Discuss the following:
Starbucks mission is “To inspire and nurture the human spirit—one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time”. Starbucks (2016) It is very clear what Starbucks’ goals is. They strive to create positive experiences with everybody that comes in contact with them. In order for them to accomplish this, the employees have a huge role in this success. The employees’ roles are so valuable to Starbucks, that the company created their own Business Ethics and Compliance guidelines. These guidelines explicate the expectation of the Starbucks employee. The Business Ethics and Compliance dictates how employees will treat each other, which is with dignity and respect first and foremost. They practice equal opportunity in hiring practices. They do not tolerate any form of harassment, bullying or discrimination. They do not allow their employees to offensive or derogatory marks. The same way they treat their employees is the same way they expect their employees to treat their customers. Starbucks’ reputation is at stake every time a customer comes to the store and interacts with an employee. In keeping with Starbucks Mission Statement the company encourages their employees to give back to the communities they serve.
Another company I used to explicate their working environment and its expectations of its employees is Disney. Disney’s goal is to create magical experiences for everyone that comes to their parks, resorts and cruises. In order to this, they have to hire individuals who understand this. On the Disney Career website, they dictate their expectations. They expect diversity and respect for and from their employees as well as their constituents. Disney creates a unique culture both for their customers and employees. In order for their team to be successful, they encourage their employees to exhibit the following attributes: Innovation, Quality, Community, Storytelling, Optimism and Decency. The company expresses their expectation of values in the employees they hire as well. “These values live in everything we do. They create a unified mission that all our people believe in and work toward. And to recognize individual efforts, we have a variety of reward programs, including:
•Quality of Work and Length of Service
•Community Volunteerism
•Employee of the Month Recognition” Disney (2016)
Where should Grueber report and why?
Grueber should report to both the management team and the investors. This will help management and the investors see what is missing. This way both sides can hear and see what is missing in terms of communication. Management might not see what is wrong with the way they are announcing items and earnings. Whereas investors might want to hear more and have concerns on how these communications are being sent. Another item that needs to be addressed on both sides or the exceptions from each side. If this is not communicated correctly or come to a mutual agreement both sides might not feel comfortable and investors might pull out.
What resources should Grueber ask for? What are the biggest challenges for IR?
Grueber should be asking for a review of the company’s operations strategy, mission, and communications strategies. With an update to these might help Investor relations to show that “Steelcase, Inc.” is willing to adapt to the ever-changing environment. This was clear they were not ready for the influx of orders after Y2K.
Some of the biggest challenges for Steel case would be to communicate via Social media, the internet, and other printed media. Steelcase Inc., need to show they are the company that was founded and still has the vison of the founders. Steelcase Inc. needs to prove that they can handle the ups and downs of the market and adjust to this in a timelier manner. Also this needs to be shown to the investors and make the investors comfortable with these decisions.
How would you position the function to handle those challenges? How do you see these issues relating to empowerment?
I would set up a meeting with management and the board of directors for the company. I would brain storm on why we are not doing well. Figure out where we are in our communications strategy, corporate social responsibly and how we communicate with new products or innovations. From here I would develpoestratigies, new ways to get our message out, new advertising. There are many ways to incorperate these depending on what we have developed in out brain storming.
I would also brain storm with the investors and see what they are looking for and try to incorporate this into the company stratigy. All of this together working hand will be a team effort and make every happy on all fronts. With the investors the company will not have room to grow and without the company investors will not achieve their goals. In reguards empowerment, the company needs to trust Gruber to do what is good for the company and not what is in the best interest for the Boars itself.
What changes would you have made to strengthen empowerment and hence strengthen (possibly) Steelcase, Inc.
From what I have read the Board of directors seem to be all form with in. I would make a team of both the board of directors and the main investors. This would bring all the issues onto the table and together they can have developed new ways to do business and share issues and triumphs. This will be a good thing for both the company and the investors to work and grow as one unit. This will aloes attracted new inventors. The shares the empowerment where everything is not one person shoulders.