Workplace Ethics Starbucks Case Study

Workplace Ethics Starbucks Case Study 1.0 Introduction What is workplace ethics? Workplace ethics is a group of moral principles, standards of behavior, or set of values regarding proper conduct in the workplace. Workplace ethics are most often related in decision making processes because it is the most important responsibilities that we place on the leaders of organization is upholding the highest standards of ethical behavior. Ethics at workplace refer to choosing the option that is determined to be the moral or right choice. Starbucks is one of the world’s most ethical companies. Starbucks makes conscious efforts to be a responsible company and conduct business in an ethical manner. In its business, Starbucks was proud of it ethical ways in doing their business. They are through community, sourcing, environment, diversity and wellness. Starbucks has openly display its commitment to being socially responsible and they want their customers to know exactly how they doing. In Starbucks, Business Ethics and Compliance is a program that supports their mission which is â€Å"To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.† It helps to protect their culture and their reputation by providing resources that help partners make ethical decisions at work. Starbucks has makes conscious efforts to fulfill its company’s mission. The majority of reports received by Business Ethics and Compliance involve employee relations issue that provides alternative reporting mechanisms as part of a comprehensive ethics and compliance program. Starbucks believes that conducting business ethically and striving to do the right thing are vital to their success. The program develops and distributes awareness materials, including the Standard of Business Conduct. In social responsibility, the Standard of Business Conduct is a statement of some of the company’s expectations of how they conduct Starbucks business, consistent with their mission and core value. In workplace, Starbucks has emphasis in three sectors of their employees. First, are global human rights, their commitment to basic human rights as a core component of the way they do business and how they engage with their partners. Second is equal employment opportunity, their non-discrimination policy help the large number of their employees have a steady working situation. Third is health care, their support for healthcare reform that allows them to continue to offer affordable coverage to our partners. 3.0 Case Study Starbucks lead by its CEO Howard Schultz is an international coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the largest coffeehouse company in the world with 16120 stores in 49 countries. Products of Starbucks include drip brewed coffee, espresso-based hot drinks, other hot and cold drinks, snacks and items such as mugs and coffee beans. Many products are specific to the location of the stores. Starbucks Italian styles coffee, espresso beverages, teas and confectionaries had made it one of the world’s biggest specialty coffee chain. With the intention of communicating to employees and customers of the values and principles that the company upholds, Starbucks Coffee Company has outlined its mission statements; â€Å"To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time† (â€Å"Our Starbucks Mission† ,n.d ) . Even though Starbucks has a unique style of combining both Mission Statement and Vision Statement ( Garfieldml, 2012) its meaning is clear and concise. Viewing the statement in ethical perspective relating to its workplace it can be broken down into 4 key principles: Ethical sourcing of coffee – meaning a holistic approach to ethically source the highest quality coffee carefully blending, roasting and packing fresh. Our partner where Starbucks refer to its employees will be treated with respect and dignity with safeguarded by health coverage. Ethical environment stewardship – are committed to the conservation of environmental resources. 3.1 Critical and Main Issues Starbucks commitment to ethical practices in the workplace environment is reflected in its setting up of a Standard of Conducts for its partners. The main ethical issues addressed in the code of conduct can be broadly categorise as commitment of partners to provide quality service to customers, conducive workplace environment for the partners and emphasis on integrity and fairness on all dealings. Commitment to provide quality service Partners should be committed not to harass or discriminate against customers, protect customers’ health and safety by following all proper procedure relating to storage, handling, preparation and providing service for Starbucks products. Conducive working environment Consistent with global human rights standard, Starbucks promote equal opportunity in its hiring and promotion practices make decision solely on job related criteria. Employment of partners under age of 18 will take into consideration legal requirement of age, hour task and ensure the partners’ education, health, safety and mental or physical development is not affected. Starbucks partners should respect each other’s dignity. All partners are entitled to work in an environment that is free of harassment, bullying or discrimination. Officers are assigned to enforce the rules and practices pertaining to workplace health, safety and security to safeguard the partners. Starbucks is committed to comply with laws and regulation applicable to wages. It emphasizes that work performed should be compensated accordingly. Thus partners compensated on basis of hours must report accurately (Ali., Haris, Arslan, Jan., Asad-ud, Bashir., Sufwan, Usman, Ali, n.d). Starbuck College Achiever Plan motivates all benefits eligible partners to complete a bachelor degree with full tuition reimbursement through Arizona University top-ranked degree programs, delivered online (‘Working At Starbucks n.d ). Emphasis on integrity and fairness on all dealings Partners must be committed to work fairly and honestly with government official and are not permitted to influence outcome by exchanging bribes. Partners must be truthful and straightforward in their dealing with government so as to meet high ethical and legal standard. Sales practice and advertising must compete on merit of product and services and communication with customers must be accurate and truthful. Partners committed to fair and open competition and must not use unethical means to eliminate competitors or control market price. Partners are prohibited from offering, giving, soliciting or recovering any form of bribe or inducement. Partners must ensure accuracy and integrity of Starbucks corporate reports and honest in disclosure of information to the authority. 3.2 Starbucks Application of Relevant Organizational Behaviour Principles and Concepts To monitor and enforce the ethical conduct of its partners at the workplace Starbucks had developed asset of Standard of Business Conduct which is a resource distributed to all partners to help them make appropriate decision at work. To further help the partners facing with ethical problems Starbucks had set up a Business Ethics and Compliance unit headed by a partner resource. Considering partners who are not comfortable facing an officer to report unethical practices, Starbucks Ethics and Compliance Helpline is an avenue to report issues through free phone call. This facility operates 24 hours every day. Ethics And Compliance Webline is another way for partners to ask for guidance which can be submitted anonymously and treated in confidential manner. The above enforcement measures reflect Starbucks attempt to promote ethical behaviour at the workplace by applying the concept of motivation by rewarding partners through fair wages and benefits, interpersonal communication with the resource partner of the Business Ethics and Compliance to assist in preventing and resolving problem and the most important is through setting up a structure standard code of behaviour to modify the behaviour of its partners. All these efforts had resulted in the company being awarded one of the most ethical companies by Ethisphere for the year 2007 to 2012 Allegra strategies had also voted Starbucks as the ‘Most Ethical Company , European Coffee Industry for the year 200 to 2011 (Ali et.al n.d). 3.3 Criticizes or Comments First and foremost, we would like to have some comments on the critical issues of Starbucks identified by us in our study. Those issues found by us are the commitment of Starbucks to provide quality service to customers, the providing of a conducive working environment for employees and the emphasis on integrity and fairness on all dealings in the company. It is very important for a company to have commitment to provide quality service to customers. This is because it will increase the satisfaction of customers towards the company. The quality service provided will act as Starbucks’s competitive advantage to create loyal customers. Starbucks’s reputation can also be enhanced through the spreading of news about the good service provided by the company through blogs and social media. This will attract more customers and increase the revenue of Starbucks. A working environment which is conducive is a key element to the performance of the employees and also is one of the individual rights for the employees. The work environment creates behavioural patterns in human development and has both physical and psychological influences on employees in the company. A harmonized and comfortable environment will increase the productivity and job satisfaction of employees. When the employees are in a peaceful environment without any disturbance or unethical problems created by others in the company, they can be more focused in their work and put more effort in it as well as have a better performance. The emphasis on integrity and fairness on all dealings by Starbucks is a key factor to support the ethical principles which are individual rights and distributive justice. Managers that are being fair and integral can avoid conflicts happen between employees and a peaceful as well as friendly working environment will be created in the company. This will also enhance employees trust on Starbucks and improve their loyalty to the company. In conclusion, we have positive comments on the main issues in Starbucks and they are quite important to support the ethical principles. 4.0 Recommendations After studying about the topic that we chose that is ethics at workplace, we found that there are many ethical practices practised by employers as well as employees in Starbucks which is the company that we chose. We have some suggestions on how they can further improve practising ethics in Starbucks. First of all, we suggest Starbucks to use ethical screening for job applicants during interview. Ethical screening is the process of checking these job applicants against certain moral standards and removing those who do not conform. This can be done by checking the resumes of those applicants which contain the behavioural information that reflects the attitude of the applicants. The interviewers should also interview them about how they managed the ethical issues faced by them at their previous workplace and how they are going to solve the ethical problems cases when they face them in the future. Besides, they should also make sure the applicants share the same ethical values with the company and will maintain them on the job. This can prevent one unethical employee to have a bad influence on others in the company that may ruin the good image of an ethical company. Moreover, Starbucks can expose new employees to the company’s code of ethics, code of conducts and ethical decision making process during the orientation to improve the ethics in the company. The company’s codes of ethics and conducts act as its conscience and provide a common ethical reference point for employees. By reviewing these conducts, employees will know about what they should do and what they should not do in the company. They also know whether the issues appear in the future are considered ethical or not ethical according to the company’s code of ethics and code of conducts and solve it with the best and necessary solution. Furthermore, Starbucks can improve ethics in the company by providing ethics training workshops for all employees annually to supplement ethics codes. The managers that organise these training workshops should provide some real cases with ethical violations of Starbucks’ ethics code and let them think carefully and discuss among themselves about what they should do for those scenarios. After that, the managers should teach them the correct and best solutions to solve these kinds of ethical problems. Through these workshops, the employees will know what to do when they face these kinds of ethical issues in the future and the relationship between employees will also be enhanced through the interaction in the workshop as well as build trust between each other. We also recommend Starbucks to strengthen the ethics which are individual rights and distributive justice of the work unit by rewarding those employees with ethical behaviours equally and punish those with unethical behaviours through work goals and performance appraisals. The managers should praise those employees that achieve the goals in an ethical way or even give them a certificate for being an ethical employee to encourage them. This will also act as a motivation for other employees. At the same time, they should give the same punishment to those employees with unethical behaviour by giving them a warning letter so that they will not do it again in the future. This can also act as an example for other employees so that they will not make the same mistake as these unethical employees. By doing this can avoid developing moral confusion in the company. The next suggestion for Starbucks is the managers or the direct supervisors of the employees should model appropriate behaviours in themselves as they are actually the most important ethics reference point for the employees. Ethical behaviours in a company start at top management because the employees tend to follow the behaviour and action of their managers towards an ethical issue. It has a greater influence on employees compared to the stated policies of the company. Therefore, the words and actions of the managers should always be aligned with the company’s code of ethics and code of conducts. They should act with integrity all the time in order to maintain an ethical workplace. In conclusion, there are many other ways that Starbucks can further improve ethics in the company other than what we suggest here. Improving ethics at workplace is very important in order to be a famous company with good image and quality as well as employees and employers can work together harmoniously without creating any unethical issues on behalf of the company and the customers. 5.0 Conclusion Starbucks is one of the most ethical companies in the world. Starbucks was proud of it ethical ways such as community, sourcing, environment, diversity and wellness in doing their business. It has openly display its commitment to being social responsibility. The program of Business Ethics and Compliance is to support their mission and help to protect their culture and reputation. Starbucks has emphasis their employees into three sectors which is global human rights, equal employment opportunity and health care. In Starbucks, they are using three principles in workplace ethics. First is utilitarianism, it can divide into two types which are act-utilitarianism and rule-utilitarianism. Second is distributive justice who means sharing of the benefits and burdens of our lives among people. Third are rights, rights played a central role in ethics and it is important to ensure that the freedom and well-being of each individual will be protected when others threaten that freedom or well-being. There are 3 key principles in Starbucks. (1) Ethical sourcing of coffee, (2) Our partner and (3) Ethical environmental resources. The main ethical issues addressed in Starbucks’s code of conduct for its partners can be categories as commitment of partners to provide quality service to customers, create a workplace environment which is conducive for the partners and emphasis on integrity and fairness on all dealings. After study, we found that there are many ethical practices practiced by employers as well as employees in Starbucks. Starbucks should use ethical screening for job applicants during interview. Starbucks also can expose new employees to the company’s code of ethics, code of conducts and ethical decision making process during the orientation to improve the ethics in the company. Besides that, Starbucks can improve ethics in the company by providing ethics training workshops for all employees annually to supplement ethics codes. Moreover, Starbucks also need to strengthen the ethics which are individual rights and distributive justice of the work unit by rewarding those employees with ethical behaviours equally and punish those with unethical behaviours through work goals and performance appraisals. Last but not lease, Starbucks should model appropriate behaviours in themselves as they are actually the most important ethics reference point for the employees.

Cultural hyrbidity Essay

The fusion of cultural and ethnic identities refers to hybridisation. Most people acknowledge that they can be affiliated with an individual culture. Banton (2000) notes that â€Å"in the contemporary UK ethnicity is becoming increasingly recognised as something everyone has†. 1 Common interests or shared values help form and develop cultural attachment’s (culture, descent, ancestry, religion, languages, food and traditional values) which in turn develops and forges ethnic identities. Migration of ethnic minorities has stirred some of the UK’s population into feeling the British national identity is under threat. Hybrid identity can be attributed to the exchange of culture through globalisation. Sheila Patterson (1965) studied first generation migrants in Brixton, London during the 1950’s. Her study involved interviews, observation and participant observation with 250 whites and 150 Afro-Caribbean’s. Patterson (1965) believes the relationship between hosts and immigrants as not fixed but evolving all the time; â€Å"Whilst adaption through socialisation and acculturation was difficult for immigrants, the host’s experience was a more passive form of acceptance. â€Å"2 Eriksen (2002) points out that â€Å"no serious scholar today believes that hereditary characteristics explain cultural variations. â€Å"3 Patterson (1965) also states â€Å"the incoming group as a whole †¦ adapts itself to permanent membership of the receiving society in certain major spheres notably economic and civil life. â€Å"4 Patterson’s final stage of adaption is assimilation, where migrants or minority groups achieve complete acceptance in society. Patterson observed that physical amalgamation may lead to distinctive features of migrant groups and that of their hosts to be lost. Patterson found the progress of the West Indian migrants in Britain was limited, â€Å"there was still opposition to the employment of West Indians by white workers. â€Å"5 Nick names and jocular references resulted in conflict. A rise in the number of West Indian landlords and the acceptance of West Indian tenants did however help alleviate housing problems. Racism existed with some shops refusing the custom of ethnic minorities due to the colour of their skin. Social relationships between migrants and hosts existed but only on a casual contact basis. Patterson (1965) noted that some of the West Indians had adopted the British way of life however, there were few inter-racial marriages. Paterson concluded â€Å"over the next decades in Britain the West Indian migrants and their children will follow in the steps of the Irish and achieve almost complete assimilation into British Society. â€Å"

Macbeth as a Tragic Hero.in Shakespeares Macbeth Essay

Macbeth as a Tragic Hero.in Shakespeares Macbeth When William Shakespeare created Macbeth he included in the title character all the key elements of a tragic hero. Macbeth has a decline from his good standing, reaches a lowest point and soon after turns himself around, the epiphany, and finally rises in his morals and standing; however it is too late and his death is apparent. Macbeths decline begins when he heeds the witches prophecies. His lowest point is reached when he decides that life does not matter to him anymore, soon followed by his epiphany when he decides that he will fight honorably even if it means his death. He then raises his moral standing and regains his honor. Through well written literature, William†¦show more content†¦When Macbeth begins to talk about the murder and decides to commit it he says: I am settled, and bend up Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. Away, and mock the time with the fairest show; False face must hide what the false heart doth know (Shakespeare, 205). This is the point where, as he says, he commits his entire being to committing the murder. The old, honorable Macbeth would never conceive such an idea. Macbeth continues his downward spiral even further when he kills his best friend, Banquo, kills an innocent woman and her entire family, Lady Macduff and family, and also with his lack of reaction to his wifes own suicide. This concludes his downward fall, but his lowest point is yet to come. Macbeth reaches his lowest point in his life when he makes a statement equivalent to life does not matter. This would be a low point in anyones life. Macbeth states: Lifes but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more; it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing (Shakespeare, 257). When he says this, he has more or less lost all hope and apparently does not care about his life; however, he soon reaches his epiphany. Macbeths epiphany is when he tells Macduff that he should not fight with him because he will kill him since he cannot be harmed by a woman born

What Is Composition Definition, Types, and Examples

In the literary sense, a composition (from the Latin to put together) is the way a writer assembles words and sentences to create a coherent and meaningful work. Composition can also mean  the activity of writing, the nature of the subject of a piece of writing, the piece of writing itself, and the name of a college course assigned to a student. This essay focuses on practicing how people write. Key Takeaways In writing, composition refers to  the way a writer structures a piece of writing.The four modes of composition, which were codified in the late 19th century, are description, narration, exposition, and argumentation.Good writing can include elements of multiple modes of composition. Composition Definition Just like a musician and an artist, a writer sets the tone of a composition to his or her purpose, making decisions about what that tone should be to form a structure. A writer might express anything from the point of view of cool logic to impassioned anger. A composition might use clean  and simple prose, flowery, descriptive passages, or analytical nomenclature. Since the 19th century, English writers and teachers have been grappling with ways to classify forms and modes of writing so beginner writers can have a place to start. After decades of struggle, rhetoricians ended up with four categories of writing that still make up the mainstream of Composition 101 college classes: Description, Narration, Exposition, and Argumentation. Types of Composition Writing   The four classical types of composition (description, narration, exposition, and argumentation) are not categories, per se. They would almost never stand alone in a piece of writing, but rather are best-considered modes of writing, pieces of writing styles that can be combined and used to create a whole. That is to say, they can inform a piece of writing, and they are good starting points for understanding how to put a piece of writing together. Examples for each of the following composition types are based on the American poet Gertrude Steins famous quote from Sacred Emily, her 1913 poem: A rose is a rose is a rose. Description A description, or descriptive writing, is a statement or account that describes something or someone, listing characteristic features and significant details to provide a reader with a portrayal in words. Descriptions are set in the concrete, in the reality, or solidity of an object as a representation of a person, place, or thing in time. They provide the look and feel of objects, a simultaneous whole, with as many details as youd like. A description of a rose might include the color of the petals, the aroma of its perfume, where it exists in your garden, whether it is in a plain terracotta pot or a hothouse in the city. A description of Sacred Emily might talk about the length of the poem and the facts of when it was written and published. It might list the images that Stein uses or mention her use of repetition and alliteration. Narration A narration, or narrative writing, is a personal account, a story that the writer tells his or her reader. It can be an account of a series of facts or events, given in order and establishing connections between the steps. It can even be dramatic, in which case you can present each individual scene with actions and dialog. The chronology could be in strict order, or you could include flashbacks. A narration about a rose might describe how you first came across it, how it came to be in your garden, or why you went to the greenhouse that day. A narration about Sacred Emily might be about how you came across the poem, whether it was in a class or in a book lent by a friend, or if you were simply curious about where the phrase a rose is a rose came from and found it on the internet. Exposition Exposition, or expository writing, is the act of expounding or explaining a person, place, thing, or event. Your purpose is not to just describe something, but to give it a reality, an interpretation, your ideas on what that thing means. In some respects, you are laying out a proposition to explain a general notion or abstract idea of your subject. An exposition on a rose might include its taxonomy, what its scientific and common names are, who developed it, what the impact was when it was announced to the public, and/or how was it distributed.   An exposition on Sacred Emily could include the environment in which Stein wrote, where she was living, what her influences were, and what the impact was on reviewers. Argumentation   Also called argumentative writing, an argumentation is basically an exercise in  comparing and contrasting. It is the methodological presentation of both sides of an argument using logical or formal reasoning. The end result is formulated to persuade why thing A is better than thing B. What you mean by better makes up the content of your arguments. Argumentation applied to a rose might be why one particular rose is better than another, why you prefer roses over daisies, or vice versa. Argumentation over Sacred Emily could compare it to Steins other poems or to another poem covering the same general topic. The Value of Composition A great deal of debate enlivened college theoretical rhetoric in the 1970s and 1980s, with scholars attempting to throw off what they saw were the confining strictures of these four writing styles. Despite that, they remain the mainstay of some college composition classes. What these four classical modes do is provide beginner writers a way to purposefully direct their writings, a structure on which to form an idea. However, they can also be limiting. Use the traditional modes of composition as tools to gain practice and direction in your writing, but remember that they should be considered starting points rather than rigid requirements. Sources Bishop, Wendy. Keywords in Creative Writing. David Starkey, Utah State University Press, University Press of Colorado, 2006.Conners, Professor Robert J. Composition-Rhetoric: Backgrounds, Theory, and Pedagogy. Pittsburgh Series in Composition, Literacy, and Culture, Hardcover, New ed. Edition, University of Pittsburgh Press, June 1, 1997.DAngelo, Frank. Nineteenth-Century Forms/Modes of Discourse: A Critical Inquiry. Vol. 35, No. 1, National Council of Teachers of English, February 1984.Hintikka, Jaakko. Strategic Thinking in Argumentation and Argumentation Theory. Vol. 50, No. 196 (2), Revue Internationale de Philosophie, 1996.Perron, Jack. Composition and Cognition. English Education, The Writing Teacher: A New Professionalism, Vol. 10, No. 3, National Council of Teachers of English, February 1979.  Ã¯ » ¿Stein, Gertrude. Sacred Emily. Geography and Plays, Letters of Note, 1922.