Psychologists have made significant contributions in the business sphere by outlining primary traits of accredited leaders. Organizations have administered psychological tests to identify features that are most common among successful managers or leaders. With globalization, the service industry has become more competitive, compelling firms like Starbucks to place much stress on leadership. Starbucks is looking for leaders who have a strong sense of work and ethics as well as anticipate paradigm deviations in the market (Morais, 2014). Even though there have been some locations that have been closed, the steady leadership of Starbucks has built a successful business because it is the most successful coffee chain in the world and has achieved unparalleled rapid growth.
Starbucks summary
Starbucks is a retail coffee company that was started by three friends back in the 70s. According to a market research, Starbuck is the biggest coffeehouse chain in the world that serves both hot and cold beverages, coffee latte as well as whole bean coffee espresso. Starbucks has its headquarters in Seattle, Washington. District managers are in charge of regional operations and reports directly to the Starbuck Corporation. The same procedure is implemented in all their 21,878 stores in over 57 nations globally. Starbuck’s primary mission is to nurture as well as inspire the human spirit as stated by the motto “one person, one cup, and one neighbourhood at a time.”
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As an international organization, Starbucks comprises of numerous large divisions spread across the globe and headed by the organization’s representatives. Starbucks being a major corporation, it is led by three top officials, where Howard Schultz is the CEO, Kevin Johnson the COO and Scott Maw as the CFO (Morais, 2014).
Desired leadership skills
The most commonly preferred leadership traits in the hotel industry are dominance and intuitiveness. Leaders who exhibit dominance traits are usually decisive and competitive and often like to overcome hurdles. Such leaders have assertive attitude and thinking style when dealing with employees or even customers (Khan et al., 2015). Further, globalization coupled with information surplus is inhibiting managers from mastering everything. As such reasoning and logic may not help leaders in making productive decisions. Therefore, leaders must value the using intuition and trust their “audacity” when making critical decisions.
Desired leadership Skills
Due to the heavy decision-making duty and responsibility is given to them; leaders should be strategic thinkers (Glanz, 2007). Every decision they make should be strategically thought out and its possible outcomes analyzed. They should always see the bigger picture and come up with plans that will ensure the sustained growth of an organization.
Leaders should also be good communicators. Their communication with the employees and public should be top notch (Glanz, 2007). They should be listeners first: people who are always willing to hear what the general public has to say about their product. They should also be able to communicate orally and do it effectively. Relevant information within the organization should also be passed on in due time. This can only be achieved by having a leadership with strong communication relations.
Strategic thinking is essential for leaders in Starbucks because it will help them analyze the kind of competition at hand. Such skills also help leaders implement new strategies to counter such in the future. It also helps them to be able to draw long-term plans and establish goals to work to guide the business. Again, good communication traits help the company create a bond with the general public (Khan et al., 2015). Their customers get to interact with them and share their views. This helps them secure a large number of loyal customers. Good communication also benefits the organization in that they can note the areas where they do not perform and come up with strategies to ensure good performance.
Desired leadership style
Further, the kind of leadership style is also important in the realization of a company’s goals. First, transformational leadership is quite important (Khan et al., 2015). This kind of leadership is where a leader creates a working rapport with employees to boost productivity. Employees are bound to feel tired and overworked from time to time. However, boosting their morale by constantly motivating the staff helps maintain a favourable working environment for them. This working condition in return leads to increased productivity in an organization.
Authoritarian leadership is also another leadership style that guarantees the success of business. This type of leadership ensures the maintaining of a clear division between employees in a company and the employer (Glanz, 2007). This kind of leadership gives the leaders authoritative power over their staff in that they can command them to partake certain duties. Authoritarian leadership also ensures that employees stay committed to achieving the company’s goals.
Starbucks requires transformational leadership to motivate staff towards achieving their targets. Most employees work daily in the various coffee retail shops, and this could make them become worn out and bored with the work. Constant motivation is crucial in making them live up to their expectations in the organization. Authoritarian leadership also makes the employees maintain their focus on realizing the organization's goals. It also creates a sense of order in the firm.
Desired leadership behaviour
Leaders in the coffee industry should also be people with inspirational and motivational attributes. They should be able to keep a good spirit amongst the employees. They should be courageous in their undertakings and support their employees at all times. At Starbucks, the leaders are always encouraging the employees to achieve greatness. They urge on being a perfectionist in everything the employees are assigned. This makes the employees feel respected in their position, and it makes them remain committed to serving the organization.
Desired personality traits
Leaders should exhibit professionalism as they exercise their leading role over the employees. They should be self-disciplined, self-motivated and should always lead by example. Again, they should also be great team players and be servant leaders. Personality is a significant element of personal characteristics of leadership which plays a crucial role in the Individual Difference Framework. These factors include Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Many studies have shown that extraversion as a factor that is strongly related to leadership whereas agreeableness has exhibited a weak relationship (Khan et al., 2015). A clear comprehension of features and traits exhibited by effective leaders enables Starbucks to assign the right leaders to the right positions.
The Starbuck leadership team is considered as one of the best globally. When recruiting, the firm seeks employees who are team players and are passionate to work for the organization. In return, the team treats their employees well with respect. The culture that Schultz has built in Starbuck is unique and allows empowerment and entrepreneurship, quality and service to define values of leadership. Schultz has entrusted his employees with the power of making a decision as well as the flexibility to choose when to work. Democratic leadership is the style that Schultz uses in his organization and this evident when he honors feedback from his employees.
In conclusion, Starbucks is the best coffee shop globally, with the leadership and vision of Schultz, Starbuck will continue to dominate the market. The organization takes recruitment seriously by selecting team players who are passionate about the firm. Schultz also believes that it is imperative to respect all the employees as well as motivating them.
References
Glanz, J. (2007). On vulnerability and transformative leadership: an imperative for leaders of supervision. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 10(2), 115-135. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13603120601097462?journalCode=tedl20.
Khan, M. S., Khan, I., Qureshi, Q. A., Ismail, H. M., Rauf, H., Latif, A., Muhammad, T. (2015). The styles of leadership: a critical review . Public Policy and Administration Research, 5(3), 87-92. Retrieved from http://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/PPAR/article/view/20878.
Morais, U. P. (2014). Managing diverse employees at Starbucks: focusing on ethics and inclusion. International Journal of Learning & Development, 4 (3), 35-49. doi:10.5296/ijld.v4i3.5994
