Understanding Business
12th Edition
ISBN: 9781259929434
Author: William Nickels
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
expand_more
expand_more
format_list_bulleted
Question
Meet Me at Starbucks
On April 12, 2018, at a Starbucks location in Philadelphia, two black men, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, were waiting for a friend, Andrew Yaffe. Nelson and Robinson were entrepreneurs and were going to discuss business investment opportunities with Yaffe, a white real estate developer. As they waited, an employee asked if she could help them. They said “no,” that they were just waiting for a business meeting. Then a manager told Nelson that he couldn’t use the restroom because he was not a paying customer.
Because the two men had not purchased anything yet, a store manager called police, even though Robinson had been a customer at the store for almost a decade and both men had used the store location for business meetings before. At least six Philadelphia Police Department officers arrived. The police officers did not ask the men any questions; they just demanded that they leave immediately. They declined. The police officers then proceeded to arrest the men for trespassing. As the arrest occurred, Mr. Yaffe arrived. He said: “Why would they be asked to leave? Does anyone else think this is ridiculous? It’s absolute discrimination.” The two men were taken out in handcuffs. They were taken to the police station, photographed, and fingerprinted. They were held for almost nine hours before being released from custody. Prosecutors decided that there was insufficient evidence to charge the men with a crime.
After a video of the arrest went viral, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson released a statement: “We apologize to the two individuals and our customers and are disappointed this led to an arrest. We take these matters seriously and clearly have more work to do when it comes to how we handle incidents in our stores. We are reviewing our policies and will continue to engage with the community and the police department to try to ensure these types of situations never happen in any of our stores.”
Johnson then announced that every company-owned Starbucks location in the nation would close on May 29, 2018, for “racial-bias education.” When one customer complained on Facebook that closing the stores because of just one incident seemed overkill, Starbucks responded: “There are countless examples of implicit bias resulting in discrimination against people of color, both in and outside our stores. Addressing bias is crucial in ensuring that all our customers feel safe and welcome in our stores.” A similar complaint about closing thousands of stores because of the actions of a handful of employees prompted this response from Starbucks: “Our goal is to make our stores a safe and welcoming place for everyone, and we have failed. This training is crucial in making sure we meet our goal.”
Discussion Questions
1. Do you think the manager of the Starbucks in Philadelphia thought of herself as racist?
2. Do you think that what happened to Nelson and Robinson would have happened had they been white?
3. What stereotypes were invoked in this case and by whom?
4. How did stereotyping influence and/or frame the situation for the manager? For the police? For bystanders?
5. What is your opinion about Starbucks’ response to the arrest of Nelson and Robinson?
6. Will Starbucks’ training session on implicit bias have a beneficial impact?
Expert Solution
This question has been solved!
Explore an expertly crafted, step-by-step solution for a thorough understanding of key concepts.
This is a popular solution
Trending nowThis is a popular solution!
Step by stepSolved in 2 steps
Knowledge Booster
Similar questions
- Ginni Rometty is the CEO of IBM. Shortly after taking on the role of CEO and being frustrated by the progress and sales performance, Rometty released a five-minute video to all 400,000 IBM employees criticizing the lack of securing deals to competitors and lashed out at the sales organization for poor sales in the preceding quarter. Six months later, Rometty sent another critical message, this time via e-mail. How effective will the video and e-mail be in communicating with employees? How should she follow up to these messages?arrow_forwardGive typed explanation Kawal, a young mother with three small children, had worked at the counter of a Tim Hortons store for three years. One day, the manager observed Kawal giving a Timbit donut to a crying child who came into the store with their parents. When the manager of the store confronted Kawal about giving a donut away for free, Kawal immediately admitted to giving the donut away to the customer without paying for it. She was aware that this was against the employer’s policy, but she had been busy at the time and did not go to her purse to get the $1.50 to pay for the donut at that time. Also, knowing that day-old donuts are given away to small children in the store regularly, she felt this would be acceptable. Kawal expected to get a warning at most and was shocked when her manager terminated her employment for cause. Sarah filed a wrongful dismissal case. (PLEASE NOTE: I am not looking for your opinion. Use concepts discussed in class or your textbook to provide an…arrow_forwardA guest walked up to the front-desk agent, Karen Fredrickson, in an upscale hotel, ready to check out. As she would usually do when checking out a guest, Karen asked the guest what his room number was. The guest was in a hurry and showed his anxiety by responding, “I stay in a hundred hotel rooms and you expect me to remember my room number?” Karen then asked for the guest’s name, to which he responded, “My name is Mr. Johnstone.” After thanking him, she began to look for the guest’s last name, but the name was not listed in the computer. Because the man had a heavy accent and Karen assumed that she had misunderstood him, she politely asked the guest to spell his last name. He answered, “What? Are you an idiot? The person who checked me in last night had no problem checking me in.” Again, Karen looked on the computer to find the guest. The guest, becoming even more frustrated, said, “I have a plane to catch and it is ridiculous that it has to take this long to check me out. I also need…arrow_forward
- American Police officers must work within the parameters set forth in the U.S Constitution, most notably the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. A police officer with two years experience who makes a Terry Stop must be able to articulate her detention of a subject was based on reasonable cause. her investigation was based on probable suspicion. her detention was based on her gut feeling. her observations of the subject's actions led her to believe a crime was about to be committed.arrow_forwardIs Nurse Jones' disclosure to Paris Lights of Terrence's condition permitted and required by stateor federal law?arrow_forward1.Which aspect of mediation gives those in dispute the opportunity to express their feelings about the process leading up to mediation? representation/reparation arbitration validation/reintegration participation 2.Nneka and Fatima disagree over the best database software to use for an upcoming project. Neither gets angry, but each discusses the capabilities and costs of each type of software. After this discussion, they present their findings to the team so the best software can be selected. Which of the following best describes the likely effect of their disagreement on performance? The team is better able to make a good decision and performance will be high. The team will be apathetic and performance will be poor. The team will be disrupted because of the conflict and performance will be poor. Team members will now have to do their own research and performance will be slowed. 3.Whoever makes the second offer in a negotiation sets the anchor around which bargaining occurs. True False…arrow_forward
- Choose the true statement: O Employees (or potential employees) with disabilities covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) must be treated the same as non-disabled employees (or potential employees). O Under common law, at-will employment relationships were ones where the employee was free to quit at any time for any reason, and the employer could discharge the employee at any time for any reason. More recently courts have looked at public policy considerations in limiting the ability of an at-will employee to quit or be fired. A "pattern or practice of discrimination" case often involves statistical comparisons of the relevant labor market population (or other "job applicant pool") and the employer's work force. It is lawful for an employer to discharge an employee because that employee is about to become entitled to a bonus. For sexual harassment to exist, the harasser must be a boss or some type of superior.arrow_forwardA key difference between civil rights and civil liberties is that Multiple Choice O O civil liberties may evolve, but civil rights remain static, permanent, and cannot be infringed civil liberties generally apply to groups, while civil rights are protections for individuals civil rights generally apply to groups, while civil liberties are protections for the individual there is no difference; the two terms are used interchangeablyarrow_forward1. Nine months ago I was refused a job. I think it was because I am Italian. Can I file a complaint with the EEOC? Provide a rationale for your response to reflect support for the response. 2. Affirmative action is a law that requires employers to hire certain groups (e.g., women and minorities) to demonstrate they are providing equal employment opportunity. For your response, you will indicate whether this statement is True or False and a one-sentence rationale to support your answer (this is not an opinion-based question but based it on factual evidence). 3. My male co-workers are constantly addressing the body shapes and attire of female workers. In some instances, they are rating them on their looks and many of them are unaware that they are being discussed in this manner. On one occurrence, they took photos and shared them in email exchanges so that could discuss more privately. I feel very uncomfortable with this behavior and want to file a complaint. Is this sexual…arrow_forward
- Rawls’ Theory of Justice states: A. Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you B. The ends justify the means C. The morality of an action can be determined by its consequences D. Never take any action that would harm the least among us, those with least income, education, wealth, competence, influence or power E. People should never be treated as a means to an end, but as ends in themselvesarrow_forwardRandall owns a chain of restaurants in the Tampa area. He intends to open a new location and puts an ad out for hiring. Five different individuals respond to his ad and express interest in the role. Randall needs help with the interviews so he asks a server in his restaurant, Cassandra, to assist him. She conducts the first round interviews and he conducts the second round of interviews so that he has a second opinion to consider. The first applicant, Miguel, is fluent in Spanish and English. He has prior experience as a server and can start right away. While Cassandra likes him as an applicant, Randall is worried that he will speak Spanish with all of the Hispanic kitchen staff and this will create a “clique” in the restaurant so he chooses not to hire him. The second applicant, Mary, is three months pregnant. She has no work restrictions and spent ten years as a server for Chili’s. Both Cassandra and Randall are afraid that Mary will decide she doesn’t want to return to work after…arrow_forwardYour friend is a human resource manager who believes that his cat is a god and that his cat’sbirthday is a religious holiday. Is your friend’s employer legally required to accommodate yourfriend’s religious beliefs?arrow_forward
arrow_back_ios
SEE MORE QUESTIONS
arrow_forward_ios
Recommended textbooks for you
- Understanding BusinessManagementISBN:9781259929434Author:William NickelsPublisher:McGraw-Hill EducationManagement (14th Edition)ManagementISBN:9780134527604Author:Stephen P. Robbins, Mary A. CoulterPublisher:PEARSONSpreadsheet Modeling & Decision Analysis: A Pract...ManagementISBN:9781305947412Author:Cliff RagsdalePublisher:Cengage Learning
- Management Information Systems: Managing The Digi...ManagementISBN:9780135191798Author:Kenneth C. Laudon, Jane P. LaudonPublisher:PEARSONBusiness Essentials (12th Edition) (What's New in...ManagementISBN:9780134728391Author:Ronald J. Ebert, Ricky W. GriffinPublisher:PEARSONFundamentals of Management (10th Edition)ManagementISBN:9780134237473Author:Stephen P. Robbins, Mary A. Coulter, David A. De CenzoPublisher:PEARSON
Understanding Business
Management
ISBN:9781259929434
Author:William Nickels
Publisher:McGraw-Hill Education
Management (14th Edition)
Management
ISBN:9780134527604
Author:Stephen P. Robbins, Mary A. Coulter
Publisher:PEARSON
Spreadsheet Modeling & Decision Analysis: A Pract...
Management
ISBN:9781305947412
Author:Cliff Ragsdale
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Management Information Systems: Managing The Digi...
Management
ISBN:9780135191798
Author:Kenneth C. Laudon, Jane P. Laudon
Publisher:PEARSON
Business Essentials (12th Edition) (What's New in...
Management
ISBN:9780134728391
Author:Ronald J. Ebert, Ricky W. Griffin
Publisher:PEARSON
Fundamentals of Management (10th Edition)
Management
ISBN:9780134237473
Author:Stephen P. Robbins, Mary A. Coulter, David A. De Cenzo
Publisher:PEARSON