The McDonaldization of Society - Essay Example

The success story of McDonald's since its very start in 1940 is the symbol of the success of global consumerism. The success testifies the right management approach taking into the classical, human, and scientific ones that the organization used deftly to shape up its growth through the years. By targeting the brand on youths and catering to them with their favorite Hamburgers the outlets turned into the hangouts of consumers from the family and youth segment far and wide. The company outlets soon became the center of ‘fun food’. The global expansion made them giant but had to face many controversial issues on health, environment, and labor.

. The company selected and promoted the smiling clown face of its child-friendly brand mascot and style of brand promotion which had a clear-cut focus on families and youths. Outlets on franchise enabled quick delivery of foods hot and fresh at the least cost. ‘Reitzer, 2004).

***In 1987 Cantalupo who became president of McDonald's International was hired by McDonald as an accountant adopted his classical approach of management and made the company on top of the world.

***Mc Donald adopted human resource management based on a humane approach with the philosophy that human resources are highly important to sustain business success by using people effectively. They recruited capable people with flexibility and commitment. By managing, training, educating, and motivating them well Mc Donald made them highly competitive and by drawing their expertise made the company highly profitable

***The principle of scientific management is based on changing the work process to let workers produce more output( mass production) with simple work methods avoiding complicated lines of work and executing the same simple tasks over and over. The job was made target-oriented with incentive-based rewards, competitive wages, promotion programs backed by motivation and recognition.

The adoption of a business credo to be efficient, clean to be a better citizen spread a dynamic image about the brand. The use of colors, indoor playgrounds, toys for children, and above all happy meals made the outlets truly family fast food centers with the images of friendliness, quality, fast service, and reasonable prices.

. The expertise in communication, advertising creativity, and the law was hired to perform the task of public relation and communication that steered the company clear through many thick and thins in the controversial issues of health, environmental, and labor mismanagement.

Global expansion through understanding and adopting the local culture and the food menu proved to be the right strategy. The continuous and persistent success story of the company promoted McDonaldization for may adopt it for expansion beyond the boundary but it was not beyond criticism from many quarters for lacking flexibility (Smart 1999)