Picking a restaurant that performs poor, would be a disadvantage due to McDonalds not getting realistic factors that they need to change, because McDonalds would always be making more sales and profits compared to the poor performing restaurant. This way setting new objectives would be difficult.
Benchmarking would make McDonalds objectives measurable and new objectives could be set from the information from the competitor’s sales figures etc.
For example McDonalds could compare a certain products sales figures against the competing restaurant and check which restaurant made a profit from selling that product, and this would help McDonalds to decide on what they should put on special offer, to beat the competitor and be more successful.
This would help to improve the performance of McDonalds and have a positive outcome for McDonalds overall due to them having an idea of how well or bad they are doing against the competitor(s), McDonalds would also try and improve it’s performance by lowering prices and improving the customer service and possibly making loss leader offers to gain more customers than the competing restaurant.
Benchmarking would help to achieve and measure McDonalds’s number one objective, which is:
”To be the UK’s best quick service restaurant experience”
due to the above factors.
I think that the suggestion that I have made for McDonalds to use the benchmarking system could realistically be done, because McDonalds would be able to find out how well/poor their competitors are doing compared with the performance of McDonalds. McDonalds would also be able to over take their competitors if the competitors were performing better than McDonalds, this could be done by advertising mainly through the television, newspapers and magazines. McDonalds could also advertise more by giving customers tokens/vouchers to use for the next time they go to McDonalds to eat. However I think that the effects of this suggestion would be that some customers may only go to McDonalds to redeem the voucher and then maybe never go to McDonalds after that, but the regular customers would stay loyal.
The benchmarking system would not cost McDonalds a great of money, this is an advantage as the cash flow is not affected and the budget isn’t affected either. However there would be costs for advertising, which would be a benefit for McDonalds because the advertising campaign would help McDonalds to increase or maintain the sales and profits that are made
The benchmarking system would also help meet customers quality expectations, the customers quality expectations are mainly to purchase food of a high quality, and this is why McDonalds is committed to serving their customers hot, fresh, great tasting, and great value food every time they come to the restaurant. The quality of the food that McDonalds service its customers can always be improved mainly by the taste and by adding more ingredients to it, customers are welcome to order a burger/sandwich/salad in the way they prefer it but this would take more time as the food they order would be freshly made for the customer.
Benchmarking would help McDonalds to perform better than its competitor(s) and hopefully attract potential customers as well.
The advantages of using benchmarking are that:
- It gives genuine comparisons of performance to be made.
- McDonalds have a target to aim at.
- Productivity and quality can be improved for McDonalds.
The disadvantages of using benchmarking are that:
- Some companies may be unwilling to reveal their performance.
- McDonalds must be willing and financially able to improve.
- McDonalds needs the culture and structure for change.
Another method in which McDonalds could improve its quality systems is by using quality circles.
A quality circle is a small group of people that work at McDonalds (or any other business) who meet regularly to examine workplace issues such as quality, productivity, wastage etc. the main features of a quality circle are:
- All the members do the same type of work and this may help to increase the knowledge and experience, because the best people to solve a problem are the people that do the job.
- Membership is voluntary and the members can set the agenda of the discussion.
- The group consists of 5-10 people and all the members have special training in problem solving, quality control techniques etc.
A quality circle is appropriate to use in businesses where there is a consultative management style and McDonalds management style is like this so McDonalds could realistically use it. To achieve the most from a quality circle commitment is required from the members, management, and trade unions, otherwise they become “talking shops” this is where nothing is achieved from the quality circle.
A quality circle would be of a benefit to McDonalds because it can be easily formed with the commitment of the members, and every employee at McDonalds does the same job but have a staff timetable for when they do their job. For example every member of staff works in the kitchen, drive through and till, this means that they all have ideas about what needs improving about the quality of the way things are done in the kitchen, drive through and on the till. The managers must by all means take the quality circle seriously and take action of the decisions that are made and carry them out to see if the quality is improving or not.
The changes that a quality circle would bring out for McDonalds is that there would be ideal suggestions made by the members of the quality circle that would help to improve the quality system, the employees that make the suggestions for improvements make them due to the experience that have in working at McDonalds, therefore the suggestion must be worth carrying out by the manager(s). This may also mean that the suggestion would guarantee to improve the quality system because in theory if the workers have experience at their job then they are likely to have the best knowledge in finding/knowing ways in which the quality can be improved. Some of the decisions that the quality circle makes may be costly but if the decision were successful then the cost wouldn’t be a disadvantage.
The advantages of a quality circle are:
- All workers have power and responsibility
- Encourages team building and co-operation.
- The workers can share their views and thoughts.
- If the decisions are realistic then they are likely to be carried out.
The disadvantages of a quality circle are:
- Managers may loose some of their power.
- Managers may not listen to the group ideas.
- Managers may believe that it’s set up due to there being something wrong.
- The quality department may not approve of the quality circle.
