How does Learning and Development impact sales personnel’s results, in Mcdonald’s in the UK?
Abstract
McDonalds UK has been credited with pushing the boundaries in converting the perception of the restaurant from fast food junk to family-friendly food and from low-status jobs at the company to something more fulfilling by investing more in its staff. However, on the other hand, because of the nature of its business, it has also always been considered as providing non-career jobs. The paper is based on investigating the effect of Learning and development initiatives on the individual and organisational performance outcomes of McDonalds. It shows how McDonalds is facing challenges in its market from competitors in terms of better customer service, higher growth, better employee performance and improved employer brand. In light of the role of Learning and Development and its five functions as described by McKinsey, McDonalds is working on all five functions for progressive results in learning and development. In terms of individual performance outcomes, the initiatives like employee-portal, voluntary benefits package, and increased pay are considered positively influencing. Furthermore, from the organisational point of view, the results show that the company net profit margin has been improving over the last five years in contrast to its revenue. The results show that the company is working tremendously well in terms of developing its people, and consequently its profits. Through learning and development initiatives, the company is engaging, motivating, and satisfying not only its employees but also its customers.
Chapter 1: Introduction
Background
The function of Learning and development is one of the most sought out topics in people management and is one of the most research aspects in modern firms. Most of the research studies (Bodla and Ningyu, 2017; Huang et al., 2016; Guiterrez, 2017; Mihail and Kloutsiniotis, 2016) have been investing in finding the relationship between the competitiveness of the firm and the learning and development initiatives it has taken in the past. The literature can show the studies showing links between the learning and development initiatives of companies and their retention of talent, capacity building and organisational performance (Punnett, 2016). The success of the function of learning and development has been linked many times with knowledge sharing and innovation in organisations. All these results are considered significant as companies desire to remain relevant in the business world with all the advancements in the technology and transportation bringing the world more closely lowering the geographical, temporal, and cultural boundaries (Sharma, 2016).
The fast-food restaurant industry is dependent on the exceptional customer service of its employees for the reason of creating a fun experience. This experience is at the core of restaurants advertising and product promotions. It is as much a part of advertising as the product itself. The customer service is transmitted in this scenario through the employee’s expertise, and this is the very reason that in the fast-food industry, the employee’s professional conduct and their satisfaction with the job is a very important aspect in the management of the fast-food companies. This project is specifically going to be linked with McDonalds. The project is looking at the learning and development function of McDonalds and its performance indicators for the last two years.
The initiatives taken under the learning and development function has a profound effect on the organisational outcomes like the encouragement of the knowledge sharing and innovative skills, the creation of learning environment, leadership building, capacity building, retention of talent all have an impact on the organisational outcomes and performance (Bishop, 2018). It is the reason that the learning and development function of McDonalds needs to be looked at, to analyse the impact of its initiatives in this regard on the organisational performance. It can turn out to be beneficial in recognising the best practices of the company and using them to reverse the revenue decline that it is facing in its geographic segments.
Research Aim
The aim of this research is to explore the learning and development function of the McDonalds and learn if it has any relationship with the organisational outcomes of the company in terms of its employee customer service, retention rate, sales revenue, profitability, and employee satisfaction level. The study is focused on helping bridge the research gap and shows how the fast-food restaurants can improve their policy on learning and development for increasing the growth of organisational outcomes like profitability, retention, and improved customer service.
Figure 1: Causal Relationship Diagram
Research Objectives:
The research objectives streamlined from the research aim are mentioned below.
- To review the learning and development function of McDonalds UK and the initiatives taken under it.
- To review the best practices in the fast-food industry for the last five years
- To analyse the organisational outcomes (customer retention, profitability, revenue, customer service) of McDonalds and see if these are affected by their initiatives for learning and development for the years 2016-2018
Research Question:
Depending on the nature of the study and the aim and objectives highlighted in the above section, the research question is drafted as.
Is the revenue of McDonald’s influenced by its training policy for its employees?
Potential Impact of this Study:
The research objectives of the study are an aid in the creation of a causal relationship that helps organizations in following to create a learning environment for their employees and work teams and encourage in helping them to grow organically for the long-term future of the company. The study specifically aids McDonald’s in streamlining of its customer experience across its outlets and franchises. Future studies in this regard can help in studying the opinions of the employees, customers and managers by taking a qualitative approach towards it. The opinion of the stakeholders can be taken on the initiatives for learning and development of the employees in better improving the current policy and aiming for better organisational outcomes in the future. This study can also be expanded to include recommendations on the best practices of the fast-food industry in terms of the learning and development of the employees as for the service industry; employees and their customer service are significant for their turnover.
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Learning and Development:
What is meant by Learning and Development?As defined by Richard Beckhard, (Eddy, 1983)the term “Organisational Development is defined as a planned, organisation wide, top-down effort which is aimed at increasing the effectiveness and health of the organisation.The organisational development, learning and development and training and development are the terms which are often used interchangeably, and this would be the case in this project as well(Vinesh, 2014).
Models of Learning and Development to Organisational Effectiveness:
The Education, Training and Development or the Learning and Development occur in an organisation usually for one purpose. It is mainly for the sake of the improvement of the organisation effectiveness. The development and design of the learning and education programs for the enhancement of the skills of the employees through Education, training and development are one of the important concerns of human resource management. There are few models which are considered important in this respect.
Critical Events Model
The Critical Events Model is the one that was developed in 1982 by Nadler. This model shows the important events which need to happen during the planning of the training and learning programs for the improvement of the organisational effectiveness. The model initiates by identifying the needs; then proceeds to objectives, content and strategy development and ends at the evaluation. The Critical Events Model is shown in the Figure below.
Figure 2: The Critical Events Model (Jerling, 1996)
The model as depicted from the figure shows some critical events which are to take place for designing of the ETD (Education, Training Development) Program. The eight linear events are chronological orders, and one common event is shared among all. This common event is the Evaluation and Feedback and the Identification of the Needs of the Organization. Both these events are part of the whole process as the evaluation of the process, feedback and identification of needs of the organisation happen continuously during the process. Thus, this model starts with the need of the organisation, and the organisation is then asked to determine if the training program is the right response to the needs raised. It is a straightforward approach which helps in the designing of the ETD experience helping improve the organisational effectiveness.
Generic Competency-Based Training Model:
This is the model in which the focus is more on the competencies and competency focused approaches. The trend is to move towards a generic system in which competencies are at the core. The model is also applicable for the improvement of the organisation effectiveness. The model can also be used other than this for the preparation of the people for their jobs and careers. There are several vocational training schools which use this model for the career building of their students. This is not similar to the Critical Events Model; however, it can also be utilised to design the training programs in an organisation.
The model indicates 12 tasks as shown in the figure below. The figure shows the 12 tasks further segregated into two phases.
Figure 3: Generic Competencies Model
The first four tasks are included in Phase 1 which shows the description of the kind of person that is required to perform a particular task or job while the last eight tasks show the tasks for phase two which covers the designing and the development of the ETD programme(Jerling, 1996).
CPHR
The CPHR is another competency-based model. This model is a result of the extensive professional practice analysis which is conducted by the national association. The competency of CPHR (Chartered Professional of Human Resource) is the dual competency model which is based on both technical and general abilities, skills and knowledge. There are mainly nine functional areas for the Human Resource Field in which there have to be two areas of expertise. The nine knowledge areas are.
- Strategy (new)
- Professional Practice
- Engagement
- Workforce Planning and Talent Management
- Employee and Labour Relations
- Total Rewards
- Learning and Development
- Health, Wellness, and Safe Workplace
- Human Resources Metrics, Reporting and Financial Management (new)
Other than this, there are five enabling competencies as well. All of the HR professionals who are seeking the CPHR designation need to demonstrate their experience and proficiency in all of the nine-knowledge area by writing the National Knowledge Examination and has to provide proof for the three years’ work experience in the HR related field (CPHR Canada, 2017).
Elevating Learning and Development:
As per Mckinsey, one of the primary responsibilities of Learning and development is to manage the development of the people. This is to help people in achieving key business priorities. As per McKinsey, the function of Learning and development has a strategic role in five areas. This is depicted in the graph below.
Figure 4: Functions of Learning & Development
These five functions have all been discussed in the literature review at some points. This shows that these variables of our research are all linked to learning and development as its main function. Thus, the learning and development initiatives would result in the building of an employer brand, developing of the people capabilities, attracting and retention of the talent, motivating and engagement of employees, and creating of a value-based culture (Dam, 2018).
Benefits of L&D:
Employer Brand for Talent Attraction:
The learning and development function is identified as the most significant functions of the organisation(Vinesh, 2014). The benefits of this function include helping in the development of the organisational capabilities on the individual, team and organisational level (Punnett, 2016). Furthermore, another important benefit that it gives is that it provides the organisation with an employer brand that helps to attract the top talent towards the company. The employees usually are attracted to the companies working on the career of their employees. It is one of the advantages which become more important for the industries like service industry which cannot pay high salaries to their workers or are affected highly by the high turnover rates of the company as usually students or part-time workers hold these jobs (Bishop, 2018).
The Association between L&D and Productivity:
The link or association between learning and development and productivity has long been studied in the academic world. There are studies which have found the relationship to be positive (Sharma, 2016). Other than this, the advantages of the learning and development initiatives in an organisation are also reflected in the fewer mistakes on the job, reduced need for supervision, and declined costs of the organisation. Furthermore, there are several associated employee benefits with these initiatives like high satisfaction level, high motivation level, longer retention rates, development in their talents, and helping them reach their career goals consequently helping the organisation to grow as well. It shows that the learning and development strategies, if effective, can turn out to be quite beneficial for any organisation provided it is linked to their employee’s benefits and requirements (Berber and Lekovic, 2018).
Strength-based Management Practices:
While some companies try to focus on the strengths of their employees, there are others which focus on improving the weaknesses of its employees more. However, both strategies focus on employee development. Still, it is found that it is better to develop what is innately right with the people than to fix what is wrong with them. For example, it is shown that the more hours an adult works per day the more he reports being happy, feeling well-rested, learning interesting and respected. Focusing on the strengths of the employees not only engages the workers, but it also helps in making a good business case as well (Nawaz, 2016). Gallup studies companies using strength-based management practices which focused on the outcomes of sales profit, turnover, customer engagement, employee engagement and safety. The results showed that the workgroups receiving the strength focused interventions improved in all outcomes as compared to the workgroups receiving less or none of such practices (Nawaz, 2016). The research showed that strength focused work practices helped in increasing sales by 10 to 19%, profits by 14 to 29%, customer engagement by 3-7%, employee engagement by 9 to 15%, and in declined turnover, and safety incidents. The study also showed the seven best practices of the same organisations. These included leadership pushing for strength focused interventions, getting managers on board, generating enthusiasm and awareness, being mindful of the strengths of all individuals while creating team, focusing on reviews of performance based on the development of the strengths of employees, advocating and training for strength expertise, and attracting the culture to the brand for attracting the right kind of talent (Rigoni and Asplund, 2016; Bishop, 2018).
Figure 5: Strength-Based Work Practices (Rigoni and Asplund, 2016)
Learning and Profitability:
The relationship between profits and productivity with employee learning and development has been researched many times. According to the Association of Talent Development, the companies which offer the training programs have 218% more income per employee as compared to the ones providing either none or ineffective training programs. Similarly, these companies also get 24% higher profit margins as compared to the companies spending less on the training. The root cause of these results is the employee skill development through learning and development initiatives which helps in the increasing of the employee productivity, A study conducted by the National Center on the Educational Quality of the Workforce showed an increased workforce education level that was far more effective in improving the productivity than by an increase in the quality of the equipment (Guiterrez, 2017).
Work-based Training and Productivity
Work-based training has been propagated all around the world and not only in the UK. The OECD countries report shows the best practices for the companies following to develop an effective training program for their employees. The report shows how the work-based programs should be developed by focusing on the productivity gains, however ensuring that it attracts the trainees as well by considering their interests. The integration of the work-based training is essential to be done in a way that it maximises the productivity gains and integrates the learning process into the productive work of the employees (Viktoria, 2016).
Association of Transformative HR Practices and Employee Performance, motivation, satisfaction, organisational performance:
Another such study examined the relationship between the perceived transformative HR practices and the task performance of employees. The study is yet another way of finding the association between employee performance and HR initiates for learning and development. The study found that these transformative HR practices positively influence the performance of the employees (Bodla and Ningyu, 2017). Another study, which focused on exploring the high work performance work system, including the motivation, opportunity and ability model and its impact on the organisational performance was conducted by Asha Rani and Jeevan (2017). The study used the questionnaire technique for exploring this relationship and found that the high-performance work systems have a positive impact on the organisational performance of the companies (Jyoti and Rani, 2017).
High-Performance Work Systems:
The high-performance work system or work practices are different from traditional HR practices. The traditional system working on making the employees work hard while these include bundling of the HR practices fit with the employees for higher productivity. These are usually the combination of the work practices like rigorous selection, improved training programs, comprehensive, intensive plans, motivation plans, employee participation structures, and programs for employee development (Mihail and Kloutsiniotis, 2016).
High-Performance Work Systems and organisational and employee Productivity
There are studies which have focused on high-performance work systems and job involvement (Huang et al., 2016). The implementation of the high-performance work systems enables the development of a work environment which fosters confidence of employees in achieving benefits against the extra efforts that put into making them help achieve the organisational goals and consequently improving the organizational outcomes (Kellner et al., 2016). This system helps in boosting employee performance through the implementation of the incentive plans (Huang et al., 2016). There are several studies which have explored the positive impact of motivation, skill and opportunity enhancing work practices on employee turnover, profitability, revenue growth, service quality, and level of satisfaction of employees (Obeidat, Mitchell and Bray, 2016). This study also showed that performance-based compensation helps the company in attracting as well as retaining of the high-quality employees through providing them with rewards consequently improving the performance of the firm as well (Obeidat, Mitchell and Bray, 2016).
Another study focused on employee learning and development, and employee performance showed that the acquisition of the soft skills and the training effect on the employee work performance (Ibrahim, Boerhannoeddin and Bakare, 2017).
Learning and Development in the Fast-Food Industry:
The services industry of fast-food restaurants is mainly focused on customer service as one of its main significant aspects as the restaurant’s quality of customer service differentiates it from every other one on this basis. This is the very reason the learning and development in the food service industry is mostly focused on the customer services of the employees. It is highly significant to note that there is a difference between the learning and development of the fast-food industry and the fast-food approach to the learning and development (Viktoria, 2016). The latter is the program for accreditation of the employee for the task achievements which is not necessarily any achievement in a broader perspective as it can be irrelevant, or unrelated to the organisational needs. Companies like Starbucks differentiate themselves by their customer service for which they have to use a learning coach for every new employee from day one. It has been using a classroom learning program called the Induction program for Starbucks experience which used innovative learning tools like games and provided the new inductions with the green apron book including the main values of the customer service. The program has a certification exam which has to be passed before starting to function as an employee. Having insight into the best practices like this in the industry can help McDonalds in gaining knowledge on learning and development programs (Yee et al., 2018).
Learning and Development & Employee Skills
Employee learning is imperative in the service industry as the industry is dependent on the customer-contact employee’s skills. A study focused on finding the importance of employee training in the service industry found that high-quality service is only attainable through effective employee organizational commitment if the employee has a learning behaviour. The study showed that the commitment of the management to the improvement of the quality of service has a positive impact on the learning goal orientation (Yee et al., 2018). Another such study focusing on the impact of the HRM activities like employee development on the innovative organisational performance showed significant relations between the effectiveness of the training and the methods of the training with the level of the innovation (Berber and Lekovic, 2018).
Employee knowledge and Customer Service
A study investigated if the internal knowledge (learning and development techniques including job-related training and enhancement of the employee capability) and external knowledge management (company customer orientation) combined contributed to the successful service delivery system or not. The results of the study showed that the knowledge management factors for the customer orientation, and job-related training and employee capability had varying impacts on the efficiency and quality dimensions of the service system performance (Jayaram and Xu, 2016). Researchers in the service sector show that improvement of service operations is vital for its business (Silvestro and Lustrato, 2016). Studies have investigated the employee training and development (Goldstein, 2016; Goldstein and Ward, 2017); customer orientation (Brady and Cronin, 2016; Brown et al., 2017) and role of the front-line staff (Babbar and Koufteros, 2016) in the improvement of the service operations performance. For the continuous improvement of the learning and developmentinitiatives,employee commitment is one necessary tool as well (Lam, O’Donnell and Robertson, 2016).
People and Profits
Another such study showing the link between the people and profits in the service sector showed how the businesses in this sector aimed at customer satisfaction as they believe that a happy customer is more loyal and spends more. For these happy employees contribute to a higher customer satisfaction level indirectly affecting the sales and profits of the company. This link is referred to as the service-profit chain. The report showing the results of the service sector of the UK firms revealed that the service-profit chain has significant empirical base showing a link between the employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction and sales increments (Barber, Hayday and Bevan, 2018).
McDonald’s
Starting as a small burger point in California in 1954, McDonalds now has over 36000 restaurants all over the world (McDonalds, 2018). With a large variety of food options on its menu from French Fries, Hamburgers, and desserts, to hot and cool beverages, the company can enter into the local demands by offering local customised menu options as well. The company usually has its restaurants through two holding types: either by owned holdings or through franchises. For franchises, the company receives royalties from its franchise owners. Other than this, it also charges rent and fees for lending its brand and recipes among the franchises. It is the main source of income for McDonalds as the company has about 5% of its restaurants who are wholly owned (Nowak, 2018). It has an impact on the kind of customer service, and the sales outputs of the company do not necessarily have a direct association with the employees. However, McDonalds ensures that all franchises and wholly owned branches have the same level of customer service. It is the reason that the study of McDonalds was based on all of the UK branches of McDonalds (Nowak, 2018).
Geographic Segments
The company has segregated its restaurants into geographic segments. The first one is the US segment which includes all the restaurants within the geographical boundaries of the United States. Secondly, there is a segment of international lead which includes countries like the UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, and France. The High Growth Market includes the markets of China, Spain, Italy, Korea, Poland, Switzerland, Russia, and the Netherlands. The Foundational markets include all markets of Asia, Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. The company has been segregating its restaurants geographically since 2015(Dudovskiy, 2016). Currently, the company is focusing on the high growth markets which mean that these markets are getting higher investments in advertising budgets as evident from the advertising budgets for China who alone accounts for the 500 new planned restaurants (Nowak, 2018).
Table 1: Revenue Breakdown as Per Geographic Segmentation ($millions)
| Geographic Segments | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
| The US | 8.65 | 8.56 | 8.25 | 8 |
| International Lead Market | 8.54 | 7.62 | 7.22 | 7.34 |
| High Growth Markets | 6.85 | 6.17 | 6.16 | 5.53 |
| Foundational Markets | 3.4 | 3.07 | 2.99 | 1.94 |
| Total | 27.44 | 25.41 | 24.62 | 22.81 |
(ICD Research, 2017)
The geographic segmentation of the company as shown in Table 1 shows that the revenues of the company McDonalds are declining in nearly all of its geographic segments. There are numerous environmental factors responsible for this rate of decline in the revenues. Looking at the performance of the company, the company has its revenue declined from 2011 to 2015 by 1.51% and with an annual decline of 7.39% (ICD Research, 2017).
The project is focused on finding any relationship between the recent initiatives of the company in terms of learning and development function and its organizational outcomes. This project is going to result in showing the best practices of the company helping it replicate it for future performance. The competitive environment of the fast-food industry makes it rather compulsory to have reliable customer service, value worth delicious food and an extremely high-quality control system. The demands of this market can only be met by a forward-looking, continuous, and consistent learning and development program which can also cater to the customer demands in the different geographical regions served by the fast-food restaurants (Bishop, 2018). Customer service is, therefore, an important aspect of the learning and development measures for the employees of the fast-food companies. Making sure that the company employees are courteous, good in communication and are capable of dealing with challenging environments effectively helps ensure the culture of the fast-food restaurant to be more relaxed and cooperative (Brady and Cronin, 2016).
Training and Development
McDonald’s Restaurant Environment
McDonaldsis known for its timely customer service where even with an empty restaurant the staff is expected to deliver within its set targets of time. Efficiency and profit margins are the key for customer service in McDonalds. The job at McDonalds is often held by part-time workers or students which makes it hard for McDonalds to advertise its jobs as a career-oriented job or a job with high career prospects. It is the very reason that most of the talent in the restaurant industry is also not easily retained (Sharma, 2016). However, McDonalds has been very open about its employment practices. The kitchens of the restaurant are visible, and the company even provides tours of its kitchens to show the employment environment.
Market Trends & Competition
McDonalds has seen a decline in its sales in the last two years. The company is describing the climate in the industry as challenging (Punnett, 2016). McDonalds is aware of the food service business and its dependence on the skills and customer service of the employees. The company considers it crucial for its commercial success and the individual success of its people as well. It is the reason McDonalds has been committed to training and development of its staff on all levels. The restaurant has started giving table service at some of its restaurants in countries like Australia, New Zealand and Germany. It is one of the reactions to the growth of the upmarket burger rivals like Fine Burger, Five Guys, Shake Shack and Byron (Parkinson, 2016).
McDonald’s UK Profile
In the UK, McDonalds has over 100,000 staff employed on its restaurants of around 1200 of which 400 are owned, and nearly two-thirds are franchised. The age profile of the McDonalds employees is under 25 with equal gender balance as well.
Past Studies on McDonald’s
Another study which was conducted in the past on McDonalds was focused on the employee motivation of the UK selected branches. The study was conducted in 2011 and focused on exploring the different perspectives of the management and employees on the motivation level at McDonalds using several motivational theories. The study revealed that managers of McDonalds had more of a mentality in which they believed that more pressure on the workers yielded more output while the employees of McDonalds viewed it differently. The study found the motivation level of the employees as low because of the poor relation of the employee and the managers, fewer rewards, and a low wage rate. It also showed how the employees do not consider this as a career job for themselves (Nawaz, 2016).
The literature review shows how the learning and development function including; employee trainings, informal trainings, high performance work practices, motivation practices, employee engagement practices, practices for employee satisfaction, strengths-focused work practices, incentive programs, rewards programs, and benefits schemes help in influencing the customer services of the firm (in the service sector) and consequently improves its organizational; higher profitability, revenue and customer satisfaction, higher employee retention, reduced turnover and individual performance outcomes; increase in employee engagement, motivation, satisfaction and gaining of recognition, rewards and benefits. The model of literature review showed several past and recent studies establishing the link between the learning and development initiatives, employee performance, customer satisfaction and organisational outcomes.
The conceptual map shows below the relationship of the learning and development function, customer service and organisational outcomes.
Conceptual Map
Figure 6: Conceptual Map
Chapter 3: Methodology
Approach & Philosophy
For this study, the pragmatism paradigm has been chosen as it underpins most of the mixed methods.Pragmatism is defined as the deconstructive paradigm of research which uses the mixed methods. As per this philosophy, the most important determinant of research is the research question itself (Klenke, 2016). The philosophy of this research approach is that the best method for any research study is the one which helps in answering the research question. The study usually involves quantitative as well as qualitative research methods. The philosophy of pragmatism combines both interpretive and positive paradigms as per the nature of the research question within the scope of the singlestudy. The deductive approach would be employed in the study for answering the research question (Ivankova, 2014). The research will help in deducing if the archival analysis of the documents of McDonalds shows signs of impact on the existing knowledge of the personnel depicting the improvement of the organisational outcomes of McDonalds from the employment of learning and development practices (Saunders, 2011).
Data Collection
The research study uses secondary data sources for the collection of data. The main secondary data source is McDonalds of the UK. From this store, the study isusing its archival documents to look through the cross-section of the employees as well as on the existing employees’ learning practices during the last two years.
For the online search the keywords that are being used are learning and development, human resource policies, McDonalds Human Resource policies, McDonalds Learning and Development, McDonalds UK Learning and Development, McDonalds Organizational Development, Fast Food Restaurants Learning and Development, Learning and Development and Performance of Employees, Learning and development and Sales Volume.
The secondary sources of data include the balance sheets, sales reports, financial reports and HR policy reports (Collis and Hussey, 2013). Other than these, any relevant document from the store is also used for this study. The HR policies of the company are to be assessed to understand the initiatives and strategies implemented for the learning and development practices of the personnel. On the other hand, the financial reports are being evaluated to identify the impact of the learning and development practices on the organisational outcomes of McDonalds. The sales revenue and the profitability ratios of McDonalds are assessed to understand the impact of the learning and development strategies implemented over the two years. The ratios of the company and its McDonalds are yielding the information assessing the impact of the HR strategies that havebeen implemented during the last two years. The data is tobe evaluated to look at how McDonalds critically measures the performance of its personnel and what measures are used for this purpose. The nature of the measures used by McDonaldsis also shown how the learning and development practices could have impacted on the employee’s performance. Other than this, the impact of the learning and development practices is also passed to the customer service of the personnel. It is an important measure that shows how the company HR policies are in actual translating to customer retention. New customer acquisition is another important measure which can also be evaluated as an organisational outcome.
Furthermore, the literature review is also an aid in the process as well. Earlier case studies on a similar area opposing or supporting this research are to be considered as well. Other than this, the comparative analysis of the learning and development initiatives of the other similar fast-food chains available online in the form of journal articles or reports.
Data Analysis
The financial data is evaluated in terms of profitability and other financial ratios to assess the impact of the learning and development practices on the organisational outcomes. The archival data is coded and categorised in categories based on their similar characteristics through content analysis. The benchmarking of comparable studies is used and described in terms of central tendencies like Standard deviation and average measures (Sreejesh and Mohapatra, 2013).
The data acquired is mostly in the form of reports, policy handbooks, strategic decisions, and articles, meeting updates, notes from the superiors and notifications and programs for training and learning conferences to be attended by the personnel. Other than that, the data is also in the form of statements of the balance sheet, profit and loss, and financial ratios. The financial ratios for the company are calculated using the data from McDonalds and using the financial statements published by McDonalds for its investors.
The data on the HR policies and learning and development initiatives are analysed and a list of initiatives widely used during the period of the two years is assembled (Baran, 2016). The initiatives were taken, and its impact on the organisation performance is evaluated by looking at the measures of employee performance, customer service, customer retention and new customer acquisition. Other than this, corporate measures of sales revenue, profitability and other relevant financial ratios are used for the analysis of the impact of the employee learning initiatives on the organisation as a whole.
Ethical Consideration
Permission from McDonalds is not needed before conducting any analysis of its documents, as all the documents used are publicly available. As no personal data is used, therefore, there is no need to keep it anonymous and confidential. The data used is all available on online databases, SEC website, and McDonald’s investor website. The financial and policy documents acquired are mainly from the Earning Calls Reports that are published quarterly.
Limitations of Research
There are several limitations to this study. The study considers the performance measures of the organisation like Sales Revenue and profitability as the measure for the effectiveness of the Learning and development practices of the restaurant. However, there are numerous factors which affect the revenue of the company; thus, it is not the only factor. It shows that the level of impact of the learning and development practices on the organisational outcomes cannot be assessed precisely. Furthermore, the study is dependent on the data of McDonalds that is publicly available which may not give us detailed insight of the L&D practices of the firm. The results, therefore, cannot be generalised. Moreover, the study is also depending on the secondary sources of data even though the primary sources could have been used as well.
Chapter 4: Discussion & Analysis
Recent Learning & Development Initiatives
The Earnings Call Report of McDonalds of 2016 shows that the company is committed to having the right talent in its company. It focuses on developing its leaders by working on the right skills needed to develop the business (McDonalds, 2016). In another of its earning call report, the executives of the company showed that they had enhanced the training for some of the operational procedures for the drive-through. The program was named Ask, Ask, tell aimed at ensuring that staff takes and delivers the right order to its customers. The company has also worked on its employment proposition by enhancing the benefits including more training and educational opportunities for its employees (McDonalds, 2016).
The company announced that it had built a new training centre in Chicago in which teams from franchises around the world come to train and develop. The company has been simplifying its processes to the franchises through the use of training (McDonalds, 2016). In 2001, the company had worked with Digital Think Teams to expand the reach of the training program by using the E-learning. It was one big initiative that has helped during the last five years as well (Business Wire, 2017). The training programs of the company have been famous in providing the many workers with career development opportunities along with the much-needed income and experience. The company started collaborating with the British Columbia Institute of Technology to offer its team leaders and managers with advanced placement or credits for courses that can be used in the BCIT School of Business degree or diploma after the training completion at the company (Dobson, 2016).
Benefit Scheme System
The organisation has a very adaptive benefit scheme system. It allows its employees to choose the benefits which suit them the best. The voluntary benefits package has been the most successful in which employees have spent over 37 million Euros through the site making savings of 2.15 million of Euros since it was launched in 2010 (Berber and Lekovic, 2018). The benefits and rewards are one function of learning and development as per McKinsey. These benefits and rewards show how employees can be rewarded for their good performance and appreciating their learning growth.
Employee Portal
The reward structure of McDonalds is very engaging. The total rewards statements and it’s Our Lounge employee portal aids in improving the understanding of the benefits by the employees for the management. The portal has shown that the employee satisfaction level inclined in 2015. Around 74% of the staff is considered satisfied in the company, which is way above the industry score. The portal provides a one-stop shop for the employees to check their pay slips, their holiday’s bookings, and their schedules. The portal helps in educating about the upcoming events, discounts, learning and development training, and online content for other qualifications (Crawford, 2016).
Formal Training at McDonald’s
The McDonalds UK has been credited to push the boundaries in converting the perception of the restaurant from fast food junk to family-friendly food and from low-status jobs at the company to something more fulfilling by investing more in its staff training (Whipp, 2016).
Formal training is only one part of the training programs that happen in a company. There are several information trainings programs as well. McDonalds was seen to be actively trying the promotion of informal training during the last decade. The company had entered into six-month research on the projection of the informal and formal training combinations (McDonalds, 2017; McDonalds, 2016).
Rewards & Benefits Provisions:
McDonalds has implemented schemes for keeping its employees motivated and engaged through its reward and benefits provisions. The business transformation of McDonaldsUK was aided by making the staff focus on the five principles of employee engagement. These are termed as the five vital ingredients to a great customer experience. The company has been incentivising the customer service of its restaurants in several ways over the years (Brady and Cronin, 2016). For instance, in 2014, it gave incentives to the top 5% restaurants as per the customer satisfaction ratings for the three months. The employees of the same restaurants were also entered into a prize draw in which the winner was given a World Cup trip to Brazil. The company saw some tremendous results in terms of the customer satisfaction level. The end of the project showed the restaurants improvement of total experience time by 6.1 seconds and the score for the customer satisfaction opportunity score decline to 16.7%. The company also saw that during this project it served an extra 24000 customers per day (Whipp, 2016).
Bonus Schemes
For motivation, the company employees two types of bonus schemes. The company provides all employees of the top 10% of restaurants with a bonus of 50p per working hour for two weeks based on the mystery shopper scores. Other than this, the restaurant managers are awarded quarterly bonuses based on the weighted measures of sales growth, mystery shopper success and profitability. This strategy shows that the company has aligned its reward scheme with business objectives (Business Wire, 2017).
McDonald’s University and Apprenticeship Courses
McDonalds had even started its Hamburger University in Illinois offering their courses of Hamburgerology. These certificates offer courses in restaurant management and executive roles. Other than this, McDonalds has also established eight training centres all around the world, of which one is also present in North London.
The teenage employees in Wales and England have been given a chance to study for the apprenticeship in catering and hospitality which is also equivalent to the five GCSEs from A star to C grades. It also includes help in English and Math where the standard on these areas have not been achieved. McDonalds is very effective in educating their workforce. There are not many restaurants who take the education of their workforce this seriously. The education programs of McDonalds are very progressive, and it is something which the company is committed to essentially doing more in the future as well (Brady and Cronin, 2016).
It is something which is also good for the internal morale and PR of the company as well. As the customers have become more aware of the corporate behavior, it has grown into something which the customers care more about. It shows that customers want to see the treatment of the staff by the companies before making their purchases from it.
Now we have discussed all the efforts that McDonalds has put in learning and development in its last two years. However, it is still not clear if these efforts have reflected in the company’s organisational as well as individual productivity. For this purpose, we will look at each of the variables independently and discuss it in light of the data available publicly.
Organisational Outcomes:
Employer Turnover
In terms of the employee turnover, McDonalds UK has been noticed for employing new technology and savvy gadgets at its kitchens which have turned out in some branches to cause problems to the employees who were not trained properly. It has been reported that this has led the restaurant to face high turnovers in 2018. McDonalds has been analysed for this purpose specifically, and analysts have claimed that the new technology and higher performance expectation from employees can affect the reduced retention rate (Premack, 2018). Looking at the employee turnover for the company, the following graph shows the picture better.
Table 2: McDonalds Number of Employees
| Year | No of Employees |
| 2015 | 210000 |
| 2016 | 375000 |
| 2017 | 235000 |
| 2018 | 210000 |
(Statista, 2018)
The graph shows how the retention rate of the employees for McDonalds has declined over the years from 2016 onwards. The table shows the number of people employed in the four years. It can be confused with the assumption that maybe the company is employing less employees and that this is not showing the low retention figure. However, it has been reported that McDonalds is facing retention issues (Premack, 2018).
Figure 7: Number of Employees (Statista, 2018)
The chain has been criticised many times for the number of complaints it receives for its ineffective customer service. It may be other reasons for its high turnover rate.
Sales Revenue
For the assessment of the productivity of the organisation, the sales revenue has to be evaluated as well. The table and graph below show the sales revenue trend for the company for the last eight years. Evidently, the company has seen revenue decline in the last three years constantly.
Table 3: McDonalds Revenue
| Year | Revenue (in $ billions) |
| 2018 | 21.03 |
| 2017 | 22.82 |
| 2016 | 24.62 |
| 2015 | 25.41 |
| 2014 | 27.44 |
| 2013 | 28.11 |
| 2012 | 27.57 |
| 2011 | 27.01 |
| 2010 | 24.08 |
(Statista, 2018)
Looking at the graph, it is evident that McDonalds has improved its performance in 2011 and continued it until 2013. From 2014 onwards, the company has witnessed a decline in its revenue.
Figure 8: McDonalds Revenue (Statista, 2018)
Looking at this, the company seems to have benefited from the restructuring it underwent in 2011 and the learning and development programs it started then seems to have raised the revenues in the preceding years. However, it is not sure that the incline the revenues were direct because of this reason. Looking at the years 2016 to 2018, the efforts of learning and development do not seem to have converted into revenues yet.
Profitability
The profitability of a company is not the same as its revenue generation capability. A company generating lots of revenue does not have to be profitable unless it is covering its expenses with a big margin. The net income of McDonalds is divided by its total revenue to find its profit earned.
Table 4: McDonalds Profit Margin
| Year | Profit Margin |
| 2014 | 38.10% |
| 2015 | 38.52% |
| 2016 | 41.45% |
| 2017 | 46.54% |
| 2018 | 51.30% |
(McDonalds, 2018)
The graph shows the real picture of the profitability of McDonalds operations. The Gross Profit margin of the company is computed by dividing the gross profit after the deduction of the cost of sales with the total sales value. The Net Operating profit is the ratio of profit after all operating expenses are deducted.
Figure 9: McDonalds Profit Margin (McDonalds, 2018)
The results show that the company’s net profit margin has been improving over the last five years in contrast to its revenue. It means that the company learning, and development initiatives are turning out to be productive for the organisation even though it costs it in operating expenses. It is also interesting to note that the operating profits are close to the gross profit margins while the net profit margins are lower, showing that much of the costs are gone in interest and taxes.
Customer Satisfaction
McDonalds has been criticised by the employees and customers for their customer service and lack of friendliness in the complaints. However, looking at the customer satisfaction scores for the last few years, the results are not that bad.
Table 5: Customer Satisfaction Rating- UK (ACSI, 2018)
| Fast Food Satisfaction Rating | |
| McDonalds | 70.2% |
| KFC | 73.7% |
| Dominos | 77.3% |
| Hungry Jacks | 77.7% |
| Nandos | 86% |
| Mad Mex | 86.6% |
| Subway | 87.3% |
(Wilkie, 2018)
Table 6: Customer Satisfaction Index
| Year 20- | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | %age Change |
| Chick-fil-A | NM | NM | NM | NM | 86 | 87 | 87 | 87 | 0.0 |
| All Others | 81 | 82 | 82 | 84 | 81 | 81 | 82 | 82 | 0.0 |
| Panera Bread | NM | NM | NM | NM | 80 | 81 | 82 | 81 | -1.2 |
| Limited-Service Restaurants | 79 | 80 | 80 | 80 | 77 | 79 | 79 | 80 | 1.3 |
| Subway | NM | 82 | 83 | 78 | 77 | 80 | 81 | 80 | -1.2 |
| Papa John’s | 79 | 83 | 82 | 82 | 78 | 82 | 82 | 80 | -2.4 |
| Pizza Hut (Yum! Brands) | 81 | 78 | 80 | 82 | 78 | 77 | 76 | 80 | 5.3 |
| Domino’s | 77 | 77 | 81 | 80 | 75 | 78 | 78 | 79 | 1.3 |
| Dunkin’ Donuts | NM | 79 | 80 | 75 | 78 | 80 | 79 | 78 | -1.3 |
| Starbucks | 80 | 76 | 80 | 76 | 74 | 75 | 77 | 78 | 1.3 |
| Wendy’s | 77 | 78 | 79 | 78 | 73 | 76 | 76 | 77 | 1.3 |
| Little Caesars | 80 | 82 | 82 | 80 | 74 | 81 | 78 | 77 | -1.3 |
| KFC (Yum! Brands) | 75 | 75 | 81 | 74 | 73 | 78 | 78 | 77 | -1.3 |
| Burger King | 75 | 75 | 76 | 76 | 72 | 76 | 77 | 76 | -1.3 |
| Taco Bell (Yum! Brands) | 76 | 77 | 74 | 72 | 72 | 75 | 76 | 74 | -2.6 |
| Jack in the Box | NM | NM | NM | NM | 72 | 74 | 75 | 74 | -1.3 |
| McDonald’s | 72 | 73 | 73 | 71 | 67 | 69 | 69 | 69 | 0.0 |
(ACSI, 2018)
The American Customer Satisfaction Index, on the other hand, has shown the restaurant with a score of 69 staying the same at this score for the last three years. This score was better in
2014; this was when the company customer satisfaction index was at 69. The score has declined in the last eight years; however, the company has sustained it over the last three years.
Individual Outcomes
Employee performance is one of the measures which are often linked with employee satisfaction, motivation, engagement, and awarding of the rewards, benefits and recognition. The employees of McDonalds, as discussed above, are given the best of the benefits one can imagine. The Employee portal system is one-of-a-kind benefits which not only makes it easy for the employees to know about all the perks, discounts and benefits easily and manage but also for the employers to know which of these are considered more beneficial by the employees. However, there have been some areas of improvement as well. The workers reviewing website Glassdoor has ranked the company as the 10th company in the 10-strong list of the companies. The company was ranked lower on salaries and compensation and benefits. The senior management was also criticised for fewer career opportunities and bad work-life balance. About 7000 of the employees of McDonalds participated in the review. The company was surprised by its report as it mentioned that it injects nearly Euros 43 million in the development of its people in the UK(Burn-Callander, 2015). This was three years ago. In 2016, it was reported that McDonalds is improving its employee experience to improve its customer experience with better pay. The company has increased wages from %9.01 to $9.09 in its company-owned stores and has lifted the hourly pay to over $10 in 2016. The company had also introduced earned vacation time. This led the company to have a higher turnover rate in its than 90 days. The company has also invested in better training and practices. The introduction of the Ask, Ask, and Tell approach in its drive-thru orders has led the company to deliver the right orders properly. The company has also been training its employees to use the extra minutes that would have been spent on the correction of the delivery to suggest sell/up-sell (Cantor, 2016). All this shows that the company has been working on the employee performance, its motivation, and engagement by increasing their pay, rewards and benefits packages. However, the results have not been reaped yet.
Chapter 5: Conclusion & Recommendations
Conclusion
Research Objective 1: To review the learning and development function of McDonalds UK and the initiatives taken under it.
The analysis and discussion chapter show how McDonalds is facing challenges in its market from competitors in terms of better customer service, higher growth, better employee performance and improved employer brand. In light of the role of Learning and Development and its five functions as described by McKinsey, McDonalds is working on all five functions for progressive results in learning and development.
The E-portal has shown that the employee satisfaction level inclined in 2015. Around 74% of the staff is considered satisfied in the company, which is way above the industry score. The portal provides a one-stop shop for the employees to check their pay slips, their holiday bookings, and their schedules. The portal helps in educating about the upcoming events, discounts, learning and development training, and online content. This is one-of-a-kind services for the employees of any company. Then there is the voluntary benefits package that has been quite successful as well in which employees have spent over 37 million Euros through the site making savings of 2.15 million Euros since it was launched in 2010.
Research Objective 2: To review the best practices in the fast-food industry for the last five years
As compared with the best practices in the fast-food industry, McDonalds UK has been credited to push the boundaries in converting the perception of the restaurant from fast food junk to family-friendly food and from low-status jobs at the company to something more fulfilling by investing more in its staff training. Looking at the customer satisfaction Index, the company is not doing comparatively well as per the Index. However, it has maintained its last three years position as well.
Research Objective 3: To analyse the organisational outcomes (customer retention, profitability, revenue, customer service) of McDonalds and see if these are affected by their initiatives for learning and development for the years 2016-2018
In terms of individual performance outcomes, the initiatives like employee-portal, voluntary benefits package, and increased pay are considered positively influencing. Furthermore, from the organisational point of view, the results show that the company’s net profit margin has been improving over the last five years in contrast to its revenue. The company has been generating handsome profits in the last three years which shows that the company learning, and development initiative is working out well.
Recommendations
It is evident that the company is working tremendously well in terms of developing its people, and consequently its profits. Through learning and development initiatives, the company is engaging, motivating, and satisfying not only its employees but also its customers. However, this is not something which can be traced so easily through the company. And the customer satisfaction Index comparison with other fast-food companies shows that the company has room for improvement. There are still many complaints on the employee behaviour with the customers, which can be looked into. The company should look for the causes of rude behaviour. Furthermore, it should work on providing more career opportunities to its employees in the management field. This would motivate them to work longer,
Suggestion for Future Research:
Overall, the study is very comprehensive. However, there is a limitation of this study that it has not analysed any primary data. Therefore, it is suggested that future study consider evaluating the primary data from employees and customers to understand the effect of the learning and development initiatives better.
References
ACSI (2018) Benchmarks By Company, [Online], Available: https://www.theacsi.org/index.phpoption=com_
content&view=article&id=149&catid=&Itemid=214
&c=McDonald%5C%27s+&i=Limited-Service+Restaurants [14 April 2019].
Babbar, S. and Koufteros, X. (2016) ‘The human element in airline service quality: contact personnel and the customer’, International Journal of Operations and Production, vol. 28, no. 9, pp. 804-830.
Baran, M.L. (2016) Mixed Methods Research for Improved Scientific Study, IGI Global.
Barber, L., Hayday, S. and Bevan, S. (2018) From People to Profits, [Online], Available: https://www.employment-studies.co.uk/system/files/resources/files/355.pdf [6 April 2019].
Berber, N. and Lekovic, B. (2018) ‘The impact of HR development on innovative performances in central and eastern European countries’, EMployee Relations, vol. 40, no. 5, pp. 762-786.
Bishop, C. (2018) Seven Learning And Development Trends To Adopt In 2019, 24 September, [Online], Available: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresources
council/2018/09/24/seven-learning-and-development-trends-to-adopt-in-2019/#559b764d104b [7 April 2019].
Bodla, A.A. and Ningyu, T. (2017) ‘Transformative HR practices and employee task performance in high tech firms’, Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 710-724.
Brady, M.K. and Cronin, J.J. (2016) ‘Customer orientation: effects on customer service perceptions and outcome behaviors’, Journal of Service Research, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 241-251.
Brown, T.J., Mowen, J.C., Donavan, D.T. and Licata, J.W. (2017) ‘The customer orientation of service workers: personality trait effects on self-and supervisor performance ratings’, Journal of Marketing Research, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 110-119.
Burn-Callander, R. (2015) Employees send McDonald’s to bottom of top 10 ranking of fast food chains, August, [Online], Available: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/11786866/
Its-official-Flipping-burgers-at-McDonalds-is-the-worst-fast-food-job-in-the-UK.html [14 April 2019].
Business Wire (2017) DigitalThink Teams with McDonald’s to Expand Reach of its World- Renowned Training through E-Learning, 9 July, [Online], Available: https://search.proquest.com/docview/446029505?accountid=30552 [7 April 2019].
Cantor, B. (2016) McDonald’s Improves Customer Experience By Improving Employee Experience, [Online], Available: https://www.customercontactweekdigital.com/agent-engagement/articles/mcdonalds-improves-customer-experience-by [14 April 2019].
Collis, J. and Hussey, R. (2013) Business Research: A Practical Guide for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Student, Macmillan International Higher Education.
CPHR Canada (2017) Chartered Professionals in Human Resources (CPHR), [Online], Available: https://cphrbc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/CPHR_competency-framework.pdf [14 April 2019].
Crawford, R. (2016) McDonald’s Restaurants puts motivation and reward at heart of business strategy, 3 June, [Online], Available: https://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/issues/june-2015/mcdonalds-restaurants-puts-motivation-and-reward-at-heart-of-business-strategy/ [7 April 2019].
Dam, N.v. (2018) Elevating Learning & Development, Lulu.com.
Dobson, S. (2016) McDonald’s flips learning to higher level, 23 February, [Online] [7 April 2019].
Dudovskiy, J. (2016) McDonalds Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning, [Online], Available: https://research-methodology.net/mcdonalds-segmentation-targeting-and-positioning/ [4 April 2019].
Eddy, W.B. (1983) Handbook of Organization Management, CRC Press.
Goldstein, S.M. (2016) ‘Employee development: an examination of service strategy in a high-contact service environment’, Production and Operations Management, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 186-203.
Goldstein, S.M. and Ward, P.T. (2017) ‘Performance effects of physicians’ involvement in hospital strategic decisions’, Journal of Service Research, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 361-372.
Guiterrez, K. (2017) Mind-blowing Statistics that Prove the Value of Employee Training and Development, 22 August, [Online], Available: https://www.shiftelearning.com/blog/statistics-value-of-employee-training-and-development [7 April 2019].
Huang, L., Ahlstrom, D., Lee, A.Y.P., Chen, S. and Hsieh, M.J. (2016) ‘High performance work systems, employee well-being, and job involvement: an empirical study’, Personal Review, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 296-314.
Ibrahim, R., Boerhannoeddin, A. and Bakare, K.K. (2017) ‘The effect of soft skills and training methodology on employee performance’, European Journal of Training and Development, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 388-406.
ICD Research (2017) McDonald’s Corporation, ICD Research.
Ivankova, N.V. (2014) Mixed Methods Applications in Action Research, SAGE.
Jayaram, J. and Xu, K. (2016) ‘Determinants of quality and efficiency performance in service operations’, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 265-285.
Jerling, K. (1996) vEducation, Training and Development in Organisation, Pearson South Africa.
Jyoti, J. and Rani, A. (2017) ‘High performance work system and organisational performance: role of knowledge management’, Personnel Review, vol. 46, no. 8, pp. 1770-1795.
Kellner, A., Townsend, K., Wilkinson, A., Greenfield, D. and Lawrence, S. (2016) ‘The message and the messenger: identifying and communicating a high performance ‘HRM philosophy’, Personnel Review, vol. 45, no. 6, pp. 1240-1258.
Klenke, K. (2016) Qualitative Research in the Study of Leadership, Emerald Group Publishing.
Lam, M., O’Donnell, M. and Robertson, D. (2016) ‘Achieving employee commitment for continuous improvement intiatives’, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 201-215.
McDonalds (2016) ‘Learning outside the classroom at McDonald’s’,. Training Strategies for Tomorrow, vol. 14, no. 5, pp. 16-18.
McDonalds (2016) Q2 2016 McDonald’s Corp Earnings Call – Final, McDonalds.
McDonalds (2016) Q3 2016 McDonald’s Corp Earnings Call – Final, McDonalds.
McDonalds (2016) Q4 2016 McDonald’s Corp Earnings Call – Final, McDonalds.
McDonalds (2017) ‘Informal learning plays a key role at McDonald’s’, Human Resource Management International Digest, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 22-24.
McDonalds (2018) Profitability Analysis, [Online], Available: https://www.stock-analysis-on.net/NYSE/Company/McDonalds-Corp/Ratios/Profitability [14 April 2019].
Mihail, D.M. and Kloutsiniotis, P.V. (2016) ‘The effects of high-performance work systems on hospital employees’ work-related well-being: evidence from Greece’, European Management Journal, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 1-15.
Nawaz, A.S.M.S. (2016) ‘Employee motivation: A study on some selected McDonalds in the UK’, African Journal of Business Management, vol. 5, no. 14, pp. 5541-5550.
Nowak, C. (2018) The Real Way McDonald’s Makes Their Money—It’s Not Their Food, [Online], Available: https://www.rd.com/food/fun/real-way-mcdonalds-makes-money/ [5 April 2019].
Obeidat, S.M., Mitchell, R. and Bray, M. (2016) ‘The link between high performance work practices and organizational performance: empirically validating the conceptualization of HPWP according to the AMO model’, Employee Relations: The International Journal, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 1-24.
Parkinson, J. (2016) What’s it really like to work at McDonald’s?, 15 April, [Online], Available: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32283560 [7 April 2019].
Premack, R. (2018) The fast food industry is facing a growing crisis, 1 May, [Online], Available: https://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-taco-bell-fast-food-turnover-technology-2018-4 [14 April 2019].
Punnett, B.J. (2016) International Perspectives on Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, 2nd edition, M.E. Sharpe.
Rigoni, B. and Asplund, J. (2016) ‘Developing Employees’ Strengths Boosts Sales, Profit, and Engagement’, Harvard Business Review.
Saunders, M.N.K. (2011) Research Methods For Business Students, Pearson Education India.
Sharma, F.C. (2016) Human Resource Management, 1st edition, SBPD Publications.
Silvestro, R. and Lustrato, P. (2016) ‘Exploring the ‘mid office’ concept as an enabler of mass customization in services’, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 35, no. 6, pp. 866-894.
Sreejesh, S. and Mohapatra, S. (2013) Mixed Method Research Design: An Application in Consumer-Brand Relationships (CBR), Springer Science & Business Media.
Statista (2018) Number of McDonald’s employees worldwide 2012-2018, [Online], Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/819966/mcdonald-s-number-of-employees/ [14 April 2019].
Statista (2018) Revenue of McDonald’s 2005-2018, [Online], Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/208917/revenue-of-the-mcdonalds-corporation-since-2005/ [14 April 2019].
Viktoria, K. (2016) ‘Work, train, win: work-based learning design and management for productivity’, OECD Education Working.
Vinesh (2014) ‘Role of Training & Development in an Organizational Development’, International Journal of Management and International Business Studies, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 213-220.
Whipp, L. (2016) McDonald’s may struggle to replicate British success, 5 May, [Online], Available: https://www.ft.com/content/272cf734-f315-11e4-a979-00144feab7de [7 April 2019].
Wilkie, K. (2018) ‘I’m NOT lovin’ it’: McDonald’s comes last in fast food customer satisfaction – while Nando’s tops the leaderboard, 11 December, [Online], Available: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6481577/McDonalds-KFC-low-ranking-customer-satisfaction-comes-fast-food.html [14 April 2019].
Yee, R.W., Lee, P.K., Yeung, A.C. and Cheng, T. (2018) ‘Employee learning in high-contact service industries’, Management Decision, vol. 56, no. 4, pp. 793-807.
Appendices
Appendix A: Reflective Log
For the reflection of the research work, the Gibbs Reflective Model has been used which has components of description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, and action. The reflective log is going to be written under each head of this model.
The research has been conducted in the fast-food industry and to be specific, McDonald’s UK has been taken to studying the variables. The impact of learning and development has been researched to find its impact on the profitability and performance of McDonald’s UK. The human resource aspect of the company has been focused because learning and development are linked to human resources. It has been very useful to highlight the importance of learning and development for McDonald’s.
The feelings to conduct this study were very high and pleasing because it is the research work which is original. The data and information have been obtained through secondary sources, but they have been used to have original research on a notable fast-food company. Therefore, I feel very proud feelings and feelings of accomplishment when I did this research. The link between learning and development and the organisational performance of McDonald’s has been established through this research.
The research has been carried out, and the research process has been completed by meeting deadlines. The research process remained under time and budget, and the research work did not find any constraints on the way. I also learnt the role of professionalism and objective views in research work because there are many instances when a researcher may tend to use his feelings. However, it is not recommended, and I brought the results with honesty and objectivity.
If the research is analysed and the actions are evaluated which have been undertaken, then it is noted that the research work has been effective. The use of secondary sources to conduct this research and then managing these resources has been a wonderful experience because these sources were collected from publicly available sources over the internet and company websites. These sources have been perfectly used in the research and findings of the research have been taken with professionalism.
The research teaches many lessons to the researcher, and the most important lesson is time management and meeting deadlines. It is not always possible to meet deadlines, but there must be consistent efforts to do so. I have realised its importance, and I have worked hard in this research by keeping things in time and under budget. I remained close with the supervisor for the feedback, and I got successful in getting timely assistance from him.
There should be a follow up on this research and this follow up requires action or an action plan. I believe that there is room for improvement, and I should learn how to process secondary sources to get insights into any variable or issue. I should be perfect in synthesising the literature as well, so that themes from secondary research may be developed.
Appendix B: Personal Statement
The research opportunities and the degree have helped me learn many new lessons and ways to get knowledge and expertise. I was working as Nursery practitioner with Advanced diploma in child psychology, before getting admission at GSM. Now, I am exploring myself being part of the university. I am fully prepared and hopeful that I would get the maximum level of knowledge and skills through this course and research work. I have always been interested in knowledge and information, and I believe that knowledge and learning lead an organisation to be successful. Knowledge and learning are the attributes which are linked with the human resources of an organisation. That is why I have chosen the management and business field and after choosing this field, I have shown interest in areas related to human resources and their enrichment. Before getting admission at GSM, I did not have a grasp over management and business fields and topics, but now, I have learnt a lot by having a grasp on business management topics.
I have learnt time management and self-management because if one can manage the time and his strengths then, there is no way that he may fail. I have also learnt to remain competitive and knowledgeable because these are the real strengths of a person. The course work and research opportunities have given me possibilities through which one can explore himself, and he can shape new things. I am also eager to find new horizons after getting admission at this university and by being enrolled in the course. The presentation skills, communication skills, time management skills, interpersonal skills, and teamwork skills are some of the important skills which have been learnt from me, and these skills are still being acquired because there is no ending of learning and getting improvement in one’s approach to any field.
I have faced challenges in the course and related research activities. At the start of the degree, I was not sure what would happen, and I was taking things with curiosity and surprise, but now, things are very much normal, and at the finishing of Capstone, I can see the future of mine and the learning skills on the way of getting educated. I have developed my personality and learning skills, and it has made me stand different and distinguished among my peers. I do not consider that I am the best, but I have been excellent in presenting and communication. I have been better at meeting deadlines, and I have worked harder than others. Especially, in the fields of research and out of the syllabus knowledge, I have paid special attention, and I consider it among my strengths while getting the degree.
In short, the degree program and related research work have transformed my views and opinions regarding things. Now, I can explore new views and insights into any issue or phenomenon. My vision of the future has broadened, and I can relate to many things and issues with the chosen topic. However, I should keep bringing further improvements, so that the journey of development continues.
