Arizona State University

OGL 481-Personal Case Analysis

Structure
Alyssa Limbag
May 29, 2020
 The situation was me training three new hires for the overnight shift at Starbucks. I am a

current supervisor at Starbucks and have been with the company for nine years. My role was to

train each of these new hires into the supervisor role. Each person had different learning styles

and I learned to understand their style to better train each. Bob was the only person that showed

no interest in learning and understanding the barista and supervisor role. Learning the barista role

first and then the supervisor role will help understand the structure of how we all work together.

He felt as if he did not need to learn what a barista needed to do. In the end he left on one of his

training shifts without any explanation.

The structure at Starbucks is vertical coordination because the organizational charts are a

top down formation. Its starts with the CEO and work its way down with each upper

management overseeing sections of the company. Bolman and Deal (2017) discuss this type of

structure as higher levels coordinate the rules and policies of the organization (p. 56). Within this

situation, a supervisor must understand the expectations of the barista. This helps with

coordination of setting a plan and making sure standards are set in place for the shift. The

structure within our store is the store manager, supervisor, and then baristas. While training I

explained the structure of our store and how a supervisor oversees the baristas.

Another important piece to structure is teamwork within Starbucks. Each day we work

with a team and need to work together to be successful. Being successful is having satisfied

customers and meeting target goals. Bolman and Deal (2017) discuss high-performing teams are

set out to meet a purpose that is set by higher management (p. 106). Starbucks does allow for

teams to be creative when meeting goals which allows for dialogue in the workplace. As for my

training, I could train with required documents but also train the way I wished. I adapt to the

trainees learning style and figure out the best way for them to learn.
 The hiring structure at Starbucks is completed by the manager. If I could recommend

how the structure could be changed regarding the situation presented, I would suggest that the

supervisors take a part of the hiring process. I believe if the supervisors take part this could help

with finding the right people for the position. The supervisor can input their opinion about what

is important to the position and what would be necessary to learn. The managers each have their

own perspective while hiring and this is only one perspective. Having more people involved will

give a better outlook on who would be the right fit for the organization. We could give the

interviewee an idea of the structure that will be necessary while working for Starbucks.

The supervisors could offer a different perspective that the manager may not have notice.

I believe this would be a good strategy for the structure because it allows more opinion and

perspective on the situation (Bolman & Deal, 2017, p.51). If this had occurred for the hiring

process, this could have eliminated the chances of a person quitting and it will give the candidate

an idea of what to expect for the position. Explaining the expectations such as understanding the

barista role would be priority to be a successful supervisor. Expanding on the expectations and

structure of the role would give the new hire a chance to figure out if this organizations aligns

with their values.

Learning about the vertical coordination frame, I believe I could have changed my

approach by allowing more freedom to the new hires. Allowing for my freedom could be bad or

good depending on the new hire. As for Bob, if I gave him more freedom to do as he wished then

maybe he would have learned by example. As a supervisor it is important to understand the

barista role to better prepare for the shift. But everyone has a different learning style and

structure they like to follow. By allowing more freedom to Bob and allowing him to learn only

the supervisor role could have given him a better perspective on the barista role. He might have
needed to learn for himself to learn better. I would be able to provide feedback after each of his

shift to demonstrate what needed to be prioritized such as managing the baristas tasks and

handling cash properly.

I could have explained structure about Starbucks to Bob better and had a meeting with

the other supervisors to give their perspective about the role. I think a meeting with all the

supervisors would have been a good choice to learn about their experiences and challenges.

These meetings would give each new hire a chance to explain their take on our structure at

Starbucks and I believe this would have helped Bob understand how our structure works at

Starbucks. Lateral coordination is flexible, and I believe adopting into this frame would help the

structure at my store with having meetings for our new hires (Bolman & Deal, 2017, p. 59).

These types of meetings could allow for the new hires to express what is working and not

working for them. Expanding on the structure that I have learned would provided a different

perspective for this situation by explaining the details of Starbucks structure to the new hire.
 References

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership

(6th  ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass (Perusall Version Only)