Starbucks Case Study
Continuing Case: Starbucks – Introduction
Discussion Questions
1. What management skills do you think would be most important for Howard Schultz to have? Why? What skills do you think would be most important for a Starbucks store manager to have? Why?
2. How might the following management theories/approaches be useful to Starbucks: scientific management, organizational behavior, quantitative approach, systems approach?
3. Choose three of the current trends and issues facing managers and explain how Starbucks might be impacted. What might be the implications for first-line managers? Middle managers? Top managers?
4. Give examples of how Howard Schultz might perform the interpersonal roles, the informational roles, and the decisional roles.
5. Look at Howard Schultz’s philosophy of Starbucks. How will this affect the way the company is managed?
6. Go to the company’s Web site (www.starbucks.com) and find the list of senior officers. Pick one of those positions and describe what you think that job might involve. Try to envision what types of planning, organizing, leading and controlling this person would have to do.
1
← Management Skills
As we studied before, there are three kinds of skills that are essential for managers: conceptual skills, human skills and technical skills. Conceptual skills are most important for top managers, they help managers to think and conceptualize about abstract and complex situation. Human skills are, generally, very important for all managers, but especially for middle managers, because they need to lead, inspire and motivate other workers and communicate with top and first-line managers. Finally, technical skills represent job-specific knowledge and techniques needed to proficiently perform specific tasks.
In this case we have Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, man who created biggest coffee retailer in the world. Schultz's adventure started in 1981, when he traveled from New York to Seattle to
Discussion Questions
1. What management skills do you think would be most important for Howard Schultz to have? Why? What skills do you think would be most important for a Starbucks store manager to have? Why?
2. How might the following management theories/approaches be useful to Starbucks: scientific management, organizational behavior, quantitative approach, systems approach?
3. Choose three of the current trends and issues facing managers and explain how Starbucks might be impacted. What might be the implications for first-line managers? Middle managers? Top managers?
4. Give examples of how Howard Schultz might perform the interpersonal roles, the informational roles, and the decisional roles.
5. Look at Howard Schultz’s philosophy of Starbucks. How will this affect the way the company is managed?
6. Go to the company’s Web site (www.starbucks.com) and find the list of senior officers. Pick one of those positions and describe what you think that job might involve. Try to envision what types of planning, organizing, leading and controlling this person would have to do.
1
← Management Skills
As we studied before, there are three kinds of skills that are essential for managers: conceptual skills, human skills and technical skills. Conceptual skills are most important for top managers, they help managers to think and conceptualize about abstract and complex situation. Human skills are, generally, very important for all managers, but especially for middle managers, because they need to lead, inspire and motivate other workers and communicate with top and first-line managers. Finally, technical skills represent job-specific knowledge and techniques needed to proficiently perform specific tasks.
In this case we have Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, man who created biggest coffee retailer in the world. Schultz's adventure started in 1981, when he traveled from New York to Seattle to
References: ← Stephen P. Robbins, Mary Coulter (2009), Management (Ninth Edition), Pearson Education Beijing Office ← Business Dictionary; http://www.businessdictionary.com ← Starbucks Official Web Site; http://www.starbucks.com ← Management, management skills; http://en.articlesgratuits.com ← Ethical Sourcing, Starbucks; http://www.starbucks.com/responsibility/sourcing ← Sweney, Mark. guardian.co.uk, Starbucks ads trumpet Fair-trade move http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/sep/02/starbucks-fairtrade-advertising, 2 September 2009 ← Baidu Baike; http://baike.baidu.com/view/8276.htm 10