Mcdonald's And Burger King

• McDonald's has a goal of 100% total customer satisfactionЈ¬ this goal is not always attainable. McDonald's has a second company goal that sets them apart from most of their competitors.

• McDonald's customer service policy is laid out in the McDonald's Guarantee. They are more concerned with the quality of the service than the speed of the service. They then prepare that order while the customers wait.

• Employees were working at a rapid pace, but it seemed like they had no time for customers.

• The atmosphere was also very noisy. There was constant beeping, banging, and yelling coming from the service area. They did not provide a pleasant ambiance for customers to dine in.

• McDonald's communication and leadership were also lacking. The employees provided no feedback in terms of double-checking orders or communicating any delays that might occur. we did not see a manager present during our entire visit.

Burger King

• Burger King's goals seemed quite clear. They want to individualize each customer's order and provide the fastest service possible.

• Burger King's policy is to give the customer many choices and to accurately and quickly provide whatever the customer chooses. This policy is reflected in their slogan, Your way, right away. Operating under this policy makes it very easy to achieve their goals.

• In order to individualize each order they provide customers with many options when ordering. Some options include fries or onion rings, cheese, bacon, mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and onion. The customer can pick any combination of these options that they desire.

• To facilitate fast service Burger King takes customer orders on a continual basis. One employee takes the customer's order, the customer then moves down the line where another employee is preparing the order. Customers also get their own drinks while they are waiting for their meal. This makes service much faster in that employees do not have to prepare drinks or provide refills.

• The climate at Burger King was very pleasant. The employees conveyed the attitude that they were there to assist the customers in any way possible. The restaurant was very clean and there were no loud noises from the service area. They also provided relaxing music for customers to listen to while dining.

• . Burger King possessed more than adequate communication and leadership. Employees gave the customers feedback on their orders. Each customer received a receipt, which enabled him or her to double-check his or her order. The employees also read the order back to the customer before handing them the order. In terms of leadership, there was a manager in plain sight throughout our visit. The manager showed involvement by taking orders and coaching employees.

ANALYSIS:

1. Organizational Goals Both McDonald's and Burger King share the same basic organizational goals of profitability, sales volume, fast and courteous service, and cleanliness.

2. Organizational Structure When observing McDonald's and Burger king, the organizational structures of the two restaurants were very similar. There appeared to be a crew leader who was a non-managerial employee and, there was a manager who was present behind the counter. The managers of the restaurants seemed to be in control of every aspect of the entire food service process. He had keys to the store, and registers, and also was the only one to take phone calls. One might assume that because both restaurants are chains, there is a hierarchy of command.

3. Technology Both McDonald's and Burger King are on the cutting edge of technology. They both employ state of the art cash registers and both have electric timers built into their cooking machines. Although the cooking styles vary between Burger King and McDonald's, the method of production is the same. Large batches of food are cooked at once then placed under heat lamps or put in the microwave when an order is placed. Both stores have the same drive through technology with a speaker and a well-lit menu to relay the message to the cooks. Usually whoever takes the order is also the same person to collect the money; however, a different person usually puts the order together for the customer.

4. Employee Motivation The motivation of both stores for employees to perform well is hard to ascertain from just observing, but it appears somewhat obvious. The people working in these establishments appear to have a lower social economic status, and the fact that a paycheck is coming at the end of the week may be the only motivation they have. The stores do have an employee of the month plaque on the wall, but it is doubtful that this is motivation to strive day in and day out for. There is also the fear of potentially losing their jobs if they perform sub standard.

5. Communication Both stores employed a very open communication policy. Employees were talking, sometimes shouting at one another to be heard. The management was openly involved in the employees routines and the employees felt no barriers to prevent their communication with the manager. Sometimes in both stores, there would be a break down in communication somewhere along the line and that would result in extended waiting times for customers and sometimes, screwed up orders.

6. Environment The environment at McDonald's and Burger King seems to be a simple, yet unstable one. It is apparent that the majority of people who work there, are not choosing their employment as a career option. Therefore, the workforce is constantly changing and adapting to new employees and new situations.

7. . Job Design The design of the job in both McDonald's and Burger King ran smoothly at times. There was autonomy between the different positions. For example, the fry person would just make fries. If he ran into a problem, he could use his knowledge of the fry machine to fix the problem without having to go to management. There was a visual barrier between the different positions, however no position seemed more glorified than another one.

8. Leadership Style There was similar leadership style employed by the management at both stores. Task orientation was essential to meeting the goal of fast food. Each person had to be focused on the task at hand, because during certain hours of the day, both stores were very busy. There seemed to be little flexibility from management if it meant compromising their goals.

9. Policies/Procedures/Rules/Standards Standardization seemed to be the key at both