E.g. cars or electronics
Quality Control
This area also looks at quality control.
This is an inspection used to check on products produced to monitor and ensure quality. Any faulty items will be rejected and the cause of the problem investigated
E.g. people checking the companies’ burgers on quality
Quality Assurance
The maintenance of quality in every process and system within McDonalds
It is important to appreciate that quality is not only desirable in the finished product it should be applicable in every process and system within the business.
Human Resources
This area in McDonalds deals with a lot of jobs and is very important.
They have to make sure the employees are treated fairly and encouraged to work well.
They deal with hiring new employees and getting rid of them.
McDonalds have there own equal opportunities policy
- High recruitment standards
- Local sourcing of staff where possible
- The skills , talents and performance of staff matter, gender, marital status, disability, race, colour, nationality or ethnic origin
- Providing safe and secure working environment
- Staff should have opportunities for training and development
- Jobs with the company should include career opportunities
- There should be challenges and rewards
- Staff pay should reflect performances
- Should be good communication with staff
- Education of staff matters
McDonalds is a member of the Employers “forum on Age”
The overall percentage of women in restaurant management is 37%.
Women represent 24% of the companies’ middle to senior management.
There is one female UK director.
Employees and employers have rights and responsibilities to each other.
The rights of the employees are protected by
*Employment Law
Laws which protect the rights of employees in areas such as sex, race and disability discrimination
*Trade Union
An organisation which upholds the rights of employees
*Staff Association
A committee within a business which upholds employee rights
*Equal Pay
This states that men and women should be given the same pay and working conditions for the same job in any business.
E.g. woman in McDonalds frying chips should get paid same amount of money as a man frying chips.
*Sex Discrimination
In McDonalds this act relates to when they are recruiting new employees.
E.g. If McDonalds have a job offer for a Manager they couldn’t just employ a man instead of a woman without interviewing them because they think men are better managers then woman.
This act states that employers should not discriminate on the grounds of gender.
It makes it illegal to discriminate against men or women for the following
- Promoting employees to better jobs
- Training and career development
- Advertising to fill jobs
- Appointing people to jobs
*Race Relations
This makes discrimination on grounds of McDonalds illegal; under the same circumstances covered by the sex discrimination act.
*National Minimum Wage
It is now a legal requirement to pay all employees a minimum hourly rate of pay. Every McDonald employee should be paid at least £5.35 because this is the minimum wage for a working person, the minimum wage will increase every year because the cost of living is riding.
*Disability Discrimination Act 1995
This act only applies to organisations employing over 20 people.
The protection is now improved for disabled people and made discrimination against them illegal in many circumstances
- Advertising jobs and job interviews
- Offering jobs and interviews
- Terms and conditions of the job
There are many other laws which McDonalds have to make sure they follow
Human Resources also deal with
*Health and Safety
In this department they make sure the restaurant in McDonalds is healthy and safe for employees and customers. They check for
- Safe entrances and exits
- Safe equipment and systems of work
- Statement of health and safety policy
- Accident books
- Drive through
Training & Development
This department is involved with giving people a chance
McDonald’s staffs need to be trained to learn new skills and knowledge which can be used in employment in the future.
There are two types of skills:
- Transferable: Skills that can be used in a variety of jobs
- Non- Transferable: Skills that only apply to one job.
When people start work they want to continue to develop new skills.
Becoming multi skilled helps to make higher level skills which mean staff can apply for more responsible work with better pay. Staff are usually available for promotion if they work hard and prove they have done well in their current jobs.
Staff training relates to specific opportunities to learn new skills or extend previous skills or knowledge in college, work places and training centers’.
*Staff development
This relates to the personal development of the person, such as team working, presentations and time management.
McDonald's places emphasis on the training and development of its employees. They aim to provide career opportunities for people to achieve their potential. The firm offers both full and part-time career opportunities, which helps staff to combine work with family or educational commitments.
*Recruitment
This is an area where people working there have to find applicants to fill vacancies. On the internet they put the vacancies that are available in McDonalds. They select new employees from reading the application forms correctly. They have to make sure they get the right people for the right jobs.
What sort of people work for McDonalds?
- Total employees (not including franchisees' staff) = 47,500
- 57% of staff are male
- 43% of staff are female
- Two-thirds of hourly paid staff are aged between 16 and 20 years of age
- 90% of staff work for 35 hours per week or less
The Human Resources department also have a job to motivate there employees they do this by
- Free Meal Allowance
- Paid Holidays (4 weeks per annum)
- Free Life Assurance (value dependent upon service)
- Private Health Care (for employees aged 19+ with 3 years service)
- Sponsorship Programme
- Stock Purchase Scheme
- Employee Discount Card
- Service Awards (at 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 years service)
- Stakeholder Pension
Finance
This department in McDonalds is very important because it deals with money
going in and out of the company.
Financial Accounting
They deal with keeping accounts.
Debtors: People who owe the business money
Sales: Goods or services
Purchases: stock or materials to make the product
Creditors: People the company owe money to.
McDonalds now use computers to handle their business transactions.
All they have to do is enter the transactions into the computer where they are stored on a disk and the computer will work this out for you.
They also record the financial transactions in accounts and the presentation of financial reports.
There are accounts for several things:
Costing and budgeting
McDonalds have to buy a lot of materials and resources to provide their service. This department of the financial team helps to work out the cost of these resources. They also have to make sure that McDonalds have enough money to pay their staff’s wages. Observing McDonalds profits will allow them to set targets, for costs and sales for the future in the company. McDonalds will also have to monitor their budget to ensure, actual figures are not massively different to budget figures.
It is job of this department to find out information about the cost of producing a product. What resources are needed?
- Materials
- Cost of stock
- Cost of paying wages
- Payment of advertising and bills etc.
Budgeting
It is the finance department’s job to give every other department a budget.
If a department runs out it is there job to sort something out or give them more money. They have to make sure they give reasonable budget targets.
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Sales budget: to forecast the income that will be received by McDonalds from their sales.
-
Production Sales: to plan the number of items produced and to work out what they will cost.
The finance department will monitor the figures.
If there are any problems E.g. If sales are not high as budgeted than they will have to adjust their forecast
Managing Finance
- Working out what resources are needed
- Raising capital to help pay for their resources
- Loans (bank , private, sponsors, selling shares and profit reinvestment
- Pension
- Calculating pay and taxes
Payroll
This is another job for this department in McDonalds.
They have to work out the pay and deductions of the employees
In McDonalds this job is computerised using programs this is because it is much faster and very accurate.
Financial Statements
The Finance department must complete financial statements for two reasons
- this can show how much profit or loss the McDonalds is making (profit & loss statement)
- How much money they owe
Spreadsheets
The Finance department in McDonalds constructs and builds a spreadsheet to present their accounts. Spreadsheets makes McDonalds job easier, this is because by using the formulas you can calculate any sums required. Also spreadsheets can easily be saved on the computer and even changed if needed. The reason McDonalds use spreadsheets is for financial statements. Statements are formed so McDonalds can see how much profit or loss the company is making. It is also produced as it easier to see how much capital they owe (balance sheet)
Administration & ICT
Administration: Making sure the right business resources are in the right place at the right time
ICT: Information and Communication Technology
The use of computer and communication technology to support the running of a business
The administration department relies heavily on ICT to function efficiently.
Administration is making sure that the right resources are in the right place at the right time.
This part of the company makes sure the premise is safe and clean.
They also have to check if there paper in the toilets, printers, photocopies etc.
Making sure customers are sent the right documents and that telephone messages don’t get lost.
Keeping records: They keep records on the computer because they can’t get lost and can be saved.
Responding to enquiries: They respond to enquiries in different ways
Email is one of the ways they can respond to enquiries.
Also McDonalds have a call centre which is another way you can contact the company on any enquiries.
This area also does the following
- Dealing with the post: Reading it and passing it on.
- Making sure all the computers work
- Photocopying : Sheets, leaflets, application forms
- Printing forms: Leaflets
- Clerical work
- Support service
All of these jobs are important in McDonalds.
This area supplies the company with information.
Administration helps everyone in the areas because they have computers and print out sheets that everyone will need.
E.g. forms, leaflets, health & safety policy etc.
IT has helped McDonalds in the recent years because of the internet. This is because internet has become popular worldwide and is good for McDonalds so they can research.
How Functional Areas work with each other to achieve aims and objectives
Human Resources and its impact on other functional areas
The most important link would be the recruitment of staff which the Human Resources do. In many areas departments notify human resources when they have a vacancy and it is put up to the HR staff to make sure that this is then advertised or placed with the most appropriate sources for recruitment and that paperwork is completed and the interviews scheduled according to company policy.
There is also links between different functional areas and HR staff over training events and staff development activities. Normally the HR department organises regular inductions programmes which all new staff attend together regardless of which department they will work in.
There are obvious links between health and safety and areas of McDonalds.
Safety representatives will work in other functional areas and particular in more dangerous environments such as Production.
Finance and its impact on functional areas
All managers are concerned with the finance of their own areas.
Because financial staff are responsible for controlling the money they will advice the managers when the company is over spending. This can mean cutting down on expenditure. This could mean Marketing and sales have to cut advertising, Production may have to deduct overtime, HR may be told they can no longer hire or replace people for a time; Administration may have to defer the purchase of a new printer.
Finance is also responsible for paying employers wages or salaries.
So and enquiries about those payments will be made to the finance area.
Different functions need finance to pay for goods they have bought.
Production and impact on functional areas
Finance has a critical link with Production because the cost of making a product or delivering the service has to be calculated very carefully.
This information is required before the selling price can be calculated and this must take account the prices charged by competitors.
The costs of Production will be calculated using current figures for raw materials, standard times or working and average wage rates. If raw materials cost more and there is excessive downtime or slow working resulting in high overtime payments then these will increase the cost of production budget to ensure targets are met as soon as possible.
It has links with HR for its staffing needs.
Additional staff may be required to help process a large order or to meet a high seasonal demand for goods or service. HR will organise training for new staff and new skills. They will give advice if there are any labour disputes and will be involved in any union negotiations
Also Marketing as they can consult to see exactly what the customer wants and produce it through market research.
Marketing and impact on functional areas
Marketing has links with finance as to the sales budget given that the level of sales is the starting point for setting the budget.
Marketing and Sales will forecast annual sales of different products and this result in income forecast for McDonalds.
Marketing also forecasts the cost of promotion and advertising.
They also expect Finance to tell them about the credit worthiness of new customers or warn them if an existing customer is a bad payer.
Marketing may need to consult with a member of Finance if they wanted to offer special terms for a product.
No Marketing and Sales department can survive without the assistance from Administration in any company. Marketing is often the function that needs administration support for all. This may include
- Keeping a comprehensive customer database
- Analysing and recording sales
- Representatives reports
- Recording sales
- Analysing trends
- Advertising
- Customer enquiries
- Prepare presentations
- Promotional campaigns
Customer Service
They deal with complaints and enquiries which means they are told by customers what they are disappointed with. This means Customer Service can pass on this information to the other areas to improve the company.
One of McDonald’s main objectives is to constantly improve the service that its customers receive. A good way of doing this is by listening to the points of view of all its customers. Currently every staff member undertakes a structured training programme as the company recognizes the importance of staff attitude in a customer services environment. For over a year and a half the ‘Hire the Smile’ employee recruitment programme has been in place, this involves two interviews for each job candidate, and an on-job assessment that looks at staff attitude and customer service skills.
How the Functional areas help to meet the aims and objectives of McDonalds
All the different departments have several tasks to complete in McDonalds and all of them help McDonalds to meet their aims and objectives. This means at the same time in McDonalds everyone is doing a different type of job to keep McDonalds running efficiently.
One of McDonalds aims is to “maximise sales,” this aim can be achieved by help from the Marketing and Sales. There job is to research e.g. find out what customers want or anything they think that needs improving. If they get feedback from the customers and do what they say McDonalds can achieve the aim by maximising sales. Marketing and Sales can also maximise sales by advertising and lowering prices.
Another aim for McDonalds is to “provide quality products” The Hr department are linked to this as they train and recruit people. If they don’t hire or train staff
Efficiently then McDonalds ill not provide quality products for its customers which may result to loss in customers.
Provide Quality products
Production help meet these objectives as they ensure McDonalds are providing quality products. They deal with “Quality control” which involves inspecting different areas of the production process. This makes sure if there are any faulty ingredients in McDonalds products they can be rejected and resolved.
“Quality Assurance” also helps as it means every process carried out in McDonalds has been checked by an external body and McDonalds will receive a certificate.
HR also help meet this aim because their job is to hire, train and recruit staff.
If the HR department in McDonalds haven’t hired or trained someone at a high standard then they will be doing a job they are incapable of doing. This means that McDonalds will not be providing quality products and may result in loss of customers. E.g. someone who can’t make burgers just puts anything in and customers will not be happy.
Beating Competition
In order to achieve this aim McDonalds have to rely on Customer Service. They are the key to achieving this aim. E.g. If Burger King our providing a better customer service then McDonalds then customers will decide to go there instead.
McDonalds can attract new customers by fast and efficient customer service.
Marketing and Sales can also help achieve this aim as they research. They need to research on other competitors to see what they are selling successfully that McDonalds may need to improve so that they are being competitive.
Make Profit
All department help to make a profit in McDonalds, without each other McDonalds wouldn’t be able to run efficiently and make a profit.
Be Environmentally Friendly
Production helps meet this aim and objective as they are responsible of resources such as building and lands. If Production finds a location which creates a lot of pollution then it would create a bad image for McDonalds.
Marketing and sales also help meet this aim and objective as they are responsible for the packaging of products. If they decide to use a material that may pollute or create a lot of litter this would also create a bad image for McDonalds.
Focusing on Financial Performance
The finance department help meet this aim and objective as they keep track of all money flowing around McDonalds. To focus on financial performance Finance McDonalds has to make sure they monitor areas carefully for example, how much money they have given to each department as their budget.
To Expand
Production help meet this aim and objective as they are responsible for locating McDonalds restaurant.
KIRAN PATEL
GCSE APPLIED BUSINESS TASK 3
Communication
This means getting a message across to someone.
McDonalds need to communicate on a regular basis with the people inside and outside the business.
They communicate with supplies and their customers.
Communication with people inside McDonalds is said to be internal.
Communication with people outside, such as customers and supplies is said to be external.
Internal communication includes staff meetings, newsletters and internal telephone calls. Emails are often sent internally through a network computer system.
External communication includes business letters, telephone calls, fax messages, advertisements and meetings with customers and clients. Emails may also be sent externally over the internet and many organisations have web sites carrying information to attract potential customers
Communication flows all the around McDonalds
∙ Directors
∙ Supervisors
∙ Managers
∙ Assistants
∙ Employees
There are different forms of communication
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Oral (word of mouth)
-
Written
-
Visual
- Electronic
Here are some examples which McDonalds use
Electronic methods of communication
During the 21st century, electronic methods of communicating are very likely to become more and more popular. It saves time, money and effort to attach a file electronically to an email than to print it out and send it by post providing you know what you are doing.
Written
Written communication is usually used if the matter is important or serious.
This gives formality to the communication and provides a record of what it contains. The most formal type of written document is usually the business letter or a report. The least formal is an email.
Message
When you are going to send a message using any type of communication you have to consider a couple of things
∙ What is the communication designed too achieve
∙ needs to be considered carefully to judge the best method of delivery
∙ also judge the effectiveness of the feedback as to whether the message has been successful
Type
Type of messages may be an important factor in determining the content, medium, approach etc
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Good news
-
Bad news
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Information
- Instruction
Each of the following may require a different approach and medium
How they are used in McDonalds
Telephone
This is used by customer service in the functional areas.
They use this to deal with customer complaints and deal with any enquires the customer have. This type of method is important and has to be accurate.
There can be basic errors when you are speaking on the telephone.
E.g. making sure you are giving the correct information and are speaking clearly and loudly enough so the customers can hear you. You have to speak at the right pace and there can be problems if this is not done.
Telephones in McDonalds can be used to order stock e.g. potatoes
Administration also uses the telephone as they send and receive messages. Administration in McDonalds deal with
-
Making arrangements for visitors to McDonalds
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Making travel arrangements for members of staff who travel on business
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Purchasing routine supplies e.g. stationary and office equipment
- Making arrangements for events such as interviews or sales conferences
All these jobs are carried out in Administration in McDonalds.
Human Resources use the telephone to arrange interviews for short listed candidates and notifying them of the interview result.
ICT
ICT is used a lot now in any business, it has become very popular.
It has brought many advantages but also has its limitations
Advantages for McDonalds
-
Speedy connection
- Can be cheap and save money on videoconferencing
Disadvantages
-
Can be expensive in hardware requirements
-
Can be abused
- Can be impersonal
The greatest link with ICT is Administration this is because they use ICT to do their job correctly and in McDonalds.
They need to use ICT in McDonalds to
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Store records safely on the computer and retrieve these when required
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Responding promptly to enquiries from other members of staff and from external customers.
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Preparing documents using word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation packages such as PowerPoint.
-
Sending and receiving messages by using email.
- Keeping company or departmental records up to date.
Customer Service also use ICT as they have to keep records of customer complaints and analyse these to resolve problem areas. They have to record and analyse customer feedback to improve customer service.
Human Resources use ICT to record sick leaves and reasons for employee absences. They also use ICT to keep records of any grievances and disciplinary actions and their outcomes. They monitor the wage rates and maintain the staff records to keep them up to date.
Intranet
McDonalds are now electronically linked to the intranet now.
The intranet is a basic workstation where people working in the same business are linked together. This is a good because in this method no information should get lost or go missing as the computer has it saved.
The Human Resources department use the intranet for the following
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Customer details
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Product details
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Training records
- Employees disciplining
The intranet is not the same as the internet.
It is important the information is accurate.
This is because if they have the wrong person the product. McDonalds have to make sure they have the right details.
Internet
Many businesses are now linked to the internet by telephone lines.
McDonalds are linked to the internet.
The internet is very popular and is an expanding network all around the world.
The Marketing and Sales department use the internet because they check how other competitions are doing. This has to be accurate because McDonalds may lower prices if they find out other competitors are selling the same product cheaper. If the communication is wrong and the prices are normal then McDonalds will loose out and not be making a profit.
This area also uses the internet to research and develop new products or services.
Websites
Many businesses are now setting up website every day.
McDonalds have set up a business to promote their goods online and also be able to advertise new sales on the website. Other companies such as clothes shops can sell products 24 hors a day using a website. The websites are used by customers to see any special offers, price lists, products etc.
McDonald’s website has a contact page which enables and visitor to the site to email the business. You have to make sure the information on the website is correct for example product prices and company info etc.
The marketing and sales department look at websites and use them to find out what products customers want and selling products to them.
They also look at competitors websites to see if there using any promotions and discovering different techniques that they use. Marketing and Sales have to ensure that McDonald’s website reflects the image of the company and that the content is up to date. They have to ensure that McDonalds website comes out on top on search engines lists.
Letters
McDonalds would write letters to reply to complaints or enquiries
Again the customer services deal with letters.
This is a more formal way to communicate with outsiders.
When you are writing a letter there can be several mistakes such as
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Spelling mistakes
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Wrong address
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Date
-
Wrong telephone number
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Signature
-
Enclosed
-
Complimentary close
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Reference number
- Salutation
Also letters can get lost in the post so the company have to make sure they contact who they send the letter to see if they have received it.
The Administration and ICT deal with the incoming and outgoing of mail.
They also can reply to complaints by letters.
Email
Many people now use emails this is because it is a fast method of communicating. The marketing and sales department in McDonalds use emails to find out what customers want in the store. They also check up on delivery or order goods by emailing. If they needed to contact shareholders or head offices the company would use email.
The important thing is too save the emails needed.
The Administration and ICT again can reply from complaints from the customers using email.
There are some things that you have to consider when you are emailing
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Does it need to be normal rules of spelling, grammar, punctuation etc
-
Is it appropriate to use text speak
-
How do you know what the receiver expects
- What damage can be caused by inappropriate email messages
The benefits of emailing
- Any other document produced on computer can be attached to the email and transmitted at the same time.
- Complex information can be sent and because the details are written down there is little risk of misunderstanding, which could happen if you were communicating by telephone.
- Emails can be prepared and sent at the senders convenience and hour of the day or night and the recipients can read incoming messages and respond when it suits them.
- Emails can be sent simultaneously to a group of people e.g. to all the people who normally attend a particular meeting
- A copy of the email can be printed out for the file or for further discussion
- All email systems are protected by a password and a user ID so that only the named user can access the mail.
Fax
Fax machines are versatile, useful and cheap.
Most offices use them for transmitting documents over any distance quickly and easily. Automated fax machines can undertake many operations independently.
Frequently used numbers can be stored in the machines memory which has a search facility for speed retrieval so that faxes can be sent automatically during cheap rate and off peak times.
The machine can be programmed to preface each message with a specially printed cover sheet giving the name of the organisation and sender and to print a previously stored signature at a specific point.
The main advantage of a fax would be it does not need retyping.
Administration would use faxes to be able to transmit graphics, maps and photographs to customers or other important people in the business.
E.g. if someone wanted to check the progress of McDonalds and didn’t now where the store was then sending a fax would be the quickest and best solution
Also you can send a fax on headed paper so that the document looks more official than an email message.
Advertising
Posters
In McDonalds posters are used to advertise and attract customers and Marketing and Sales are in charge of this. They are responsible for producing press advertisements such as posters.
This is a good way of advertising but there can be errors
E.g. On the poster it says there is an offer at McDonalds buy 2 burgers get the next free, the customers read the poster and think its an excellent deal and go McDonalds, when they get there they find out it was a mistake and its not true.
Posters are used to inform the customers on new products, special promotions and deals.
Human resources use Advertising to advertise vacancies at the jobcentre, in newspapers, magazines and employment agencies.
Memo
This is an internal note used to communicate.
In a memo there can be simple mistakes that are made
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Details of the sender
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Who message is sent to
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Subject
-
How many people are receiving it
-
Text
-
Signature
- If the item is enclosed
McDonalds use memos because it is a quick and efficient way to communicate within the company. Memos are easy to produce as paper is just required.
Memos are useful if used in the correct way. Memos are just small which means they cannot be left around anyway people have to be aware of them or they may miss a vital meeting for example.
Video Conference
This is a new and way of communicating.
In this type of communication you can hear and see the person.
It is a more technical and reliable way rather than using just a telephone
You just have to make sure what you are showing is correct while video conferencing is correct and relevant.
Voicemail
If nobody picks up the phone and it is an important message you need to tell them then voicemail is the answer.
If nobody answers you can leave a message saying whatever you wanted to in the phone call. In a voicemail you just need to make sure you tell them when to ring back and leave a telephone number.
If a telephone number is not left than they cannot get back in touch.
Face to Face
This type of communication is by far accurate and the most reliable.
Also this is the most common communication used every day in McDonalds
You can talk to people face to face in a room where there are no interruptions and can also take your time. In McDonalds when they are serving customers they have to make sure they are confident, happy and have good body language
All the areas use face to face communication to communicate with each other.
Meetings
Meetings are held for several purposes in McDonalds. Their main one is face to face communication between people who need to
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Obtain assistance
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Solve problems
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Give out or exchange information
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Decide on action to be taken
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Report on an event or activity
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Involvement in a project
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Organise special events or occasions
-
Generate ideas or suggestions
- Discuss issues of mutual concern
The meeting must be well organised otherwise it may not be effective.
McDonalds have to consider the following before preparing a meeting
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The time, date and venue must be fixed in advance
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The time and date should be convenient for those whose attendance is vital
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Those attending must now what they need to do to prepare for the meeting
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The venue must be large enough for everyone and in a convenient location to minimise travel time and cost
- One person should be nominated to run the meeting and another to take notes down of opinions
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Paperwork must be prepared in advance and either circulated to members beforehand or handed out on the day
-
The chairperson must be capable of running the meeting properly so that everyone is encouraged to contribute and no one is allowed to distract or take over the meeting
- Minutes or action notes which summarise what was discussed and the action people promised to take must be circulated afterwards
Oral
Disadvantages
Written
Advantages
Disadvantages
