Answer Happy

Case Discussion Questions
1. What could be some of the underlying reasons of negative
attitude and behaviors of the sales
team at Jennifer’s summer job, particularly from a teamwork
perspective? Consider the team
culture and different types of roles in teams for your
analysis.
2. Analyze Jennifer’s positive experience at Starbucks in terms of
the three characteristics of a
well-conceived team design, i.e., predictability, efficiency, and
member satisfaction, by giving
examples for each from the text.
CASE 2.1: JOINING THE STARBUCKS TEAM Jennifer is like many college students. She enjoys her classes and the whole college experience-but she's broke. It's only November, and the money she saved from her summer job as a retail clerk is almost depleted. As she with- draws the last of her final paycheck, she can't help but recount how the hours in the clothing store seemed to drag on and on while the workers continuously engaged in petty bickering and complaining. Jennifer stayed to herself that summer in an attempt to avoid the store drama. She hated going to work and often felt irritated by her demeaning customers or demanding bosses. Now that the hard-earned money she made during those months was gone, she knew she would have to find another part-time job, but she couldn't bear the thought of having another experience like the one she had over the summer. One of Jennifer's favorite places to study had always been the local Starbucks. She loved to drink her coffee and enjoy the atmosphere of the shop-particularly the friendly and helpful staff who worked there. The obvious enjoyment the employees seemed to get from their jobs soon convinced Jennifer to apply for a position. After an interview that went pretty well, she got the job. When Jennifer arrived for her first of several days of training, she was encouraged by the store manager's kind words of introduction to the rest of the team. He named several of the achievements that he remembered from her résumé and assured them that she would be a great asset to the team. Her training program allowed Jennifer to acquire new knowledge and to learn new skills. She was taught a host of information about the coffee industry and the Starbucks philosophy, while simultaneously gaining 19 20 Working in Teams experience in every area from drink mixing to cashiering and inventory logging. Her coworkers were patient, help- ful, and kind to her during her training process, and she soon began to build meaningful relationships with them. She even went out to dinner a few times with them and genuinely enjoyed their company. Jennifer was both surprised and pleased with the positive environment at Starbucks and soon became loyal to the company's mission. Instead of simply putting in her time and counting down the hours, Jennifer saw herself as part of a group of people working toward a common goal. This job proved to be nothing like the experience she had over the summer. Working at Starbucks began as a simple solution to her financial woes, but it quickly became something much more.