McDonald's. What are the Management functions at McDonald's?

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McDonald's

INTRODUCTION TO McDonald’s 

Mission Statement

Mc Donald's vision is to be the UK's biggest, best quick service restaurant experience.

Since McDonald's opened its first restaurant in the UK in October 1974, the Golden Arches have become a familiar symbol, now seen on high streets, alongside major roads, on cross channel ferries, in leisure and retail parks and at airports.

During 2000, the company bought young people from communities all over the UK to perform on stage at the Dome in Greenwich as part of McDonald's Our Town Story. This explains the History of McDonalds.

By the end of 2000, there were 1,116 McDonald's restaurant operating in the UK, representing a total investment in property and equipment of over £1.5 billion. The company employed just fewer than 50,000 people and 18,000 were employed by McDonald's franchises.

Today, more than 2.5 million people in this country place their trust in McDonalds every day - trusting the Company to provide them with food of a high standard, quick service and value for money. 

E1

CLEARLY IDENTIFYING MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS AND THEIR APLLICATION TO THE BUSINESS

A restaurant manager makes sure that customers can come into the restaurant and enjoy the quality food and service they have come to expect from McDonald's. This takes in everything from the welfare of staff through to the performance of the restaurant itself.

Just some of the manager's areas of responsibility are recruitment, health and safety issues, management, training and motivation of the restaurant team, and local marketing and community. Then there's the finance aspect - budgeting, profit and loss targets and stock control - and making sure their core values of Quality, Service, Cleanliness & Value (QSC&V) are followed day in, day out. Not forgetting, of course, ensuring that the premises and the equipment are in perfect working order raising initiatives.

It's clearly not a career for the faint-hearted - it's hard work and takes real commitment. But if you like plenty of responsibility, you'll find that McDonald's is your kind of company.

In return for the commitment you bring, McDonald's will put you through a thorough training programme, renowned throughout the world as the best in the business...

To join McDonald's as a Trainee Business Manager you'll need to be over 21 years of age with excellent people skills and plenty of drive and ambition.

What are the Management functions at McDonald's include:

Forecasting

Forecasting is the process of predicting what will happen in the future i.e. predict the amount of staff needed for the following day, week etc, the amount of stock needed over certain period i.e. Christmas.

It is vital to use the success of McDonald's that it has an accurate picture of future events in order to make the right decisions when responding to change. A Sales forecast, for example, would use past sales data to identify patterns and trends. On the basis of these, managers will use their knowledge of the market to identify future trends.

Communicating

Being a good communicator is probably the most important ability needed by a modern manager. Good Communications involves understanding and being understood by many groups. A manager will need to negotiate with subordinates, superiors, colleagues, trade unions, government official and outside agencies.

Planning

This is the means by which a forecast is acted upon. A plan is a detailed scheme, method or procedure for achieving an organization’s goals. McDonald's plan carefully to ensure that they have the right number of employees for their needs.

Motivating

This is the action of getting people to do something because they want to rather than because they are forced to. It may seem obvious that staff should be motivated: however, from the point of human resources management this is only true if motivation leads to improvements in the work - such as better quality products or more efficient production. In general it has become accepted that, although a workforce that is not motivated will work, the quality and efficiency of work improves with motivation. It is therefore the role of human resources management to understand what motivates.

Innovation

This practical refinement and development of an original invention into a usable technique or product, is called innovation. It can be lengthy and expensive process but is nonetheless an important means of improving an organisation's market performance, for example for McDonald's reducing the costs or improving quality. Innovation is also a key contributor to a nation's economic growth.

Developing

The manager's role may involve developing people either by direct 'on-the-job' training or 'off-the-job' training at college or elsewhere. Many organisations require their managers to be involved with succession planning, that is, managers should positively train people so that they are eventually able to take over the managers jobs. Beside these training functions, managers also have a role to play in developing personality.

Delegating

This is the process of giving authority to lower level manager's to make specific decisions. It is necessary because each manager cannot do all tasks that need o be done. The senior manager needs to ensure that the subordinate can do the work and that the work and that the work gets done. Senior managers remain responsible for all delegated work; they 'carry the can'.

Management Skills in Mc Donald’s  

Management in Mc Donald’s concentrates on building management skills. There are three basic management skills in Mc Donald’s: technical, human and conceptual. A technical skill is the ability to use tools, techniques, and specialized knowledge to carry out a method, process, or procedure.  Much of the technology that Mc Donald’s    know and can use so well comes under this management skill. Human skills are used to build positive interpersonal relationships, solve human relations problems, build acceptance of one's co-workers, and relate to them in a way that their behaviour is consistent with the needs of the organization. Conceptual skills involve the ability to see the organization as a whole and to solve problems in a way that benefits the entire organization Analytical; creative and intuitive talents make up the manager's conceptual skills.

Introductory Management in Mc Donald’s programs (Managing for Success) pay little attention to technical skills. Most managers in Mc Donald’s attendance have developed these skills far beyond their human and conceptual skills. In some advanced Management Mc Donald’s programs, e.g., financial management, the emphasis is on integration of technical, human and conceptual skills rather than on a more traditional technical approach.

The relative importance of conceptual, human and technical skills changes as a person progresses from lower, to middle, to top management in  Mc Donald’s Although all three management skills are important at all three levels of management in  Mc Donald’s , conceptual skills become relatively more important at the top level of management. The consistently high level of importance of human skills helps Mc Donald’s to understand why people problems are so often cited as a core cause of business failure.

Management functions within Mc Donald’s and how these management functions support the overall objectives of the business.

Finance management;

The finance department is responsible for all flows of money into and out of the company. In this department they keep financial records as well as information for the managers in the company. Finance have many tasks to accomplish, they consist of,

Monetary planning; McDonalds has to make a monetary forecast for the up and coming year to ensure that they can meet all their obligations and continue in business.

Adverting management; is very important at McDonalds as raising the finance is very necessary. This enable staff to identify any short falls in cash flow, by identifying the short falls this department can advise other department on how much finance they would have to raise.

Financial control; the main aim in this department is to control the cash flow and cost. The staffs monitors the cash flow and cost levels by checking actual flows against planned flows. In this department the budge provides a forecast for the business, with the business revenue and the expense all of these aspects will help plan and monitor the cash flow at

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McDonalds.

This department helps McDonalds by producing financial forecasts to help show future problems that McDonalds will have in the future to stop McDonalds losing money. This will help McDonalds be more aware of their problems as well as show them were their mistake were and when they should expect problems.

Finance basically controls the cash flow as well as the records, monitoring and preparing plan as well as reports.

The finance function   in MC Donald’s also deals with functions such as:

  • The money going out the company to their suppliers, to the staff for their wages ...

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***** A comprehensive analysis of management at McD. Much of it is well applied but this is an area that could be improved. They never really get to grips with the difference between Head Office and restaurants, many of which run independently.