Free Essay: Problem Solving for McDonald's Corporation

McDonald's is an American fast food restaurant company founded in 1955 by entrepreneur, Ray Kroc (McDonald's). This happened after he was stunned by the effectiveness of a small restaurant operation run by two brothers, Dick and McDonald. The two brothers were searching for a new franchising agent, and Ray Kroc seized the opportunity. He founded McDonald's System, Inc that later changed the name to McDonald's Corporation after purchasing exclusive rights to the McDonald's name six years later. By 1958, the restaurant had sold its 100 millionth hamburger (McDonald's). McDonald's has grown to become a global brand by registering its presence in over 100 countries all over the world. Given this, the paper sets to assess a recent problem facing McDonald's Corporation relating to employee organizational commitment, the cause of the problem, and recommendations towards solving the problem.

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The year 2019 marks McDonald's 64th operational year and Ray Kroc's legacy still lives on. Ray wanted to establish a restaurant system that would provide high-quality food for a consistent number of times. He wanted to the hamburgers sold in Alabama for instance, to taste the same as those sold in Alaska. Under his slogan, "In business for yourself, but not by yourself," he sought to ensure that his franchisees, suppliers, and employees would work for themselves (McDonald's). This means that the stakeholders would support each other like a three-legged stool. Guided by the brand's mission of being the customer's favorite eating place, the company has experienced tremendous growth and success.

The global outlets are centered upon the strategy "Plan to win," which ensures excellent customer experience (McDonald's). To achieve its mission, the company is guided by values such as commitment to the people, exceptional customer experience, belief in the McDonald's system, and ethical business operations (McDonald's). Other values include giving back to the community, profitable growth of the business, and striving to improve continuously.

Recently, McDonalds Corporation has experienced a problem relating to employee commitment after many workers left their jobs because of the high technology makeover (Patton, 2018). The fast-food restaurant is losing its employees who feel unhappy and unrewarded after getting forced to handle more tasks without getting pay raises. Several stores are understaffed, and this means that the existing workers have to toil even harder. For example, Westley Williams, who worked for McDonald's in Broward County, Florida quit his job after he got stretched too thin (Patton, 2018). The problems caused by the mobile app orders, six recently added self-order kiosks, and new items are some of the stresses that made Williams resign.

Although the new technology modernizes the restaurant experience for the customers, many employees are quitting because of reduced morale and feelings of exploitation. Employees have even decided to abandon technology use, and this has resulted in the average drive-thru times slowing beyond that of competitors such as Dunkin' Donuts, Wendy's, Burger King, among others. Statistically, the drive-thru times at the restaurant chain slowed to 239 seconds in 2017, which was slower than in 2016 by more than 30 seconds (Patton, 2018).

The concept of organizational commitment serves right in explaining why McDonald's is facing the challenges relating to employee resignations. Under organizational commitment, it is hard enough to hire a talented employee who portrays an exemplary performance (Colquitt, LePINE, & Wesson, 2015). Because of competition for skilled labor, the company has to ensure that it retains its talented employees for extended periods. Nothing is as depressing to an employer as a situation where a talented employee leaves the organization to go and work for a rival firm barely six months since the employee got hired. Employees who have lost commitment to the organization usually display some withdrawal behavior, which culminates them to quit the organization. For McDonald's, the chaos in the stores such as slower drive-thru times and poor customer experience are some of the indicators that the employees are displaying the withdrawal behavior.

Employees display different levels of commitment and for different reasons, which makes the concept of organizational commitment to be divided into three major types namely affective, continuance, and normative commitments (Colquitt, LePINE, & Wesson, 2015). Under effective commitment, employees feel attached to the organization because of emotional reasons. For continuance commitment, employees remain attached to the organization for cost-based reasons such as benefits, salaries, and promotions. The feeling of obligation creates normative employee commitment, meaning the employees continue to work in an organization because they have debts that need to be repaid. McDonald's employees expressed a continuance type of commitment, and upon discovering that the benefits and salaries did not match their expectations and increased job demands, they decided to quit.

As a perfect recommendation for solving the McDonald's problem, the management has to maximize employee commitment by improving their working conditions. The company also has to invest in its employees by increasing their wages and salaries depending on the increased amount of work and stresses. According to statistics from the U.S Bureau of Labor, it is estimated that the average American will get involved in 10.8 jobs between the ages of 18 and 42 (Colquitt, LePINE, & Wesson, 2015). This indicates that most young employees are not yet fully committed to their current jobs. Although the economic downturn has made most employees to continue holding to their jobs a little longer, a new study indicates about 60 percent of employees are planning to resign once the economy improves (Colquitt, LePINE, & Wesson, 2015). The statistics should be startling to any employer and make them want to retain their employees by motivating them through the best possible means. Employee turnover can be quite expensive since it costs between 90 and 200 percent of the annual salary paid to the employee (Colquitt, LePINE, & Wesson, 2015). The turnover costs can be broken down recruitment processes, training and orientation, screening, and other hidden costs such as lost productivity and decreased organizational morale.

In conclusion, the paper has assessed a recent problem facing McDonald's Corporation relating to employee organizational commitment, the cause of the problem, and recommendations towards solving the problem. McDonald's is an American fast food restaurant with a global reach, operating in over 100 countries across the globe. Recent changes in its operations led to massive loss of employees who complained of getting stretched too thin. The technological advancement, especially in the way customers, placed their orders meant that employees had to work harder and faster to maintain customer satisfaction. However, the employees did not get pay raises or motivation for their increased dedication. As a suitable recommendation, the company should work towards maintaining employee commitment by improving their working conditions. Since about 60 percent of employees desire to quit their organizations, McDonald's has to look beyond profitability by taking care of the welfare of its workers.

References

Colquitt, J. A., LePINE, J. A., & Wesson, M. J. (2015). Organizational Commitment. In J. A. Colquitt, J. A. LePINE, & M. J. Wesson, Organizational Behavior: Improving Performance and Commitment in the Workplace (4th ed., pp. 62-86). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

McDonald's. (n.d.). Mission & Values. Retrieved from McDonalds.com: https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/mcd/our_company-old/mission_and_values.html

McDonald's. (n.d.). Our History. Retrieved from McDonald's: https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/about-us/our-history.html

Patton, L. (2018, March 13). McDonald's High-Tech Makeover Is Stressing Workers Out. Retrieved from Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-13/worker-exodus-builds-at-mcdonald-s-as-mobile-app-sows-confusion