McDonald’s Business, Human Resource, and Staffing Strategies
Integrating McDonald’s Business, Human Resource, and Staffing Strategies
People are McDonald’s most important asset. The company’s success depends on the satisfaction of its customers, which begins with workers who have the attitudes and abilities required to work efficiently and provide good customer service. To execute its strategy, McDonald’s has identified people as one of its three global corporate strategies. McDonald’s claims that as an employer, it wants “to be the best employer in each community around the world.”
It also makes a “people promise” to its employees that “we value you, your growth, and your Contributions.” Its five “people principles” reflected by its human resource strategy are: respect and recognition; values and leadership behaviors; competitive pay and benefits; learning, development, and personal growth; and ensuing that employees have the resources needed to get the job done.
McDonald’s has executed its strategy well by tracking key indicators of product and service quality, speed, and accuracy. The company has also identified its people practices and approaches that substantially impact the firm’s turnover, productivity, customer satisfaction, sales, and profitability. This has allowed it to develop a business model that emphasizes not only financial and operational factors but also people factors that improve the company’s results by improving employee commitment, retention, productivity, and customer loyalty.
Because McDonald’s relies on providing customers quality, cleanliness, quick service, and value, they work hard at hiring people who want to excel in delivering outstanding service. Many of its restaurant employees are teenagers, and McDonald’s is their first employer.
The company tries to recruit and hire the best people, retain them by offering them ongoing training, and then promote from within to fill its managerial positions. To ensure that it is recruiting the right people, the company has identified important skills and behaviors that it looks for in applicants
McDonald’s has found that the best way of hiring quality crew members is to advertise inside the restaurant and attract local people and/or friends of existing employees. McDonald’s also recruits at local job centers and career fairs, using hiring material with a clear message targeted at its intended audience. As McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook says, “If you get the people part right, the rest will follow.”
Questions (please number your responses)
About their business:
1. In your opinion, what are the top 5 strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for McDonald’s (i.e., 5 strengths, 5 weaknesses, etc.)
2. To achieve competitive advantage, what business strategy does McDonald’s pursue?
3. How does McDonald’s differentiate themselves among their competitors in the marketplace?
4. From a business perspective, what should McDonald’s do to maintain its competitive advantage over the next 3 – 5 years?
About their workforce:
5. Who are McDonald's primary competitors for labor?
6. How has McDonald’s aligned its business, human resource, and staffing strategies? What are the benefits?
7. What are some of the possible talent-related threats that could eat away at McDonald’s competitive advantages?
8. How would McDonald’s react to a market with surplus talent? With tight talent?
Question Responses about McDonald’s
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Question Responses about McDonald’s
Question 1
McDonald’s SWOT analysis reveals various strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. First and foremost, the firm’s strengths include excellent customer service, quality products, a business model that considers the people factor, recognition and respect for employees, and good leadership in the company. The weaknesses include overconcentration of the people factor, neglecting operational and financial factors, biased hiring, and employing teenagers. On the other hand, the opportunities presented for McDonald’s are the likelihood to increase workers’ capacity through training and development, a chance to be the best employer in society, and a chance to increase human resources further. Finally, the corporation's main threat is risking employing teenagers somewhat still unfit for labor.
Question 2
McDonald’s is increasingly dedicated to finding and maintaining a competitive advantage in its industry. The company pursues excellent customer satisfaction as a top business strategy to attain a competitive advantage and stay ahead of its competitors operating within the same sector. Specifically, according to the case study, the multinational company heavily depends on offering exceptional value, quick service, and, most importantly, quality products and services to its target clients. This is a critical approach or strategy that encourages competitiveness and reliability because customers can meet all their needs every time they engage with McDonald’s products and services. Moreover, for customer satisfaction to be a reality, customers will always seek the ultimate experience with a business.
Question 3
Like most successful corporations across different industries, McDonald’s has always strived to be unique by differentiating itself from the existing competitors and new entrants in the industry. For example, the firm operates based on the “If you get the people part right, the rest will follow.” Notably, the multinational believes that people are an essential asset to any business. Therefore, ultimate care must be taken when handling them. These “people” represent customers, employees, and others concerned with the business. McDonald’s ensures excellent treatment of these people in various ways. For instance, it ensures that all the customers are often satisfied when buying the commodities besides experiencing faultless customer service. Additionally, the business ensu...