Starbucks's Culture and Unionization

Something that the Pacific Northwest founded company, Starbuck's, has always prided themselves on is their employee and customer-friendly policies that ensure everyone is taken care of. Regarding employee-care, Starbuck's provides benefits such as life insurance, disability care and paid college tui...

Something that the Pacific Northwest founded company, Starbuck's, has always prided themselves on is their employee and customer-friendly policies that ensure everyone is taken care of. Regarding employee-care, Starbuck's provides benefits such as life insurance, disability care and paid college tuition at the University of Arizona. In the last few years Starbuck's has captured a lot of news attention due to employees attempting to unionize the company. While many large corporations such as Amazon have successfully unionized, Starbuck's has made it clear that they do not want this. Starbucks has said that they are opposed to the union because the company is runs better when they are working directly with their employees. (Hsu, 2022) Unions can either be public or private. Private unions focus more on job security and wages while public unions focus on work conditions and are usually state or federally funded organizations. Because Starbuck's provides so many benefits to their employees there is a gray area as to why employees feel the need to unionize and it might have something to do with their working conditions. Tami Tamborelli, a former employee and unionizer, suggests that protestors are picketing at understaffed stores with poor management. (Hsu, 2022) Understaffed stores could be a result of many things and can fluctuate however, if the problem is bad management, then there is a clear path that Starbucks should take to address and solve this issue. While getting to the bottom of how Starbuck's should properly handle the want for a union, they also have to take into account how union and non-union groups affect the workplace. In a study done by Levi Nieman he says that organizational culture is the values and beliefs of a collective group that affect performance behaviors but says, "We found that union groups are less likely to endorse the norms and values that characterize highly effective organizational cultures than their non-union counterparts." (Newswise, 2012) This poses a problem because an unsteady culture is only going to lead to unsteady management which is what got Starbucks's into this position in the first place. To reduce the risk for this the company needs to address their plan for any repercussions they may face in the meantime. According to (Colquit) there are two processes that help with maintaining a strong culture. The first one is attraction-selection-attrition which is essentially how well someone's personality aligns with the company culture. The second process is socialization which the book defines as "the primary process by which employees learn the social knowledge that enables them to understand and adapt to the organization's culture." (Colquit) Prioritizing these two things at the start of someone's career is crucial and will be rewarding to the employee and company in the end. The Society of Human Resource Management lays out a plan that managers can practice to develop this kind of culture. It consists of hiring practices, onboarding programs, reward and recognition programs, and performance management programs. While hiring primarily focuses on someone's skills this suggests they have a more in-depth hiring process that involves a cultural fit interview and an overall emphasis on the company's culture all throughout the hiring process. Once someone is hired, they would then go through an onboarding program that teaches them about the organizational behaviors and values of the company. Reward and recognition programs are a good thing to implement because it keeps all employees motivated and gives them positive feedback throughout their time at the company. Performance management programs outline what is expected of employees and also provides feedback to them. Organizational culture is essential for organizational growth and success, and leaders must be aware of and change their company\'s culture to succeed. In order for Starbuck's to remain a company who values their employees they will need to work on the overall culture of the company to ensure no one feels that they aren't being fairly compensated. Resources Colquitt, Jason A., et al. *Organizational Behavior Improving Performance and Commitment in the Workplace*. McGraw Hill, 2023. Press, The Associated. "Starbucks Workers Plan a 3-Day Walkout at 100 U.S. Stores in a Unionization Effort." *NPR*, 16 Dec. 2022, www.npr.org/2022/12/16/1143348405/starbucks-strike-workers-united-walkout. SHRM. "Managing Organizational Change." *SHRM*, 9 Jan. 2023, shrm.org/ResourcesAndTools/tools-and-samples/toolkits/Pages/managingorganizationalchange.aspx. Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP). "Unions Can Present Challenges to Organizational Culture and Change." *Newswise*, 15 Oct. 2012, www.newswise.com/articles/unions-can-present-challenges-to-organizational-culture-and-change.