MacDonald’s Operational system.

McDonald’s is one of most successful companies in the world today. With its prompt

embracement of globalization, the firm has been able to enlarge and retain measurable

growth; as well as continuing to explore with its growth potential in the coming years. From

the beginning of the company’s development in the United States, to its spread in England,

Australia and more recently India and China, the firm has been able to supply a variety of

hamburgers and other foods to its consumers. From the Big Mac to the Maharaja, the

company’s successive strategies, specifically with heavy research and development have

allowed it to fulfill the tastes of locals in every country it operates. Its leaders in all its major

departments have established prices worldwide in all types of currencies, making its foods

affordable for customers of all classes. The company’s challenges of providing healthier

foods to its patrons have contributed to its financial success, thus enabling loyal consumers.

In certain countries, such as UK, eating at a McDonald’s has become a luxury, primarily

among the middle class, who feel a sense of empowerment that they too can afford to eat at

quality restaurants. However, as the company continues to settle into its new environments, it

will slowly cater to the lower class, as can be seen in the United States. The strategies

developed by its experts, thus allows for the company to increase in revenues, quality, and

bring about consumer satisfaction.

Operational Management at McDonalds

Quality operation management at McDonalds has been considered as one of the main factors

that has catapulted the company to the top of the food retail business. The firm has digitalized

its information systems and implemented well-founded corporate standards that ensures

quality in all aspects of the company. One of the measures that the company uses to maintain
quality standards is through regular inspections (at least twice per year) in each of its

restaurants (Linn, and Golin 2006). Additionally, the company conducts regular training and

education workshops to create awareness among its employees on quality standards of the

company and measures and techniques of customer satisfaction (Bamford and Forrester

2010).

McDonalds prioritizes the improvement and maintenance of the provision of high-quality

products and services. One of the company’s requirements for prospective business partners

is that one must attend training and education workshops where one learns of the organization

culture and the quality standards of the company. One of the reasons behind such workshops

is to ensure that McDonalds franchisees do not compromise the food quality of the company

which has become part of their identity. All stores are required to have similar interior and

exterior design and décor. To maintain the quality of food supplies, the organization has a list

of pre-qualified suppliers who have been vetted and approved to do business with the

franchisees (Peters 2009).

The selection of the franchisees is a thorough process which also employs quality operational

management. The selection process is comprehensive, and the applicants must meet all the

requirements to qualify for franchising. First, all prospects must be acquainted with the

operation and training manuals of the company. McDonalds business procedures and

standards of quality are detailed in 600-page manual; the applicants must master the contents

of the manual which is very challenging to many. The other requirement is mandatory

training for all applicants which is held at Hamburger University which is paid for by the

applicant. After successfully completing the training, the qualified individuals sign a

franchise agreement with McDonalds and are free to establish a franchise store under

McDonalds brand name. The agreement further details the obligations of the franchise and

regulations in regard to quality control.

Performance objectives are developed by an organization’s management to serve as guiding

principles for the company’s vision and mission to accomplish set objectives in all aspects of

the organization. They are developed based on the specific activities and operations

performed by the organization (Johnston, Clark and Schulver 2012). They primarily describe

the acceptable and desirable activities and outcomes in regard to output and organizational

behaviours. they should be set in a way that they are in line with the organization’s objectives

and goals. An organization can have both organizational and departmental performance

objectives. However, the performance objectives shouldn’t clash but rather should be aimed

at accomplishing the general organizational goals and objectives (Patton et al., 2011).

At McDonalds, performance objectives are used to enhance the efficacy of operations. One of

their notable accomplishments is the provision of quality fast foods at convenient prices.

Performance objectives has assisted McDonalds in enlarging their market share and sales

volume; it has also defined the organizational behaviour that is expected from the employees

regarding the standards of quality. The establishment and implementation of quality control

strategies have aided the food retail giant to establish a competitive environment and

catapulted it to become one of the top players in the food retail industry.

At McDonalds performance objectives enhances the quality of products and ensures the

maintenance of good customer service and relations. Customer satisfaction is a key aspect in

McDonald’s business model mostly because the firm is service based. They have continually

improved their customer services to the extent that the current waiting time for customers has

been significantly reduced. Kaplan (2009) describes the process of picking up orders at any

McDonalds outlet as fast and efficient. The firm has strived to ensure that customers have
good customer experiences in all McDonalds food outlets. The firm has also adopted and

implemented modern technology to enhance their service delivery; such digitalizing of their

operations has enabled the McDonalds employees to serve more customers daily.

Findings

Cost

Cost is an important aspect of any business enterprise which wants to have competitive prices

and McDonald’s realizes this too well. Some organizations sore cash on employee wages,

purchase of tools and machinery and provision of services which minimizes their profits.

McDonalds have mastered the art of minimizing their operating costs. They are thus able to

sell their food much lower than their competitors. They frequently give promotional offers to

their customers which attracts more customers and increases customer loyalty. The large

number of their customers contributes to lower operating costs due to economies of scale. To

further reduce their operating costs, the company plans to use equipment which is energy

saving (Kaplan 2009).

Speed

This is the time taken by the customers to have their products or services delivered. The

company aims to reduce this waiting time to 95 seconds. The objective of the company is to

achieve a drive through experience and hence the company needs to fine tune this aspect. If

the company fails to deliver this customer service experience, they mind end up losing lots of

customers (Kiley 2007).

One of the main emphasis of McDonalds is food quality. The company has established

measures and regulations to ensure that all their stores high quality standards. Some of the

measures which are defines by the quality management operations include regular inspection

of food quality at all McDonalds stores. The company has also put lots of emphasis on

training and educating employees on the importance of maintaining high quality standards.

The quality and variety of their food has continually changed and improved over the years

(Kaplan 2009).

Employee Management

Employee management in quality control operations is primarily based on scientific

management principles. This principle suggests that workers should be rewarded for

accomplishing their set objectives and goals. they should also be rewarded with promotions

for achieving certain degrees of academic education. McDonalds food chain have

implemented the use of job promotions and competitive wages where hardworking

employees are recognized and rewarded. McDonalds rewards exceptional and outstanding

employees in different ways such employee of month awards and positive remarks and

cognitions (Slack, Chambers and Johnston 2009). The organization has implemented some

thorough and precise procedures that govern the employees’ working environment and

ensures the food products being sold to customers are of high and uniform quality in all its

franchises.

McDonalds hire employees who possess the required skill set, abilities, and competencies, to

work so that to build a team capable of running the business and achieving the set long term

and short-term goals. The process of selecting and hiring employees at the food retail giant is

rigorous and thorough and involves three aspects:

 Job Analysis

 Screening

This selection process ensures that only the qualified individuals, with the relevant skills, get

the chance to work at McDonalds. Another motive behind the selection process is making the

hired employees believe that they have skills and abilities which are essential to the

successful running of the company. Such kind of beliefs enhances individual and team

operations which contributes to the overall success of the company. The selection process

also ensures that there is no recruitment of individuals who don’t need the required

qualifications for any job at McDonalds. Hiring such individuals can be detrimental to the

organization in that it can create instability and loopholes regarding skill sets within the

company. Incompetent and unskilled workers can negatively affect the productivity of

McDonalds.

Another important aspect of employee management at McDonalds is treating and relating to

the employee in a good manner. This helps in ensuring that the interactional and procedural

justice is practiced and embedded in the organizational culture of McDonalds (Peters 2009).

The company’s management have made this a core aspect in all operations at McDonalds.

The company believes that after acquiring the best employees in the job market, they have an

obligation to treat them right.

The principle of performance management is another principle which is being employed by

various organizations in the management of employees in regards to quality operations

management. This process is continual process which defines the hierarchal targets and
visions, introduces, and distinguishes authoritative measures of execution. The principle also

makes the curative approaches to warranty the achievement of the models which utilizes

techniques and frameworks which are coordinated with culture and practices. Administration

systems concentrates on the collecting, analysing and transmission information in an

opportune manner (Rugman and Verbeke 2004).

The performance management framework at McDonalds incorporates arranging execution,

bolstering for superiority, improvement of execution, and evaluation of execution.

Administration of execution is used to distinguish essential authoritative goals and set

execution methodologies that are identified together with those targets. These principles

encompass both group and individual execution. McDonalds doesn’t require to enlarge their

administrative tools or pay for frameworks that are prearranged by exorbitant specialists.

Directors should be responsible and mindful to effectively oversee the execution of duties

which is a combination of setting objectives and constant inputs from all the departments of

the organization to enhance execution.

Job Design

The job design at the food retail giant’s quality controls is guided by the personal

management models. The job under this department is also designed and guided by specific

management principles. The employees at McDonalds are allowed to use self-control

mechanisms and measures regarding their specific job descriptions and the overall discipline

and quality of the organization. Working as a team and units is a common feature in

McDonalds job designs.

Environmental and Ethical Issues

Just like majority of the food companies all over the world, it is important for McDonalds to

consider the environmental and ethical issues. The company employs quality operation
mismanagement to ensure that the food products are safe for human consumption. However,

the company is still faced with several issues and the management have expressed their

intentions to handle the environmental issues.

The major environmental issue at McDonalds is waste resulting from packaging materials.

This waste results from the company’s plastic materials which are used to wrap and pack

food products. Such packaging materials include burger wrappers, fries’ boxes, drinking

cups, straws, napkins, and packaging lids. In addition to this, McDonalds uses lots of

unnecessary packaging materials which end up on the streets and in landfills. The primary

reason behind the prevalent waste products in the food industry is convenience and

portability involved in the food packaging. The fast life of the modern era has resulted in

individuals who are all busy and in a hurry; they thus prefer easy and quick foods which have

resulted in a significant increase of the waste generated in the food industry. In this light,

survey statistics indicate that the cups and packaging materials from McDonalds accounts for

30 per cent of the entire street litter in the United States.

Waste generation and inappropriate disposal causes adverse effects to human life, animal life

and environmental pollution. Therefore, McDonalds needs to take relevant action to curb the

waste from their stores that finds its way to the environment (Gereffi and Christian 2009). In

its European, McDonalds produces and disposes off 50 million packaging annually. Getting

rid of this waste by burning is not a viable option because it produces harmful gases and

chemicals which further destroys the environment and is detrimental to the human health.

Alternatively, used of landfills results in land polluting which harms the flora and fauna in the

surrounding lands. Some of the waste produced may find its way to the sea where it poisons

marine life leading to decreased population of ocean life.

through the emission of greenhouse gases. Studies show that 5% of the greenhouse emissions

in the US is from livestock (Daniel and Wilson 2003); McDonalds is one of the largest cattle

buyers in the world, purchasing approximately 36,000 cattle per year. Operation management

also involves the acquisition of raw materials. McDonalds also outsources meat from private

supplies which is used to make burgers. Majority of the private suppliers have constantly

been accused of degrading the environment by grazing in forests and destroying natural

habitats. Additionally, McDonalds have been accused of using poultry feed whose

ingredients are grown in the forests to feed their poultry.

Operation Management Challenges

The following are the main challenges facing the management of operations at McDonalds:

 Variety of overall output.

 The varying demand for the end products

 Degree of visibility of the end products to the potential customers.

 The volume aspect.

Conclusions

The food retail giant can make numerous changes that can potentially enhance the operations

management at the organization. The company can apply and implement six sigma in their

operations management can be effective in enhancing and improving the quality of their

products. The concept of sigma is designed to mitigate the defects of the operation systems. It

is thus important to identify the deficiencies in the company’s food products as a crucial

aspect of the framework. The six-sigma model has five functions which include defining,
measuring, analysing, improving and controlling. The management at McDonalds can apply

and implement these aspects and use them to analyse how they can simplify their operations

management to accomplish maximum efficacy.

There is need for McDonalds to increase their efforts in reducing the negative impact towards

the environment. The company should increasingly invest in research which is aimed at

minimizing the greenhouse emissions from the organization. McDonalds should also ensure

that their suppliers to adopt safe practices in reducing the impact of their livestock to the

environment. Greenhouse emissions from agriculture and livestock can be mitigated in the

long run through carbon sequestration. Lastly, McDonalds needs to curb the amount of waste

they generate through packaging. They need to adopt packaging materials which are reusable;

they can also reward customers who use their own plastic bags by giving them incentives.

Some of the big players in the food industry have started the use of renewable eco-friendly

packaging materials in the UK and McDonalds should follow suit.

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