McDonald's HR Practices: Challenges and Improvement Strategies
This paper analyzes human resource practices at McDonald's Corporation and their role in the company's global operations and long-term success. Beginning with a brief history of the company's founding and expansion, the paper identifies key challenges—including criticism over unhealthy food, environmental concerns, and poor employee morale—alongside opportunities for improvement. It evaluates the effectiveness of McDonald's core HR functions such as recruitment and selection, training and development, and compensation and benefits, drawing on Human Capital Theory and Classical Economic Theory. The paper then proposes concrete strategies for improving employee-employer relations and compensation structures, assesses the potential competitive impact of those improvements, and outlines an evaluation framework using turnover rates, employee surveys, and profitability metrics.
- Introduction: Overview of McDonald's success and HR focus
- McDonald's History and Global Expansion: Founding, growth, and global scale of McDonald's
- Challenges and Opportunities Facing McDonald's: Health, environment, culture, and HR challenges
- Key HR Functions at McDonald's: Recruitment, training, compensation, and theory analysis
- Strategies for Improving HR Management Practices: Proposed solutions for compensation and workplace relations
- Value, Impact, and Evaluating the Plan: Competitive benefits and success measurement methods
✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
What makes this paper effective
- Grounds practical HR recommendations in established theoretical frameworks — Human Capital Theory and Classical Economic Theory — lending academic credibility to applied business analysis.
- Maintains a consistent problem–solution structure: each challenge identified in the early sections is directly addressed by a proposed strategy later in the paper.
- Includes a concrete evaluation framework (turnover rates, employee surveys, profitability data) that transforms recommendations into a measurable action plan.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of secondary source integration, weaving multiple peer-reviewed citations (Nawaz, 2011; Marimuthu et al., 2009; Royle, 2005) into a coherent argument rather than treating them as isolated facts. Each citation is contextualized within the paper's broader claim about HR dysfunction, showing the student's ability to synthesize sources rather than merely summarize them.
Structure breakdown
The paper follows a six-part structure: a brief introduction establishing scope, a company history section providing context, a challenges-and-opportunities section identifying problems, an HR functions analysis applying theory to practice, a strategies section offering solutions, and a combined impact-and-evaluation section closing the argument. This sequencing moves logically from description to analysis to prescription — a classic applied business essay format appropriate for undergraduate coursework.
Introduction
McDonald's Corporation is renowned as one of the most successful fast food restaurant chains in the world and a leading symbol of globalization. As the largest chain of fast food restaurants worldwide, McDonald's serves a customer base of more than 60 million people every day. Since its founding in the late 1950s, the corporation has experienced tremendous growth and profitability due to its sound business strategies and practices. Some of the factors that have contributed to its success include providing quick meals at reasonable prices, global expansion, and a commitment to hiring the right people. A critical aspect of the firm's success and profitability is its human resource practices. This paper examines human resource practices at McDonald's Corporation and their role in the firm's operations and overall success.
McDonald's History and Global Expansion
McDonald's Corporation was founded in the late 1950s in California by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald (Han, 2008). During this period, the two brothers operated the business as a small burger stand before it was purchased by Ray Kroc, who transformed it into a business characterized by uniformity and conformity. As part of this transformation, Kroc developed new, standardized production methods for McDonald's based on the concept of mass production. Some of the changes introduced during the initial years of operations included the production of genetically modified potatoes in place of locally grown produce. This uniform mass production approach was designed to ensure that the firm's products maintained a consistent taste across all locations.
Since its inception, McDonald's Corporation has experienced tremendous growth and profitability, marked by increased global expansion and a vast customer base. This expansion has helped McDonald's become one of the most respected and recognized brands in the world. As of 2016, McDonald's Corporation operated approximately 36,900 outlets and served nearly 69 million customers daily across the globe. Throughout the years, McDonald's has shaped its operations using sound business strategies based on specific outcome goals. One of these critical strategies is a quick response to changing customer tastes and preferences through menu innovation. Additionally, the company operates its outlets as affiliates, franchises, or corporate-owned restaurants, providing a solid foundation for sustained operations and profitability.
References
Han, J. (2008, November). The business strategy of McDonald's. International Journal of Business and Management, 3(11), 72–74.
Kucharcikova, A. (2011, February). Human capital — definitions and approaches. Human Resources Management & Ergonomics, 5, 60–70.
Marimuthu, M., Arokiasamy, L., & Ismail, M. (2009). Human capital development and its impact on firm performance: Evidence from developmental economics. The Journal of International Social Research, 2(8), 265–272.
Mishra, B., & Dwivedi, S. (2013, July). Success story of McDonald's in India: Story of its struggle in the Indian market. Asian Journal of Science and Technology, 4(7), 66–70.
Nawaz, A.S.M.S. (2011, March 29). Employee motivation: A study on some selected McDonald's in the UK. African Journal of Business Management, 5(14), 5541–5550.
Royle, T. (2005, October 24). Worker representation under threat? The McDonald's Corporation and the effectiveness of statutory works councils in seven European Union countries. Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal, 22, 395–432.
Sageer, A., Rafat, S., & Agarwal, P. (2012, September–October). Identification of variables affecting employee satisfaction and their impact on the organization. IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 5(1), 32–39.
Sharma, S., & Lakshmi, R.V. (2016, December). Workplace environment and its impact on employees' productivity: A case study of banks in Raipur. Open Journal of Advances in Business and Management, 1(3), 51–63.
Ukandu, N.E., & Ukpere, W.I. (2011, November 16). Strategies to improve the level of employee motivation in fast food outlets in Cape Town, South Africa. African Journal of Business Management, 5(28), 11521–11531.
Create your account
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.