Author Archives: Annmaria P

Retention – Annmaria Patterson

What do you think is the most demotivating part of Harpers Job? 

 The most demotivating part of Harpers job was the lack of support! Support is everything when it comes to getting things done. One person can’t do EVERYTHING. So, to be in a position at which you feel like the only support you have is yourself it can become stressful. The issue here was Harpers didn’t always have no support; she recently just stopped getting support. This can feel like hitting a brick wall. To go from having consistent system of support to none at all can be very demotivating. When Jose left, he left his job duties as well, some of which Harper now had to take on. Harper was now completing her task as well as some of a manager and I’m pretty sure she wasn’t being compensated for this new workload. On top of a new set of responsibilities she now had less time for her personal life. How motivating is that, knowing that after working a long hard day you don’t even had enough time to enjoy your favorite show or go out to for dinner. Harper was undervalued, overworked, and being ignored. There is an empty role on her team and David isn’t aware of the imbalance that Jose left on the team. Her new boss David didn’t even take the time out to communicate with Harper to see if see was alright and how she was adapting to the new responsibilities.

 

 

If you were an HR manager meeting with Harpers supervisor, David, what advice would you give them to help re-engage Harper?

As an HR manager, I would advise the David to communicate openly with the Harper, to understand her workload concerns, and explore ways to provide necessary support or resources. I would encourage David to have a discussion about the workload and distributing it across the team, setting realistic expectations and providing a good work/life balance for Harper so she may have downtime to regroup. Providing that work/life balance also works to boost morale and the overall productivity as Harper is now less stressed and can find more joy and passion in the work she is producing. Lastly, I would encourage David to incorporate some incentives for employees who produce higher numbers or complete more task than the average employee. A great example would be to promote within, promoting Harper to Jose’s role will be a big motivational booster for her and others on the team. This is a great way to boost the attitude in the workplace when employees are being recognized for the hard work they are doing they tend to want to continue that work in hopes of receiving more or better incentives in the future. Fostering a positive work environment can contribute to employee satisfaction and retention.

 

 

What would be the downside of losing Harper as an employee? 

The downside of losing Harper can be a real setback for Marketable, Inc. Harper has been with the company for four years, obtaining the same role since joining the company. Her team is only six people which means that responsibility and task can only be spread amongst a small group of individuals. Harper not only has been doing her job, but in the last six months, she has been taking on other responsibilities of her last manager. This means that Harper not only does her individual work, but she also tackles some managerial tasks. If Harper, leaves company that team and department will suffer a big loss and some negative impacts. A negative impact would be on team morale. Being that she’s worked for the team for so long. She has not only developed a relationship, but also is seen as an example for newer employees coming into the company. They may gauge her success and compare it to their own. The loss of institutional knowledge will be significant. Harper came directly out of college which means she went from institutional training to experience on-the-job training and the skills that she has developed from her four-year degree as well as her four years at that company will be very hard to match or replace. Because Harper was taking on majority of the workload if she leaves, then Marketable, Inc runs the risk of not being able to produce the services at which they used to. This can lead to a potential disruption in productivity. Finally, recruiting and training a replacement can be time-consuming and costly for the organization. Time and money must be invested in the right resources in order to generate the qualified candidates. There’s no telling how quickly or how slowly those candidates will generate and how long it will take to complete the full hiring process and fill the Harpers role.

 

Marketing – Annmaria Patterson

This assignment was not a hard one when it came to making a decision on which ad to pick. The commercial that would forever stick with me, my closest family, and friends – well in fact anybody who was alive watching TV from the early to mid-2000s. This is when the ball game was really on! Marketing had to be top tier from the beats of the music in the background to the set and actors chosen. Back, then a good commercial (or bad) could literally make a company.
Now I have a list of my top five best commercials in my lifetime, but I thought for this assignment it was only right that I pulled out the triple play optimum commercial song. And if you don’t remember, and you have been living under a rock, I’ll just insert one of the lines from the popular song.

“IO Digital Cable
Watch a lot of channels whenever you’re able
HD is free, let me put it on the table
For twenty-nine ninety-five, you get to sign your label” Lyrics for the Triple Play Optimum Song.”

The commercial has a beach theme, including pirates, mermaids, sea monsters, and of course three women in bathing suits who keep repeating the Optimum phone number. This song was so instrumental, because not only did it hook itself onto the minds of almost everyone listening and watching, but it programmed optimum and its phone number into the heads of millions of people, both young and old. “My wife and I still randomly sing the 877-393… part at each other…for 14 years now.” Said one customer commenting under the videos post. That song was played in parties, lounges, schools YMCA’s literally everywhere and no one was upset, we all enjoyed dancing to the beat and sing along to the catchy lyrics.

“Optimum offers both double and triple-play deals, which means you can bundle your Optimum internet with Optimum TV, Optimum home/mobile phone or both. Optimum offers a wide range of internet and TV plans to choose from, and its bundle discounts are some of the best available.” The Optimum Triple Play is an IO digital cable television (with free HD), Optimum Online – broadband cable, Optimum Voice – phone. Back when Cable options weren’t so vast getting a bundle deal for 29.95 was legit one of the best steals of a deal you could get. This was marketing genius I was affected by this commercial and so were many. During the 877 Era, when it came down to choosing who would be your cable provider someone would 9 time out 10 bust out sing “I O …Digital Cable”. Optimum not only cooked up an amazing deal that made people to seek them for a service, but they then packaged it up in an unforgettable marketing commercial!

During this era, it was a war of the cable networks. People would want to know what cable you had before coming over or even use it as a means to decide whose house, they would be holding the movie night at. All I knew was I needed to have optimum and lucky for me, we already had it. But this only channeled my belief that optimum was superior; they had an affordable plan that literally everyone in the world was talking and singing about. I have stuck with optimum till this very day because of the impact that their marketing has had on me. I know there are tons of other cable networks I could use but Optimum has created their own brand with me as a customer, so until someone else comes out with another – well a better banger I’m sticking with my good ole’ Optimum.

Customer video comment:
Only real G’s remember this optimum triple play commercial : r/nyc (reddit.com)
Lyrics for Commercial
Optimum – Optimum Triple Play Commercial Lyrics | Genius Lyrics

The Founder Assignment – Annmaria Patterson

  1. Ray Crock was a persistent businessman, and the brothers were business owners. This was shown in every aspect of the movie. Ray saw the vision immediately he was always trying to make something out of anything. Ray literally had a skill he knew how to truly profit and capitalize off ideas. Ray was willing to take the risk that others may opt of, he saw an opportunity and didn’t want to miss it at any cost. He built up knowledge of how to operate and officially run franchise. The brothers were creative thinkers, they put their heads together to create a great concept of fast-food businesses. They worked and perfected it until it was successful in their town. However, the brothers were focused on their brand and the CSR behind their brand they wanted to ensure they were providing the best quality products for their consumers. The Brothers had the blueprint of the business, but they lacked the true knowledge of how businesses work. The Brothers were very apprehensive about their business brand and the quality of their work they weren’t so open or quick to taking risky chances.
  2. I don’t think the brothers should’ve sold to Ray because they didn’t share the same values! Rays mission was to capitalize and make as much money as he could the brothers wanted their own legacy and restaurant that was respected. Ray was willing to toss all the quality out the window for a quick easy way to get a job done. The contract signing was entirely the McDonalds brothers’ idea, they wanted to ensure the safety of their plan. However, there was certain specifications that should’ve been discussed before even taking on or considering the opportunity in the first place. Once changes needed to be made the contract should have been redrafted and then resigned, this step or misstep allowed Ray to “get over” on the brothers legally. The 1% royalty deal in the end should have been entered into the contract and not signed until included. The brothers felt uneasy and still went against their better judgment a decision they lived to regret forever. Ray took a big chance on this idea, even though it wasn’t his he truly trusted the vision the McDonalds brothers had. So much so he got his house appraised just to get the ball rolling, in the end he put a lot of risk into making this Franchise operation run and deserves to see a profit from his investments. Ray Kroc didn’t give the brothers a good deal, the brothers lost their first location the blueprint for their restaurant and even their name! This wasn’t a win on their part at all! They created a whole new era of eating and got nothing out of it. the only location they were able to keep they had to renounce their name and basically start new.
  3. Franchise could make a profit by running the McDonalds independently. They got the location, the materials, and equipment’s and McDonalds just came in and taught processes and practices and ensure cohesiveness. The franchise would only have to worry about paying out fees to the franchise owners and owner. The Franchise would cut the cost of labor completely by using this new fast-food model, they were able to cut cost. Another way to cut cost was to cut the bill the walk-in freezer generated. Housing all those ice cream crates ate a lot of the operational cost. The introduction of Insta Mix was revolutionary in cutting cost of the franchise owners.
  4. He pitched! Ray immediately became the franchise agent for the McDonalds brothers. Ray would pitch to a wall if it was buying, he truly believed that someone would listen because, so he never stopped selling his ideas. This mindset that Ray adapted allowed him to grow his capital, because once he had a successful model to display to possible buyers and investors there was absolutely no way someone could resist taking the opportunity of a lifetime. “You don’t build an empire off an 1/15 cut of .15 cent hamburgers, you build off owning the land that the upon which that burger is cooked” Harry J. Sonneborn. Ray quickly found that just being franchise manager for the brothers wasn’t going to cover the cost of the business expanding. The funds he was seeing after the payout was barely enough to break even. There had to be a shift in conditions in order to be able to truly operate as a franchise and continue to grow. To see a true profit and start operating to his full capacity Ray had to enter into the real estate world. Owning the land, the McDonalds operates on would be a game changer. This could and would completely change the name of the how Ray did things. A condition of the franchisee deal would be that they could only lease from Ray and Ray alone in order to open and operate a McDonalds. This provided Ray with a steady up flow stream of income and greater capital for expansion. Another condition would be the overall control over the franchisee – failure to uphold standards and policies would result in a canceled lease. “The Franchise Realty Corporation” Ray created his own franchise company; this took complete control away from the McDonalds owners. This allowed him to operate and open his franchise location however he pleased. He licensed the McDonalds brand this was a BIG MOVE This allowed him to operate under the impression of the brand. This allowed him to continue to franchise and make bigger decisions regarding the business. Once he built the demand for the fast-food chain in the smaller towns and cities, he decided to move the restaurant more developed cities. Demand grew with the stores. Selling these Franchise locations allowed him to gain profits by buying land in prime locations and charging the franchise owners rent on the property plus the fees associated with the franchising process on a whole. The franchise stores operated independently from the local/original location. The goal of the franchise owners was to gain profits in their investments. This meant reducing cost as much as possible. In an effort to reduce cost they changed original ingredients, and processes and even introduced specialty items to the menu to boost profit.
  5. Up until my college days I LOVED McDonalds, I thought I was so affordable and quick and most importantly convenient. It was everywhere and open literally all the time. I guess my love and constant consumption lead me to really look into their ingredients and practices. I started to investigate the practices of McDonalds and the affects their cutting cost have had on their consumers. It only took short dive into the rabbit hole to decided I wasn’t a fan of McDonalds and the principles at which they displayed. However, to see that this company was founded on the principles they lack today was completely dishearten. This film just confirmed the feelings I had before McDonalds don’t care about the consumer affect all they care about it profits. While I do not support McDonalds, I can’t take away from the brilliance of dominating the market and truly capitalizing off the franchise game

Ethics Assignment: Starbucks’ Corporate Social Responsibility – Annmaria Patterson

 

Starbucks’ Corporate Social Responsibility

I automatically knew that Starbucks would be the perfect company for me to do my CSR report on. I love Starbucks! I mean my entire family loves Starbuck, from gift cards to random surprise Frappuccino’s, Its definitely a business we invest a lot of time and money into. Founded March 30, 1971, in Seattle, Washington; Starbucks is an American multinational chain of coffee houses that has expanded globally. It is in fact, the world’s largest coffeehouse chain, with over 35,000 stores in over 80 countries. Millions of Americans lined up daily to get their freshly roasted coffee, lattes, refreshers, bagels, and the list goes on. Being the largest coffee house in the world can put a lot of stress and demand on a business. Lines form as early as 6am in some locations with heaving morning, lunch and evening rush; there’s barely any down time for these locations. This demand puts a strain not only on the supply chain and sourcing but its workers and the community it serves. It is Starbucks duty and responsibility to ensure they are being corporate socially responsible to their workers, supply chain, the environment, communities and humanity. Starbucks has made it a point to be on top and ahead of their CSR, they have been implementing numerous policies and practices to improve their social impact.

 

In the business world reducing your carbon footprint is the best thing a company can do for their corporate social responsibility. There are constant debates on the use of resources and the production of waste that businesses produce. Starbucks has taken a big initiative when it comes to their impact on the environment. The company focused on reducing its environmental footprint by implementing initiatives like reducing waste, using renewable energy, and promoting recyclability. When it comes to transparency, Starbucks is not shy at all. Since 2001, Starbucks has been publishing an annual report on their performance against key environmental, social, and governance factors (ESG). These reports are conducted by a third-party and go into detail on the achievements, and the improvements needed to be made based on that year. Amongst that report, Starbucks has also conducted and released several other environmental assessments to evaluate the company. The Environmental Baseline Report goes into details about exactly what resources Starbucks uses at what quantity, and how it impacts and can impact the environment as well as detailing their carbon footprint globally.

 

For decades, Starbucks has been committed to developing and implementing a set of green buildings and operations. Today Starbucks is a world leader in green retail currently operating over 1600 LEED certified stores. By 2025 Starbucks plans to operate over 10,000 greener stores globally. Starbucks does not only strive to conserve energy by building and operating in green buildings, but they also plan to produce sustainable packaging that would contribute to recycling. Since 2015 all Canada and US company operating stores operate on sufficient renewable energy. 

 

All suppliers that work with Starbucks are required to sign an agreement, in compliance with Starbucks supplier code of conduct and other specific standards. It includes the commitment to the welfare, economic improvement, and sustainability of the people and practices that produce their products. As well as adhering to local and international standard laws and regulations to human rights, and meeting or exceeding national laws and internal life standards for environmental protection. Such a detailed document specifying the code of conduct that Starbucks requires, it is a terrific way to cancel, highlight, as well as hold responsible suppliers for their behavior while conducting business with or on behalf of Starbucks. Starbucks is constantly audited, and this compliance is the one thing that is examined. The Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E) practice ensures that Starbucks is sourcing sustainably grown and processed coffee and is aimed to promote fair wages and environmentally responsible farming practices. Starbucks uses their C.A.F.E. practices while sourcing to promote their zero-tolerance standard for conversions of natural forest, also with this practice they are focused on ending deforestation.

 

In 1997 Starbucks founded the Starbucks Foundation originally it was established to fund the youth literacy programs in the US and Canada but today it invests in communities around the world. Providing employment, education, and food; The Starbucks Foundation has made an impact globally. The Starbucks program is active in 125 stores around the country and has assisted more than 4000 people experiencing homelessness enroll in a transitional housing program and receive services. Starbucks has also partnered with Feeding America and No Kid Hungry to donate food at the end of the day to feed those in need. Starbucks also has donated millions of dollars to numerous food banks around the world to help tackle the fight against hunger. In 2022 Starbucks launched their Global Community Impact Grant program which focuses on local impact in the communities that Starbucks operates in around the world. These grants support youth empowerment, social services, hunger relief, economic opportunities, and much more.

 

The Starbucks Community Service program encourages volunteering in communities to address issues that directly affect them. This program was launched in April 2010 and gives partners(employees) an opportunity to organize projects in their neighborhoods in conjunction with local nonprofit organization. Starbucks offers competitive wages, benefits, and stock options to its employees, including part-time workers. They also had programs for employee development and advancement.

Starbucks is doing a great job so far with their corporate social responsibility. They can continue to improve their CSR efforts a number of ways. Constantly updating their policies, reports and statements are great way to ensure accuracy and integrity with stakeholders. Some of the reports I found and was able to view were from 3 to 5 years ago. As a consumer or a researcher, I’d expect to find accurate up-to-date data. For a company that conducts so many audits and reports yearly most of the information available on their site and to the public isn’t updated. Starbucks can continue to expand their sustainable and ethical practices not only for coffee but for the other products they service like tea. They are doing a great job so far environmentally by transforming all their buildings to LEED certified, they can continue to set more ambitious goals for energy consumption and reducing waste. They are working on a fully recyclable cup; they can aim to create a fully recyclable set of utensils. Starbucks can improve their fair labor practices by establishing fair working environments for supply chain workers as well. The supply chain is the backbone to the business the employee that operate these supply chains are just as important as the partners. Advocating for better wages for partners would be a great way to boost morale and exercise CSR. The cost of living is increasing constantly, and a lot of employees have to get second jobs to cover cost of living. Starbucks can advocate for higher wages for their partners as a show of gratitude. Working those hectic shifts can become exhausting and discouraging a boost in wages or incentives for employees will improve professional behavior and performance. Starbucks invest a lot of money into their policies, test, sourcing, supply chain and nonprofit organizations but their partners(employees) take a back seat. Lastly Starbucks should conduct regular assessments to help evaluate and amend the CSR initiatives with the help of feedback, emerging issues and fluctuating societal expectations.

 

Sources Used:

 

Annmaria Patterson

I am a Brooklynite that loves to travel and try new foods. My major is Business Management. I am very adventurous and love to try new things. My hobbies are reading and rock climbing.

My BMCC email is: annmaria.patterson70@stu.bmcc.cuny.edu