Is Starbucks Practicing Servant Leadership?
One of the things I have struggled with in my studies of servant leadership is if large corporations can really practice servant leadership. It has been my belief that to really be effective at servant leadership, an organization has to be small enough, and local enough, to be aware of what the impacts of its operations are on all the people that it serves, and on all of the places it operates. I have also often wondered what the employees of large organizations that claim to practice servant leadership have to say about their workplace.
Starbucks is an example of such an organization. I have wanted to ask the folks behind the counter who serve me my cup coffee how they like their work and discover if servant leadership really matters by the time it gets down to them. So far, I have not done that, but I recently watched the documentary “Black Gold” that brought up some deeper questions about Starbucks and its servant leadership practices.
The documentary tells the story of coffee growers from Ethiopia who cannot survive on the money they make from growing coffee. The movie alternates between scenes of the growers and other coffee workers, and their struggles; to the coffee shops of Europe and America where people like me pay more for a cup of coffee then the farmers and coffee workers make in a days work. Kraft, Nestle, Proctor & Gamble, Sara Lee and Starbucks where mentioned as the major players in the coffee market. The real life hero of the movie is the servant leader Tadesse Meskela who works for coffee grower’s cooperatives traveling the world in an attempt to ensure that the farmers are paid a fair price for the crop they grow.
Since the movie has come out, Starbucks and been doing some public relations to try to show that they do serve the African growers. The company has also been the subject of a campaign to get Starbucks to follow through on its claims of being leaders in the coffee industry to help Ethiopian farmers to earn more for their crop by signing an agreement recognizing Ethiopia’s legal ownership of its fine coffee names. Starbucks has been avoiding signing the agreement and spells out the reasons in a recent press release .
I also came across a web site for the Starbucks Union, a group of Starbucks' workers who are coming together for: “increased pay and raises, guaranteed hours with the option of fulltime status, an end to understaffing, and a healthier and safer workplace.” I would bet if the members of this union were asked about the company’s servant leadership practices, they would not give them high marks. Starbucks new CEO Jim Donald hails from WalMart and is apparently not pro union, refer to Daniel Goldin’s recent blog for more on this topic.
And in closing it seems that the question to ask is Robert Greenleaf’s “what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or, at least, not be further deprived?”
Starbucks is an example of such an organization. I have wanted to ask the folks behind the counter who serve me my cup coffee how they like their work and discover if servant leadership really matters by the time it gets down to them. So far, I have not done that, but I recently watched the documentary “Black Gold” that brought up some deeper questions about Starbucks and its servant leadership practices.
The documentary tells the story of coffee growers from Ethiopia who cannot survive on the money they make from growing coffee. The movie alternates between scenes of the growers and other coffee workers, and their struggles; to the coffee shops of Europe and America where people like me pay more for a cup of coffee then the farmers and coffee workers make in a days work. Kraft, Nestle, Proctor & Gamble, Sara Lee and Starbucks where mentioned as the major players in the coffee market. The real life hero of the movie is the servant leader Tadesse Meskela who works for coffee grower’s cooperatives traveling the world in an attempt to ensure that the farmers are paid a fair price for the crop they grow.
Since the movie has come out, Starbucks and been doing some public relations to try to show that they do serve the African growers. The company has also been the subject of a campaign to get Starbucks to follow through on its claims of being leaders in the coffee industry to help Ethiopian farmers to earn more for their crop by signing an agreement recognizing Ethiopia’s legal ownership of its fine coffee names. Starbucks has been avoiding signing the agreement and spells out the reasons in a recent press release .
I also came across a web site for the Starbucks Union, a group of Starbucks' workers who are coming together for: “increased pay and raises, guaranteed hours with the option of fulltime status, an end to understaffing, and a healthier and safer workplace.” I would bet if the members of this union were asked about the company’s servant leadership practices, they would not give them high marks. Starbucks new CEO Jim Donald hails from WalMart and is apparently not pro union, refer to Daniel Goldin’s recent blog for more on this topic.
And in closing it seems that the question to ask is Robert Greenleaf’s “what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or, at least, not be further deprived?”
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