Organization Development: Mc Donalds - Case Study Example

Organization development Introduction: A human system refers to a group of effectively integrated people who come to work togetherfor the attainment of a common goal. At places of work, these common goals are normally those set by the employer and in most cases refer to the receipt of profit. After setting up a company or a business venture, it becomes evident that the business cannot effectively operate without the human resource, humans make things work and they provide the synergy to propel the operations at the company thereby actualizing the objectives of the business venture. An entrepreneur conceives a possible business idea, because he has the capital and is interested earning from the ideas, he sets up a business. From the very first day of operation, the business will need employees to make it a reality. Employees are hired based on their skills and prowess in earning the business profit, in the process of contracting the services of employees to the firm, the employer sets out a number of guidelines based on the structure of the business. Most large businesses end up having similar structures: the employees are grouped in departments and areas of specialization thereby constituting subsystems (Bines & Thel, S.2004). It is not possible to have everyone at the firm doing what they please, their must be some form and source of order, this is possibly brought about at the firm through effectively formulated subsystems that bring some form of bureaucracies at the firm. Bureaucracies bring order, they uphold the interests of the company and ensure the achievement of goals and objectives set by the entrepreneur. Some of the most common sources of power in a firm include: the chief Executive officer who is the most important personality at the company, he makes most of the decisions regarding day to day operations. In some extents the chief executive officer may always be the entrepreneur. However, the decisions he makes are informed by the advice he gets from his subordinates who are heads of departments that are also subject to the size and composition of the company. The most common of these include; the human resources department charged with the process of contracting employees, disciplining them and dismissing those deemed unworthy of upholding the standard of the company. The accounts clerk or the accounts manager, business transactions are carried out on monetary basis, these monies requires effective management to ensure that they are effectively reinvested and earn the business more profit. To achieve these, there must be a qualified personnel mandated with the management of all the finance in the firm, he apportions every subsystem an amount capable of running and earning profit from it. The above departments qualify to be human subsystem in that they are made up of human beings who are divided and made to exist semi autonomously for the common good of the firm. A business is a big set of independently existing subsets on that in the business environment, the sets and the subsets are humans. The big set is the business; it covers all that are found within it. People in this big set come together to earn profit for the company and make a living and carriers as well, the many sub sets on the other hand refer to the very carriers held by different people in the firm. It is evident that employees contracted present different skills and knowledge, the two that determine their roles in the production process and how they become of relevance to the firm. Businesses exist in society, this makes them have environment and form an interaction with it. A business environment refers to the business ecosystem, it refers to the people who come to interact with the business. In this interaction, the business either benefits or loses depending on the structure of the society, therefore, there are energy sources in the environment most common of which are legislations, business operation must be monitored by the authorities to ensure that it upholds the standards of legality and that it remits taxes to the authority. The nature of these legislations determined the viability of the business in a given area. Another very important source of energy in the environment are the cultural beliefs and practices of the society. This case borrows from the structuring of Mc Donald’s, world’s largest hamburger dispenser. Developing a franchise or an affiliate of such a company in an environment where people do not eat some of the basic meats is a recipe for failure and it would thus compel the company to restructure some of its policies, it may resort to producing vegetable burgers only. However, if the society were backward, one that does not appreciate the consumption of western products then the business would better wind up at an early stage. These and many others constitute the energy sources in the business (Gilbreth & Lillian, 1978). Communication and flow of information is key to the success of any business venture, information puts one a head of the competition. A business that does not have an effective means of communication is therefore tantamount to fail. The interaction with the environment is likely to give some information that affects productivity, it is therefore fundamental that the business deduces ways of ensuring that there is an effective channel of information flow. In most cases, the set bureaucracies aid in the attainment of these. The Chief executive officer is the highest officer in the organization, he is responsible with the management of day-to-day operations and he thus makes decisions affecting the same. Below him are a number of subordinates structured in the forms of departments. The heads of departments consult with the chief executive officer and communicate their decisions following his approval. The heads of departments acts as the link between the chief executive officer and the rest of the department personalities in the firm. The environment offers very valid information that are of relevance to the business operation, for complete business success, the type of relationship that the business has with the environment must be monitored. Through social responsible investing, the business sets out on the right path towards the formation of a good rapport with the society. The firm gets most of its employees from the society, these later become the greatest and most effective link between the business and the environment, they offer valid information that aid the decision making process. Most businesses will always have a customer relations or public relations departments, these form the centre piece and the actual link between the business and the society. Through their daily interactions, the department gets to learn of the latest trend in the market and that which rte business might do so that it never loses its touch with the client base. A business must take seriously the sentiments shared by its customers, the mouth to ear technique of advertisements that clients have among themselves following a satisfactory service is capable of keeping the business in operation. It is with these understandings that a business organization sets up a customer relations department, this department is mandated with the monitoring of customer complains and addressing them effectively. An effective solution to a customer’s complain is the assurance that the complain is addressed amicably and he complains no more. This does not mean a definite compensation or replacement of the good or service complained of but the business, must find a way of talking the client into accepting his own liabilities in cases that he spoilt the good himself. On special occasions when the business is culpable, it must bear the responsibility and safeguard customer satisfaction. Mc Donald’s is such a human system. This is a business venture that was started as a small family business in San Bernardino, California to offer workers a solution to their lunch hustles. The basis of the formation of this business shows a great interaction with the environment. Richard and Maurice Mc Donald were brother just like any other, only that these two residents of California were able to observe their environment and establish that there were very many formally employed people in the city faced a great deal of trouble at lunch breaks. Most of them were compelled to carry their own meals in tins, which did not reflect well on their personality (Willey, 2012). When these two therefore decide to set up the business, it is an effectively informed undertaking, one in which they are assured of profit. All businesses must be built on similar principles, the human capital is the largest and comes second to none, it offers a big pool of opportunities with the only single investment that one need is the determination of an opportunity and properly arranged ideas. This is only achievable through the formation of a link with the society which will form the future business environment. Today Mc Donald’s has franchises and affiliates in over two hundred countries globally and in almost every single urban centre in the world. The company has grown and is currently headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois. This follows an understanding of the human system, for business prosperity one, an entrepreneur must understand himself and learn to separate self-interest from conflicting with those of the business. A business venture requires a sense order; this is achieved through the installation of ethical behaviors that are upheld through strict codes of conduct. The two brothers understood the complexities presented by joint investments; furthermore, this was a family business. They therefore devised ways of separating themselves from the business, this they succeeded in doing by moving the headquarter of the business from their local home town to a city that they knew very little about a part from the understanding of the market that they had. The separation of self from businesses implied that they would require employees a task that they undertook with great caution, they contracted the best of business manager and complimented them with a relatively cheaper labor from the destitute street families. With effective management, anybody transforms into employable individuals capable of achieving the laid down objectives. The behavior of their employees was governed by stringent yet human terms that were specifically developed by the team of managers that they employed. There can be no success in business with no discipline, it was thus the very first task that the first branch had to deal with, they succeeded in developing a very efficient and highly disciplined workforce. This was achieved through the imposition of codes of conduct and the requirement of ethical behavior. Codes of conduct refer to a set of laid principles that govern behavior, they are written and brought to the understanding of all employees in the firm. The employees are thus required to uphold the standards in the codes and failure of which attracts a penalty. Ethical behavior on the other hand refer to behavior that is largely acceptable and may not cause harm to others, a business venture is one that brings together different people from diverse background. When these people come together they tag along their own little cultural behaviors and societal norms, some are so reserved that they get irritated with any slight indication of misdemeanor yet others are so liberal that they barely notice any wrongdoing. The business must strike a common ground between these two and find a way of ensuring that they all stay together at the firm and work for the common good of the business without infringing in the privacies or beliefs of others. Achieving such an environment in the workplace is a big success on its own and results in profits for the business (Jill & Lyn, 1998). The company further expanded and moved out of America to Europe, Africa and Asia. Human systems require challenge to propel it to perform even better. With no challenge, it is very likely that people become complacent and relaxed. The two brothers understood this and thereby never rested; they engaged in more market research and determined newer viable markets that true to the projections became successes. The expansion process of a business must be informed by on effective and viable research findings. The developments of the other franchises used to challenge other employees to try to perform better. This is also a cushion to the investor against unwarranted underperformances. Reference Bines, E. & Thel, S. (2004). Investment Management Law and Regulation, Second Edition, Aspen, London Gilbreth, F& Lillian, G. (1978). The Quest of the One Best Way. Purdue University: Frank and Lillian Gilbreth Papers. Jill, W. & Lyn, B. (1998). Systems Analysis and Design Methods. 4th ed. McGraw-Hill: Boston. Willey B. (2012). Employment Law in Context. An introduction for HR professionals. Harlow: Pearson Longman. Read More