Human Resource at Mcdonald’s Essay

I. IntroductionIn todays intensely competitive and globular market aim, having a highly committed or competent wreakforce is one of the most critical factors in maintaining a competitive value (Mill much(prenominal) et al., 2007). Therefore, in a growing number of organizations, strategic homo resources instruction (SHRM) is now viewed as a source of competitive advantage. Strategic tender resource cargon is intentional to help companies meet the needs of their employees while promoting company goals. As an significant thought of strategic human resource steering is employee wear outment, judicatures shake up to consider employees may indispensability or need and what the company arse reasonably supply ( baker, 2009a Tarique and Schuler, 2010). This look into paper tries to discuss how organisations achieve this mission. We resulting discuss somewhat deuce very substantial aspects of SHRM, strategic international HRM (SIHRM) and booking family kinship. Altho ugh these two fields will be analysed separately, we groundwork see the link mingled with them when we befool them to the gaffe McDonalds (Goldsmith et al., 2009). In each section, we will discuss about the theories and gets relating to each of those aspects and how these theories showed up in McDonalds.II. McDonalds and Strategic International HRMII.1. Literature review of SIHRM and its modelingsThe main trend of modern studies on changes in the business environment is the growth of inwroughtisation, for example Ferenbach and Pinney (2012) Hitt et al. (2012) and Zain and Kassim (2012). As businesses become much and more world(prenominal), SIHRM plays an important role in the development and success of multi-national corporations (MNCs) (Festing et al., 2012 Smale et al., 2012 and Stahl et al., 2012). match to Briscoe (2012) international human resource management (IHRM) can be defined as set of managerial to a faultls for managing organizational human resources at int ernational level to achieve organizational objectives and competitive advantage over competitors, both domestic and international. IHRM, therefore, includes typical HRM functions such as recruitment, selection, training and development, effect appraisal and rewards and punishment done at international level and additive activities such as global management skills, expatriate management and so on (Millmore et al., 2007).Milliman et al. (1991) developed a SIHRM framework stem turnd theory of fit and flexibility. The concept of IHRM fit included external and internal side. External IHRM fit indicated the MNCs capability to deal with the cross-national environment, which includes the social, legal, political and cultural factors of diversified alien countries where they operate. On the otherwise(a) hand, internal IHRM fit stressed on the management ability to ensure appropriate control and co-ordination among corporate and foreign subsidiaries. In addition to fit concept, flex ible was besides important as it condition the organisational capability to smoothly go for changes and adapt to diverse circumstances. Zheng (2013) commented on the framework that in todays uncivil global environment in which information and knowledge is transferred freely and quickly, an integration of fit between internal HRM and external functions is required and should non be treated as two separate functions.The SIHRM framework of Schuler et al. (1993) seems to implement this point (Figure 1). The framework constituted of two study elements inter-unit linkages and internal operations. Inter-unit linkages showed the MNCs ability to sort its operating units thorough the world while, at the same time, keep them well coordinated and controlled. Internal operations indicated the fit between each units confines of its local environment, laws, politics, culture, economy and society and its make strategic objectives given by the corporation. Schuler et al. (1993) frameworks li mitation is to ignore the role of human-beings (managers and faculty) which is widely considered as a very important constituent of SIHRM (for example Briscoe et al., 2012 Shi and Handfield, 2012 and Sanchez-Arias et al., 2013). The SIHRM framework of Taylor et al. (1996) stressed on how smoothly go along managers can transfer the parent companys SIHRM orientation to affiliates HRM system, then to sum up organisational values and top managers belief to specific employees within the affiliate (Figure 2). Although Taylors model (1996) can concomitant the limitation of Schulers framework (1993), we still need a more detailed and practical model to apply in the real business world. This is the point at which the framework for global talent management of Tarique and Schuler (2010) comes in handy. In the next section, we will discuss about the framework in details and in the case of Mc Donalds (Figure 3).II.2. The framework for global talent management and the case of McDonaldsa. plan etary Talent Ch all toldenges for McDonaldsThe major driver of global talent challenges for McDonalds is the globalisation. Although globalisation enables firms to employ workers in the developing economies of the world at much lower wages than is possible in the developed economies of the world (Wise and Covarrubias, 2012), it also leads to increasing competition in immediate food industry (Asif et al., 2011 Gupta, 2012 and Royle, 2012). In such circumstance, global competitive advantage is scarce for those multinational firms that succeed in locating and relocating its workforce over the world, adapting to local differences, learn continuously, and transfer knowledge more effectively than their competitors do (Molinsky, 2013 Steers et al., 2013).Therefore, human recourse becomes more and more important in maintaining competitive advantage at MNCs. In addition, as McDonalds, like other MNCs, expand its business into many other countries, its consumers have-to doe with to have v ery different buying patterns from region to region. The organisation therefore must have a talent management strategy in place that continually prizees whether employees have the ability to address the finicky needs of a diverse customer base (Podsiadlowskia et al., 2013). In 2011, Manpower Group conducted research among close to 25,000 companies across 39 different countries and territories, which shed light on that 32% of American companies were looking for foreign workers, higher than any other area (that number of the whole world was 24%). This raises the demand for workers with competencies and penury considerably high, especially for American companies.While the demand was getting higher, the foreign hollow supply for MNCs was not so abundant. The research of Manpower (2011) showed that 74% of American employers (among 5,820 surveyed companies) found it difficult in recruiting foreign labours. In addition, Pearson (2012) believed that high employee turnover is a threat f or todays businesses. These issues do the labor market more competitive for employers, especially operates in an industry whose the rate of employee turnover is as high as fast food industry (Harris, 2012). For McDonalds and other fast food restaurant, there is another specific obstacle. agree to Sharma and Kiran (2012), employees nowadays do not only look for organisations offering high wage unless also those whose philosophies and operating practices match with their own principles. This might create an issue for McDonalds to compete in recruiting best talents as fast food restaurants usually have bad reputation of causing ethical healthy issues such as obesity (Fraser et al., 2012 Jeffery and Utter, 2012). Tarique and Schuler (2010) summarised global talent challenges as too little needed talent and too much unneeded talent, or rather the needed talent is available in the wrong place.b.McDonalds Human Resource Actions to Address Global Talent ChallengesTalent management first steps can only be effectively successful when linked to the strategies of the organization. Since 2005, McDonalds global workforce strategy has been designed to be aline with and support the execution of its business objective, which is to become everyones favorite place and way to eat (Harkins et al., 2005). Interestingly, the global talent management practice initiated by McDonalds nearly ten years ago was very uniform to the Tarique and and Schulers framework (2010).Prior to 2001, McDonalds developed its surgical operation assessment system comprised of sextet performance drivers (Figure 4) on which managers and staffs annual performance will be measured not but on the what of their accomplishments but also on how they cultivated it (Goldsmith et al., 2009). However, when it was rolled out globally in 2003, it was clear that certain elements of the juvenile system re-design were not suited for the foreign cultures and legal structures that existed in certain countries. As a result, all of its affiliate and franchising stores were given flexible to make certain changes to adapt local requirements. This managers initiative reflected the fit and flexible concept of Milliman et al. (1991) as discussed in the last section.In 2003, McDonalds introduced its Global Talent freshen up Process of which main purpose is to train and develop next generation of leaders and managers and in 2006, the organisation added a more in-depth analysis of who needs development moves to enhance their experience and a process that facilitates this proceeding (Goldsmith et al., 2009). The initiative allowed potential leaders of next generation to move more freely to various organizational departments in order to realise development job opportunities with support of their helpmates and develop their own talents (Brown and Lent, 2012).With the intention of attracting and retaining high-performing talents, The McDonalds leaders Institute and the Global Leadership Development Pr ogram were introduced in 2006 (McDonalds, 2013). The Institute was a realistic community that provides a culture of learning and development and to which anyone from any geographic location can accessed. The Global Leadership Development Program riveted on preparing participants for broader leadership responsibilities and building a strong confederate network that will support these individuals in developing their leadership path.The qualitative impacts of these initiatives were managers and staffs became much more informed of the strengths and talent gaps in each area, so they can recognise their own development needs and develop their talents more effectively. In addition, as the number of cross-organizational movement subjoind, organisation had better selections for all undertakings.Schuler et al. (2010) pointed out some(prenominal) barriers of talent management to which McDonalds and other MNCs should pay attention. First, managers at all levels rather spend time on their own pressing tasks than on talent management programs. Second, organizational structures might inhibit collaboration and the manduction of knowledge across boundaries. Finally, HR departments might be short of the respect of other executives whose cooperation is needed to implement appropriate HR actions and might not be able to deal with the global talent challenges.III. McDonalds and manipulation RelationshipIII.1. Literature review of use of goods and services birth and new ERM modelIn last section, we discussed how important talent management is for McDonalds to maintain its competitive advantage in todays widely open business. Although McDonalds already has a quite know talent management program, the organisation should be find that its workforce strategy could not be successful without great utilisation relationship. gospel and Palmer (19933) define employment relationship as an economic, social and political relationship in which employees provide manual and mental l abour in exchange for rewards allotted by employers. Rose (2004) clarified that rewards can be not only economic but also social and mental. Millmore et al. (2007) believed that psychological reward is an indispensable part in employment relationship. They went on to define two key strategic concepts that were labour management partnership and psychological contract. According to Millmore et al. (2007), key values of a successful labour management partnership included share of goals, culture, knowledge, apparent movement and information.Armstrong (1996) discussed that the labour management partnership initiated when employees provide skill and effort to employers and the employers provide the employee with a salary in return. However, the employment relationship can also be expressed in terms of a psychological contract defined by Rousseau (1994, cited by Millmore, 2007448) as the understanding people have regarding the commitments made between themselves and their organisation s. Noe (1999, p. 290) states, a psychological contract is the expectation that employers and employees have about each other. According to CIPD (2006), psychological contract breach occurs when employees believe that the organization has failed to deliver its promises or obligations.There were many research works about psychological contract and its importance in employment relationship, for example Robinson and Morrison (2000) Coyle-Shapiro and Kessler (2000) Guest and Conway (2002) Turnley et al. (2003) Conway and Briner (2005). These works and did not point out a model that is practical and easy to apply and measure in the workplace. In addition, because of globalisation and todays fast changing business environment, the needs of organizations and workers expectations changed significantly (Burke and Ng, 2006). Therefore, the traditional psychological contract might not work as well as it had been. Besides, most of the research in the past has emphasised the employee, while it should be on both employees and employers perspectives ( baker, 2009a). Baker (2009a) believed that there is a need to develop a new concept of employment relationship that enables corporations to attract good staff and retaining talented employees in todays business environment of volatility, uncertainty, and global competition.In such a business environment the traditional perspective on employment relationship such as that of Gospel and Palmer (1993) might not work. According to Baker (2009a), the new employment relationship model must base on the workers needs with organisational outcomes. He then provided means attributes of the model including flexible environment, customer-focus, focus on performance, project-based work, human spirit and work, loyalty, learning and development and open information. In next section, we will discuss about these core attributes with the illustration of McDonalds.III.2. McDonalds and the application of new employment relationship modelThe first aspect of the relationship is flexible employment which defined by Baker (2009a) as organisation policy to encourage workers to work for other units or departments. In 2006, McDonalds conducted an in-depth analysis of which staffs could be potential leaders and managers, what skills and experience they needs, to which units they should be move to get these skills and knowledge, and how to facilitate the movement (Goldsmith et al., 2009). The implementation of flexible employment strategies can create opportunities for workers to develop their race beyond the confines of their specific specialization. Kappia et al. (2007) proved these career development opportunities could be more motivating than fiscal rewards. The concept of customer-focus, which becomes more and more important in business techniques (Bharadwaj et al., 2012 Idris, 2012 Kanti, 2012), is the second attributes of new employment relationship model (ERM). The concept of customer-focus places employees in the unique p osition of answering to two bosses, the organisation and the customer (Baker, 2002). Baker (2009b) believed that a successful customer-focused strategy depend on managers and workers good communication with external sources such as local communities and culture. Related to the case of McDonalds, its customer-focused Plan to Win relies on local talent to develop a deep connection between McDonalds and the local communities in which it operates (Goldsmith et al., 2009).According to Baker (2009a), the concept of focus-on-performance suggests that customers should focus on the achievements of their job and the way they achieve them instead of job specifications. Organisations, on the other side, should link rewards and benefits with performance rather than organisational policies and rules. Moreover, new ERM suggests that an effective multidimensional performance system promotes workers to contribute beyond their regular task while organisations can utilise and reward workers for these non-job contributions (Baker, 2009b). Since 2001, McDonalds redesign its performance measurement system with six performance drivers for which employees be measured not just on the what of their accomplishments but also on how they accomplished it (Goldsmith et al., 2009).The system also enable top managers to signal the importance of needed culture change in which employees are encouraged to be more innovative and contribute more than merely doing their regular tasks. The twenty-five percent aspect of new ERM is project-based work. As business environment is increasingly uncertain and unstable, project-based work gains more avocation from both corporations and employees (Watson, 2012). This initiative includes several forms such as temporary and fixed term contracts, outsourcing, flexible time, underemployed working, overtime, job rotation, or functional mobility, which provides job flexibility (Peir et al., 2002) The project-based work is also widely applied in McDonalds as the senior managers often depend on peers assessment in providing employees development job opportunities (Goldsmith et al., 2009).With the increase in market competition and dynamic work environment, many employees are suffering from work overburden that could seriously affect the organisational performance (Altaf and Awan, 2011) and many researchers believes that workplace spirituality is one way to deal with this task (Karakas, 2010). Baker (2009a) also mentioned human spirit and work as a function of new ERM. The forte of the workplace spirituality on work performace, however, is still criticised by several researches and hypothesis tests, for example bell et al. (2012) and Weitz (2012). There is also no evidence that this concept has ever been applied at McDonalds. Another aspect of new ERM doubted to be effective and not applied at McDonalds is open information.Loyalty and commitment, on the other hand, has no doubt to be a so important attribute of new ERM. According to Baker (2009b), these aspects should come from both sides. Employees loyalty is to enhance organisational outcome rather than processes, while organisational commitment is to improve employees personalised objectives and development. McDonalds has paid significant attention to its employees for years. McDonalds has its Commitment Survey to assesses employee satisfaction with the support and credit they receive, the extent to which their skills are utilized and developed, the degree of their empowerment, working condition and their compensation (Goldsmith et al., 2009).A managers scores on the Commitment Survey are one of many important factors considered in assess employees effectiveness and potential for advancement. Much related to this aspect is learning and development. As discussed in last section, McDonalds initiated its The Leadership at McDonalds Program, which aimed at identifying developing high potential talent, in 2004 (Goldsmith et al., 2009). Having been accessed as qualifi ed candidates of the program, employees will be granted for many individual learning opportunities. First, each participant will have a coach to discuss progress against objectives and receive objective feedback and developmental coaching throughout the program. They also have opportunities to work closely with McDonalds high potential peers throughout the program and with talented management peers from other companies/industries as part of the Thunderbird Program in order to build strong internal and external peer networks (Goldsmith et al., 2009).The application of these attributes brought McDonalds several positive signs. As of mid-2006, 34% of the 104 graduates of the LAMP Program have been promoted while only 4% of the them have left the company for other opportunities. It is a key objective of the program for its participants to know they are highly regarded and that the company will continue to invest in their ongoing development. The program also made itself a strong brand i dentity and equity within the organization and more and more employees want to join the program (Goldsmith et al., 2009).IV. ConclusionAs SHRM becomes more and more important for organisations, it is critical for managers to understand not only its related theories and concepts but also discover and invent the most practical models for which they can apply to their organisation. As businesses become more and more global SIHRM and the model of global talent management of Tarique and Schuler (2010) plays an important role in the development and success of MNCs. Even when organisations already have a quite complete talent management program, they should notice that its workforce strategy could not be successful without good employment relationship. Baker (2009a) believed that there is a need to develop a new concept of employment relationship in todays business environment of volatility, uncertainty, and global competition and he introduced the new ERM. The case of McDonalds (Goldsmith et al., 2009) has shed the light on how practically successful these models could be when appropriately and effectively applying in an organisation. This is, however, just the beginning of these relatively young models and the question of whether these models can create sustainable competitive advantage will need more academic and practical researches in the future.