Complete a job description and job specification for a Starbucks employee
Job description
Starbuck employees are expected to create a clean environment where customers feel welcomed secure and safe. The most common hired person is the serving staff. His duty is to serve the customers and report to personnel manager. There are key responsibilities of each member of staff that that leads to such an environment. The work of this employee involves making all type of coffee, milk and other drinks like tea. Soda cooler and other food items also need re-stocking frequently which must be done by the serving staff. The manual grinding of coffee is also accomplished by the help of this staff.
Due to the fact that Starbucks provides other food products, serving staff handle food items. Employees are expected to have knowledge of how to handle and operate all equipments at Starbuck. Another responsibility of Starbuck servers is handling money and running the cash registered whenever called to do so. In order to maintain a clean and inviting environment for customers, servers wipe down tables and clean all the aprons and towels. A consistent quality standard is one important duty that employees at all levels practice in this coffee shop. All the stake holders such as co-workers and customers are treated with dignity by the employees who also maintain a high level of cleanliness among themselves.
Job specification
The employee must be educated to GCSE level of equivalent. Work experience especially in a catering environment for more than three years is also an essential qualification. Due to the large number of customer base, the employee should be in a position to communicate with all of them both in writing and in person. The coffee shop also needs motivator, one who can cheer himself up and others too. Leadership skills that contribute effectively to team management must be accompanied by willingness to work under minimum supervision.
Apart from the essential person specification, a Starbuck employee should also have desirable traits. Participation in the community or church is considered very important in recruiting Starbucks staff. Ones awareness of current business environment especially in coffee shop such as regulations and hygiene standards is another desirable trait considered for one to be employed in this enterprise. Starbuck needs employees who set goals and work towards achieving them. Finally experience in community or volunteer work forms the last part of employee’s specification at Starbuck.
What form of departmentalization should Starbucks use? Should the form be changed in stores offering food products and lunch? Why or why not?
For effective decision making and clear line of communication, Starbuck should adopt functional departmentalization. The company is growing with time leading to more employees and more customers to handle. In a functional departmentalization, each individual caries their own work according to the specific qualifications they have. Work redundancy is avoided hence the cost of duplication is reduced. It also minimizes the use of resources. As for the individuals in each department, same work and experience offers easy time for the manager who focuses on other important issues of concern.
Starbuck should however maintain the cool environment offered to customers where people feel comfortable and welcomed as they do their work while taking coffee. It should only consider reducing its costs in order to maintain its customer’s base due to increasing number of competitors (Bussing-Burks, 2009).
When the company began to experience financial problems, should the leadership have tried to centralize power and decision making, or decentralize the operation?
If you pick the right people and give them the opportunity to spread their wings and put compensation as a carrier behind it, you almost don’t have to manage them. By decentralizing operations, the managers focus on greater duties that lead to long-term decision making and planning. Daily routine procedures are left to junior staff at lower levels using standardized processes. Managers therefore saves time on tasks such as filling forms. Decentralization however requires more costs hence the junior staff can be given a salary increment to compensate for the added duty (Reilly, Minnick and Baack, 2011). Due to the current financial state of the company, decentralization also reduces the cost of supervision. Each café should be allowed to manage its own financial and operational records. However frequent assessments should be done to ensure that everyone is in line with the company’s objectives. Depending on the geographical area, each café should also conduct its own market research and come up with better strategies of reaching the its target group. Employees do not have to wait for manager’s go ahead to perform certain functions. An employee can decide to carry administrative duties through a self service process.
What form of organizational configuration best fits Starbucks?
Due to a decreasing supply chain, Starbuck is supposed to cut its costs to gain positive outcomes. Heavy automation of the supply chain characterized by high speed processes at all levels of operation is the best configuration for Starbuck. This step will enhance availability because the customers will be attended to in time due to increased speed. It will also create customer loyalty because they will feel that Starbuck is a reliable company. Due to the high competition, this company is increasingly losing its market share to others who offer the same product at a low cost. An automated value chain increase production levels and customer response hence increasing efficiency.
References
Bussing-Burks, M. (2009). Starbucks. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood Press.
Reilly, M., Minnick, C., & Baack, D. (2011). The five functions of effective management. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.