The Role of Flexible Working Practices in Employee Motivation: a Case Study of McDonald's

Introduction

A fast food chain business is different from a corporate business. Inside the fast food, the employees or crews are expected to make a big help in the operations. A crew with a flexible skill can open a possibility for regularization. On the part of the management, they encourage the crew to do better. It is favorable on the side of the management to handle a crew with several of skills in handling different stations. The crew appreciates the good feedback coming from the management team and deliberately, extends his allotted time just to learn other station procedures.

Flexibility of a person in performing whatever task well is good and beneficial to the company. A crew must learn that from the very start of the job, it is clearly set inside his mind that he is working not because he have to impress his boss but because of the company’s objective. The crew must be oriented well before giving his full time and effort inside the store.

Literature Review

McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of fast food restaurants, serving nearly 47 million customers daily. McDonald's primarily sells burgers, chicken products, french fries, breakfast items, soft drinks, and desserts. Many McDonald's restaurants have included a playground for children and advertising geared toward children, and some have been redesigned in a more 'natural' style, with a particular emphasis on comfort: introducing lounge areas and fireplaces, and eliminating hard plastic chairs and tables. These playgrounds are commonly called "Play places".

The company has also expanded the McDonald's menu in recent decades to include alternative meal options, such as salads and snack wraps, in order to capitalize on growing consumer interest in health and wellness.

Each McDonald's restaurant is operated by a franchisee, an affiliate, or the corporation itself. The corporations' revenues come from the rent, royalties and fees paid by the franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated restaurants. McDonald's revenues grew 27% over the three years ending in 2007 to $22.8 billion, and 9% growth in operating income to $3.9 billion.

In a flexible attendance arrangement, which involves variations of standard hours, there are advantages and disadvantages if a person is a flexible worker. Share

Advantages

• Better matching work flow and staffing

• Covering peak work times

• Tailoring hours to meet individual needs

• Tailoring hours to meet changing or fluctuating needs

• A way to retain a full-time position while juggling multiple responsibilities.

Disadvantages

• Difficulty of coordination

• Over taxing individuals—trying to do too much

• May mask the need for reorganizing work schedules and altering work flow.

There were many steps before a crew can be hired. After a simple interview, there comes exam and lastly final interview. If the applicant passed the test conducted by a hiring manager, the applicant will undergo training for assessment. The assessment is also an exam to determine if the applicant can handle the pressure inside the fast food store. If the manager finds that the applicant can perform the average, then finally that applicant will be tagged as a crew.

Being a crew with flexibility skills is good in the fast food store especially when there is an absence. Sometimes the benefit that they can get is having a free meal but the lone hours will cause them to exhaustion. It is the disadvantage in the part of the manager if the availability of an employee is not fit for certain instances. Like if a crew is a working student, often times the manager tried to reach out for the crew but he can’t make it because he is at school.

FINDINGS

A crew in a fast food chain discovers a different world behind the counter area and gets himself involved in a commotion inside the service area when the peak hours came. Taking the experience of Mr. Newman who founds that fast-food chains were the perfect petri dishes for covert research: high-pressure, high-volume businesses with high employee turnover. The pecking order was also crystal clear, from fry cook all the way up to store manager.

As always, inside a fast food establishment, a crew can compare the current work to the past work he had. Some were high-morale, high-productivity machines. Others were miserable, misplaced, terrible jobs. Yet one common trait stuck out from them all: Each restaurant's respective manager determined the climate of the work environment.⁵

The study recommends that the applicant of any fast food chains or if possible, all the employees in different industries that they should prepare their mind into something in everyday that they go to their work. Most of all, expect the worst. It is good to be flexible in the field of your work and it’s really a nice feeling to attend the needs of the people around you. But you aren’t superman. At some point you will realize that the management sometimes cheats you. You give your full effort in meetings every demand that the company offers but apparently, in yourself when energy runs out, you will feel like they only used you. And that is a bad effect when you focused yourself in impressing your boss. An effective employee can motivate his co-employee and do not dwell in a stagnant process. He keeps on learning but yet filled with reaching the company’s objective. And that resembles a group of crew, they do not let their ship to sink and get drown.

REFERENCES:

The McDonald’s Corporation [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald%27s#Global_operations [Accessed 23 July 2009].

Schlosser, E., (2002) Fast Food Nation. Penguin Books, pp.4-5

Flexi Work Staff Guide [Online] Available at: http://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/public/hr/equalop/StaffGuide.pdf [Accessed 23 July 2009].