Moral Problem: McDonald’s Company Essay

An organization is established with the aim of making proceeds. The proceeds are earned in return of providing goods and services to the consumers who in return have to pay for these goods and services. An organization’s success is determined by how it relates with the general public. It is in this regard that organizations draft rules that are meant to limit their actions towards their customers and among themselves.

McDonald’s is among the most reputable food joints in the world. The company started from a very humble beginning but as for now it has many branches in various countries which make it a multinational organization (Funding Universe, n.d).

This paper focuses on the various challenges that this organization has been experiencing and the measure that it has taken. Every business has its own challenges no matter how hard the management tries to eliminate setbacks.

McDonald’s has managed to overcome the problem of running overseas branches but then that gap is filled by the perception of critics who argue that the organization fosters the consumption of junk food among children which is alleged to cause heart disease. According to Thilmany (2007) this statement can be very demoralizing to the administration of this organization.

Utilitarian would argue that that eating foods from the company can cause obesity and heart problems, thus not a good option for the majority. But deontological consideration in this concept would suggest that following the right procedure in preparing the food justifies its consumption. In essence, the motive is not bad as asserted by deontological consideration, but the consequences are considered inappropriate.

This implies that the critics don’t recognize the positive things that have been accomplished by this organization. To be sincere, McDonald’s has been promoting the education of children from poor backgrounds.

McDonald’s has been trying to create a balance between its employees and the customers and the neighbors as well. Children are prohibited from joining the workforce of McDonald’s. In response to the recent criticism McDonald’s food joint has introduced vegetables which are taken as a compliment to the said junk food.

Any investor must commence from a humble beginning as opposed to what many people think. Paluszek (2005) explains that the statements could be coming from the rivals of this enterprise. Rivals can insight customers in order to gain more customers.

We all know that when we walk into a fast food joint nobody is forced to take what they consume. Furthermore, it is not all obese children who owe their weight to fast food joints. This is because there are some people who are genetically overweight.

In response to the above mentioned allegations, McDonald’s encourages its customers to exercise regularly and also compliments its food with lots of vegetables. If one looks at this issue from another perspective its certain that McDonald’s is going an extra mile unlike the other food joints because restaurants are not under any obligation to advice their customers on what to consume.

Their major role is to ensure that the food that is served in their restaurants is healthy and free from contamination. This aspects is directly related to deontological approach to ethics, which requires people to act according to rules. They do this by evaluating their suppliers to ensure they exercise cleanliness in food handling.

According to Saether and Aguilera (2008), such a minor issue can lead to the crush of an enterprise that has taken so many years to nurture. It is worth noting that it takes a longer duration to attract customers but it only takes a few days to lose them. Building confidence and trust among customers is not an easy task hence the confidence has to be safeguarded.

This means that for this organization to deal with such a corporate problem it should involve the consumers directly in order to clear the underlying issues. McDonald’s has done this by establishing complaint’s office that are used to get feedback from customers. The response from customers is important because it’s used to identify the specific areas that require amendments. All in all achieving uniform customer satisfaction is not easy.

References

Funding Universe. (n.d). McDonald’s Corporation. Web.

Paluszek, K. (2005). Ethics and Brand Value: Strategic Differentiation. Business and Organizational Ethics Partnership Meeting. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics: Santa Clara University.

Thilmany, J. (2007). Supporting Ethical Employees. HR Magazine. 52 (2).

Saether, T. & Aguilera, R. (2008). Corporate Social Responsibility in a Comparative Perspective”. The Oxford handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility. Oxford: Oxford University Press.