Thinking Capabilities of the Employees at McDonalds - Case Study Example

Insert Name: Tutor: Thinking leading strategically Course: Date: Executive summary Thinking strategically characterizes companies that view strategy as a continuous process of invention and refinement. Inventive refers to the sense of establishing new and fresh solutions to aid the company in achievement of its goals. This essay outlines the strategies that McDonald’s has established to improve the performance of the employees in the company. This has been done in reference to the company profile and its general strategy, which is briefly discussed in the paper. It has discussed the strategies that the company has enforced to develop the thinking capabilities of the employees at the McDonald’s. Finally, the essay he summarized a number of strategies that the company can establish to improve the general performance of its employees. Introduction Thinking strategically is the continuous process of controlling the performance of a firm based on the goals it intends to achieve. Managers who believe in the principles of strategic thinking understand that every person has inner resources known as common sense. It is through this assumption that the managers allow employees to think by themselves in the execution of their roles in the company. Such managers rely on these inner resources towards the performance of the organization. Managers who are proponents of strategic thinking are always on their heels to explore the relevant question. They emphasize on not knowing the answer to the question in an effort to ensure that every employee proposes a reasonable idea in answering the question. The question is always, “How do we achieve the overall goals of the company?” Other questions emerging from the main question are “What need to be done?” or “How do we proceed”. Another aspect of thinking strategically is extending the boundaries. Strategy outlines how goals will be achieved depending on their nature. Extending boundaries assists in the management of obstacles that may hinder the achievement of the desired goals. One organization that has succeeded in its “thinking strategically” efforts is McDonald’s. The company has well established strategies that assist in the improvement of employee performance in the firm. The managers in the company believe that every employee has common sense and thus has the ability to provide useful ideas that are helpful towards the success of the firm. The company’s brief profile is outlined below. This essay outlines the strategies that McDonald’s has established to ensure that the company achieves its overall goals. McDonald’s company Profile McDonald’s Corporation is the largest fast food restaurant in the globe. The company, which runs as a franchisee or a corporation, serves close to 60 million clients on daily basis. McDonald’s has been successful in business since 1955 when it started as a restaurant level employee. The Fortune Magazine ranks the corporation as number one in the food and beverage industry. McDonald’s is respected because it is a socially responsible firm (Derdak, 2004). The company operates in close to 120 nations allover the world and has opened 31, 000 restaurants. It offers counter service as well as drive-through services with both indoor and outdoor facilities. McDonald’s Corporation generates revenue as an investor in properties, a franchiser of hotels and an operator of restaurants. In the UK, about 30 percent of the restaurant is franchised while the rest are operated by the company (Smith, 2007). Improving employee performance McDonald’s has established several strategies to improve the performance of the employees’ at the work place. One of the strategies that the company has employed is encouraging the employees to participate in the firm’s wide initiatives. This strategy makes the employees feel challenged in their current positions. This eventually makes them feel connected with their jobs and seek for promotions whenever opportunities arise or view the challenges in their current positions in a wider scale. Another strategy is encouraging creativity and innovation among the employees. This is achieved through a comprehensive motivation and reward program that recognizes every employee who has contributed something significant to the progress of the company. This strategy provides new insights and a feeling of accomplishment in the company. The strategy has a weakness in that employees who are not rewarded for their contribution towards the running of the company may feel demoralized and fail to achieve their objectives in the company. The company is also determined to improve the skills and expertise of their employees. It offers education opportunities to its employees to make them feel that there is always something new to learn. It offers inter-departmental career development programs aimed at enhancing both career and personal growth. It also assists the company improve its retention capacity. Another strategy is open communication within the firm. The company management gets to know of the company progress through surveys, suggestion boxes, and meetings. Employees are encouraged to open-up and express their opinions and ideas in order to improve the communication in the company (Smith, 2007). This has been the most effective strategy to address the needs of employees. This strategy has a weakness in that not all employees are ready to provide valuable information to the company. McDonald’s has adopted performance management as a strategy to improve employee performance. The process offers an opportunity to both the manager and the employee to share goals associated with the overall goals of the Company. Performance management in the company offers an outline for employees and their bosses to assess particular areas with the aim of operating as efficiently as possible. There is normally a distinction between the manager’s evaluation of a worker’s performance and the workers’s assessment on their own performance. Generally, this happens because the bosses do not spend time at the start of the contracts with their employees. On the first occasion of a new role, managers should spend some time with their employees to discuss important details of the new position (Gomez-Mejia et al, 2008). The manager should discuss the strategic plan of the company with the employee at the beginning of their engagement. The strategic plan outlines the overall goals of the company, and the means in which the company intends to achieve the desired goals. It is due to this that the company’s strategic plan is indicated in the Company’s Mission Statement. The manager should discuss with the employee the steps that the must be followed to achieve each goal outlined in the strategic plan. The benefits of discussion the performance expected of the employee include understanding the requirements of the job and appreciating the working conditions in the firm. This strategy to performance management has made monitoring and evaluation of employee performance at McDonald’s easier. Performance management when adopted earlier is effective towards the improvement of the employee general performance in the company. Employees should improve the need for a common appreciation of their requirements and expectations in the firm (Gomez-Mejia et al, 2008). Personal development of employees The employees at McDonald’s are very well trained, and have skills and experience to work in the food and beverage industry. The employees are well paid with bonuses and allowances to motivate then to work. The management in the company believe in a well motivated and inspired team to work towards the achievement of the organizational goals. The employees in the company thus feel good about their job because they feel appreciated and their participations is key to achievement of the organizational goals. Development plan at McDonald’s McDonald’s development plan involves integrating several strategies to enhance its performance. The company has also established several strategies to develop thinking capabilities at McDonald’s. One of the strategies is sharing of information. Sharing of information ensures that every employee is aware of all the operations in the company. The employees also get to know of their contribution towards the success of the company through sharing of information. When employees are informed, they feel appreciated and important towards the operations of the company. It is also important to share both positive and negative information although negative information should be shared in a planned strategic approach. Sharing of information is important toward solving any problem that may arise in the company. When every employee is informed, arriving at a solution to any problem in the company becomes easy because everyone has something to offer in solving the problem. Strengths and weaknesses One of the major strengths of McDonald’s is its passion for producing and distributing high quality products. The company strives to satisfy all its customers on all the products purchased. The firm also offers an economic value added administrative and incentive system for its workers. This system has facilitated decision making among the workers. Opportunities and threats The fact that the food and beverage industry is large and continues to expand presents a very good marketing opportunity for McDonald’s. The types of foods produced by McDonald’s are very popular leading to an increase in their demand. The major opportunities for the foods include increased attractiveness, growth through acquisitions and franchising. In addition to this, the company promotes community service initiatives, which enhances its brand image and loyalty of the customers. Findings Other strategies that McDonald’s can use to improve the overall performance at the workplace include planning and improving customer and employee relations strategies. The top managers at McDonald’s should enforce changes in strategy at the firm. A change in strategy in the company will help in improving the ability of the company to generate revenues and improve its overall performance. One of the factors that should propel the managers to consider strategic thinking plan is the decline of the profits in the company. Although McDonald’s has been making profits, the profitability index is on the decline. Performance improvement plan The company incorporates several theories in its performance improvement plans. One of the theories employed is the Two- factor theory. Under this theory, the management motivates employees, both extrinsically and intrinsically. The motivation is intended to help the employees adapt to the changing business environment and thus improve their performance. Change in the environment may force the company to initiate employee performance improvement plans to sustain alignment. Macro-environment factors that currently affect the company include new regulations, social forces, and demographic changes. The company should consider capitalizing on its opportunities to prepare for the consequences of the changes in macro-environmental factors affecting it (Patrick & Suzanne, 2003). The food and beverage industry has changed rapidly due to new competitors and changes in operation strategies in the industry. McDonald’s will only be able to survive in this environment through strategy change. Strategic thinking is effective towards resource utilization in any firm. McDonald should consider the approach in order to maintain effective resource utilization in its operations. Conclusion and recommendation This essay has discussed the strategies that McDonald’s has established to ensure that the company achieves its intended goals. One of the strategies that the company has employed to improve the performance of it employees is encouraging the employees to participate in the overall running of the firm. This makes the employees feel appreciated and raises their morale in their duties. The company also encourages creativity and innovation among the employees because the managers believe that every employee has a common sense and has something valuable to offer towards the success of the firm. An absolute reward and motivation program that is available to the employees fuels the creativity and innovation strategy (Hamel, 2002). It offers continuous training programs for its employees to create a feeling that there is always something new to learn. Other strategies that the company has employed to improve the employee performance include promotion of open communication in the company and performance management. The company has devised strategies to develop thinking capabilities among the employees. Some of the strategies that it has devised include sharing of information and setting of individual employee goals (Mulcaster, 2009). The company should maintain its strategies to improve employee performance. This is because the strategies have been effective towards the success of the firm. It should also maintain the strategies to develop thinking capabilities of the employees because every employee is valuable to the firm and can contribute positively towards its success. The company should however enforce the strategic thinking plans to enhance its performance. This strategy will help the company in increasing its profitability index and maintain a strategic fit position in the food and beverage industry (Brian, 2000). Bibliography Brian T. 2000. The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success. Berrett, Koehler Publishers. Cofer, C. et al. 2007, Motivation: Theory and Research. Sydney: John Wiley & Sons Gomez-Mejia, Luis R.; David B. Balkin & Robert L. Cardy (2008). Management: People, Performance, Change, 3rd edition. New York, New York USA: McGraw-Hill. pp. 19 Hamel, G. 2002. Leading the Revolution. New York: Plume Penguin Books Lorenzen M. 2006. "Strategic Planning for Academic Library Instructional Programming." In: Illinois Libraries 86, no. 2 (Summer 2006): 22-29. Michael A. & Jude K. 2005. Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations. Second Edition. John Wiley and Sons. 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