OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Choosing an Organization Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Identify an organization and situation you want to study over the remainder of the course.
2. Describe the organization and the 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) Name and describe your organization.

I’m choosing Starbucks Coffee Company as my organization. Starbucks is a

global coffee chain serving 84 countries, that started as a single storefront selling whole
bean coffee in Seattle’e Pike Place Market. They like to say they are not in the coffee
business serving people, but the people business serving coffee as partners (employees)
are at the heartbeat of the organization. Their purpose goes far beyond profits, as they
invest in being a people and planet-positive company, that gives more than they take
from the planet. They aspire to create a third-place environment for their customers to
come and share gathering spaces, and lean into the human connection. According to Trull
(2023), Starbucks is consistently ranked in Fortune's Top 100 companies to work for
coming in at fourteenth in 2023 which is why the employees are referred to as partners as
they share in the financial success of the company itself. They are a publicly traded
company being represented on the Nasdaq as SBUX and are currently at $93 per share.

2) Describe your role in the organization (it can be an internal or external role).

I’m currently in role as a Store Manager for the Starbucks coffee company, while
I have had a few time-limited assignments as a regional coordinator, and district
manager. My role as a store manager is to build a team that can create the Starbucks
experience for our customers while managing and growing the operations of a multi-
million dollar business. It is my goal to inspire others by being a dynamic brand
ambassador dedicated to driving and achieving results through my partners. I love being
able to make a direct impact on my community by integrating the business with the
community to create better moments in peoples’ lives, from partners to our customers,
communities, and planet, and even create volunteer events to serve directly.

3) Describe the situation, including information you think will help the reader
understand the most important elements of the situation. (This will require

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 selectivity: part of the art of case writing is separating the essential facts from the
mass of information that might be included).

Despite being a beloved company over the past two years Starbucks has been
dealing with issues of employees wanting to be represented by a Union. In 2021, stores in
Buffalo, New York joined Workers United of the Service Employees International
Union. According to their website, “we are organizing a union to bring out the best in all
of us. Our organizing committee includes Starbucks partners from across the United
States. Many of us have invested years of our lives at Starbucks, while others have
recently become partners. We all have one thing in common — we want the company to
succeed and we want our work lives to be the best they can be. (Starbucks Workers
United, n.d.)” Since then over 8,000 workers at over 360 Starbucks stores in at least 40
states in the United States have voted to unionize, and as of today none have yet enacted
a collective bargaining agreement.

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 References

Starbucks Workers United. (n.d.). Starbucks Workers United. https://sbworkersunited.org/

Trull, A. (2023, February 21). The world’s most admired for more than two decades -

One.Starbucks. One.Starbucks. https://one.starbucks.com/get-the-facts/starbucks-named-

worlds-most-admired/#:~:text=Starbucks%20is%20proud%20to%20be,and%20analysts

%20across%20all%20industries.