McDonalds and Globalization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

McDonalds and Globalization - Essay Example McDonalds is a chain of restaurants working in collaboration to deliver their customers with the best product. It also follows the concepts of globalization. This essay would discuss an ethnographic study in McDonalds as it affirms or refutes the claims made about globalization. Ethnographic Study McDonald’s is one of the biggest fast food restaurant chains around the globe. Franchising is the key success factor behind the international success of McDonald’s. The global strategy of franchising McDonald’s is to involve local people and translate the US brand culture to the local culture and values of products and services offered. The integration of local values and cultural elements into the flexible working environment and structure of McDonald’s, help in developing the standards of the food chain with reference to customer’s loyalty and satisfaction.... McDonald’s values, hence, comprise of strategies which uphold the customers’ values. Their advertisements and marketing campaigns include slogans like ‘our community’, ‘our commitment’ etc. and symbols like a smile, happy and fresh look and so on. The idea of community greatly influences the customers at McDonald’s as this word provides them with a feeling of care and trust. Cleanliness, quality and timeliness are some other key values that were emphasized by the management every now and then. The claim of McDonalds to support charities also make a good impression on the customers, however, the quality and value of food along with comfortable environment of the franchise were the key components of success of the business. The division of labour as I observed comprised of more female staff than male. The reason behind such distribution of labour may be the timings that I chose to work in. The day timings may be more of comfort for the fem ale staff and the night shifts might have more male members than female. Around 14 workers worked at a time excluding the managers who were responsible for the operational and strategic decisions related to the franchise. The jobs were distributed in various categories as per the skills, competence level and qualification of each employee. Cashiers, food packing staff, food making staff, cleaning staff, employees dealing with drive-through customers, cashiers and supervisors were all working to avoid any mishaps and quality compromising act (McDonald's goes ethnic 2010; Whats Eating McDonalds 2009). The customers included different age groups, genders, ethnic classes, social classes and cultural backgrounds. Children were more likely to opt for kids’ meals like happy meals which include toys for the children that

Is HRM an Effective Approach to Managing People at Work Essay

Is HRM an Effective Approach to Managing People at Work - Essay Example Machineries will be passive resources unless they are controlled and operated by human workforce. It should be noted that only the human resources has natural intelligence whereas the machineries have only artificial intelligence. Since human intelligence is much more advanced than artificial intelligence, an organization cannot neglect the importance of manpower and human intelligence under any circumstances. Human resource management or HRM is one of the major divisions of every organization. The success and failures of the organization depends on the functioning of the HRM wing. According to Torrington et al. (2011), â€Å"Human resource management (HRM) is the basis of all management activity†(Torrington et al., 2011, p.4). In other words, all the organizational activities start from the HR department. HR is responsible for assigning duties to the employees of an organization. Human resource management theories are undergoing rapid changes because of the changes in life st yles and advancements in science and technology. Earlier, employees were more interested in getting decent salaries. However, current employees are not only interested in getting decent salaries, but also in getting proper work culture, environment and opportunities to keep a balance between work and life. Effectiveness of HRM lies in keeping a balance between the employee interests and that of the organization’s interests.It is difficult to define HRM in few words because of the complex functions associated with it. Generally speaking â€Å"HRM is the process of managing people in organizations in a structured and thorough manner† (Human Resource Management (HRM), 2012). HR department is responsible for recruitment, retention, allocation of suitable jobs, training and development of employees. A right person at the right place at the right time is always beneficial to an organization and it is the duty of HR to ensure it. Even though unemployment is a big problem in m any of the countries, lack of skilled manpower is creating major problems to organizations. It is the duty of the HR to identify best talents from the employment market so that the organization will always have the se4rvices of extremely good talents. Competition is growing day by day and as a result of that, organizations are competing each other for recruiting best talents. As a result of that employee retention is a major problem nowadays. HR department is responsible for employee retention. Training and development is another major HR function. No employee can develop properly if the organization fails to provide adequate training to them. Knowledge explosion and technological advancements forced organizations to give more importance to training of employees. HR is responsible for training also. It should be noted that the responsibilities of HR will be over after recruitment, retention, and training. Allocation of suitable jobs to the employees is another major HR function. A s mart employee at the wrong place may bring more harm than good to an organization. For example, an employee who has sales skills should be appointed only in the sales department in order to derive maximum efficiency out of him. If the organization wrongly places him in some other departments, he may not deliver the goods. In short, effectiveness of HRM depends on talent identification,