OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Human Resource Frame Worksheet

Rachael Stiver

1) Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

The situation is a conversation between myself and one of my baristas, Anna. I am a shift

supervisor and her acting manager most of the time we work together. Anna struggled with her

attitude, work ethic, and not living Starbucks’ mission and values. I pulled her aside for a

conversation after we closed to address her behavior and how we could improve her experience

by addressing her bad behavior. The conversation went okay and ended because Anna was upset.

After spending time thinking about the conversation, Anna realized how her behavior was

affecting the team and that I wanted to help her. The conversation centered around

communication, and we addressed how we could better communicate with each other and our

team.

2) Describe how the human resources of the organization influenced the

situation.

Human resources influence every aspect of my job. Starbucks is a company that prides

itself on being in the people business serving coffee, not the coffee business serving people.

There are many layers of human resources within the company as well. At the store level,

supervisors play a role in human resource conflict management and resolution. Store managers

are the HR department for each store. District managers are responsible for entire districts. There

is a department called the partner resource center that encapsulates the entire company. For the

situation with Anna’s sour attitude, treating customers and partners with disrespect, and not
doing her job, I had multiple partners come to me to remedy the situation. At night, I am the boss

of the baristas and become the stand-in HR manager until our store manager is available.

After my baristas came to me about the situation and I tried to resolve the conflict to the

best of my ability, I went to my bosses as the next step in human resources. It can be difficult for

our path for human resources starts within the store level because all the employees know each

other well, and it adds a layer of difficulty to traverse challenging situations. My bosses and I sat

down and discussed the problem, what steps I needed to take to deal with the situation, and what

steps my managers would take to talk with Anna. My manager also spoke with the district

manager to keep her in the loop. For this example, this is as far up the human resource ladder as

the issue had to go. If things had not improved, the next step would be to escalate the problems

to our partner center and speak with HR resources within the corporate side of Starbucks.

3) Recommend how you would use the human resources for an alternative
course of action regarding your case.

Starbucks has many levels of human resources that encompass the entire company, but it

can be challenging to navigate where to go when a situation needs help. In an organization that is

as large as Starbucks, it is necessary to have many layers of human resources. That being said, it

is also essential for the company to clearly communicate where to go in different situations. This

is not always easy, especially when the company is large and located in over 80 markets. The

humane resource lens is an integral part of my work, but most of the people who are involved in

HR at the store level don’t have the proper training for HR work.

Starbucks’ mantra of being in the people business serving coffee doesn’t only include

customers but also employees (partners). “The key is a philosophy or credo that makes explicit

an organization's core beliefs about managing people (Becker and Huselid, 1998, p. 55). The
credo then has to be translated into specific management practices. Most organizations lack a

philosophy, or they ignore the one they claim to have. A philosophy provides direction; practices

make it real” (Bolman & Deal, p.143). Starbucks has a strong credo but sometimes struggles to

live it. I find that reminding those around me of the company's mission and values helps to

improve the humane resource lens and approach used. If the other leaders in my store and I had

more training in humane resources, I think we could have done better and handled the situation

faster. “Owen tried to convince his fellow capitalists that investing in people could produce a

greater return than investments in machinery. But the business world dismissed him as a wild

radical whose ideas would harm the people he wanted to help (O'Toole, 1995)” (Bolman & Deal,

p.141). If Starbucks invested more in HR training and the most common issues causing those HR

problems, the organization would run smoother.

4) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently, given what you have
learned about this frame.

If I were to reapproach the situation with Anna and the struggles with behavior and work

ethic, I would do some things differently. I would approach my manager sooner and encourage a

sit down with Anna and my manager instead. A direct conversation between the three of us

would have remedied the situation quicker. I would have also gone to my district manager for

advice and requested more training to deal with humane resource issues. There is a large gap in

training from supervisor to manager, yet the closing supervisors are acting managers because our

store manager only works before 3:30 PM. The need for HR training for supervisors is evident.

Supervisors are trained to deal with difficult customer situations, but that only sometimes

translates to dealing with coworkers.

 I followed the proper structure for dealing with the issue, and the outcome was

successful, but if I had trusted my gut more, the process would have gone by faster. Considering

this was the first time I had dealt with a problem like this, I did the right thing by following the

procedures. If this situation occurs again, I will handle it differently. Experience is a great

teacher, and with what I am learning in class and my work experiences, my human resource

skills are growing. Spending time reflecting on this experience through different lenses builds

upon the readings' foundation. Because of my issues with Anna, I am better prepared to handle

the next problem I encounter at work.

 Reference

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2021). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership

(7th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass