Induction Systems the Company Being

Induction Systems

The company being studied is McDonald's Australia, which operates on a franchise model and competes in the quick service restaurant industry. One of the systems that franchise owners benefit from is the company's induction system. Overall, McDonalds is a transnational company. In Australia, the company has 800 restaurants and employees around 85,000 people (No author, 2011). While the franchisees operate locally, the company's induction system is consistent throughout the country, and bears strong similarities to its induction systems worldwide.

The organization has the vision of being the dominant quick service restaurant in the world, delivering food items that people love both quickly and affordably. The staff members at a typical McDonalds are often young people working their first job, usually teenagers (No author, 2011). Even managers at the restaurant level tend to be young, and would have no previous managerial experience. Only regional level managers are experienced, in general, and both they and the store-level managers bear responsibility for implementing the induction system.

McDonalds in Australia has a relatively sophisticated induction system. There are many components to this system the first of which is hands-on training at the store level which is structured but self-paced (No author, 2011). There are certificates awarded for different levels of achievement in this program. The company now also has an online recruitment and induction platform known as "metime," and consists not only of hiring but an orientation and induction program that begins before the employee's first shift (Computerworld, 2006).

The responsibility for inducting new staff lies with the individual franchise owners, but with strong guidance from and using systems developed by corporate head office. The company has developed its processes in store training over the decades to refine best practices. The "metime" system was developed with the assistance of a company called TodayCorp, an Australian firm that, according to its profile on Business Week, specializes in online education and recruitment.

The induction process is therefore a multi-step process that begins with the online orientation and induction to provide basic information, and then moves into hands-on training in a structured course. Employees progress through the course at their own pace, with assistance from managers and their peers. The progress that the employees make is tracked by management using a computerized system, and the employee receives certificates based on completion of the different levels. A system called WRAPT gives employees access to a wide range of training and tools online (No author, 2011).

McDonalds also has informal systems to help with the induction process. The company seeks to be flexible with respect to the needs of the young employees, giving them whatever level of challenge they desire. The induction also focuses on instilling corporate culture in the employees, so that they can share with other newcomers in the work environment. The organization places significant importance on its induction process, an assessment based on two facts. The first is the amount of money that McDonalds spends on developing formal induction systems. The second is the recognition at the corporate level that service is a critical element of their business and that with rookie employees a substantial amount of training is required for them to understand the expectations of a professional work environment -- McDonalds has to be good at training or their store will not function well at all.

McDonalds has not noted any major problems with its induction system, but it is always working to improve its systems. The extensive use of e-training is something that reflects the company's commitment to constantly improving its induction processes. The induction system at McDonald's is highly successful. The company is a certified trainer in Australia, a reflection of its commitment to the highest standards of training. In addition, the success of its restaurants is testament to the success of its training programs. McDonald's employees often go on to success either in the company or elsewhere, with the foundation of professionalism that they acquire during their time at the restaurant level.