Sample Essay On Modern Management At Starbuck Company

Starbuck Company started in 1971 in Seattle, Washington. It has been marked with tremendous growth since its inception. The company deals in beverages, coffee beans, pastries and coffee related products. The company has grown to establish other junior affiliated companies in over 60 countries. This paper discusses the two management styles: consultative and the Laissez Faire management techniques in relation to Starbuck Company. It also explores contemporary issues in modern management, with organization change taking the lead. It eventually concludes by giving a discourse on the planning and organizing skills in modern management.
Recently, Starbuck Company has employed consultative management style with the Laissez Faire management style often used. These two management methods have significantly improved the management of this company. The Starbuck Company management has spearheaded the transition from the Laissez Faire Management technique to consultative management style (Burke, 2010) under the leadership of its chief executive officer, Howard Schultz. This type of management has invited and engaged its employees on their views and opinions regarding the running of activities of the company. However, the strategic administration of the company was ultimately involved in making the final decision. This technique fostered Starbuck employees to cultivate loyalty towards management at the same time their social needs being addressed.
Laissez Faire Management technology (Burke, 2010) was the recently used style of management by the Starbuck company. This form saw the company moves to the top of the market, outshining its competitors in the coffee sector. This style of management had both its pros and cons. However, this company employed this technique for a number of reasons. The management wanted to give its employees freedom to complete their task in the best way they thought would work the best. In addition, the administration also wanted to have minimal interference with its employee's services to the company. Following the use of this style, the company gave staff individual responsibilities for their tasks and allowed them to enhance them at personal capacity. This management style motivated staff and boosted their confidence in their routine tasks. Consequently, this led to increased productivity among the employees thus rendering quality services to its customers (Burke, 2010).
Lussier (2011) noted that organization change was inevitable. That proved to be a fact to the Starbuck Company, which was left with no option but to adapt to the dynamic business environment. Failure to embrace change could have rendered the company unviable, thus sticking to its old ways of management that were not corresponding to the dynamic business world. The management of this company was responsible for initiating and ensuring the success of the new change. The management implemented strategies to manage resistance from its employees who had been accustomed to the old culture of doing things. Managing change in the correct way contributed to the expansion and improvement of the company's services to its customers and staff. The company prepared its personnel for change through conducted workshops, trainings, and seminars that helped them to embrace the new management style. The change was gradual thus enabled employees to have adequate time to adapt to the new ways of service of the company, to its customers.
The Starbuck's management decision on the introduction of the vendors and spokespersons marked new changes in the provision of services to its customers. In their widely distributed shops, vendors enhanced accessibility to their services and products to initially areas with high demand. The request for a product influenced it supply in the market (Swain). The company could then reach more customers thus increasing their sale volumes of their products; at the same time, the supply of their products met its customer's demands. The spokespersons marketed and protected the reputation of the company in the highly competitive market trends. They acted as marketers of the enterprise and informants of the dynamic market trends. That enabled the company to remain at the top of the market and outdo their competitors in the coffee industry thus enjoying some monopoly of coffee products. They also played a liaison role between the company and the customers. With this, the company could get feedback from its clients, which enabled them to enhance their services and quality of products thus meeting customers' demands.
Studies have shown that many people, especially in the America, are taking fast foods. As a manager at Starbuck Company, I would introduce fast foods to the market at our widely distributed stores; to exploit such business opportunity. That would not only increase our profits, but also lead to proper remuneration of our employees. This would also enhance our production; therefore, there would be no need for cutting costs by retrenching some of our staff. Any change to be introduced should be conducted in a professional way to realize its goals and success (Swain). These phases of transition from the introduction of the new products have been discussed following paragraph.
First, I would bring the management up to speed, regarding the gaps and needs to be met base on the recently conducted research, on market needs and trends. That would inform the reasons for introducing fast foods at our stores. I would be able to garner support from the management board. Secondly, I would ensure that the information on the introduction of fast foods is communicated to the relevant stakeholders. Challenges have marked involving stakeholders. Therefore, adequate time and resources should be dedicated to this stage to ensure this is carried out effectively. Having engaged the stakeholders, I would spearhead the drafting of the actual, detailed, change plan, stipulating objectives, the intended achievements, and performance measures to evaluate the significance of the desired change. The fourth and the fifth phases of successful change involves actual introduction of fast foods in our stores and its evaluation respectively. I would ensure that everybody in the company is aware of the newly introduced fast foods; offer pieces of advice, and support them in their respective roles to ensure its success (Burke, 2010).
Starbuck Company was opened to many opportunities, which needed to be exploited. For instance, the management would engage in owning coffee plantations to produce their coffee instead of depending on the unpredictable coffee market trends. The company relied entirely on farmers to supplying them with the coffee they needed. With the competition in the market, the company could invest in coffee plantations estates as a "security of the company" (Lussier, 2011) as far as coffee supply was concerned. That would see them being supplied with adequate coffee they needed and not with what was available at the market. With our competitors in the market, owning real coffee estates would secure our continuity and flourish in the market.
Lussier (2011) showed that planning skills were imperative in the planning of change in an organization. These skills enabled Starbuck managers to outlining philosophy, policy, objectives, and resultant things to be accomplished, and the technique for accomplishments as far as organization change was concerned. When planning for change, it is of the essence that the planners take into considerations the possible challenges, resistance, and strategies of implementing the actual change. As seen in the case of the Starbuck Company, the strategic management planned and administered change in their company having had on mind the possible challenges that could hinder them and came up with the remedy in advance.
Organizing skills were also essential when planning and implementing change. That could be achieved through the establishment of structures and systems through which activities were arranged, defined, and coordinated in terms of some concrete objectives, to be realized by the change. The Starbuck management team employed these skills when they were introducing vendors and spokespersons in the company. Proper organization of activities to be implemented in the transition plan would consequently ensure smooth implementation and evaluation of its performance (Lussier, 2011).
In conclusion, the Starbuck Company should embrace the consultative style of management alongside the Laissez Faire Management technique. However, its achievement of the latter style of management cannot be underestimated for its empowerment ability to its employees to take initiative to making decisions that would consequently improve services to Company's customers. The company should also improve its relationships with its employees and clients to enhance its productivity. Moreover, the company should revamp the employee reward system and provide monetary rewards and other incentives to its employees. That would consequently see the business expand on its range of products to fast foods, thereby bridging the gap between supply and demand in the market.

References

Burke, W. (2010). Organization Change: Theory and Practice Foundations for Organizational Science series. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE.
Lussier, R. (2011). Management fundamentals: Concepts, applications, & skill development (Sixth ed.). Cincinnati, Ohio: Cengage Learning.
Swain, J. (n.d.). Machiavelli and modern management. Management Decision, 281-287.