Organizational_Behavior_and_Communication

Starbucks is a very successful organization in today’s society. This success is due mostly to their organizational behavior and communication. This is demonstrated in their ability to adhere to the organizations culture that has been set forth in their mission statement and their organizational principles. Starbucks operates under the mission statement: “To inspire and nurture the human spirit-one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.” (http://www.starbucks.com). This mission statement goes hand in hand with the Principles of the company. In these set of Principles, Starbucks refers to its employees as partners in the company. Their Principles also stress a strong sense of ethics and diversity within the company, as well as the outside entities they do business with. The company’s ethical concerns deal mostly with helping all of the individuals, organizations, and neighborhoods they come in contact with during their course of business. Starbucks has also recently adopted an environmental mission statement now that society has put a lot of emphasis on being green. In this mission statement Starbucks strives “to buy, sell, and use environmentally friendly products. This is a great organizational move with all of the environmental concerns in today’s society. Starbucks’ espoused values align with their enacted values. This has been demonstrated in numerous areas of their business. One demonstration of this statement concerns their ethics. Starbucks has proven that they have strong ethical values, and this principle helped them to be voted the most ethical company of 2009 by Ethisphere Magazine, for the third year in a row. Their commitment to improving the lives of their coffee farmers has been demonstrated by their support of even the smallest coffee farmers when it comes to obtaining their coffee beans. A misalignment of these values could affect the sales of the company, as well as the fact that it could internally affect the morale of the employees of Starbucks. So it is imperative that the organization as a whole monitor the adherence to such stated values and principles as set forth in their mission statement. Conflict within an organization can be used as a tool within the organization to improve communication. Starbucks could have used the conflict between Teamsters local 25 and DPI-Mid Atlantic (a distributor for Starbucks) to improve communication within their organization by stepping in and showing their support of the employees who worked for MDI. The employees of the distributor complained of unsafe and unsanitary working conditions. Starbucks show of support would have shown their own employees just how ethical they are, and it could have also made the employees feel more comfortable in their own organizational communication with management about any concerns they might have without fear of losing their jobs. Conflict plays a very important role in group communication. It allows individuals in the group a forum to express their thoughts and ideas while they are in a mediated setting. Communication within an organization is important because it gives employees a sense of belonging or being a part of something larger. An organizations culture dictates the communication within the organization in a major way. This is normally demonstrated and set forth by management. Management normally sets the guidelines for communications. Some companies have very informal communication within the organization where employees can go directly to management with any questions, suggestions, or concerns they might have. Other companies are more formal, forcing employees to go directly to Human Resources or their direct supervisor with these types of issues. Organizations with a more formal style of communication are sometimes perceived to be boring and stuffy. Organizations with an informal style are sometimes perceived to be unorganized and unprofessional. In certain circumstances these perceptions may be true, often are not. Some organizations must have a strict and formal organizational culture simply because of the type of business they are in. Their type of business might be governed by rules and regulations from outside of the company. Organizational behavior and communication are a necessary part of any organization. Starbucks happens to be one organization that exhibits their values and principles set forth in their mission statement. Starbucks exemplifies their organizational culture, and makes their employees feel like partners in their organization by running their organization according to the values and standards set forth in their mission statement and principles. References Anonymous. Industrial Worker. Philadelphia: Jan 2010. Vol. 107, Iss.1; pg.5, 1 pgs. Retrieved From University of Phoenix website: http//ecampus.phoenix.edu/classroom/c/library.aspx Anonymous. Business Wire. New York: Sep 10, 2009. Retrieved from University of Phoenix Website: http//ecampus.phoenix.edu/classroom/c/library.aspx Anonymous. Biotech Business Week. Atlanta: Mar 15. 2010. Pg 5220. Retrieved from University of Phoenix website: http//ecampus.phoenix.edu/classroom/c/library.aspx Starbucks Website: http//www.starbucks.com/about-us/company-information.