Ethics

Starbucks is a chain of international coffee house based in Seattle Washington in United States. It is one of the largest coffee house companies in the world with many stores all over the world. The company sells brewed coffee, coffee beans, snacks, mugs, hot and cold drinks. Starbucks has diversified its business in other fields such as marketing books, film and music. Many products in this company are seasonal and specific depending on the locality of the store. The company is expanding rapidly due to application of good marketing strategies and creation of a strong bond between employees and customers.

The success of Starbucks Company is associated with adoption of good management policies that has led to spread of coffee business in other parts of the world. There have been major challenges facing the company in relation to frequent protests such as fair-trade policies, impact on environment, anticompetitive practices, labor policies and political views. The objective of Starbucks Company is to deliver unique experience to both its consumers and employees. The company has been working hard to supply unique and personalized style of coffee to America customers (Ethical Corporation, 2010). This is a way of promoting business and encouraging expansion of business through development of new branches.

The company believes in serving and producing the best coffee in the world so as to satisfy customer demand. It is the goal of Starbucks to have coffee grown under high quality standards. The trading of such important product should be done in an ethical manner to meet the desire of customers and achieve goal of profit making. The growers of coffee also are praised for meeting standards of producing quality coffee.

The aim of Starbucks Company is to enlighten farmers to use better methods of coffee production so as to meet the demand of such important product globally. In collaboration with other groups such as conservation international, Starbucks has devised guiding principles that meet environment, social and economic provisions. The issue of climate change has been a major threat to many developing countries. This means that production of coffee may decline posing threat in coffee production. Starbucks are working on a new climate initiative that considers conservation of the environment to surrounding landscapes (Starbucks.com, n.d). The conservation of environment leads to production of coffee irrespective of climate change and any other form of barriers.

Starbucks coffee company works directly with farmers to ensure there is full supply of quality coffee in the market. It ensures that several ethical principles are followed in coffee growing communities. The company has put into consideration various measures that ensure the welfare of farmers, customers and employees is put under consideration. Such measures include
Payment of coffee price depending  on the quality of coffee
Providing  support to small scale farmers and fair traders
Investing in better future for coffee farmers through provision of loans
Buying only certified organic coffee
Helping  to conserve the environment through proper disposal of waste and use of environment friendly energy sources
Involving  farmers, customers and other employees in various activities such as expeditions
Provision of quality service to all its customers and providing incentives to employees so as to boost their morale.

A major area of concern in Starbucks Company is to buy coffee in a manner that respects employees and customers who are in need of coffee. The company has established economic, social, environment and quality principles that are considered as the foundation of ethical sourcing. The principles must be fulfilled by any particular party that deals with Starbucks Company.

The guidelines bind suppliers and customers so as to ensure that standards are met while implementing certain guidelines. There are four main ethical coffee sourcing principles focused by Starbucks. These guidelines cover product quality, economic accountability, social responsibility and environmental leadership. Product quality is the key guiding principle in respect to Starbucks Company whereby all coffee should meet standards of high quality before it reaches the market. One requirement of economic accountability is transparency between suppliers and farmers so as to avoid exploitation. Suppliers should provide evidence about payments made through out the period of coffee supply (Starbucks Newsroom, 2009). The chain of coffee supply from farmers to suppliers for Starbucks Company should be transparent and accounted for in a proper manner.

Social responsibility is another area of focus that guides Starbucks Company while carrying on with its duties. It involves measures that are concerned with good working conditions, fairness and safe environment. The rights of employees need to be protected so as to provide adequate living conditions. Starbucks ensures that employees get the best salary from the work they perform and this avoids exploitation of workers (Entine, 1996). The issue of child labor and forced labor is addressed so as to ensure safe environment for social responsibility.

The company does not allow children below the age of eighteen years to get employed in coffee fields. Any other form of labor that is considered as forced is addressed in the right manner. Another aspect of social responsibility is the area of discrimination among employees in respect to culture, race, ethnic background and religion. Employees in Starbucks are considered to be equal and every worker is treated equally without favor from the management. This guiding principle has been helpful in running the affairs of company. This has led to the employment of employees within a diversified scope of work force.

Environmental leadership is another area of focus that Starbucks Company focuses while dealing with its processes. The environment within which the company works is supposed to be managed in a proper manner. Pollution of environment poses health hazards to its users and other organisms. Leaders in Starbucks Company have opted to device proper methods of waste disposal. Disposal of waste in many companies is a major threat and it has resulted to closure of businesses due to improper methods of waste management.

Another area of environmental leadership is provision of quality water within the company environment. Water should not be polluted and good conservation polices are devised so as to maintain high quality environment. Energy conservation is a key aspect of environmental leadership that helps to cut down the cost of production and reduce pollution of environment. The company has embarked on a process that employs the use of environment friendly energy sources to process coffee (Melody.com, 2010). Focus on the various guidelines creates an environment that is user friendly and caters for needs of customers.

Quality of service provision to customers is the sole objective of Starbucks coffee company. This is achieved through provision of good market terms and provision of quality coffee that meets their standards. Customers are the main elements that support the growth of the company and once they are not satisfied it becomes a risk of loosing them to other competitive firms. The company also holds its employees at high standards so as to fulfill their needs. A big percentage of employees feel very much satisfied with the working conditions in such big company.

The company has come up with incentives to boost their morale as a way of encouraging high productivity. An employee who is satisfied works in his or her full potential and this enhances high yields. Other benefits of employees include health care, retirement benefits, reimbursement of tuition fee and access to stock markets. The company is committed in provision of health care to its employees while at work. This means that any employee who gets sick or injury during the time of work is provided with treatment. It is the only company in that particular industry that pays medical cover for its employees. The process is expensive and has made the company to pay more money than it pays for its raw materials needed in coffee processing (Ethisphere, 2010). Although this may be considered as a competitive disadvantage, the company has sailed through difficult times and maintained its social responsibility.

Provision of such demanding and costly services to its employees has made Starbucks being voted as the best ethically run company. It was awarded as the top 100 best companies in America in respect to environmental, governance, social, economical and controversial aspects of development. One major corporate goal of Starbucks includes social responsibility that has made the company to expand rapidly. The goal of Starbucks is to create an environment where customer needs are met and employees get what they have worked for in a proper manner. The interaction of employees and customers is another area of concern by Starbucks Company. The aim of such provisions is to develop guidelines that are more efficient and to provide balance in work and family matters.

Starbucks on the other hand has been criticized for situations in relation to questionable ethics. Major areas of ethical criticism include cultural imperialism, anti-competitive tactics and fair trade in coffee market. This has resulted to ethical dilemmas in Starbucks Company. The ethical dilemmas or problems associated with Starbucks business practices need to be addressed before posing challenges in operations. Culture is one major dilemma in Starbucks Company that made it hard for coffee business to go on smoothly. A good example is a branch in Beijing that was closed due to public response. The site of the branch brought a lot of contrivances within Chinese culture because it was located within former Imperial Palace. This was a major draw back in coffee business but Starbucks learned from this situation and their move was to implement corporate vision aimed at adapting various cultural practices within areas of operations (Entine, 1996). The way forward for Starbuck Company in this ethical dilemma was to adjust to various cultures and consider working within provided scope of work.

In 2008, Starbuck Company developed problems with using Ethiopian trademark to trade coffee. Ethiopia is considered to produce about six percent of the worlds coffee and money from the trade is used to support the economy of the country. Coffee exportation in Ethiopia amounts to about 50 of all its exports. This means that coffee production in Ethiopia supports its economy and other economies. This being the case Ethiopia wanted to trademark its famous brands of coffee so as to fetch good income from global markets.

However, Starbucks secured United States patent on the names of the three types of coffee. This made it hard for Ethiopia to trade its coffee globally and in order to venture world market they had to pay royalties to Starbucks. Ethiopia lost millions of dollars which adversely affected its economy. Starbuck considered their move and decided to sign an agreement with Ethiopia so as to end the dispute. The deal was good enough to satisfy Ethiopian farmers and resolving this ethical dilemma by Starbucks is a sign of responsibility. Starbucks Company has worked hard to share resources with their suppliers so as to ensure there is mutual benefit between the traders (Starbucks.com, n.d). Resolution of such dispute means that Starbuck is an ethically responsible company that aims at sacrificing profits for its principles.

Communication is another ethical dilemma that results from business practices of Starbucks Company. The company is sensitive when it comes to response towards any form of criticism and it is usually proactive while resolving ethical problems. In the case of any ethical dilemma, the company seeks direct and transparent method to communicate with parties in conflict. Communication in various companies including Starbucks has been the major challenge and to be effective in ethical issues, Starbucks seeks to provide reports in relation to corporate responsibility. The company communicates through message board that acts in firsthand on any particular rumors regarding company issues. Poor communication methods results to bad governance which results to failure in achieving organization goals (Ethical Corporation, 2010). Communication is considered as the best policy that helps to resolve any form of conflict and managers in an organization are supposed to embrace the culture of dialogue incase of any dispute.

Starbucks believes in social responsibility as a way of interacting with society in the particular area of establishment. The company is responsible for all its actions that relate to the society as a whole. It means that organizations constitute part of the larger society and their actions are accounted for in any activity carried on in the society. Companys profits are considered as part of social responsibility and the company is supposed to balance profits with social activities.

Starbucks is always committed to improve and respond to critics and this makes the company to be responsible with its activities and prepare for long-term success. In 2008 Starbucks made public its shared planet initiative which had a list of thirteen measurable goals that wants to implement in future. These initiatives address previous critics about the companys commitment to ethical dilemma. The companys commitment is to see all its coffee being responsibly grown and traded in an ethical manner. Another commitment is to reduce wastage of resources through use of recyclable raw materials. The company is responsible for creation of community service hours that help other members of the society (Melody.com, 2010). The use of reusable materials provides solution for climate change.

Starbucks Company played an important role in meeting community involvement in achievement of goals. Community members are participating fully in various projects that help to rebuild areas affected by natural catastrophes. The area of interest in development of community projects is the responsibility of Starbucks Company. The ethical aspect of community development is recognized in specific areas of helping the disadvantaged to carry on with their lives inn the normal way. Child labor in this particular aspect is reflected when children wants to engage in coffee production to get money for survival.

Poverty is a major threat in many developing nations whereby young people are forced to work for money so as to afford basic needs. This requires serious intervention of Starbucks Company. Harassment of workers is another ethical dilemma in Starbuck Company associated with business practices. The audit reports show that standards in these particular fields are not met and the company had to terminate contracts and failed to renew business contracts with a number of suppliers. The company aims at offering training sessions to its employees so as to promote ethical and good working practices (Ethisphere, 2010). This was contributed by failure of employees to meet certain set trading standards. The company has social responsibility which is ingrained with its corporate culture.

The company is dedicated to achieve long term goals and to serve its shareholders which helps to improve corporate image. It is aimed at maintaining companys principle of sharing resources. Factors such as achieving strategic goals, serving customers in a proper manner, social responsibility, ethical sourcing and sharing of resources has made Starbucks company to resolve various ethical dilemmas linked to their business practices. Another factor is that of serving the society in a proper and effective manner. It achieves this through adoption of the societys culture in which they operate. Starbucks considers their success to be influenced by participation of customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders and society (Ethisphere, 2010). These parties are the major elements in the circles of Starbucks Company and contributed to commitment in various areas of coffee production and marketing.

Upper level management in Starbucks Company
In this particular part of paper it is assumed that the author is in upper level management of Starbucks and the company is faced with similar ethical dilemmas after five years. The main objective of management is to provide guidelines and consider various ethical and practical measures that aim at solving such dilemmas. The main issue to consider in respect to the ethical dilemmas is to put into consideration the root causes of the dilemmas. When certain problems are  not  resolved within  a period of  five years like  in the case  of Starbucks, it  means  there is  problem in  management level (Starbusks.com, n.d). This means that the basic things to consider is the level at which management are dealing with employees and customer needs.

Satisfaction of employees is the paramount reason for any organization and thus any person in top management who is not concerned with development of goals is supposed to be fired. This creates an environment of seriousness and develops a scope for dealing with ethical matters. The issue of culture in various societies where business has been established is a key area of consideration. As a manager, I would like to foresee long term goals and work towards achievement of set organizations goals. The society is an important part in the life cycle of organization and the management should put into consideration any practice that brings togetherness in the entire community.

The management should consider the issue of forced labor and child labor. This is a specific ethical dilemma in Starbucks Company that should be addressed through taking responsibility of ensuring that every employee is above 18 years. In addition, I should ensure that each employee has a valid identification card to do away with issue of child labor. This is a negative effect associated with poverty levels but it should not be considered as a justification to seek under age employment. The child should be enrolled in school programs to continue with studies for better future. Another major ethical dilemma to consider is communication in the work place and the channels to be followed to pass on important information. Various methods are used to communicate important information and the way in which information is passed determines the success or failure of the company (Ethical Corporation, 2010). One of the best method of communication I should device is use of organization charts. The charts are designed in a manner that allows information to flow from strategic management to other employees. This creates a smooth chain tom be followed incase a crisis occurs.
In an organization that has no proper or designed means of communication, activities may come to a stand still. The ethical aspect of communication in Starbucks Company arises when there is a break down of communication between top level management, suppliers, employees and customers. This is a major problem and failure to resolve such problem results to massive loss of income within the organization. Use of circulars or notices is another proper method I would consider to resolve communication as an ethical dilemma in the company. Information about market structure is very important and upper level management is supposed to acquire such information in a proper manner.