Setting Quality Standards

Organization needs to develop their effective image in the dynamic business environment and in order to develop effective image, organization needs to adopt certain policies and strategies through which they could maintain the quality of the products and services they offer to its consumers. This is the most effective and impressive tool through which organization could attain its desired goals and the objectives. Apart from this, it is also useful in setting up great image in the dynamic business environment as well as it provides adequate competitive advantage to the organization. Under this report, total quality management tools used by the McDonald’s will be discussed. McDonald’s have developed their effective position in the fast food industry across the globe. From the initial period, they have continuously improved quality of their products. This is the major reason they have attained adequate competitive advantage in the fast food industry amongst the global fast food industry. McDonald’s is a part of fast food industry and they are famous for producing vegetarian and non-vegetarian burgers, French fries, wraps, coffee, juices, etc. In some places, they have also started the doorstep delivery facility for enhancing the consumer’s experience better.

In this report, tool used by the McDonald’s for enhancing its quality of products will be discussed and apart from this, appropriate analysis will be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the tools used by the organization to enhance their quality of the products offered to the consumers. Along with the tool used by McDonald’s in order to increase the quality of their products, implementation methods of the total quality management tool will also be covered. In the next phase of the report, effectiveness of the implementation techniques will be identified and apart from this analysis, organization’s change management strategies will also be discussed. In the last part of the report, recommendations will be provided in order to improve the effectiveness and the efficiency of the quality management tools used by the organizational management to attain desired goals and the objectives.

There are numbers of tools available through which organization could enhance their quality of services and products delivered by them. Following are some of them:

Setting Quality Standards: McDonald’s uses this technique on the priority basis for enhancing the quality of food delivered by them. The speciality of their products is the taste, they offer. McDonald’s is an American multinational fast food chain which is also situated in various parts of the world. But the taste of their products remains same at every store, be it a franchised store or a self-maintained store. Management of the McDonald’s has developed certain quality measures which are to be followed by every outlet across the globe in order to maintain the same taste of the products delivered by them. Apart from this, management of the organization has certain secret formulas which are not being shared with any of the store member or with any customer. This has been in order to maintain the quality of the products because this is the primary reason for huge demand of the fast food items delivered by MacDonald’s (Dale, 2015).

Comparing the performance with the standards

Comparing the performance with the standards: McDonald’s has adopted this strategy under which, performance attained by the organization is matched up with the standards set up by the management for evaluating the effectiveness of the strategies used by the organization (Goetsch & Davis, 2014). After evaluating the outcomes from comparing the performance attained and the performance expected as per the standards set up by the organization, relevant factors will be analysed for determining the reason for declined performance attained. On the other hand, if the outcomes will be more in relevance with the performance expected, then the strategies used for attaining the performance will be accepted and implemented for other outlets in order to attain adequate goals and the objectives of the organization (Mitra, 2016).

Training: This is the crucial factor of management process. Until the employees of the organization will not be trained, they will not be able to provide adequate services to customers. Adaptation of training and counselling sessions will help them to gather adequate amount of information in relevance with the working procedures of the organization. This will help them to serve in an effective manner to the customers as well as it will also help them to resolve their queries too. Apart from this, this measure also helps the organization to attain overall goals and the objectives in an effective manner (Nadeem, et. al., 2013).

Survey: Above diagram shows the survey method of enhancing the quality of the organization. This is crucial component for the management in order to manage the quality feature of the organization. In terms of McDonald’s, quality is the primary component for attaining goals and the objectives. Till the time, consumer will not get the adequate quality of food for which they paid for, product will not be able to fulfil their needs and it will affect the organizational performance in a negative manner. This process is used for reaching the desired destination through which appropriate decisions could be taken for improving the organizational performance. It can be executed internally as well as externally. Initially, it analyses the issues and challenges which are affecting the organizational performance in negative aspect. After analysing the issues and the challenges, with the help of survey technique, customers and employees are asked to provide their opinions from their perception through which organization could enhance their performance (Kim & Hyun, 2011).

With the help of outcomes generated from the method of survey, on the basis of priority or the most effective idea will be implemented within the workplace in order to attain adequate goals and the objectives of the organization.

Plan-Do-Act-Check: Above figure shows the plan-do-act-check model which was invented by the American Engineer Dr. W. Edwards Deming in order to analyse the organizational performance as well as to update the strategies used by the organization for reaching to the desired destination which could generate growth and expansion opportunities for the organization. This model has four stages i.e. plan, do, act and check.

• Plan: The most effective plan identified by the management of the organization is being selected and its effectiveness is determined on the basis of organizational structure of McDonald’s. Further, appropriate factors will be analysed in order to select the most appropriate plan for the organization in order to improve the level of quality offered by the organization. This will provide adequate competitive advantage to the organization in the dynamic business environment.  
• Do:Under this step, the selected plan for enhancing the performance of the organization will be implemented.
• Check: The performance attained form the implementation of the above selected plan will be measured so as to analyse the effectiveness of the method (Johnston & Bate, 2013).
• Act: Under this step, appropriate measures will be adopted through which errors found in the above step will be removed as well as amendments will be done if required.

Implementation methods used for executing the total quality management tools are unique on the basis of the tools. As there are numbers of tools have been used by McDonald’s in order to enhance their performance, in the same manner, various and unique methods are available through which these tools could be implemented in an adequate manner (Taylor, et. al., 2013). Till the time, execution of the total quality management tool will not be done in appropriate manner; organization will not be able to matchup with the targets set up by the management of the McDonald’s. Following are certain techniques and methods through which the above quality management tools will be implemented in the workplace:

Training

Quality Standards: For setting up the quality standards for the organization, various aspects need to be evaluated such as the current offering quality by the organization to its consumers, ratings given by the consumers, cost incurred, etc. These are certain aspects which affect the decision of setting up the quality standards for the organization. Hygiene, usage of fresh products, etc. will act as the crucial element of the McDonald’s in terms of setting up the quality standards for the organization. Setting quality standards for the McDonald’s should also be developed after considering the values of the consumers, for which the consumer is paying, the same value is being offered to them or not, quality of the products should be able to maximise the satisfaction level of the consumers (Willemink, et. al., 2013).

Comparing the performance attained with the standards: For implementing this technique in the workplace, organization needs to consider aspects such as capabilities of the employees, environmental conditions, etc. These are the elements which play crucial role in implementing the standards in the workplace (Aaker, 2010).

Training: Before implementing the training and counselling session strategies for managing and enhancing the quality offered by the organization, requirement of the organization should be analysed. As per the requirements of the organization, appropriate training and counselling methods will be used in relevance with enhancing the capabilities of employees. This will enhance the consumer’s experience as well as it will help the organisation to attain its desired goals and the objectives (Akaka, et. al., 2013).

Survey: It is the technique through which organization could enhance its customer’s experience and it is also effective in avoiding the issues and the challenges faced by the organization. Customers can share their experience in relevance with their expectations from the organization against their spending. Survey technique is for two purposes i.e. to analyse the changes required from the customer’s perception and another change is required from the perception of the employees. Their reviews should also be taken on the priority basis and appropriate changes should be made in order to match up with the standards built up for boosting up the performance (Ang, Benischke & Doh, 2015).

Plan-Do-act-check: This is the crucial factor which could boost up the quality of the organization but it is the duty of the management to analyse the challenges and the issues involved in the procedure of the organization. This is necessary for removing the barriers which affects the organizational performance. In order to boost up the performance of the organization, primary factor of the organization needs to be considered i.e. quality of the food items delivered to the consumers. This technique will be proved as the effects through which organization could attain its desired goals and the objectives (Angeloska-Dichovska & Mirchevska, 2017).

Primary motive behind the total quality management implementation for the McDonald’s is to enhance effectiveness in the global fast food chain industry. Attainment of competitive advantage is another big factor for adopting the quality management tools (Helms & Nixon, 2010). Apart from these benefits, McDonald’s another motives for implementing the quality management tools is to reduce its cost of the production, to boost up the performance through providing customer satisfaction. Along with this, employee satisfaction is another major factor through which organization could attain adequate success because they are the crucial element of processing all the organizational activities in smooth way.

Survey

Success of the McDonald’s could be evaluated with its broad network in more than 100 countries across the globe with approximate 50, 000 outlets. They have developed their primary motive as the major objective for running the business i.e. providing adequate quality to the consumers and maintaining the same level of quality in order to maintain the customer’s base. These are the major factors for McDonald’s success which proved it as the effective business model with effective strategies. Following are some of the elements through McDonald’s success could be evaluated:

• Consistency: They have adopted this technique and execution of the same has also been done in an effective manner. Without being unfair on the basis of the country, they have provided the same taste of the burgers, French fries, wraps, coffees, etc. This has been evaluated on the basis of feedbacks shared by the consumers who have visited McDonald’s in various countries and cities. Cleanliness and hygiene is another crucial factor which could be experienced in every outlet of McDonald’s irrespective to the location (Armstrong, et. al., 2015).
• Innovation: They are innovative and it could be identified with their improvised products and through their services. Management of McDonald’s have performed the market research analysis and on the basis of this research, appropriate innovations are being adopted through which adequate success could be attained in the particular country. Species used in the Asian countries differ from the species used in the America and Australia for making the burgers and other fast food items (Gregor & Hevner, 2013).They have adopted the strategy under which products fast food items are being made on the basis of feedback received from the consumer’s end. In order to change the consumer’s taste, they also try to re-invent their existing products along with introduction of new products. This is being done to enhance the varieties offered by the organization as well as to provide various options to select amongst them on their priority basis (Brandt, Cazzaniga & Hann, 2011).
• Resiliency: This quality is present in the McDonald’s management since they have set up their first outlet in the fast food industry. This feature describes that McDonald’s has the capability to overcome from any type of challenge and issues irrespective of the nature of the issue and challenge. McDonald’s have faced various barriers in their life and they have always faced them positively (Cornelissen & Cornelissen, 2017).

Above discussed points describe the success of the organization in terms of adaptation of the effective total quality management.

McDonald’s have adopted various strategies and methods to overcome the challenging situations and to satisfy the consumer’s needs. Apart from this change management adopted by the McDonald’s have always been done in order match up with the requirements of the concerned party. In the current scenario, they have attained the adequate success and the number of stores they have set up in the global fast food industry is implausible (Czepiel & Kerin, 2012).

For meeting up with the future considerations of the consumers and other relevant micro and macroeconomic factors, organizational management has already developed outlines for the change management for satisfying their needs (Fischer, et. al., 2011).

To make the organization more effective and efficient in the global fast food industry, they have planned to introduce innovation in their menu, renovation in the interiors of the outlets and it will be built up more attractive for consumers, digital platforms will be accepted in which consumers will be able to place the order through internet mediums, and doorstep delivery. These four changes will bring the revolution in the fast food industry and it will enhance the McDonald’s performance in the global fast food industry market as well as it will also provide adequate competitive advantage to the organization (Greer & Ferguson, 2011). 

Conclusion 

It has been recommended to the McDonald’s management that they should improvise their menu and other related services in an adequate manner. This will help them to enhance their performance in the fast food industry as well as it will provide them adequate competitive advantage in the global market. Apart from this, its basic objectives could be fulfilled which are reduction of cost of the production, reduction of wastages and the improvised satisfaction level of the organization are major concerns of the organization which should be adopted for increasing the performance of the organization in the global market.

From the aforesaid information, it can be concluded that total quality management of McDonald’s is quite effective and efficient enough to raise the opportunities for growth and expansion. To conclude the effectiveness of the quality management’s tools used by the McDonald’s, various methods were being used under this report. In the first phase, current techniques of total quality management of the McDonald’s were discussed and further, organization’s success and the change management factors were discussed. In the last phase of the report, recommendations were added in this report in order to improve the organizational methodologies for meeting up with its goals and the objectives.   

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