McDonalds: History, Mission, Strategic Plan, And HRM Essay.

The Beginnings of McDonalds

Question:

Discuss about the McDonalds for Strategic Human Resource Management.

The McDonalds came in to existence in the year 1954 in California, USA. The corporation operates all over the world as a food service retailer. Different varieties of food items, coffee, other items and beverages are offered by McDonalds. According to a survey that was conducted in the year 2009 it was found out that there are around 32,480 restaurants in about 117 countries that are operated by the company. There are various franchisees of McDonalds that offer the various products of the company to its customers. (Greogary 2015)The nature of the food processing industry and the food service industry has been changed to a great extent by the McDonalds.

The Strategic plan of McDonalds is known as the ‘Plan to Win’. The main concept of this plan of McDonalds is to be the best fast food restaurant chain rather than being the biggest fast food restaurant. For achieving this five P’s are applied by the McDonalds:

• Products
• Place
• Promotion
• Price
• People

In the countries like US the strategic plan of the company like McDonalds has its main focus on the chicken, beverages, breakfast and convenience. (Long 2000)These are considered to be the important areas in the United States. The Southern Style chicken is launched by the company for the breakfast and for the lunch and dinner it has launched the southern style chicken sandwich.

Company Vision and Strategy: The vision and the mission statement of the McDonalds serve as the guide for the leadership of the company in the fast food industry.  The vision statement of McDonalds is as follows: “to become the modern, progressive burger company that delivers a contemporary customer experience”. For being modern the company tries to take its brand to where it wants it to be today and when it comes to progressive the company to the expectations of the customers of the McDonalds in the future. There are various business aspects that are covered in the vision statement of McDonalds. (Bartkus 2006)The first and the foremost is the innovation so that the market needs of the company are satisfied on the other hand the products of the company are categorized in the high quality, great tasting. (McDonald’s Corporation 2015)

The mission statement of McDonalds officially states:” Our mission is to be our customers’ favorite place and way to eat & drink. We’re dedicated to being a great place for our people to work; to being a strong, positive presence in your community; and to delivering the quality, service, cleanliness and value our customers have come to expect from the Golden Arches – a symbol that’s trusted around the world.” (Meyer 2015).

Basically the vision statement helps in reflecting the overall strategic direction of the company. The vision statements cover the different aspects of the business. So it can be said that the McDonalds states everything it wants to achieve in a very comprehensive manner.

The management of the strategic human resource is very important as the various problems that might affect the people programs in the organization can be resolved by the strategic human resource management. The employees and the customers are very important in all the organizations and it becomes the duty of the organization to listen to the complains of the customers and the employees which in turn helps in increasing the performance of the organization. The progress of the routine of the business is also affected by the strategic human resource management. This helps in knowing the inside weak points of the company so that the plans for the future can be made in the proper way. (Kew & Stredwick 2013)

McDonalds Strategic Plan

The purpose of the strategic human resource management in McDonalds:

Business strategy of McDonalds:

Planning of the employment at the McDonalds:  McDonalds takes every step to make the right plans so that it can employ the right number of staff at the accurate period that the company requires. Under this process the company figures out the skilled individuals are to be fixed at the proper place and at the right time. (Jurevicius 2016)

Selection: The selecting at the McDonalds takes place from the obtainable people who help in contributing to the profits in the organization. The skilled as well as the unskilled people are selected at the McDonalds and the proper training is provided to them so that the objectives of the organization are well understood by them.

Training: To improve the skills of the workers in the organization McDonalds uses the training strategy. Training is very important part of every organization and it shall be given to the right people at the right time.

The various HR issues that often arise in the companies like McDonalds are:

• Workforce planning issues
• Workforce skills plans
• Succession Planning
• Employment equity plans
• The issues in the grading and the remuneration system
• The employment issues that impact the retention, motivation and the recruitment of the staff.

• Unfair discrimination
• Harassment
• Data Protection act 1999: According to this the personal information, updated records and the references shall be kept in the organization. McDonalds do not comply with this act.
• Asylum and immigration act 1996: under this it is required to be aware if someone is working illegally. McDonalds complies with this procedure.(Manewar 2014)

Under the recruitment policy of the McDonalds it is required that each and every restaurant recruits on the hourly paid positions. There are several activities used by the McDonalds to recruit hourly paid employees. The positions are advertised on the website of the company. The people who are not able to access the internet can call the hotline. (Anthony & Pamela. 2000)

The HRM plan of the McDonalds involves various activities that are required to follow on the routine basis by the company. While planning the strategic management of the McDonalds all these activities is required to be taken care of

Recruitment: It is a very well known fact that the McDonalds is one of the biggest family restaurant all over the world. (Snippet. 2006) To achieve its vision and to serve its customers in the satisfactory manner McDonalds create the right and better working environment for its employees. (Duane & Hoskisson 2012) Various varieties of rewards are provided by the McDonalds that suits the lifestyles of various individuals. (Andrew & Gehrat 2014)Though it is very successful in achieving and providing the best working experience of its staff however in its next year plans it has decided to make the working environment friendlier so that the staff and the employees enjoy working here. The company provides the most diverse working culture to its employees (Nielson 2013). There are people who come from various walks of life and at last share a common approach at the McDonalds. The company works on the policy HIRE THE SMILE while hiring their crew members which further helps in nurturing the workforce. Exceptional support is always provided by the McDonalds along with real life opportunities.

Source: Fictitious data, for illustration purposes only

Benefits that will be provided to its crew by the McDonalds:

• 10% off at dress for.com
• 25% on various short holidays and breaks
• Annual pay reviews
• Stakeholder pension scheme
• 28 paid holidays are provided by the company per annum to its employees
• Various vouchers of Thomas cook, Argos, Marks and Spencer’s etc are provided by the McDonalds.
• Competitive wages
• MAC card
• Flexible hours
• Stock purchase plan(McDonald 2007)
• McDirect shares
• Life Insurance
• Education support
• Wages increase

Training at the McDonalds:

The training at the McDonalds includes the overall development of the employees with the constant success on the principles of quality, cleanliness to the customers and delivery of the services. According to the policy of the McDonalds various career opportunities are provided to the employees so that the workers are able to improve their potential to the fullest. (Erica. 2015)

McDonalds Business Strategy

McDonalds trains around 55000 workers every year. It has been spending $10 million on the ongoing training of its employees and has decided to further increase this budget to $20 million so that the workers are trained in the best way and can serve the customers in the best way. (Love 2008)

It is a very well known fact that the employees are very important resource of every organization. (Lefley & Martin 2013) One of the most important advantages of an organization is to use the employees of the organization to the fullest. It is required that the need of the employees is viewed and for that searching the financial and non-financial incentives becomes crucial. The increase in salary shall be such that it is workable for the employees. The aims of the personnel shall be attainable and clear in all the aspects. (ivythesis 2013)

Culture Change model:

The culture basically holds the beliefs and the practices of the workers in an organization. The mission and the goals are supported by the culture of the organization. The retention and the recruitment are highly affected by the culture of the organization. As for example the mission of the McDonalds is to create a high performance culture that means that if McDonalds follow this policy then it can attract many customers (Becker & Ulrich 2013). The cycle of the culture continues and to break this cycle it is required that there is some change in culture in the positive way. The five components for the success of the organization are:

• Agree: The Company shall establish the goal, mission and motivation in a proper way.
• Plan: for achieving the goals proper architectural plans shall be made
• Survey: A clear starting point shall be developed
• Implement: The plans that are designed shall be implemented in the best possible way
• Review: the solutions shall be monitored on the regular basis
• Evolve: the new capabilities shall be used according to the changing requirements.

Conclusion:

From the above discussion it can be concluded that the McDonalds has a belief that for the growth and the success of the organization the help of the employees is required. The main aims of the company are recruiting the best people and maintain them by providing best and ongoing trainings and promoting them to the higher levels whenever they are ready. The various policies and procedures that are discussed and used by the company in recruiting the employees help in achieving the aims of the organization. It has been found that the company is planning some promotion and achievement activities for its employees and crew members that will prove out to be very beneficial in future. The company has decided to divert its focus on increasing the sales in the year 2016. The company shall attract more new customers so that it is able to achieve its main objective.

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