Association

For this blog entry I am supposed to consider a group that I do not belong to, and analyze how that group is organized. Since I am an avid coffee drinker, I chose to analyze the Louisville barista culture. For the uninitiated coffeehouse dweller, a barista is similar to a bartender, except specializing in preparing and serving a variety of delicious espresso-based coffee drinks.

The barista culture certainly has a hierarchy, however it is not based on any strict code since the power distance is only slight between the roles within the coffeeshop. Generally, the roles are based off of experience or ambition depending on the circumstances. A new barista will generally begin as a barback until enough skills are developed to operate the espresso machine. After extensive time spent honing specialty espresso skills, the barista can begin moving into other aspects of the coffee trade. For instance, roles such as a roaster, trainer, purchasing and multiple other positions.

However, the key decision-maker of such an organization would rest with the coffeshop owner, especially on any major purchases, or marketing campaigns. Depending on the size of the coffeeshop day-to-day operations could be tasked out to the operations manager, hiring could be assigned to the Human Resources manager, and all ordering would be assigned to a logistics manager. Often the roaster will have an offsite location, and the beans will be delivered to the store locations. As you can see the roles can be divided up in any number of ways depending on the size of the operation.