Introduction
It is imperative to mention that employee management is quite important nowadays because companies have to deal with numerous issues, and are looking for ways to increase profits. Moreover, many enterprises have recognized that the focus on workers is vital, but some of them struggle to retain them. McDonald’s is one of the best examples of the firms that consider such aspects to be important. The managers of the company have been one of the pioneers of investing much effort and money into establishing effective engagement of people working at different levels of the business.
As the largest category of employees consists of low-skilled workers, the company faced the need to reduce repeated turnovers and overcome many other challenges and problems related to the specifics of the fast-food business. That is where employee engagement emerged as a strategic issue for providing the company’s sustainability. Furthermore, it has started to focus on the social responsibility and consider the needs of its workers. It would be beneficial to analyze ideas of scholars to get a better understanding of the subject matter, and gained knowledge can be applied to McDonald’s to determine the effectiveness of approaches that are used by the company. Therefore, the report will consist of the literature review, discussion of the findings and a conclusion.
Literature Review
Definitions and Misconceptions
One of the most significant issues is the presence of differences in defining the employee engagement. Shuck and Wollard conducted a valid study on existing literature about the issue to investigate the concepts of employee engagement and compare the existing definitions (2010: 99). The authors discuss the contribution of the studies regarding employee engagement as a factor influenced by the personal satisfaction that should be assessed at the individual level. Besides, they accentuate the significance of the studies that highlighted the personal view of engagement based on the results of examining different dates from the practitioners’ experience.
The analysis of the mentioned variants of perception of employee engagement demonstrates certain misconceptions in the existing definitions of the term. The first issue is related to defining employee engagement as an organizational-level variable. Such description misleads many practitioners and makes them search for methods of enhancing work commitment on many levels (Shuck and Wollard, 2010: 102). However, employee engagement has an individualistic character.
Therefore, it is beneficial to focus on areas that are regarded most important (Walker, 2012: 91). Another inconsistency in academics’ definitions causes the practitioners to perceive employee engagement as a phenomenon having no types. Such misconception can put a threat to the effectiveness of chosen strategies as cognitive, and emotional engagement should be developed jointly (Shuck and Wollard, 2010: 103). It is also suggested that it could be intellectual, affective, and social (Bridger, 2014: 5). Therefore, the misconceptions in academics’ definitions of employee engagement seem to align with the mistakes made by practitioners while developing an appropriate strategy for enhancing employee engagement in their firms.
Leadership
Though researchers’ inaccuracy in defining employee engagement sometimes misleads the practitioners, many studies appear to contribute to determining the effective ways of its enhancement. A lot of attention should be devoted to the leadership because the experience of employees is dependent on the performance of managers. The issue is that many individuals do not enjoy excessive control, and would prefer to have some freedom when making decisions. The transformational style has shown to be incredibly efficient, and could have a long-lasting impact. A recent study has identified a close relationship between the optimism of a leader and daily engagement (Bridger, 2014: 74).
The aspect that should be highlighted is that all the actions of the employees in fast food restaurants are monitored to avoid possible complaints. However, they have to deal with enormous pressure, and it is a responsibility of the leader to address such issues. Workers are more likely to be engaged when they are confident in their safety, and understand that possible conflicts can be promptly resolved (Bridger, 2014: 77). Practical “interpersonal aspect” of relations between leaders and other members of the team appear to be of vital importance for increasing the number of engaged workers (Hansen et al., 2014: 34).
Tools and Common Issues
Surveys can be utilized as an outstanding tool to get a better understanding of the perspective of employees and determine areas that are most problematic and should be addressed. However, it is noted that this approach is no longer as efficient as it used to be in the past. It may not be an easy task to assess the level of engagement because it measures commitment that an employee has towards a particular task or a job as a whole. Moreover, the identification of aspects that are not liked by a worker is paramount, and a manager may come up with particular solutions once he has access to such information. Levels of engagement are relatively high in the United States.
However, one of the studies has shown that close to 55% of employees are not engaged (Carbonara, 2012: 11). Such figure is not surprising because some of the jobs are dangerous and do not satisfy individuals. However, it is evident that many companies do not take advantage of this concept, and the potential of most workers is not yet realized. Autonomy is critical, and one of the aspects that are valued by many individuals is an ability to express their ideas and emotions. An environment that supports creativity is a tremendous advantage, and it should not be punished (Georgiades, 2015: 84).
However, it is possible to state that this is an area that could be quite problematic for the industry because employees are expected to behave in a particular way to meet the demands of customers. Therefore, a particular challenge is present, and an enterprise may have to look for alternative approaches. Another aspect that should be highlighted is that most workers that value innovations are more likely to discuss such information with customers (Dickson, 2010: 45).
It is understandable that the use of new technologies in this business is rather limited. Furthermore, it would be reasonable to utilize such tools as smartphone applications and the social media to increase the levels of engagement. It may be hard to justify expenses on such activities, but one of the studies has shown that an operating income rose by 19,2% over a year in enterprises that had high levels of engagement (Dickson, 2010: 44). Therefore, any technique that could help to address this issue should be considered and evaluated.
Summary
Overall, the analysis of relevant literature sources exploring employee engagement demonstrates that there are still numerous debates on defining the concept, and some definitions can mislead the practitioners while developing an appropriate strategy for their companies. However, examination of different ideas helps to understand the nature of the phenomenon.
The variety of studies presenting information about methods of enhancing employee engagement also contains some inaccuracies. Several aspects that affect engagement levels of employees were also identified, and it would be appropriate to determine if they are taken into consideration by McDonald’s. Moreover, it would be possible to develop a list of recommendations that could be considered by the company as a result of the analysis.
The Strategy Employed by the McDonald’s Company
Discussion
McDonald’s fast-food chain is famous all over the world, and its success is based on effective business strategy. Several challenges encouraged the company to search for efficient methods of enhancing employee engagement. As the company acknowledged negative publicity surrounding its brand, it decided to put much effort into changing this disadvantageous situation as it directly affected its employees facing “hostility” from other people (HR Magazine, 2011). Such negative attitude to the employees of the company influenced their job satisfaction.
Besides, as most of the workforce of the company consists of low-skilled workers, the company faced the problem of constant turnover. One more challenge was related to the necessity to stimulate the customer-driven performance of employees, including being polite and friendly with the customers. All of the factors mentioned above stimulated the company to search for the strategy able to promote employee engagement and contribute to solving the discussed problems. Fortunately, the company found highly effective methods of enhancing employee engagement and has become an example of brilliant usage of human resources management techniques.
Current Approaches
The company used such methods of increasing employee engagement as developing employee pride in the business and rewarding the best workers to address the negative perception of the brand. The company cultivated a sense of belonging to a winning business while sponsoring the Olympic Games in London in 2012 to enhance employee pride in the firm (HR Magazine, 2011). McDonald’s positioned itself as standing in line with the most innovative companies. Besides, the company launched “Meet Our People” program, which was aimed at perceiving the employees as talented members of the great team (HR Magazine, 2011).
This method was selected to make the staff more humane and boost the pride of employees for doing their job and being a part of the company. As brand perception was negatively affected by the common belief that only people with lack of knowledge and skills work in fast-food restaurants, the company invested tremendous sums of money in the training of staff. Only in the United Kingdom, £35 million were used for up-skilling and training of personnel, which encouraged the employees to consider their job at McDonald’s restaurants as beneficial and prestigious as other jobs are (Jackson et al., 2012: 351).
The company launched the program selecting 2000 employees that had the opportunity to volunteer during the Olympic Games in London to reward the best workers (Jackson et al., 2012: 351). Besides, the company launched numerous initiatives for most devoted employees. They included free holidays and bonuses. The methods employed by the enterprise address JD-R model that is widely discussed in academic sources exploring employee engagement. The company managed to raise the value of job resources and make the employees feel that job demands comply with the benefits they receive from demonstrating good performance. Therefore, high level of employee pride and efficient system of rewards improved brand perception and contributed to increasing employee engagement at McDonald’s.
To address the problem of constant turnover the company also used methods enhancing employee engagement. Apprenticeship Scheme was launched in 2009 because the initial cause of turnover was defined as lack of knowledge and skills needed to apply for work in the company (Jackson et al., 2012: 351). Nearly five thousands of employees received their nationally recognized qualification in hospitality (Jackson et al., 2012: 351).
This event directly affected the rates of turnover by significantly increasing employee engagement. Such strategy addressed the problem of many individuals leaving in search of education appropriate for a qualified job (Jackson et al., 2012: 351). The qualifications received after the training eliminated the necessity to choose between learning and employment. Such strategy appears to be very effective as it is based on the concept viewing employee engagement as having individualistic character. Giving the employees a chance to receive educational qualification addresses the needs of those individuals that are concerned about their future perspectives and are willing to be highly-qualified members of the team.
Talent Management
As the company sells franchises and has thousands of restaurants all over the world, it has put much effort in developing a useful scheme of entering new markets. To address the need to promote the customer-driven direction of services provided by the employees, McDonald’s also relied on the principles of enhancing employee engagement. Before starting operating in a new country, HR professionals in McDonald’s contact the American professionals with experience of work in the chosen country and gather all relevant information needed to be able to adjust the company’s services to a particular environment (Aswathappa and Dash, 2007: 192).
The careful investigation of political and cultural specifics of the country enables the company both to address the individualistic approach to enhancing employee engagement and promote the workers’ ability to provide customer-driven services based on their awareness of the unique features of clientele in the country. Another part of activities aimed at ensuring customer-driven orientation of employees through promoting work engagement is related to developing effective leadership at all levels of the company.
Workers that are viewed as low-skill are involved in the process, and applications are reviewed by managers. For choosing store managers responsible for leading the employees that directly interact with customers, the company uses a “selection profile” focusing on leadership skills and management abilities. Moreover, these abilities should correspond to the requirements related to working in “fast-paced” restaurant environment (Aswathappa and Dash, 2007: 192). If the applicant appears to satisfy the requirements, he/she is asked to work for two weeks in the restaurant.
The performance of the applicant is evaluated based on the feedbacks of the colleagues supposed to be in charge of the manager. Only if a person fits the team, he/she receives the position of the manager. Such strategy is highly effective as it helps to ensure the efficient leadership related to work of supervisors. Furthermore, this is crucial because it has been noted that leaders have an enormous impact on the level of engagement (Bridger, 2014: 74). However, it is possible to criticize the company, because supervisors are not trained on how to make employees more interested and involved.
They are only trying to make workers perform tasks much faster, and such approach may not be beneficial in the long-term because individuals will get tired of repetitive actions. Also, not enough attention is devoted to their safety in the workplace, and they are stressed because of high demands. Deciding on whether to give the position to a person or not based on the feedbacks of employees who are supposed to consider this person a leader during the working process helps to exclude the possibility of conflicts and unwillingness of workers to contact with managers.
The skills of the person applying for a position of a manager are also carefully examined to ensure his/her ability to conduct training for old employees and acquaint new workers with their philosophy. Managers supposed to lead the team will achieve great success in promoting the high quality of the employees’ performance, including providing customer-driven services. Such strategy addresses the concepts that regard employee engagement as a direct consequence of effective leadership. The performance of employees is viewed as primary criteria to determine the efficiency of the approach. McDonald’s has used this concept carefully and achieved great results.
Possible Improvements
Though the company’s strategy of improving employee engagement appears to be rather effective, there are still some improvements that can help to achieve even bigger success. The company could pay more attention to developing a sufficient methodology of seeking for applicants that have a potential for becoming engaged employees. Such tactics contribute to increasing the number of engaged employees. Coaching the recruiters to search for candidates should become a vital part of the firm’s strategy.
Besides, the company could pay more attention to ensuring the managers’ abilities to increase self-efficacy of workers. Gruman and Saks are focused on the importance of promoting employees’ self-efficacy through appropriate coaching for developing overall employee engagement (2011: 130). Therefore, promoting workers’ self-efficacy is an essential part of increasing work engagement as it can encourage personnel to believe in their strengths, set higher goals, and achieve better results. Another issue that should be highlighted is that McDonald’s does not consider the ideas offered by employees.
Therefore, they are not engaged in the process, and they may think that they are not valued by the enterprise. The firm has managed to achieve outstanding results, but it is evident that most workers would prefer other jobs because the work at McDonald’s is not regarded prestigious. Therefore, it would be reasonable to expand and consider other target markets. The strategies that the company uses may be viewed as outdated, and it is likely that it will have to deal with challenges in the future because they are focused mostly on new workers (Harris and Short, 2013: 32).
Conclusion
Overall, it is evident that McDonald’s has been quite successful when it comes to employee engagement. However, it is possible to state that many techniques suggested by scholars are not implemented. It is understandable that it may not be an easy task to justify such expenses, but it would be reasonable to consider the use of several methods. Also, paying more attention to efficient searching for potentially engaged workers and ensuring the promotion of employees’ self-efficacy should be addressed by the company in the future to maintain the sustainability of its overall strategy.
Investigating the information about employee engagement present in relevant literature helps to understand the conceptual framework of the phenomenon. An extensive amount of information about the discussed phenomenon is available, and its careful analysis can benefit any employer willing to find the most appropriate solutions for increasing the number of engaged employees. Assessing the methods employed by the McDonald’s company through the prism of evidence gathered from the valid literature sources reveals the strengths of the firm’s strategy and can benefit any employer eager to find an example of successful enhancement of employee engagement.
Further research aimed to examine the effectiveness of employing the academics’ theories on enhancing employee engagement in practice is highly recommended for ensuring the development of the efficient methodology. Analysis of the main controversies in the concepts of employee engagement presented by many scholars contributes to preventing the practitioners’ mistakes caused by the misleading definitions. Therefore, the studies that investigate the existing variations of employee engagement concepts and formulate the concept that unites the most appropriate theories are of vital importance for eliminating the gap in research. Studying the primary methods of enhancing employee engagement also reveals certain inaccuracies that should be fixed in the future. Therefore, further research aimed at examining the efficacy of the discussed methods is needed to eliminate the gap between theory and practice and find the most appropriate methodology of promoting employee engagement.
Reference List
Aswathappa, K. & S. Dash, (2007) International Human Resources Management, New Delhi, IN: Tata McGraw-Hill Education.
Bridger, E., (2014) Employee Engagement, London, UK: Kogan Page Publishers.
Carbonara, S., (2012) Manager’s Guide to Employee Engagement, New York, NY: McGraw Hill Professional.
Dickson, D. A., (2010) Fostering Employee Engagement: Practical Tools and Best Practice Techniques, Amherst, MA: HRD Press.
Georgiades, S., (2015) Employee Engagement in Media Management: Creativeness and Organizational Development, New York, NY: Springer Publishing.
Gruman, J., & A. Saks, (2011) ‘Performance Management and Employee Engagement’, Human Resource Management Review, 21(2) pp. 123-136.
Hansen, A., Z. Byrne, & C. Kiersch, (2014) ‘How Interpersonal Leadership Relates to Employee Engagement’, Journal of Managerial Psychology, 29(8) pp.953-972.
Harris, R. M. & T. W. Short, (2013) Workforce Development: Perspectives and Issues, Berlin, DE: Springer Science & Business Media.
HR Magazine, (2011) HR Excellence Awards 2011 – Outstanding Employee Engagement Strategy: McDonald’s. Web.
Jackson, S., D. Ones, & S. Dilchert, (2012) Managing Human Resources for Environmental Sustainability, San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.
Shuck, B. & K. K. Wollard, (2010) ‘Employee Engagement and HRD: A Seminal Review of the Foundations’, Human Resource Development Review, 9(1) pp.89-110.
Walker, S., (2015) Employee Engagement and Communication Research: Measurement, Strategy and Action, London, UK: Kogan Page Publishers.