How to Write a Term Paper on the Organizational Structure of Starbucks Coffee
Starbucks Coffee is one of the great business success stories of the last 30 years, rising from a one-store organization to being a global entity with nearly 20,000 stores, as of 2011. Starbucks management culture is heavily focused on relationship-building and personal interactions, and the company is frequently ranked among the best companies to work for in the country. A term paper on Starbuck's structure will cover a variety of aspects, from the store level, up through corporate leadership.
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Instructions
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Write a term paper on the organizational structure of Starbucks Coffee
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Read Howard Schultz's two books. Schultz is the CEO of Starbucks -- and while he is not the founder of the company itself -- he is the creator of the store model that the world knows today.
Schultz wrote two books that give great insight into the company: "Pour Your Heart Into It," in 1999 and "Onward" in 2011. The first book discusses how Schultz managed the company's rise, becoming a large company while keeping a small, intimate feel in the stores. Schultz describes the early ups-and-downs and shuffling of the leadership team, and how he and a small group of core leaders navigated the waters as the company changed the way Americans thought about coffee.
"Pour..." was written when the company had merely 1,000 stores; "Onward" is written from a different perspective entirely, with Starbucks being nearly 20 times as large -- with much of the focus on the company's rocky struggle through a down economy and dealing with the aftermath of poor decisions made during a brief time that Schultz was out of the CEO role.
Each book gives tremendous insight into the culture of the company and the expectations Schultz has of those at different levels in the organizational structure. These books give good insight and will bolster a term paper.
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Interview a district manager. Getting front-line information from someone working in Starbucks is a great way to learn about the organizational structure. District managers oversee about 10 stores each and are in one of their stores once or twice a month. Your closest Starbucks will be able to provide contact information for their district manager, whom you should contact to arrange a time to meet in the store. District managers generally have a long tenure with the company, usually working their way up from barista, and are the highest-ranking person you can easily get a face-to-face meeting with. The district manager meets with leaders several ranks above him, and has a keen understanding of the organizational structure; He will likely be happy to discuss his job and the company.
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Research -- this is a basic step to writing any term paper -- and writing about Starbucks provides the writer with much more material than many other companies. Such books as "Tribal Knowledge: Business Wisdom Brewed from the Grounds of Starbucks Corporate Culture" and "The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary" give a good overview of the organizational structure and leadership dynamic.
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References
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