Introduction
Investors have always conducted research to know the right way of attracting and retaining customers. Occasionally, financial constraints make some clients reduce their budgets and avoid eating out but this is understood to be beyond their abilities to manage multiple issues at the same time. However, an investor should develop plans to accommodate clients throughout the year despite the changes in financial situations or lifestyle trends. This paper explores the causes, solutions, and effects of ‘McDonald’s Broken Service’.
Background
McDonald’s is a huge investment with branches in 119 countries located in different regions in the world. It is ranked as the largest fast-food restaurant in the world and serves about 68 million clients daily. It has employed more than 1.8 million workers in its more than 34,000 locations. This investment is managed by Don Thompson and Andrew McKenna as the CEO and chairman respectively. The main products served by this company include hamburgers, French fries, drinks, desserts, salads and soft drinks.
A study conducted in 2012 showed that this company generated $ 27.56 billion; therefore, it has managed to control the fast-food market. However, it has experienced criticism from clients regarding its poor services and customer relations. They have complained that this company is offering very poor services since customers are forced to wait in the queue for too long. In addition, it has not trained its employees to be friendly to clients. Therefore, there are wide allegations that these employees have not realized the importance of friendly relations.
Causes
There may be no single cause for the problems experienced by this company. However, it is evident that it is supposed to address the above concerns to avoid causing a crisis. Don Thompson acknowledges that the company has received numerous complaints regarding its poor services even if this has not been done in an official way (White 33). Although it is treating this as speculation it has not risked anything and everybody in a senior position is working hard to ensure the problem is fixed.
The Wall Street Journal highlighted the problems experienced by customers seeking the services of MacDonald’s. The company has a very slow ordering process that keeps clients waiting for too long before their orders are ready. In addition, workers are not enthusiastic and seem to be forced to do their job. This is a very poor customer relation that shows this company has failed to fulfill its obligations to the people (White 33). The company has been rated last in customer relations and has an average score in punctuality. The main causes of these problems include poor staff morale and uncoordinated job allocations.
Effects
This company serves almost 70 million people daily and despite the above challenges it has not experienced any decline in sales. However, this should not mean that it is performing well and should not do anything to manage this situation (White 33). People are very strange and can decide to stop seeking the services of this company when this is least expected. Therefore, it is important to address these challenges before they escalate to unmanageable levels. This means that they are inconvenienced and forced to eat very fast to save time (White 33). In addition, fast food restaurants are supposed to offer quick services since their clients assume that they are trained to do so regardless of the technology or workers involved in different processes. Therefore, clients are not getting good services as opposed to what the company stipulates.
Secondly, most workers are very committed to offering their services and they forget they are human beings and need to be friendly. They are very poor in public relations and this makes clients think that they are forcing these employees to offer their services (White 33). Therefore, this company must develop immediate measures to ensure it lowers the duration to get food and also trains its employees to interact with customers in a friendly way.
Solutions
This company is experiencing delays in completing orders and this may soon become a crisis if it does not adopt effective ways of managing this situation. First, McDonald’s must ensure it reduces its employee turnover since this is one cause of poor services. Reports have revealed that this company hardly retains employees for more than two years and this means that it is actively involved in sacking and recruiting them (White 33). This becomes a serious challenge to this company since it does not allow employees to have adequate experience in their areas of specialization.
Secondly, this turnover rate makes employees work in fear since they are not sure whether the next day they will be serving the company or not (White 33). However, these issues can be managed if the company starts focusing on retaining its employees and paying them good salaries to ensure they remain loyal and faithful to the company. Secondly, the ‘dual-point ordering system’ adopted by this company will ensure that clients are able to monitor their orders and collect them without delays. This system will allow employees to play minimum roles in processing orders and this will increase the efficiency of placing and receiving orders. Currently, the company is experiencing delays since employees are not aware of their duties. However, this system will eliminate these delays by ensuring orders are tracked. This will show which department is slow and enable the management to develop plans to improve them (White 33).
In addition, the plan by President Obama on the Minimum Wage Bill will enable workers to earn reasonable salaries and benefits. This will motivate them to work hard and promote the activities of this company. However, this plan should be adopted alongside other plans like an increase in overtime allowances to allow employees to be committed to working hard. In addition, his company should offer ‘value meals’ to attract new clients that will boost its sales (White 33). It is necessary to explain the importance of introducing new products to promote the existing market and attract a new one. This will increase the sales of this company even though this must be introduced after ensuring that the company has achieved quality standards in providing its services.
Lastly, workers must be trained to manage different tasks since this will help build teamwork. This company should avoid restricting workers to specific sections but instead allow them to know how to manage more than two duties. This will enable them to assist other workers during peak time.
Conclusion
McDonald’s has a good reputation and this makes it control the fast-food industry. However, the recent inefficiencies reported about this company’s inability to offer quality services and poor customer relations are serious threats to its future plans. This company should focus on satisfying customers by improving its efficiency and motivating workers to be friendly to their clients.
Works Cited
White, Martha. “McDonald’s Executive says Service is Broken.” NBC News, 2013. Web.