OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Structural Frame Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the structural frame
2. Apply the structural frame to your personal case situation

Complete the following making sure to support your ideas and cite from the textbook and other
course materials per APA guidelines. After the peer review, you have a chance to update this and
format for your Electronic Portfolio due in Module 6.

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

I chose to write about a situation from when I was furst a store manager at Starbucks. I
had a barista who had been with the company for 14 years who felt that she was above
the rules of our store and tried to get me investigated by ethics and compliance multiple
times. I was intimitaded to give this partner corrective action and had to learn how to be
firm but fair with her. My leadership was challenged because I knew that I was treating
her the same way that I would treat anyone else in the situation, yet I was scared that she
was going to get me fired from a company that I loved. I had to involve my district
manager and have her present for all communications just in case something were to be
misconstruied. In the end, she was fired from Starbucks for violating several policies and
procedures, and my leadership grew from it.

2) Describe how the structure of the organization influenced the situation.

Starbucks operates heavily on its mission and values. The values are; to create a
culture of warmth and belonging where everyone is welcome; acting with courage,
challenging the status quo and finding new ways to grow our company and each other;
being present, connecting with transparency, dignity, and respect; and delivering our very
best in all we do, holding ourselves accountable for results (Starbucks Coffee Company,
2023, p. 8).

In the stores, the structure starts from the top with the store manager who is
responsible for one store. The manager oversees shift supervisors who are responsible for
leading the shifts and helping develop the baristas. Supervisors run the floor with
anywhere from 2-10+ people at a time, and are also responsible for excellent time
managmenet skills. The baristas are responsible for certain stations within the store
including bar, drive thru, and warming. They are also responsible for general store
cleaning an maintenance including floor, restrooms, drains, ovens, etc. Everyone in the

1
 store is responsible for creating the customer experience and ensuring that customers are
getting the best experience possible from the time they get to the store to the time they
leave, regardless of if they come through the drive thru or inside. Above the store level,
there are district managers who oversee, on average, 13 stores.

In my situation, the issue was that my barista was going above her job duties to do
things that supervisors are responsible for. She was trying to make decisions about when
tasks should be done, she was overriding the approval of supervisors, and she was
running her own breaks rather than letting the supervisors do it which caused a lot of
confusion with other baristas and with the supervisor. She was trying to override
organizational structure because she felt that her fourteen year tenure was enough to have
those responsibilities in the store. She also went over me to my district manager about
problems she was having. She went to ethics and compliance multiple times trying to get
me written up or fired from my position.

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

I wish I would have gotten my district manager involved earlier. At first I felt that
I could handle the scenario myself, and I ended up having to backtrack through a few
weeks’ worth of conversations to try to get my district manager up to speed about my
scenario.
I also would have used my supervisor team to coach this barista more. They were
scared of her and I should have held them accountable more to have the right
conversations. Starbucks is very intergrated and allows for conversations to flow through
all levels of the organization, but I felt like I made it more of a responsibility of mine to
take the burden off of others. I also could have gone through ethics and compliance
myself because I had a barista in my store who was trying to disrupt the store
environment, and at the time I didn’t know that it was an option to reach out to that team
for recommendations.

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

I would not change the coaching I gave this partner that her tenure was not
enough to override structure. We had multiple conversations that if she wanted to be a
supervisor, she and I could work on her development and she could apply for the position
and interview just like everyone else. I was also right to go to my district manager for
support in my conversations.
One thing I would change would be having more timely conversations with the
barista. I started managing that store in August of 2020, and she did not get separated
from the company in March of 2021. For 6 months I was nervous to coach this partner

2
 and have deep conversations with her because I felt that she was going to try to get me
fired or that she was going to try to get the rest of the store to think I was a bad manager
so that they would quit. I should not have let fear be a reason for me to not do the right
thing for my store or my customers.

3
 Reference or References

Starbucks Coffee Company. (2023). Starbucks Partner Guide. Partner Hub. Retrieved May 28,
2023, from https://departments.starbucks.com/sites/career/en-us/tools/Partner%20Guides
%20store%20US%20only/Partner%20Guide%20-%20Store%20Edition%20(U.S.).pdf?
surveypopup=true.