How McDonald’s Approach to Human Resource Management is Affected by Accepted Cultural Norms

McDonald opened its first outlet in the United Kingdom in the year 1974. The outfit currently has approximately 1270 restaurants. Baack, Harris and Baack (2016) explained that the business’s first branch had its location in Woolwich in October 1974. McDonald headquarters are situated in Edgware Road. According to Dey (2016), besides its usual burgers, the restaurant sells French fries, soft drinks, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and desserts among others foods. For the next couple of years, the restaurant grew gradually thus opening other outlets all over London. The restaurant made a rapid growth rate during the Margret Thatcher era who was a big fan of the company. McDonalds continued its rapid growth when it opened its first drive-through restaurant in 1986 (Dey 2016). However, in year 2001, the company faced a serious backlash from customers, a situation that slowed down its expansion and growth rate. Baack, Harris and Baack (2016) reported that the restaurant’s profits plummeted with reduced revenue collection in addition to asset accumulation. The restaurant’s HRM function is impacted by activities such as CSR, internal as well as external market forces. The paper analyses the approach taken by the company in terms of the mentioned factors. Additionally, the study will shed light on how the company’s accepted cultural norms have affected the approach adopted by the restaurant’s human resource function.

How the organisations approach to HR strategy is effected by internal and external market and industry forces, including corporate social responsibility

McDonald’s human resource management is pegged on various factors to align its goals and objectives to environmental factors such as industrial forces, market dynamics, international standards, corporate policies and strategies (Lester et al. 2016). The above features have both positive and negative impacts that many times forces the company’s human resource management to align its operations to both internal and external forces to enable the company remain focused on achieving its goals and objectives (Apriliani et al. 2016). Human resource management contend with multiple factors and environments with several phenomena affecting its operations. For example, McDonald’s socio-demographic environment is a major factor that impacts its policies and operations (Reiche et al. 2016). As an external factor, the socio-demographic environment has the ability to directly affect the company’s recruitment and hiring policies with adverse negative effects if not approached strategically.

The considerable shift in demographics and social environments has forced McDonald’s human resource management policies to pay keen attention to each environment it operates in with special emphasis on the people’s social, economic and political factors. Gibbs, MacDonald and MacKay (2015) noted that McDonald gradually revaluates its objectives, activities with special interest on survival. The company has over the years taken a mature and proactive approach to develop competencies of major specialists in different fields and areas. Baack et al., (2016) explained that various labor market trends have forced the company to change its traditional functions with the impact of new strategized roles, development and promotion of its specialist’s competencies.

Over years, McDonald has streamlined its operations with its social corporate responsibility that includes taking part in social activities and programs as a way of giving back to the society. Bratton and Gold (2017) noted that the company has in place a farming initiative that involves showcasing innovative farming activities across the United Kingdom with a focus on empowering the locals and converting ethical farming values into farming systems. At the same time, McDonald’s has a philanthropic exercise that enables it donate part of its profits to charities. The company’s Ronald McDonald Care Mobile has its focus on providing medication to children from vulnerable regions by use of modern treatment equipment’s. Bratton and Gold (2017) stated that the HRM takes a central role in most corporate Social responsibilities by aligning its activities towards fulfilling the engagements. The CSR has over years forced the firm’s HRM function to allow employees who wish to take part in the exercises get enough time and necessary resources to participate fully in the exercises (Bratton and Gold 2017). The strategy has had a significant effect on the company’s HRM operations and leadership.

How accepted cultural norms affect approach to HRM in practice and whether it can be deemed to have a continuous learning culture

McDonald’s culture is dependent and often hinge on the line manager in charge at a given time. While some UK managers run management function in a telling style, others operate the restaurants in a machine like design mostly during the peak periods when the workload is high. However, in most cases, the line managers use a relaxed attitude and in most cases, are indistinguishable from the other workers (Lester et al. 2016). A survey carried out in McDonald’s showed that employees have an easy and relaxed attitude towards their work with increased productivity (Reiche et al., 2016). The human resource management has aligned the company’s employee work schedules with the type of management at every line of work to enable workers rhyme along with their respective top-level management. In many cases, such an internal factor has enabled the HRM give employees the freedom to participate directly in aspects such as decision making and internal management activities (Albrecht et al. 2015). According to Bolman and Deal (2017), managers show real concern towards employee’s well-being, a strategy aimed at motivating and easing the relationship between the management and the workers. The HRM at McDonald’s has formulated its operations towards ensuring that line managers develop a comfortable rapport with employees to motivate and improve on their fulfilment level (Jin and Park, 2016). According to the company’s employee growth strategy, the firm do not consider the restaurant crew members as machines but as vital aspects of resources that push the company forward (Sachdeva 2015). The organizations’ employee empowerment strategy involves constant learning and training on corporate values, business acumen, and ethical values towards growth (Reiche et al. 2016). Hickman and Silva (2018) acclaimed that organization’s culture at McDonald’s has enabled employees to view the company as a learning environment with the single purpose of benefiting all stakeholders, both employees, leaders, and consumers.

HRM and the Organisations Leadership Strategy

Human resource management is a method by which an organization manages its employees. Together with a company’s leadership style, structure, and organizational culture, a company has numerous factors to pay attention to while implementing its feasible plans over operations (Jin and Park, 2016). Sound management of employees and corporate leadership is a sure way for any company to collectively contribute towards the overall success of the company especially towards achieving its goals and objectives. Effective management of employees does not only help McDonald’s achieve its goals, but also realize the highest level of efficiency and productivity (Albrecht et al. 2015). At McDonald’s, HRM together with a dynamic leadership style enables the organization realize its objectives with the help of its employees. The style enables development of plans and decisions in the entire organization. Elena et al. (2016) explained that the decisions and plans are put together with organization features such as recruitment, employee relationship, and performance, rewards of employees, training, and development. Consequently, human resource management and strategies are at McDonald’s are designed to stay in line with the company’s business plan to assist the firm achieve desired success (Hickman and Silva 2018).

Models of HR delivery and their Organisational Relevance

McDonald applies both the traditional “general” staff management and the three-legged stool model. The two models are integrated with the firm’s HR’s vision statement that focuses on improvement of the employees as a central aspect of success. According to Moore and Jennings (2017), in any organization, the HRM plays an integral role that include establishing systems of performance, career development, alignment, development of organizational culture, recruitment, hiring, firing, promotion, rewarding, among other major and minor roles centred on employee welfare, motivation, and development towards achieving the company goals (Lester et al. 2016). At McDonald’s, employees are encouraged to draw on their own abilities and experiences to help them grow as a person and in their careers (Samson and Sheela 2015).

The strategy and approach adopted by the restaurant’s human resource function are founded on four pillars including, Employee Management, Management of Organization, Management Transformation and Change as well as Strategic Human Resources Management (Albrecht et al. 2015). According to its strategic approaches, McDonald’s is not only keen on utilizing the HR team as its core component in achieving its set goals but also apply the best approaches to its overall relationship with other organs and units of the organization (Lester et al. 2016). Despite the company’s franchise style of business operation, According to Bratton and Gold (2017), McDonald’s has a unified and single approach to its human resource management with the primary focus of achieving success and offering efficient services to its consumers. McDonald UK’s human resource approach is no different from McDonald US tactics (Jehanzeb et al. 2015). However, the difference, if any, may be inconsequential since they all maintain a unified approach to management and control of its assets.

High-Performance Working Organisation/Learning Organisations

At McDonald’s, the HR’s key functions include policy making, employee welfare, supportive services, and negotiation, in addition to administrative works (Bailey et al. 2018). Through its training schedules, the company in conjunction with the HR enables employees to experience a humane working and learning environment with the objective of empowering and improving on their competitive edge in the job market especially when serving as employees in the organization (Bratton and Gold 2017). McDonald’s policies on employee improvement have driven a learning culture and improvement within the organization. Dey (2016) adduced that the company’s culture of viewing itself as a temporary employment company has enabled many unlearned persons, immigrants and young people get opportunities to advance their skills and job market abilities. Line managers in conjunction with the HR department have in place strategies to maintain a high employee productivity in terms of turnover and input.

Recommendations

MacDonald food chain has made great strides in employee empowerment and has kept in sync with overall company objectives. However, Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017 suggested that McDonald’s does need to incorporate the best management practices such as internal controls through and by informal and formal engagements. The move would involve integrating diagnostic measures with interactive controls with the objective of improving on its human and technical systems (Lester et al. 2016). At the same time, the company should enhance and improve on its current performance in addition to future development strategies that include customer value addition. The Human Resource can also introduce the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) technique for the department’s effectiveness and efficiency.

Specific

If introduced in McDonald’s, the Balanced Scorecard should define the expected precise result. At the same time, Moore and Jennings (2017) proposed that people involved need to understand the concept fully without generalization of outcomes. For example, the tool should state the precise and actual outcome of every operation undertaken by any employee. If an employee at McDonald’s is expected to meet a specific target of 2000 units sales within a given period, the target should be stated clearly without creating confusion or contradictions.

Measurable

Understanding the objective in terms of numbers is important. For instance, if the sales representative at McDonald’s is expected to meet a target, a given quantifiable number is important such as a sale reaching 2000 units per month. Employees at McDonald’s should receive measurable targets that are easy to attain as compared to immeasurable ones.

Achievable

Achieving sales of 2000 units in a given period need to be attainable within a specific period of time. The management at McDonald’s should set objectives that are well defined coupled with accurate skills and tools, important in setting a specific vision or target.

Realistic

Setting the goals that are within a given context of financial condition and reality of the business should be an important aspect of the initiative at McDonald’s without compromising the firm’s current trade situation. For example, setting a sales increase by over 2000 units during a looming recession or financial crisis would be unrealistic for its employees.

Timely

Notably, Bratton and Gold (2017) noted that without set deadlines, goals may remain unachievable. Dedication and efforts towards attaining the goals may meander if a timeframe is not set. For example, the target to achieve sales of 2000 units should be set within a time frame of for example one month. Within the set deadline, it would be realistic and precise to achieve the goal instead of lack of a set deadline.

Conclusions

McDonald has an exuberant commercial image that takes pride in good service, great food and quality. With its state of the art appliances, employees are accorded resources to attend to consumers and enable them to experience the highest level of satisfaction. Despite some effects from both internal and external forces such as industrial forces, the company has kept its mission and vision statement active and dynamic with high positive results towards achieving its core objective. McDonald has made use of factors affecting its operations and activities and turned them into positive features that have enabled the organization to streamline its core responsibilities to both consumers and the public in its social responsibilities. McDonald training and learning culture have enabled employees improve on personal growth in career development. The HRM function has made some of the firm’s regulations flexible with the central purpose of easing the cultural organization’s norms. With such a practice, the HRM has provided an enabling environment for personal and career growth of all employees irrespective of their age, education level, or corporate position in the organization.

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