28 Sep An Analysis of the Customer Service Issues at Starbucks, Part 2 and Executive Summary

WMBA-6040B/MMSL-6645/WMBA-6040/MGMT-6645

WMBA6040 Improving Business Performance

Week 5 Assignment

An Analysis of the Customer Service Issues at Starbucks, Part 2 and Executive Summary

In this Assignment, you will integrate your systems thinking and management skills and you will continue to prepare an organizational improvement plan based on your analysis of a case study. Last week, you put yourself into the shoes of a paid consultant and performed a thoughtful systems analysis of the case study. This week, you will develop Part 2 and the executive summary of your plan to improve the performance of the organization.

 

As a reminder, here is the scenario: After reviewing the latest marketing data, Christine Day, senior vice president of administration at Starbucks, is concerned with the company’s performance in meeting customer expectations in the area of customer satisfaction. She is contemplating an annual investment of $40 million to increase the weekly labor hours in the North American stores, but before she makes this recommendation, she wants to better understand the cause of the decrease in customer satisfaction. She calls on your consulting service to investigate the cause of this issue and to recommend improvements. You are selected for this consulting job based on your knowledge of systems thinking.

 

As you complete your improvement plan, be sure to include specific examples from the case as well as relevant citations from the Learning Resources, the Walden Library, and/or other appropriate academic sources to support your analysis.

 

To prepare for this Assignment:

 

Review the following case study, as needed:

 

Moon, Y., & Quelch, J. (2018). Starbucks: Delivering customer service. HBS Case 9-504-016. Harvard Business School Publishing. http://hbr.org

 

Review the following article, as needed:

 

Braun, W. (2002). The system archetypes. In The systems modeling workbook [Unpublished manuscript]. http://www.albany.edu/faculty/gpr/PAD724/724WebArticles/sys_archetypes.pdf

 

Review, as needed, the following resources on executive summaries:

 

Walden Writing Center. (n.d.). Common assignments: Executive summaries. https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/assignments/executivesummaries

 

Asana. (n.d.). How to write an executive summary, with examples. https://asana.com/resources/executive-summary-examples

 

Return to the same improvement report template you utilized in Week 4. With the research and readings from Week 4 and Week 5 in mind, incorporate any feedback, as needed, into your report as you complete Part 2 and the executive summary.

 

By Day 7

 

Submit Part 2 and the executive summary for your improvement plan, which should include the following:

 

Part 2: Applying Systems Thinking Concepts

 

For Part 2 of your improvement plan (pp. 5–7), address the following:

 

Analyze how the concept of mental models is present at Starbucks and how this concept either negatively or positively affects the customer experience.

 

Analyze how the concepts of team learning and of building a shared vision could benefit Starbucks in terms of improving the customer experience, thereby improving customer satisfaction.

 

Propose a minimum of three recommendations, based on your analysis, that might improve the customer experience at Starbucks. Explain why.

 

Executive Summary

 

Provide Christine Day with an executive summary (p. 1) of your findings and recommendations for improvement. Address the following in your executive summary:

 

Clearly identify the purpose of the improvement plan.

 

Summarize the cause(s) of the low customer satisfaction (referencing the causal loop diagram in the main report).

 

Concisely synthesize the recommendations to improve customer satisfaction.

 

Refer to the Week 5 Assignment Rubric for specific grading elements and criteria. Your Instructor will use this grading rubric to assess your work.