Starbucks Organizing

PART

Organizing

Continuing Case: Starbucks

Organizing is an important task of managers.1 Once the organization's goals and plans are in place, the organizing function sets in motion the process of seeing that those goals and plans are pursued. When managers organize, they are defining what work needs to get done and creating a structure that enables work activities to be completed efficiently and effectively by organizational members hired to do that work. As Starbucks continues its global expansion and pursues innovative strategic initiatives, managers must deal with the realities of continually organizing and reorganizing its work efforts. senior vice-president of coffee and global procurement, and senior vice-president of corporate social responsibility. (A complete list of upper-level managers can be found in the company's annual report on its website: www. starbucks.com.) Although the executive team provides the all-important strategic direction, the "real" work of Starbucks gets done at the company's support centre, zone offices, retail stores, and roasting plants. The support centre provides support to and assists all other aspects of corporate operations in the areas of accounting, finance, information technology, and sales and supply chain management. The zone offices oversee the regional operations of the retail stores and provide support in human resource management, facilities management, account management, financial management, and sales management. The essential link between the zone offices and each retail store is the district manager, each of whom oversees 8 to 10 stores, which is down from the dozen or so stores they used to oversee. Since district managers need to be out working with the stores, most use mobile technology that allows them to spend more time in the stores and still remain connected to their own office. A company executive says, "These are the most important people in the company. And while their primary job is outside the...