Identify the major issues in job design for this company.

Identify major ergonomic and work environment issues for this company.

Identify the ethical standards that the company or corporation has.

Use the tools of methods analysis to identify four ways of establishing labor standards.

Compute the normal and standard times in a time study.

Find the proper sample size for a time study and relate it to the company.

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Job Design at Starbucks

The idea or concept behind the Starbucks was the provision of the coffee to the consumers as every person start the day with an energetic cup of coffee. Initially, when the company started the business, the company have a smaller vision, and the target was also less. With the track of time the company grew and diversified its product and branches as well. The company organizational design differed when it came into existence, and it is altogether different now.

Organizational and Job Design in Past

In the past and organizational type was as follow:

• They have an extremely simple form of structure in the beginning.
• They had the centralization system in the company.

Issues which came

The issues which come out after the following situation which happened in the company.

• The company Starbucks was small at the start, but it diversifies itself with the passage of time.
• They targeted more customers.
• They diversify and extended the product of range (portfolio).
• This all forced them to again think about the organizational structure and design.
• With the old holding structure and job designs they could not achieve the competitiveness and market share.
• This force them to change the structure and form of the organization.
• They also forced them to change the job design of most of the designation to continue with the diversification and divergence.

New Job designs and Structure

• They shifted their structure from the centralization to the decentralization in their company.
• They introduce departmentalization and cohesion among the various departments in the company.
• The segmentation was done on the basis of geographic, however at the same time, teamwork was also given importance.
• This enables Starbucks to reform and change the job design of most of the employees’ authority is added down to the hierarchy.
• They also make a tradition and added this into the job description of employees that they should be participative and give their valuable rational suggestions in the decision-making
• They introduced the idea of the communication at the open level and moreover, creativity in the business environment through this new form of structure.

(Starbucks Case Study Starbuck’s Job Design)

Economic Factors affecting Starbucks

There could be many factors in the economy of where the company is operating which can affect it. As Starbucks is the international brand which is present worldwide and in different regions and obviously the economic condition of every region or country would be different which can directly impact the company proceedings. The economic condition which could directly impact the company are the policies of the taxation of that certain country, economic growth of the particular company and income level of the individual who is the citizen of that specific company and is the consumer of the Starbucks.

These are some of the issues which can come in their way. In the developing or under developed countries Starbucks employee motivation level is different and generated differently so, in the end, it could affect the performance of the company. Labor cost is also high in the developed countries which can be a serious economic threat to the Starbucks.

(Makos, 2015)

Environment Factors Affecting the Starbucks

There is the common environmental factor which is affecting almost every company, and the company is very responsive towards this aspect. This is the factor of “global warming”, the company can go towards recycled packaging which can augment this field for them. People now prefer to go for the products which are environmental friendly so achieving this stage could be very beneficial for them.  Consumers are getting cultured and educated day by day, and this is the reason behind the changed preferences of the consumers. Moreover, now consumers are more socially responsible which force the Starbucks to use responsible sources. This makes them fall in the social responsibility factor which is very essential in the 21^st century.

(SMITHSON, 2015)

Ethical Standards of Starbucks

Starbucks highly believe that they should have the ethical standards which will not only boost the company profits but also necessary for the smooth running and progressing of the business. Some of the ethical standards of Starbucks are mentioned below:

• Always provision of the best quality coffee to their valuable customers.
• Their core value lies in the corporate social responsibility, and that is the reason on which they are ranked among the top 100 best companies by Corporate Responsibility Magazine in the year 2013.
• The concept of giving a place where customers can take a break and forget all the worries of life.
• They are highly involved in the ethical decision making, and this is the most significant ethical standard of the company.
• They value their partners and all of the stockholders and promise them to pass the best of it to them.
• Ethical training is also the part of the company which is provided to the employees of the Starbucks.
• They also deliver various and new channels to their partners so that they can raise and solve concern of their partners.

(Starbucks, Business Ethics and Compliance, 2016) (mellamocallejon, 2012)

Labor Standards

There are some basic labor standards which companies should follow and these standards are set at the international level:

• The first standard refers to that there should be no labor who falls into the category of bounded Moreover, the labor should not work because of being forced (no forced labor).
• The children who are under age should not be hired, and child labor is strictly prohibited. Companies who are involved in such activity can face serious lawsuits and also lose their reputation in the corporate world and in the community.
• The concept of equal employment opportunity for every employee should exist.
• The employee should be given enough freedom that they can identify and create their own associations at the workplace.

(Core Labor Standards Toolkit- Step 1, 2016)

Starbucks conform to all of the EEO, Global human right policies and health care. They have faith in that if the employees are healthy and motivated, they can achieve any goalmouth and mission of the company. (Starbucks, starbucks.com, 2016)

Computing Time Study

The formulae are given below:

Normal time = (element average time) multiply by (rating factor)

Standard time = (normal cycle time) multiply by (1 + Allowance factor)

The activities which are required for the job design is listed down, and it is founded that the person spends 8 hours a day for doing this task.  The observation came out to be that employee works 10% faster than before because of the observation and allowances is 25%. So according to it the calculation could be as follow:

Normal time = 24 * 1.10 = 26.4 Minutes

Standard time = 26.4/ (1- 0.25) = 35.2 Minutes

Sample Size

The sample size would of two to three person depending on job design. In the case of the Starbucks the head of the department, human resource manager and the immediate manager or supervisor usually scheme the job design.