Changing a Company’s Culture

Changing a Company’s Culture

According to Morcos (2018), organizational culture, also identified as company culture explains the behavior and characteristics of every organization. Organizations must set in place their corporate culture based on their resources and capability. Hence, organizational culture can be leveraged and designed to enhance employee engagement and morale as well as improve company performance and increase revenue margins. Organizational culture differentiates a successful organization from its rivals, thus can be used as a strategic competitive advantage (Morcos, 2018). Corporate culture or organizational culture influences business and employee performance through its customs, values, traditional and expected behavioural portrayal by its operations. One of the companies that have continuously showcased why organizational culture is critical in business operation is the Starbucks Corporation (Ferguson, 2019). Thus, this reflection paper attempts to evaluate corporate culture and how companies can use it to improve their operations.

Starbucks exemplifies its organizational culture in various aspects such as its licensing and franchising practices. The most common places where one can easily interact with the company’s corporate culture is at the corporation’s owned stores through its customer-centred service delivery (Ferguson, 2019). These shops exhibit friendly and warm ambience, giving Starbucks a competitive advantage over its rivals such as McDonalds McCafé and Dunkin Donuts. Starbucks is among the renown and top-performing coffee-selling companies as well as exemplary service delivery. It has also established a very conducive environment where customers can enjoy its beautiful scenery and comfortability. The company emphasizes that its staff develop a close relationship and also ensure the satisfaction of client-specific details. For instance, the organization refers to its employees as “partners”, and accords its part-time workers living in America with health insurance and stock options (Davidson, 2016). During the financial crisis, the company increased its investment in human resource development at a time when other companies were reducing the costs. For instance, the company had increased its expenditure on staff training in departments like coffee tasting and sponsoring research/innovations (Davidson, 2016). The company’s decision to care for its workers relays the need for employees to care for their clients.

The company also enhances inclusivity and diversity in its operations, which explains the inclusion of staff from different backgrounds, thus creating a welcoming environment for its clients. The company also manages multiple Partner Networks, which represent employees from thousands of different backgrounds (Dudovskiy, 2017). For instance, in 2014, the US Business Leadership Network awarded the company as the Disability Employer of the Year in 2014. The corporation has also been fated with other achievements such as recording the highest possible (100) score in Disability Equality Index in 2015 as well as on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) for Corporate Equality Index in 2015 (Dudovskiy, 2017).

Starbucks Corporation has also developed a relevant servant leadership strategy, which involves its leaders, especially its team leaders and corporate leaders, exhibiting the company’s organizational culture. Based on this policy, managers, leaders, and supervisors provide support to their subordinate staff, thus ensuring that every employee within the organization improves. This strategy revokes to customer satisfaction and employee morale (Ferguson, 2019).

Another aspect that Starbucks uses to influence its organizational culture is through the satisfaction of customers’ needs and wants. To influence and understand consumer needs requires marketers to monitor their customers’ perception closely. Such strategy includes understanding culture associated with their history, language, religion and education, among other traits that influence human lifestyle (YANG & TU, 2016). The company considers the clients’ needs as their top priority and insists on observance of culture, thus creating a “third space” for its consumers. Starbucks uses this form of market-centred development to ensure that it targets its products to specific markets. Among the section that Starbucks appeal to include the trendsetters, and those who revel in leisure and relaxation (YANG & TU, 2016). Also, among their markets are youthful white-collar employees and college/university students. The company appeals to this generation by providing environments that enable them to read, surf the internet (through the provision of Wi-Fi) or converse while enjoying their coffee. The company has established a close relationship with its customers through expressing its concern for the environment, culture and feelings, which makes it easy for the company to maintain its products at a relatively higher price compared to its competitors (YANG & TU, 2016). The company also portrays its concerns for its clients by concentrating on immediate service delivery that exudes leisure and reliability. The company values the importance of communicating effectively with its customers, which explains the company’s decision to train its employees on coffee knowledge and marketing skills before deploying them to their respective positions.

Co-operative localization is also another strategy that Starbucks has used to increase its competitive advantage. Through this technique, the company has established partnerships with local companies in several countries. For instance, Media Beijing Coffee Company and the corporation have partnered to ensure that each company better understands their consumer’s preference and taste (YANG & TU, 2016). Also, Starbucks has exemplified direct marketing in the Chinese market for over thirty years rather than allowing franchising which enables the company to maintain its brands’ images.

Starbucks uses product localizing to improve its product’s performance as a global player, which explains the company’s presence in over 65 countries. The company has stores in the Europe, American, Indian and Asian markets. The strategy has enabled the company to thrive in countries dominated by tea consumers such as India (Rajasekaran, 2015). Using this strategy, the company can develop localized drinks to express the consumers’ taste as well as gain their approval. Starbucks analyzes their clients’ taste and combines with western and mixed-oriental flavours to match different drinks creativity, thus satisfying local customers.

Further, the company has effectively incorporated social media in its communication strategy to engage its customers and shareholders. The company has set in place a very vibrant social media presence on platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. For instance, Starbuck’s uses its Twitter handle for inducing action, evoking emotion and sharing information concerning its products. Also, it uses its Twitter account to relay apologies, support, chit-chat with clients, enquire and question as well as establish gratitude (Taecharungroj, 2017). Starbucks’ success on social media is due to its use of several forms of content such as visuals, as well as the preparation and management of proper customer interactions on their site. Other companies can indulge this strategy in their operation to interact with its potential and existing market since it is comparatively cheap compared to other media like television.

In summary, organizational culture occupies a crucial position in the growth and development of an organization. Therefore, companies should seek to improve specific aspects of their operations to enhance strategy formulation and improve the value of its products/services. Different organizational theories vary depending on the company’s resources, sector of operation, external environment, and phase of the organization’s life cycle, hence proper implementation may require stakeholders’ involvement.

References

Davidson, P. L. V. (2016, December 30). How Starbucks’s Culture Brings Its Strategy to Life. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/12/how-starbuckss-culture-brings-its-strategy-to-life.

Dudovskiy, J. (2017, April 13). Starbucks Organizational Culture: Focus on employees as the source of core competency – Research-Methodology. Retrieved from https://research-methodology.net/starbucks-organizational-culture-focus-on-employees-as-the-source-of-core-competency/.

Ferguson, E. (2019, February 20). Starbucks Corporation’s Organizational Culture & Its Characteristics. Retrieved from http://panmore.com/starbucks-coffee-company-organizational-culture.

Morcos, M. (2018). ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE: DEFINITIONS AND TRENDS. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329140215_ORGANISATIONAL_CULTURE_DEFINITIONS_AND_TRENDS

Rajasekaran, R. (2015). Starbucks’ Entry into Tea-Drinking India. IUP Journal of Brand Management, 12(3).

Taecharungroj, V. (2017). Starbucks’ marketing communications strategy on Twitter. Journal of Marketing Communications, 23(6), 552-571.

YANG, Q., & TU, X. (2016). Starbucks VS Chinese Tea—Starbucks Brand Management Strategy Analysis in China. International Business and Management, 12(1), 29-32.