Effective teams are an inherent requirement in the customer-service industry. In Starbucks, teams are present at the storefront and corporate level. At the corporate level, Starbucks has a leadership team composed of fifty-nine individuals, with the CEO Howard Shultz at the top (Newsroom, 2016). At the individual store level, the Starbucks teams are composed of store managers, baristas and shift supervisors. Additionally, effective teamwork is crucial to Starbucks, especially at the storefront level. Teamwork is vital at this level because a single employee cannot effectively serve all of the needs of a customer without the help of other employees. Starbucks has recognized that effective teams is crucial to the company’s success and has taken
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As trust is essential to creating effective teams (Langton, Robbins & Judge, 2015, p. 169), Starbucks works to create trust between employees by encouraging interactions between employees outside of the workplace and keeping team size small. Teams in store are kept to two employees during evening shifts, and three to six during rush hours (Pennsylvania State, 2013). Small teams allow for individual team members to become better acquainted and trust each other. Additionally, Starbucks encourages leaders to be servant leaders – leaders that are chosen rather than appointed (Moore, 2006, p.178), which fosters the creation of self-managed teams. Self-managed teams are able to share information effectively, recognize individual contributions, identify problems and respond quickly and efficiently to customer needs (Pennsylvania State, 2013). By fostering trust and teams that have low levels of managerial oversight, Starbucks’ teams develop high cohesiveness and high performance norms, which makes them highly …show more content…
170). Starbucks manipulates the composition of teams through its hiring practices. Starbucks hires individuals using behavioural-based interviews, which ensure that employees are compatible with the firm’s relationship-based and collaborative culture (Starbucks, 2016a). Starbucks also hires based on an individual’s passion and values, hiring passion over experience (Moore 2006, p. 204). The importance of this hiring method to the firm is evidenced by Starbucks CEO’s statement that, “ the values and behaviours of individuals … [are] felt at the line level within months. We can’t afford to hire … people with the wrong values. It’s a path to mediocrity,” (Cohn, Khurana & Reeves, 2005). By hiring individuals that fit with the corporate culture and are equally passionate, teams within Starbucks are formed with relative ease and are effective as employees share common mental
As trust is essential to creating effective teams (Langton, Robbins & Judge, 2015, p. 169), Starbucks works to create trust between employees by encouraging interactions between employees outside of the workplace and keeping team size small. Teams in store are kept to two employees during evening shifts, and three to six during rush hours (Pennsylvania State, 2013). Small teams allow for individual team members to become better acquainted and trust each other. Additionally, Starbucks encourages leaders to be servant leaders – leaders that are chosen rather than appointed (Moore, 2006, p.178), which fosters the creation of self-managed teams. Self-managed teams are able to share information effectively, recognize individual contributions, identify problems and respond quickly and efficiently to customer needs (Pennsylvania State, 2013). By fostering trust and teams that have low levels of managerial oversight, Starbucks’ teams develop high cohesiveness and high performance norms, which makes them highly …show more content…
170). Starbucks manipulates the composition of teams through its hiring practices. Starbucks hires individuals using behavioural-based interviews, which ensure that employees are compatible with the firm’s relationship-based and collaborative culture (Starbucks, 2016a). Starbucks also hires based on an individual’s passion and values, hiring passion over experience (Moore 2006, p. 204). The importance of this hiring method to the firm is evidenced by Starbucks CEO’s statement that, “ the values and behaviours of individuals … [are] felt at the line level within months. We can’t afford to hire … people with the wrong values. It’s a path to mediocrity,” (Cohn, Khurana & Reeves, 2005). By hiring individuals that fit with the corporate culture and are equally passionate, teams within Starbucks are formed with relative ease and are effective as employees share common mental