OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Symbolic Frame Worksheet

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

The situation that I found to be a challenge in my leadership journey was a time

where I needed to coach a barista as a shift supervisor at Starbucks. This barista had
transferred to our store recently and was struggling to connect and develop a good
relationship with the team. This barista had a history of talking over authority figures
who were relaying information to her, misgendering coworkers, and had an overall
attitude problem. One day, this barista was rude to one of her coworkers which resulted
in me asking her to step to the back room so we could discuss her behavior with the
support of my assistant store manager. I was attempting to coach her on her behavior and
attitude, but she began to speak over me loudly and state that she had only had issues at
this location and that it was leadership’s fault. Shortly after, we sent her home half an
hour early and she never returned.

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

Starbuck’s mission statement is as follows: “To inspire and nurture the human
spirit- one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time” (Parker, 2024). Within this
mission statement there are four elements that Starbuck’s utilizes in order to meet the
organization’s goals. One element of the mission statement that influenced this situation
is the concept of commitment to empowering partners. Starbucks promotes diversity,
respect, equity, empathy and dignity within the workplace and encourages partners to lift
up and encourage each other (Parker, 2024). This is a large factor in why the barista’s
behavior was so unacceptable at this organization since she was directly acting opposed
to our values and commitment to each other. Her actions were often disrespectful toward
not only fellow partners but middle and upper management as well. As a result, many
people formed an informal ritual of expressing sympathy or a shared knowing look
whenever someone acknowledged that they were going to be working a shift with her.

Starbucks also has four values that they hold in high regard as these values help to
differentiate Starbucks from its competition while guiding them towards success (Parker,
2024). One of these values is creating a culture of inclusion in which Starbucks
emphasizes its value of inclusion, diversity and equity by intentionally creating a space in
which everyone is welcome (Parker, 2024). This barista often misgendered her
coworkers and wrote her own actions off without a thought. When corrected or reminded
that she needed to pay attention to how she was addressing her fellow partners she would
remark that she didn’t pay attention to that sort of thing and that it didn’t really matter to

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 her very much. This mentality was the exact opposite of what the organization values
and was looking for in a partner. As someone who was affected by this behavior, it was a
draining experience, and I genuinely abhorred the times in which I had to work with her.

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

One alternative course of action I could have taken was to bring the
organization’s values and goals into the conversation about why the barista’s behavior
and actions were unacceptable. Emphasizing that her actions and behaviors did not align
with the organization takes some of the personal pressure out of the situation. The
situation becomes less of “I don’t like what you did” and more of “your actions are going
against the organization’s values”. This focus on the organization’s values would have
helped me remain more confident in my confrontation and might even have helped me to
speak over her rather than the reverse. Additionally, the emphasis on the organization’s
values would also make it easier to make an action plan for her improvement in her
behavior so she could better align with the values and organizational mission statement.

Additionally, I could have reinforced the standard of utilizing the correct

pronouns of her coworkers by emphasizing Starbuck’s value of diversity. She often
brushed off myself and other management who attempted to bring her actions in line with
Starbucks standards and commitments. But when we did correct her, I think it would
have been more successful if we had explained Starbuck’s diversity values more and that
upholding those values was a requirement to work there. We could have also addressed
this concern from a more personal perspective so as to help emphasize the importance of
respecting one another. At the time, I was too nervous of confrontation to take advantage
of the fact that I had a personal connection to this issue and could have provided direct
insight into how it felt to be on the receiving end of her actions.

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

Overall, I think that both myself and other management could have been stricter
about ensuring that this barista changed her behavior before it affected as many people as
it did. I believe that we should have used Starbuck’s values, motto, and mission
statement as hard reasons as to why she could and should not behave in a disrespectful
manner to her fellow partners. I think that I personally should have made the
environment safer for both myself and other partners by correcting her behavior sooner
rather than later. By not addressing this as quickly or treating it as severely as we could
have, I’ve realized that we were actively making the workplace environment unsafe for
partners which goes directly against Starbuck’s intentions for their stores. As a leader, I
know that I want to actively avoid making any workplace feel unwelcome or

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 unsupportive. I especially want to align my actions within the workplace with the
organization’s values.

However, the action of confronting her when she was rude to one of her partners
was the morally and ethically right thing to do. So, I do not regret the actions of coaching
her in that moment. I would grab my assistant store manager for help with that coaching
session since I found her presence to be reassuring during this interaction. In many ways,
I did uphold many of Starbuck’s values through my decisions and actions. If I could go
back in time and make different decisions, then I would have addressed these behavioral
issues sooner and with a stronger conviction. When I think back to how I felt in that
time, I remember feeling that I was doing my best to assume the best in this barista and
that may be part of why I was not as hard on her as I should have been. Now I
understand that you can assume the best in someone and still uphold them to an
organization’s values and standards.

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 Reference

Parker, B. (2024, January 31). Starbucks mission statement: Values: Principles: & sustainability
goals (2024 analysis). Business Strategy Hub. https://bstrategyhub.com/starbucks-
mission-statement-values-principles-sustainability-goals/#Starbucks_Principles