Analysing the communication process in McDonalds

I have made a document and analyze the communication process in one of the worlds successful and largest fast food chain, towards the achievement of business goal. I have chosen the organization is McDonalds situated in Manurewa.

Primary data was collected by interviewing the Branch Manager, he is my relative. After the primary research, all the relevant findings were analyzed and evaluated based on the communication theories learned from secondary sources through our textbook, lecturer handouts, online resources and the organization’s information resources.

The research draws attention to the importance of these findings on how effective, efficient, accurate and up-to-date these communication processes that shoe great impact on the three levels of communication in the main team namely:

Team Communication

Interpersonal Communication

Organization Communication

Findings showed some communication barriers on each level that hinder the affectivity and efficiency of the communication processes towards the achievement of their Team goals affecting the organizational goal’s is well. Though some of the problems were being acted upon promptly, some were not; therefore, I came up with some suggestions that may be helpful to the subject organization towards the achievement of their business goals.

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1. Introduction

McDonalds is the one of the leading restaurant chains in the world, touching the lives of people every day. They improved their quality of products and services with the time. In the past McDonalds does not have drive through and 24 hour services. All of them are open for late nights. McDonalds primarily sells hamburgers, cheese burgers, chicken products, French fries, breakfast items, soft drinks, milk shakes, and deserts.

2. Interpersonal communication

Interpersonal communication is communication between two people. Some books like to refer to it as face-to-face communication, or communication when people are physically present with each other. In the interpersonal communication, we research on communication between the manager and staff member’s and also research the communication between customers and staff.

2.1 Communication between managers and staff members

When we research on McDonalds, it was found that all the restaurant employees are from different countries with different backgrounds. Employees are well educated and experienced. However, there are some drawbacks in the communication between managers and the staff members. This drawback is a language barrier. Because most of the employees have come from different countries, they speak different languages from each other. The meetings conducted at McDonalds involve managers and employees communicating to find out the problems being faced at the department.

2.2 Communication between staff members and customers

In this McDonald, mostly women are in the front and attend the new customers. The woman who is attending customer is very friendly and has good communication. All staff members are trained well before to communicate effectively. To communicate well, it is necessary to talk politely and use gestures to convey meaning. The crew members give customer satisfaction through good customer service

2.3 Communication barriers

There are some barriers in communication between employees and the manager:-

ROLES: Roles are always defined in relationship to someone else and they determine the way you communicate with the other person. In any organisation, information flow depends on good relations of employees. Sometimes employees hide mistakes from manager because of personal relationship then it becomes a barrier in information flow.

STATUS: Status become a barrier in motivation .Some of employees doesn’t talk with other because of their status. New employees try to avoid communicate with the manager because of his status.

POWER: Power becomes barrier in motivation and control. An organisation uses communication to motivate the employees. When we communicate, there is often some element of power or control being exercised by one person or the other, or by both. If power is too much used then the communication is frustrating.

MIXED MESSAGES: It becomes a barrier in communication when non verbal communication not matches with verbal message.

3 Organisation communication

In the interview with the manager we asked some general questions about the Mc Donald have to gain some knowledge about the Organisation with in the Mc Donald’s. Organisation communication is divided into two major parts which is as follow:-

• Internal organisation communication

• External organisation communication

3.1 Internal organisation communication:-

3.1.1. Organisation goals:-

Basic goal of McDonalds on the basis of yearly and they mainly consider about the customer service. It also includes the waste of the McDonalds. They also want to give the customer fast service they want to decrease their waste as much they can so. The few goals of McDonalds are as follows

• CSO (Customer satisfaction objective)-100 %( McDonalds main goal is to give customer full satisfaction)

• KVS (kitchen video system)-35% this is the time taken to make burgers and other fast food products in the kitchen area after every order and it’s normally 35 seconds.

• Labor-26% McDonalds want to save the labour up to 26% as they had given last year.

• Refunds- below 0.10 %( company wants to give less refund to the customer to earn more profit

3.1.2. Information flow within the organisation-

In the organisation information flows from higher level to lower level as every information for instance a launch of new product or changing of rules firstly comes to restaurant manager and after that he pass on the information to the middle level manager or we can call them as shift manager and the shift manager pass on the information to the crew members by a team meeting or putting the information on the crew room so that everybody can read that information. And especially when a new product is launching

They create a group training team and they trained them how to make new product and Kinds of precautions they have to consider while making those particular product

3.1.3. Organisation culture within the organisation:-

In this organisation employees are from different communities. And mainly in this organisation islanders and Indians are working with very few of kiwi staff. The restaurant manager is kiwi and almost all the other middle level managers are islanders and including one manager belongs to china. And in this organisation everybody works without any racism and they are very comfortable with each other. The organisation climate of the McDonalds is very good because everybody communicates in professional way and they can understand each other way of communication very well.

3.2 External organisation communication:-

3.2.1 Dealing with customers:-

This is the continuous part of the communication in the McDonalds and which is to be used 24 hours to serve the customer. And it is used to handle the problems of customers as well. In the McDonalds there is a specific pattern to deal with the customers which is described by the manager of McDonalds. In this part of communication is used to deal with every customer and this pattern is written is also written in every order taking register and this pattern is divided into part and those are as follows:-

1) First smile and greet to customer.

2) Take the order correctly by repeating the order to the customer

3) At last say enjoy your meal and good bye.

3.2.2. Communication with stakeholders:-

In this organisation mainly restaurant manager and senior assistant manager communicate with the stakeholders and the organisation like McDonalds plays a vital role in communication with the stakeholders because they have to always to be ready to give the customer a better service and not to get a stock out of anything which is used within the organisation.

3.3 Communication barrier in organisation communication-

3.3.1 Barrier in internal organisation-

Within the organisation there is communication barrier when in busy time of restaurant if crew and manager do not communicate with each other they cannot give better service to the customers and sometime it happens in heaps of busy time because everybody is busy in doing their task as faster as they can. So to get rid of it managers take the help of the other crew and manager which is available at that time to do a proper communication within the staff.

3.3.2. Barrier in external organisation-

There is barrier which is occurs by the customers and stakeholders mainly because of there is sometime misunderstanding

3.3.2.1 Linguistic barrier-

Along with this there is some linguistic barrier in the communication. as some of the employees which are from other countries they cannot speak as much good English to communicate and sometime it become barrier in communication in the organisation.

4 Team Communication

4.1. Team Goals

Team goals are very simple make a plan and then follow it. In McDonalds teams are trained well to follow the pattern. Leader of the team asks the team to execute a plan and the whole team follows the plan.

4.2.Team Roles

In a team each member has a role to fulfill the needs of the team. In McDonalds there is a branch manager, team leader or shift manager. Now there are three counters to serve the customers. On counter 1 there are three members working, on counter 2 there are two members and team leader working and on counter 3 again three members are working. Now cleaning team is there to do the cleanings and also to help the members of the team if anyone requires help and it consists of two members. So the information flow is from the both sides that are downward to upward and also upward to downward.

Branch Manager

Team Leader

Counter Team 1 Counter Team 2 Counter Team 3

Cleaning Team

4.3.Branch Manager

Now role of the branch manager is to give the order to the team leader and then team leader will give that order to the team and if there is any kind of problem to the member of the team he or she will let the team leader know and the team leader will let the manager know. So this way the information flows in a team that is both upward and downward.

4.4.Team Member

The role of the team member is to contribute towards the goal of the organization. They just need to follow the orders and if they have any suggestions they can give it in the meetings organized by the team leader or by the head manager.

5.CONCLUSIONS

5.1. Interpersonal communication

5.1.1. Communication between manager and staff members

According to the findings, we came up with the conclusion that due to the different background and culture of the stay members and managers, language becomes a barrier as far as communication is concerned. Because most employees are from different culture and they are new in this work might hesitate to talk to the manager about their problems. In the meetings, employees are always asked by the managers are they satisfied with their jobs and with the environment of Mc Donald’s, which will ultimately motivate them to satisfy the needs of their customers as well. Indian and Chinese staff member hesitates a lot because English is not there first language.

5.1.1.1. Language barrier:

Language becomes a barrier between manager and staff members because of employees are from different countries and hesitate when communicate with manager.

5.1.2. Communication between customers and staff members

We find that the level of satisfaction depends on the quality of service a customer receives. In this restaurant, both men and women deal with the customers because they are trained well before they join the staff. While dealing with different customers of different background they have to communicate accurately to satisfy the customer’s needs. In this family restaurant every staff member communicates well with the customers to fulfil the customer’s needs. They speak well in English.

5.2. Organisation communication

After going through all the aspects of McDonald’s organisation communication we come to conclusion that both the internal and external communication of McDonalds is very necessary to run the business and earn profit. Without the proper communication, organisation cannot achieve the goals. In the McDonalds Manurewa, the staff got good communication skills and they are doing well in their business by communicating very well professionally in internal organisation as well as external organisation.

5.3 Internal organisation communication-

In nutshell the McDonalds main aim is to earn profit and give the customer better service and for that they are achieving their aim by targeting this point of view. McDonalds Manurewa is very multicultural organisation so the employees enjoy each other occasion very happily. And along with this all the important information in this organisation flows from top to bottom level.

5.4 External organisation communication-

In McDonalds external communication is mainly with the customers and stakeholders. And this communication is done by both the crew and managers .The dealing with customers is done by both the managers and crew but the communication with the stakeholders mainly done by managers of McDonalds.

And on other side a better communication skills in the staff leads to profit of the organisation as if they can communicate well to the customers and as well as in the organisation they can achieve their goals easily.

Now in McDonalds different ages, cultures and nationalities are working there together. So everybody is looking to give his idea which is good that shows there commitment towards the work but they all have different thinking’s. So problems occurs in between the crew members just because they think that there idea is good but still not followed by the other members or by the group.

6. RECOMMENDATIONS

6.1. Interpersonal communication

6.1.1. Communication between customers and staff members

Communication between staff member and customers is main part there. In this restaurant mostly women attend the customers. The staff is well trained and experienced. If the staff members are happy with their work environment, they can serve the customers better. Managers should also encourage members to deal with the customers to avoid any gender bias.

6.1.2 Create a positive climate

The communication become better by creating a positive climate (Joan, 2001).The employees try to understand the roles of communication and working for win-win outcomes. They also enhance their communication by self disclosure. The employees should try to understand needs of the customers. Therefore, McDonald’s good customer service is generated through employee satisfaction and a healthy work environment. Employees also try to learn more from old employees.

6.1.3. Communication between managers and staff members

Communication between managers and staff members can be better if the meetings are held at least once a week in the organization. The managers should ask the staff member’s questions about their culture and background to get to know them better and to understand their behaviour, so their work environment could be set up according to their preference and comfort. Managers should also try to talk to the staff members as much as possible.

6.1.4. Making contacts

Manager and employees try to make contacts with each other. We all need to be treated with respect and inclusion. These are basic human needs. Manager tries to give help to new employees who do not know about the work plan of the McDonald. New employees should make contacts with the experienced employees. Manager can help the employees who are best in communication but hesitate when they are speaking.

6.2. Organisation communication

Organisation communication is vast area where everyone has to be including to targeting the aim and achieving that aim. In the organisation communication the important aspect is the organisation goals and the goals can only be achieved if the staff understand it and communicate about the goal by each other.

In the organisation every individual employee has to contribute to the main organisation goal. Manger should do proper meeting with crew members to overcome communication gap in the organisation. They must take opinions of crew before implementing a new rule in the organisation so they can work as a team all the crew members must speak English with each other apart from any other languages.

6.2.1 Team communication

6.2.1.1 Conflict in Group

If groups are to function well, there needs to be some conflict, because the value of group is that they bring people with diverse skills and ideas together. There, conflict is inevitable and necessary. If there is too much conflict, a group will cease to function, whereas too little conflict can lead to groupthink.

Now in McDonalds a team needs to have a proper conflict shows in the diagram. If they discuss more than there is a problem and if they discuss less than there is a problem. If the team performance is not good enough then there will be a problem in Synergy. So they need to have proper to the point discussions rather than too short and to bigger meetings or discussions.

6.2.1.2 Group Dynamics

Communication in a group is infinitely more complex than communication between two people. See Figure below.

When two people communicate, there are two possible interactions.

A B B A

Now in McDonald’s teams split in to four parts that is counter 1, counter 2, counter 3 and the cleaning team. On the bases of counter one there are three members that is A, B and C. Now A talks with B and B talks with C but there is no communication between A and C.

If C does not talk with A then there is no interaction between team member A and C. They need to interact with each other to maintain a proper communication inside a group. If they interact with each they will automatically follow the group dynamics and the outcome will be good or improved.