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Shubhi answered on
Jun 09 2020
Sta
ucks: Operations & Leadership
Contents
Sta
ucks: Operations & Leadership 1
I. Introduction 3
II. Leadership 3
A. Contingency Theory 5
III. Operations Management 5
A. Challenges and Role of Leaders 6
1. Management by Objectives (MBO) 6
2. Situational Leadership 7
IV. Business Environment 7
V. Recommendations and Conclusion 9
VI. References 10
I. Introduction
Sta
ucks started from a single store in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, in 1970. Today they have close to 22,519 stores in about 70 countries (2015). They offer more than 30 blends and single-origin coffees that are premium.
Their mission is “to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighbourhood at a time”. Their portfolio consists not only of coffee, but also of handcrafted beverages, merchandise and fresh food.
They place great importance on building an enduring company that is able to balance between profits and social conscience. They make sure that they are following ‘Ethical Sourcing’, ‘Environmental Stewardship’ and ‘Community Involvement’.
II. Leadership
“Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal.” Kevin Kruse’s definition of leadership covers some essential aspects, like the fact that leadership does not stem from authority or power, but from social influence. There’s no one particular method or style of leadership, many paths can be taken to achieve a goal for effective leadership.
Some of the most spoken about styles of leadership are:
· Lewin’s Leadership Styles – This includes the Authoritative, Participative and Laissez-Faire styles. Authoritative or autocratic leaders believe in giving commands and setting clear expectations, with little or no inputs from the team. It can be useful when the decision-making time is short. However, these leaders can end up stifling the creativity of their team members. Laissez-Faire leaders are completely the opposite of this. They give full freedom to their employees to make their own decisions. This can lead to some chaos within the organization. Participative on the other hand, is the most effective leadership style. These leaders make decisions democratically. Employees have the freedom to give their inputs but the final say is of the leader.
· Situational Leadership Styles – These lay stress on the significance of the situation and the environment on leadership. In 1969, Hersey and Blanchard described four major leadership styles: telling (telling employees what to do), selling (leaders convincing their employees to buy into their ideas and beliefs), participating (involving employees in the decision making process) and delegating (team members have the flexibility to make majority of their decisions).
· Systems Leadership - “Leadership across organisational and geopolitical boundaries, beyond individual professional disciplines, within a range of organisational and stakeholder cultures, often without direct managerial control” (The Virtual Staff College, Exceptional Leadership for Exceptional Times, 2013). The leaders create an atmosphere in the organization wherein all employees work efficiently and productively according to their individual potential. They do not view the system as individual units but as a whole and try to act in the best interest of the larger picture. They try to keep the colleagues and peers across various levels and multiple layers (Fullan, 2005).
Sta
ucks had suffered a major financial loss in 2009 wherein there was a 77% decrease in income in the second quarter due to which many retail shops were shut (Flynn, 2009). This could be attributed to the global economy which was weak at that point of time. Some researchers however, have claimed that the cause could also be the degrading internal atmosphere of the company. Post that incident, Sta
ucks picked up again and the income started to rise. They have tried to incorporate this method since then to safeguard the future of the company. The leadership has to maintain both, the micro as well as the macro perspective of the company.
· Transformational Leadership – Research on this topic began in 1970’s and was later expanded up on by Bernard M. Bass. Some of the key features of this type of leadership are the capabilities to motivate and inspire the followers and to instil positive changes within groups.
Howard Schultz, the Chairman and former CEO of Sta
ucks, was definitely a transformational leader. This means “to motivate others to do more than they originally intended and often more than they thought possible” (Bass & Avolio, 1994).
According to a study done by British Academy of Management on Leadership Discourse Analysis, Schultz displayed five characteristics throughout his role as the CEO as a transformational leader.
· He maintained exceptional enthusiasm for the company through severity and not likeability
· He used lexical choices of words that could be considered slightly out of context, but still motivating
· He had the ability to be transparent consistently and believed in humility
· He believed in giving responsibility equally
· He was true to the core values of the...