Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Mission Statement for McDonalds - Case Study Example

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Mission Statement Name Institution Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Mission Statement Table of Contents Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Mission Statement 2 Table of Contents 2 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0 Organization overview 3 3.0 Theory and Practice 4 4.0 Mission Statement 8 5.0 Conclusion 10 6.0 References 11 1.0 Introduction Mission statements have been adopted by companies over the years since communicates to customer the purpose of the firm (Hill & Gareth, 2008, p. 58). However, with intensification of globalization and people of different cultural backgrounds meeting quite often, there has been need to create mission statements which take into consideration, equity, diversity and inclusion. Despite the market pressure to adopt equity, diversity and inclusion mission statement some multinationals have been accused of discrimination (BBC, 2015). McDonald’s is one of the companies which have been accused on discrimination and sexual harassment hence the need to review its statement to improve its image. Therefore, as a result of battered image and the need to embrace diversity, this paper will create equity, diversity and inclusion mission statement for McDonald’s. The paper will also define and discuss what the theory explains about equity, diversity and inclusion and their importance to the organizations. 2.0 Organization overview McDonald's is an American fast food restaurant with headquarters in Illinois, US. McDonalds’ was first established in 1940 in California and since grown and expanded to other countries (Monika, Schröder & Morven, 2005, p. 215). McDonald's majorly sells hamburgers, chicken products, cheeseburgers, French fries, breakfast foods, desserts, soft drinks and milkshakes. In result of expansion and changing tastes in the market, the restaurant has increased its product portfolio to include fish, salads, wraps, and smoothies. Today, McDonald’s has 1.9 employees serving its 36,525 stores across the globe (McDonald’s 2016). Despite its growth over the years, the company has been accused of discrimination against employees, sexual harassment and discrimination against some customers. For instance, in June 2016, the case Magee v. McDonald's a blind man called Scott McGee sued McDonald’s for being reluctant to serve visually impaired people through thru drive (USATODAY, 2016). In addition, BBC (2015) reported that ten former employees sued McDonald’s for racial discrimination. These incidences are of the indications that McDonald’s need not only to create equity, diversity and inclusion mission statement but also to practice it. 3.0 Theory and Practice Siegel, Schraeder and Morrison (2007, p. 62 posited that in management, equity is defined the practice of being impartial and fair. In organizational management perspective it is the process of giving equal opportunities to employees or offering equal service to customers. On the other hand, Diversity Dictionary (1996) diversity is described as the difference among people who are working or interacting in an organization. Differences can be in terms of languages, ethnicities, cultures, sexual orientations, social classes, abilities, ages, sects and religion. Inclusion is defined as the practice by which organization makes sure that people, employees and customers consider they belong (Barak, 2005, p. 89). It is also described as the process of accommodating people of people of different cultural background, people with disability and even people with different genders. Rice (2010, p. 43) claimed that as globalization takes center stage in the 21st century, equity, diversity and inclusion has become key topics which have brought intense debate among theorists, researchers, management experts and contemporary managers. The debate has increased about these factors due to the fact that they strong impact operations of an organization. With increase in discrimination cases in companies like McDonald’s, practice has highly been highlighted in the current times. One case is where the company was sued by ten former employees for discrimination (BBC, 2015). In the case, the former employees were seeking action against McDonald, for refereeing them as “too dark”. In their court case filed in 2015 in Virginia nine African-American and one Hispanic claimed they were face "sexual harassment and rampant racial" by McDonald’s supervisor Michael Simon (BBC, 2015). The act by the supervisor is an indication the equity is not practiced at the organization. Another case of inequity is where visually impaired customer sued McDonald’s in Louisiana for failing to serve him through thru drive (USATODAY, 2016). Scott McGee had failed he was not be fairly treated as other people without disability were just being served. Theories show that such behavior can highly cost the company in terms of perception, employees and customer loyalty and cost of operations. Equity is one such theory which can be used to explain the mistake of McDonald’s in discriminating its employees and customers. Swinton (2006) argued that equity theory was created on the concept that individual’s behavior and motivation is often influenced by fairness and the inconsistency in fairness within the organization will prompt them to attempt and restore it. A research by Stecher and Rosse (2007, p.780) argued that equity is not only about fair treatment of employees but also customers. Equity is important to the organization because when employees feel they are fairly treated they will become motivated and creates a great relationship with management (Siegel, Schraeder, & Morrison, 2007, p. 65). All employees often desire to feel their contribution towards the organization and their performance is being rewarded. If a staff feels discriminated, there will have low morale towards their jobs and the situation is likely to be translated to low performance. Theory of equity claims that subtle variable and perception plays a crucial role in creating feeling of equity in employees. Recognition and thanking of the staff can create a feeling of motivation hence making staffs feel valued to make them post better results. However, Swinton (2006) opined that staffs who observe inequity in the organization will looks for way to stop it by distorting the inputs or even leaving the company. In McDonald’s case, the employees left the company to show their dissatisfaction with the unfairness the company was treating some of its staffs. In the process, the company suffered in many ways including losing employees and tainted image. The cost of employees leaving the organization is that the company has to use fund to hire and train new people to fill the vacant positions (Spector, 2008, p. 73). On the other hand, when employees leave organization due to discrimination, it taints the image of the company making most job seekers to avoid the firm. The same is also seen with customers. In many cases, customers prefer a company where fairness is observed. Customers who are discriminated against feel their money is not valued and may seek service from competitors and seek legal redress. According to equity theory, seeking legal redress or seeking for service at the competitors business is a form of trying to restore equity (Stecher & Rosse, 2007, p. 781). For the company to avoid lawsuit, employees’ turnover and high cost of hiring and training, equity must be observed. Diversity is another term which has significantly been discussed in the 21st century. Schwabenland and Tomlinson (2008, p. 325) opined that while diversity has it challenges, it is not always bad. However, organizational behavior theorist advice that diversity must be managed to realize its benefits. Gender diversity is still a major challenge in 21st century as most organizations are dominated by males (Chow, 2005, p. 216). It means that there is still no fairness in distribution of human resources. This can be seen at McDonald’s which is still dominated by male. Even though perception has been created that fast foods industry is female industry, this is further from the truth. Zanoni (2011, p.107) argued that the culture of male dominance in workforce still dominates as most men still thinks most tasks are reserved for them. The perspective of dominance has kept women of top jobs like top and middle level managers even if they qualify. Another gender issues women still face today is sexual harassment (Schwabenland & Tomlinson, 2008, p.328). For instance, women face sexual advances and even unwelcome behavior of the sexual nature. Even though, more progress is made to stop these behaviors, education and training is still needed. Diversity also has significance to the organization especially if it is managed well. Management theorists have found out a close relationship between diversity and unique talents or skills (Podsiadlowski et al., 2013, p. 160). For instance, the researches claim that every culture is unique hence hiring people with different cultural background can increase innovation in the organization. In addition, male managers still realize that women can also help also have special skills like secretarial, reception and customer services. Furthermore, diversity can be used to target different customer segments (Chow, 2005, p. 220). For example, when McDonald’s hires black people, people of such race can interpret that they are accepted by that company thus making the company their preferred fast food restaurant. Inclusion is another organization human resource management practice which has become very important over the years. Managers must understand that management has moved from bureaucratic where decisions were solely made by the top management to a situation where employees are involved in decisions. Barak (2005, p. 67) showed that employee inclusion is strong predictor of job satisfaction and low rates of employees’ turnover. The studies demonstrate employees who are not included in decision making in the organization feel less valued and even perceives that the organization is using as means to making profits (Ewoh, 2013, p. 110). As result, they become less motivated and dissatisfied, and may resign to look job elsewhere. 4.0 Mission Statement Hill and Gareth (2008) defined mission statement as the statement that is applied as means as of articulating purpose of a company. However, the management experts argue that mission statement need to consider factor which presently influences the market. Currently, market is influenced by equity, diversity and inclusion hence mission statements needs to take care of these. However, McDonald’s is yet to create mission which conforms to such factor resulting to inequity, challenges of diversity and exclusion. According to McDonald's (2015), the company’s mission statement is to be a favorite place for their customer and means to eat. Nevertheless, strategic management insight argued that the mission statement of McDonald's fell short concerning the factors which pertain equity, diversity and inclusion. Therefore, this paper believes that the best mission statement for McDonald’s is that “McDonald’s is a firm of the diverse cultures which serves diverse visitors, with many languages spoken by the staffs’. The statement should continue that” McDonald’s seek to appreciate the unique cultures in making sure that it staffs and customers are heard, seen, respected and valued. This mission statement is simple and can be easy to recall for most customers even with just one visit to the company or the website. In this competitive era, businesses are distinguished with their mission and how they value customers. David (2011, p. 36) argued that since there are many businesses, no customer will remember a long and unclear mission statement. Management experts also argue that equity, diversity and inclusion mission statement can be use for strategic purposes by companies. The mission statement alone is enough to create positive perception about a company without even uttering a word (Daphne & Maggie, 2008, p.160). In the current settings, employees are seeking for work at an institution where they think that they will be treated fairly and enjoy their work as any other staff. It means that, aligning equity, diversity and inclusion with the company’s mission statement increases satisfaction, motivation, and retention. As result, McDonald’s is likely to improve its productivity and adds customer value. Similarly, mission statement are always written and communicated which forms part of not only goals but also rules. The fact that it is written enable the employees to implement because it forms part of the employment policy. It means that the absence of equity, diversity and inclusion mission statement made it no big deal for McDonald’s management to treat employees and customer unfairly and even to discriminate. Having the new written mission statement will bar management from inequity and discrimination against women, sexual harassment and discrimination against customers. The new mission statement can be also be implemented and its spirit be achieved through constant communication of the same to the management. Communication in organization takes many forms including through telephone, emails, newsletter, memos and posting on the website (Guerrero and Afifi, 2007, p. 132). In the current business schedule where employees handle many issues, it becomes very difficult to remember several things at ones. Therefore, the management needs to consistently remind them the purpose of the company. When this is done it becomes part of the culture hence they implement in their everyday routines in the organization. Hicks-Clarke and Iles (2000, p.325) postulated that a company which constantly communicates with its customers either through websites, phones or newsletters creates a positive perception about their operations. 5.0 Conclusion McDonald’s enjoys market share and dominance in both globally in fast food segments. The firm takes the lead in provision of high quality foods such as Hamburger, cheeseburger, French fries and desserts of its strong brands. However, McDonald’s experiences bad record about its management due to constant lawsuit as a result of practice of inequity, discrimination and exclusion of employees on various decisions. The incidences have created a negative perception about the McDonald’s and it’s an indicator that the company have employees with low motivation, high rate of employees turnover and incur of loses. Therefore, for the company to rectify past mistakes, it needs to adopt equity, diversity and inclusion mission statement which will not only motivate employees but also attract customers who feel that their diversity is appreciated. 6.0 References Barak, M. E. (2005). Managing Diversity towards a Globally Inclusive Workplace. London: Sage Publications BBC. (2015). McDonald's sued for racial discrimination in Virginia. Retrieved 3rd September 2016. http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30944202 Chow, I. H- S. (2005). Gender differences in perceived leadership effectiveness in Hong Kong. Women in Management Review, 20 (4), 216 – 233 Daphne, H., & Maggie, W. (2008). Social inequality in Australia discourses realities and futures. Oxford University Press, 155-175 David, F.R. (2011). Strategic Management - Concepts and Cases (12nd ed.). Prentice Hall India Diversity Dictionary. (1996). University of Maryland Diversity Database. Retrieved 17th Oct 2015 from www.inform.umd.diversity/reference Ewoh, AI.E. (2013). Managing and Valuing Diversity: Challenges to Public Managers in the 21st Century. Public Personnel Management 42(2), 107–122 Guerrero, A., and Afifi, R. (2007). Close Encounters: Communication in Relationships, 2nd edition. Sage Publications, Inc Hicks-Clarke, D., & Iles, P. (2000). Climate for diversity and its effects on career and organizational attitudes and perceptions. Personnel Review, 29(3), 324-345. Hill, C., & Gareth, J. (2008). Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach (8th Revised edition). Mason, OH: South-Western Educational Publishing. Podsiadlowski, A., Gröschke, D., Kogler, M., Springer, C. and van der Zee, K. (2013). Managing a culturally diverse workforce: Diversity perspectives in organizations. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 37(2), 159–175 McDonald’s. (2016). McDonald’s Official Website. Retrieved 3rd September 2016 http://corporate.mcdonalds.com/mcd.html Monika J.A., Schröder, T., & Morven, G.M. (2005). Fast foods and ethical consumer value: a focus on McDonald's and KFC. British Food Journal, 107, 212 – 224 Rice, M. F. (2010). Diversity and Public Administration: Theory, Issues, and Perspectives. New York: M. E. Shape. Siegel, P. H., Schraeder, M., & Morrison, R. (2007). A taxonomy of equity factors. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38(1), 61-75. Schwabenland, C., & Tomlinson, F. (2008). Managing diversity or diversifying management? Critical perspectives on international business, 4(2/3), 320-333 Spector, P.E. (2008). Industrial and Organizational Behavior (5th ed.). New Jersey: Wiley Stecher, M.D., & Rosse, J.G. (2007). Understanding reactions to workplace injustice through process theories of Motivation: A teaching module and simulation. Journal of Management Education, 31, 777-796. Swinton, S. (2006). Adams equity motivation theory: Put workplace psychology into action and increase motivation. Retrieved 3rd September 2016 from http://www.mftrou.com/support-files/adams-equity-motivation-theory.pdf. USATODAY. (2016). Blind man sues McDonald’s for refusing drive-thru service. Retrieved 3rd September 2016 from http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/nation-now/2016/06/01/blind-man-sues-mcdonalds-service-drive-thru-window/85240334/ Zanoni, P. (2011). Diversity in the lean automobile factory: Doing class through gender, disability and age. Organization, 18(1), 105–127 Read More