission and values
state, it ous our responsibility to “Challenge the Status Quo”, and create a sense of
belonging where every person is recognized for who they are. (Culture and Values:
Starbucks Coffee Company, n.d) It was not clear what we should do to resolve the
situation.

I would like to analyze the issue taking into consideration the four frames of an
organization. I believe that all four frames are presented in this situation and that there
was no “good” decision to be made. Digging into the issues within each frame can help
share the complexities of the issue and what the possible solutions may have been.

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 Reference or References:

Culture and values: Starbucks Coffee Company. (n.d.). Starbucks.

https://www.starbucks.com/careers/working-at-starbucks/culture-and-values/