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Starbucks Coffee Company Diversity Audit
Cindy Rizo and Robin Jones
Keller Graduate School of Management

In this paper, we will be discussing a diversity audit that took place with the Starbucks Coffee Company. The audit consists of the company’s background, what the team’s criteria for a diverse organization should be and the findings on what the organization diversity practices truly consist of based on research provided from interviews, company statements and news articles. The remaining of the paper will focus on the organization in terms of Thomas and Ely’s paradigms, building an inclusion breakthrough and a business case for diversity in the organization. Finally, recommendations for improvements will be discussed …show more content…
“We believe in the idea of inclusion. Instead of focusing on a hard number, we need to create an environment that has a spirit of inclusion. That’s more important. It’s not just color, age, gender or sexual orientation. It’s about what you identify yourself as and having an environment that you feel comfortable in”. As the former VP of Diversity and inclusion, it was their mission to create this exact type of environment where everyone feels comfortable and welcome. Mr. Ogo believes if there is any challenge that Starbucks has faced in trying to make the idea of inclusion a part of their culture it is recognizing what that looks like outside of major cities. It is easy in major cities to incorporate the idea of inclusion because there is a more diverse atmosphere, however, Mr. Ogo is not sure that Starbucks as a whole has given a face to inclusion in rural areas such as Portland where mathematically it may not be easy to balance the scales because there just are not enough people of different backgrounds.
As District manager for approximately 10 loop stores in Chicago, Mr. Ogo has a diverse management staff. Although his managers are mostly women, they do range in different ethnicities as well as gender and sexual orientation. He however is looking to even the playing field with hiring a few more men. Starbucks has always been