Introduction
Starbucks is an American multinational company, based in Seattle, which specializes in providing coffee to consumers across 60 countries through approximately 20,000 stores. They have created a niche for themselves by becoming the largest seller of dripped brew and also espresso based hot coffee drinks. Since a humble beginning in 1971, they have become a huge success story across the globe and have set the standards of what a true multinational should be like. Despite its tremendous success story in every market that it entered, their growth went downhill following the recession of 2008. For the job description and job specification part I chose the position of a store manager.
Job Description and Job Specification for a Store Manager
A comforting sense of welcome is something that greets everyone whoever enters a Starbucks store. We pride ourselves as being voted one of the best employers in the world. Our main aim is to find self-driven and commercially focused store managers who align themselves with the goals of the organization as a whole. The manager must be capable of creating and inspiring moments for the customers, maintain up-to-date records of all the store operations, and to ensure that high quality drinks are served in a timely manner to all our patrons.
Specifications
Candidates with a proven and successful record of hospitality will be preferred.
The manager is expected to run the store with a weekly turnover of approximately $10,000.
The candidates will be expected to stay on their feet and make prompt decisions in the store.
The manager will also be responsible for reviewing the overall operations of the store.
The manager must also be passionate for providing top notch services to the customers by ensuring that their needs are meet appropriately.
The store manager is a person responsible for overseeing every small activity going on in the store, hence, it is best suited to a person who is proactive and has the ability to prioritize the work according to their importance. They must also have the preliminary ability to analyze the financial reports to find out whether the store has been able to meet the weekly targets set by the head office or not. Apart from this, the store manager must also be capable of managing the work of others, apart from their own. They are also required to have the capacity to manage multiple operations taking place in the store at the same time and to ensure that all the employees work in a synchronized manner in the store. Therefore, they must demonstrate strong leadership skills in the store.
Type of Departmentalization
One of the best methods of departmentalization for Starbucks would be to use a geographical based one. This is because, Starbucks is present across the world and also scattered across various states of the United States. Therefore, distinguishing the regions geographically would help them better control and monitor the performance of their stores (Baack, 2011). This departmentalization would also help them create the best recipes according to their geographical location. For instance, the store based in Arizona could offer more of cold coffees, which is not possible in New York, which is not as hot as Arizona.
With the declining level of sales, using a centralized approach for managing the stores could turn out to be fatal for them. Only by decentralizing the power to the stores can they manage to successfully increase or at least hold on to the current market share. This is because a centralized decision making process often delays or overlooks the needs of individual stores, causing the company to face loss of sales. Apart from this, taking decentralized decisions means that the company is capable of taking the opinions and the viewpoints of their employees too, which may help improve the decisions of the company as a whole. The decentralized form of decision making also works well in managing the financial stability of the stores.
The organizational configuration that would best fit with Starbucks is the divisional form. This is primarily because Starbucks has operations that spans across various countries and continents. This form of configuration is based on the various products and menus that are being offered by Starbucks; hence it will be easier for them to use this strategic configuration as well. The primary advantage of this configuration is that it allows the managers to be accountable for their own actions and also have control over the performance of the stores to which they are assigned.
Starbucks, did indeed survive the recession of 2008, and is continuing to adopt newer strategies that aim to improve their position in the marketplace. They have implemented various strategies that aim towards ensuring their prolonged success in the market place and to strengthen their foothold in the marketplace.
References:
1. Career Center. (2012). Retrieved on 6th October 2012 from https://starbucks.taleo.net/careersection/uksm003/jobdetail.ftl
2. About us. (2012). Retrieved on 6th October 2012 from www.starbucks.com/about-us
