The Organizational Behavior of McDonalds Research

The Organizational Behavior of McDonald’s
Student’s Name
Institution
Introduction
It is necessary for organizations to understand and predict the behavior of its members in order to influence it in a way that impacts productivity positively. Organizations depend to a great extent on the inputs of its members for success. It is for this reason that the human resource function in an organization is significant. Organizations have to manage human resource effectively to enhance the productivity of both individuals and teamss. McDonald’s is one of the biggest fast food restaurant chains and relies heavily on its members to serve millions of its customers. For effective production and service, the company has to ensure that the employees distributed in its thousands of stores around the world work optimally. This paper examines the concepts of organizational behavior as they relate to McDonald’s.
Leadership
Leadership is an important organizational behavior concept as it determines the failure or success of a business. Effective leadership is necessary for cooperation among organizational members. According to Kaiser, Hogan, & Craig (2008), leadership brings people together and combine their efforts in such a way that success is promoted. Therefore, through leadership, individuals are willingly influenced so that they contribute to the goals of the organization. In this case, leadership plays the role of guiding and coordinating the group to work so as to achieve the goals set. There are many aspects that determine the effectiveness of leadership. Most importantly, however, leadership effectiveness is defined depending on the ability to effect employee motivation, satisfaction, and the overall performance of a particular group (Kaiser, Hogan, & Craig, 2008). From this explanation, it is deducible that leaders in an organization have a huge role to play in regards to influencing employees to achieve the desired goals.
For McDonald’s, leadership has been at the center of its success. Ever since its inception in the 1950s, effective leadership has helped the organization grow to become restaurant giant that it is today. The leadership abilities of the company’s founder, Ray Kroc, helped it set up a unique restaurant that is still successful more than six decades later. According to the organization’s website, Kroc’s unique philosophy focused on providing high-quality food using uniform preparation methods. He thus ensured that food had same great taste in all the stores. As seen, right from its beginnings, leadership has characterized the activities of McDonald’s. The leadership abilities of its founder, Kroc, are evident in the formulation of procedures that employees were supposed to follow in order to achieve goals.
The current leadership of the organization continues to build the legacy that was left by Kroc and others who have overseen the firm's operations. The current CEO, Steve Easterbrook has been leading the organization since he took over from Don Thompson in 2015. Thomson had served at the top of the company only for three years. As mentioned earlier, the company now has thousands of stores spread across the world, and it is the role of its current CEO, Easterbrook to make the corporate decisions that steer it towards a better future. With the company, directly and indirectly, employing more than a million workers, the leadership at the top determines to some extent their input for the success of the units they operate under. Since he took over as the CEO of the organization, Easterbrook has implemented measures that have seen the restaurant improve its performance. The implementation of digital ordering that is consistent with today’s environment that is characterized by technology helped employees of the company serve customers better. Therefore, a laissez-faire leader like Easterbrook is necessary for an organization that relies on teamwork to serve employees better (Day, Gronn, & Salas, 2006). It is evident that leadership has helped McDonald’s compete well in the market.
Teamwork
Teamwork is another major aspect of organizational behavior. For the success of operations of most organizations, employees have to work in teams. In these cases, therefore, it is vital that employees understand their roles in teams and how to work with others to deliver the desired outcome. As informed by Delarue, Hootegem, Procter, & Burridge (2008), work today is organized in such a way that it handled best in teams. Teamwork has been shown by research to be significantly effective (Delarue, Hootegem, Procter, & Burridge, 2008). When individuals work in teams, they are more motivated and work harder. This consequently leads to an increased level of productivity. As noted by Delarue, Hootegem, Procter, & Burridge (2008), when teamwork is integrated well into the HR system, employee’s commitment, job satisfaction, and motivation are positively impacted. Therefore, from these assertions, it is deducible that teamwork contributes immensely to a better organizational performance. Given that employees are motivated and satisfied with working in teams, it has become an essential practice for organizations.
Teamwork characterizes the work operations at McDonald's to a great exten...