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Analysing the communication process in McDonalds
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I have made a document and analyze the
communication process in one of the
worlds successf ul and largest f ast f ood
chain, towards the achievement of
business goal. I have chosen the
organization is McDonalds situated in Manurewa.
Primary data was collected by interviewing the Branch Manager, he is my relative. Af ter the primary research,
all the relevant f indings were analyzed and evaluated based on the communication theories learned f rom
secondary sources through our textbook, lecturer handouts, online resources and the organizations
inf ormation resources.
The research draws attention to the importance of these f indings on how ef f ective, ef f icient, accurate and
up-to-date these communication processes that shoe great impact on the three levels of communication in
the main team namely:
Team Communication
Interpersonal Communication
Organization Communication
Findings showed some communication barriers on each level that hinder the af f ectivity and ef f iciency of the
communication processes towards the achievement of their Team goals af f ecting the organizational goals
is well. Though some of the problems were being acted upon promptly, some were not; theref ore, I came up
with some suggestions that may be helpf ul to the subject organization towards the achievement of their
business goals.
1. Introduction
McDonalds is the one of the leading restaurant chains in the world, touching the lives of people every day.
They improved their quality of products and services with the time. In the past McDonalds does not have
drive through and 24 hour services. All of them are open f or late nights. McDonalds primarily sells
hamburgers, cheese burgers, chicken products, French f ries, breakf ast items, sof t drinks, milk shakes, and
deserts.
2. Interpersonal communication
Interpersonal communication is communication between two people. Some books like to ref er to it as f ace-
to-f ace communication, or communication when people are physically present with each other. In the
interpersonal communication, we research on communication between the manager and staf f members and
also research the communication between customers and staf f .
2.1 Communication between managers and staf f members
When we research on McDonalds, it was f ound that all the restaurant employees are f rom dif f erent
countries with dif f erent backgrounds. Employees are well educated and experienced. However, there are
some drawbacks in the communication between managers and the staf f members. This drawback is a
language barrier. Because most of the employees have come f rom dif f erent countries, they speak dif f erent
languages f rom each other. The meetings conducted at McDonalds involve managers and employees
communicating to f ind out the problems being f aced at the department.
2.2 Communication between staf f members and customers
In this McDonald, mostly women are in the f ront and attend the new customers. The woman who is
attending customer is very f riendly and has good communication. All staf f members are trained well bef ore
to communicate ef f ectively. To communicate well, it is necessary to talk politely and use gestures to convey
meaning. The crew members give customer satisf action through good customer service
2.3 Communication barriers
There are some barriers in communication between employees and the manager:-
ROLES: Roles are always def ined in relationship to someone else and they determine the way you
communicate with the other person. In any organisation, inf ormation f low depends on good relations of
employees. Sometimes employees hide mistakes f rom manager because of personal relationship then it
becomes a barrier in inf ormation f low.
STATUS: Status become a barrier in motivation .Some of
employees doesnt talk with other because of their status. New
employees try to avoid communicate with the manager because
of his status.
POWER: Power becomes barrier in motivation and control. An
organisation uses communication to motivate the employees.
When we communicate, there is of ten some element of power
or control being exercised by one person or the other, or by
both. If power is too much used then the communication is f rustrating.
MIXED MESSAGES: It becomes a barrier in communication when non verbal communication not matches with
verbal message.
3 Organisation communication
In the interview with the manager we asked some general questions about the Mc Donald have to gain
some knowledge about the Organisation with in the Mc Donalds. Organisation communication is divided
into two major parts which is as f ollow:-
Internal organisation communication
External organisation communication
3.1 Internal organisation communication:-
3.1.1. Organisation goals:-
Basic goal of McDonalds on the basis of yearly and they mainly consider about the customer service. It
also includes the waste of the McDonalds. They also want to give the customer f ast service they want to
decrease their waste as much they can so. The f ew goals of McDonalds are as f ollows
CSO (Customer satisf action objective)-100 %( McDonalds main goal is to give customer f ull satisf action)
KVS (kitchen video system)-35% this is the time taken to make burgers and other f ast f ood products in
the kitchen area af ter every order and its normally 35 seconds.
Labor-26% McDonalds want to save the labour up to 26% as they had given last year.
Ref unds- below 0.10 %( company wants to give less ref und to the customer to earn more prof it
3.1.2. Inf ormation f low within the organisation-
In the organisation inf ormation f lows f rom higher level to lower level as every inf ormation f or instance a
launch of new product or changing of rules f irstly comes to restaurant manager and af ter that he pass on
the inf ormation to the middle level manager or we can call them as shif t manager and the shif t manager
pass on the inf ormation to the crew members by a team meeting or putting the inf ormation on the crew
room so that everybody can read that inf ormation. And especially when a new product is launching
They create a group training team and they trained them how to make new product and Kinds of
precautions they have to consider while making those particular product
3.1.3. Organisation culture within the organisation:-
In this organisation employees are f rom dif f erent communities. And mainly in this organisation islanders and
Indians are working with very f ew of kiwi staf f . The restaurant manager is kiwi and almost all the other
middle level managers are islanders and including one manager belongs to china. And in this organisation
everybody works without any racism and they are very comf ortable with each other. The organisation
climate of the McDonalds is very good because everybody communicates in prof essional way and they can
understand each other way of communication very well.
3.2 External organisation communication:-
3.2.1 Dealing with customers:-
This is the continuous part of the communication in the McDonalds and which is to be used 24 hours to
serve the customer. And it is used to handle the problems of customers as well. In the McDonalds there is a
specif ic pattern to deal with the customers which is described by the manager of McDonalds. In this part of
communication is used to deal with every customer and this pattern is written is also written in every order
taking register and this pattern is divided into part and those are as f ollows:-
1) First smile and greet to customer.
2) Take the order correctly by repeating the order to the
customer
3) At last say enjoy your meal and good bye.
3.2.2. Communication with stakeholders:-
In this organisation mainly restaurant manager and senior
assistant manager communicate with the stakeholders and the organisation like McDonalds plays a vital
role in communication with the stakeholders because they have to always to be ready to give the customer
a better service and not to get a stock out of anything which is used within the organisation.
3.3 Communication barrier in organisation communication-
3.3.1 Barrier in internal organisation-
Within the organisation there is communication barrier when in busy time of restaurant if crew and manager
do not communicate with each other they cannot give better service to the customers and sometime it
happens in heaps of busy time because everybody is busy in doing their task as f aster as they can. So to
get rid of it managers take the help of the other crew and manager which is available at that time to do a
proper communication within the staf f .
3.3.2. Barrier in external organisation-
There is barrier which is occurs by the customers and stakeholders mainly because of there is sometime
misunderstanding
3.3.2.1 Linguistic barrier-
Along with this there is some linguistic barrier in the communication. as some of the employees which are
f rom other countries they cannot speak as much good English to communicate and sometime it become
barrier in communication in the organisation.
4 Team Communication
4.1. Team Goals
Team goals are very simple make a plan and then f ollow it. In McDonalds teams are trained well to f ollow
the pattern. Leader of the team asks the team to execute a plan and the whole team f ollows the plan.
4.2.Team Roles
In a team each member has a role to f ulf ill the needs of the team. In McDonalds there is a branch manager,
team leader or shif t manager. Now there are three counters to serve the customers. On counter 1 there are
three members working, on counter 2 there are two members and team leader working and on counter 3
again three members are working. Now cleaning team is there to do the cleanings and also to help the
members of the team if anyone requires help and it consists of two members. So the inf ormation f low is
f rom the both sides that are downward to upward and also upward to downward.
Branch Manager
Team Leader
Counter Team 1 Counter Team 2 Counter Team 3
Cleaning Team
4.3.Branch Manager
Now role of the branch manager is to give the order to the team leader and then team leader will give that
order to the team and if there is any kind of problem to the member of the team he or she will let the team
leader know and the team leader will let the manager know. So this way the inf ormation f lows in a team that
is both upward and downward.
4.4.Team Member
The role of the team member is to contribute towards the goal of the organization. They just need to
f ollow the orders and if they have any suggestions they can give it in the meetings organized by the team
leader or by the head manager.
5.CONCLUSIONS
5.1. Interpersonal communication
5.1.1. Communication between manager and
staf f members
According to the f indings, we came up with the conclusion that
due to the dif f erent background and culture of the stay members and managers, language becomes a
barrier as f ar as communication is concerned. Because most employees are f rom dif f erent culture and they
are new in this work might hesitate to talk to the manager about their problems. In the meetings, employees
are always asked by the managers are they satisf ied with their jobs and with the environment of Mc
Donalds, which will ultimately motivate them to satisf y the needs of their customers as well. Indian and
Chinese staf f member hesitates a lot because English is not there f irst language.
5.1.1.1. Language barrier:
Language becomes a barrier between manager and staf f members because of employees are f rom
dif f erent countries and hesitate when communicate with manager.
5.1.2. Communication between customers and staf f members
We f ind that the level of satisf action depends on the quality of service a customer receives. In this
restaurant, both men and women deal with the customers because they are trained well bef ore they join the
staf f . While dealing with dif f erent customers of dif f erent background they have to communicate accurately
to satisf y the customers needs. In this f amily restaurant every staf f member communicates well with the
customers to f ulf il the customers needs. They speak well in English.
5.2. Organisation communication
Af ter going through all the aspects of McDonalds organisation communication we come to conclusion that
both the internal and external communication of McDonalds is very necessary to run the business and earn
prof it. Without the proper communication, organisation cannot achieve the goals. In the McDonalds
Manurewa, the staf f got good communication skills and they are doing well in their business by
communicating very well prof essionally in internal organisation as well as external organisation.
5.3 Internal organisation communication-
In nutshell the McDonalds main aim is to earn prof it and give the customer better service and f or that they
are achieving their aim by targeting this point of view. McDonalds Manurewa is very multicultural
organisation so the employees enjoy each other occasion very happily. And along with this all the important
inf ormation in this organisation f lows f rom top to bottom level.
5.4 External organisation communication-
In McDonalds external communication is mainly with the customers and stakeholders. And this
communication is done by both the crew and managers .The dealing with customers is done by both the
managers and crew but the communication with the stakeholders mainly done by managers of McDonalds.
And on other side a better communication skills in the staf f leads to prof it of the organisation as if they
can communicate well to the customers and as well as in the organisation they can achieve their goals
easily.
Now in McDonalds dif f erent ages, cultures and nationalities are working there together. So everybody is
looking to give his idea which is good that shows there commitment towards the work but they all have
dif f erent thinkings. So problems occurs in between the crew members just because they think that there
idea is good but still not f ollowed by the other members or by the group.
6. RECOMMENDATIONS
6.1. Interpersonal communication
6.1.1. Communication between customers and staf f members
Communication between staf f member and customers is main part there. In this restaurant mostly women
attend the customers. The staf f is well trained and experienced. If the staf f members are happy with their
work environment, they can serve the customers better. Managers should also encourage members to deal
with the customers to avoid any gender bias.
6.1.2 Create a positive climate
The communication become better by creating a positive climate
(Joan, 2001).The employees try to understand the roles of
communication and working f or win-win outcomes. They also
enhance their communication by self disclosure. The employees
should try to understand needs of the customers. Theref ore,
McDonalds good customer service is generated through
employee satisf action and a healthy work environment.
Employees also try to learn more f rom old employees.
6.1.3. Communication between managers and staf f members
Communication between managers and staf f members can be better if the meetings are held at least once
a week in the organization. The managers should ask the staf f members questions about their culture and
background to get to know them better and to understand their behaviour, so their work environment could
be set up according to their pref erence and comf ort. Managers should also try to talk to the staf f members
as much as possible.
6.1.4. Making contacts
Manager and employees try to make contacts with each other. We all need to be treated with respect and
inclusion. These are basic human needs. Manager tries to give help to new employees who do not know
about the work plan of the McDonald. New employees should make contacts with the experienced
employees. Manager can help the employees who are best in communication but hesitate when they are
speaking.
6.2. Organisation communication
Organisation communication is vast area where everyone has to be including to targeting the aim and
achieving that aim. In the organisation communication the important aspect is the organisation goals and
the goals can only be achieved if the staf f understand it and communicate about the goal by each other.
In the organisation every individual employee has to contribute to the main organisation goal. Manger
should do proper meeting with crew members to overcome communication gap in the organisation. They
must take opinions of crew bef ore implementing a new rule in the organisation so they can work as a team
all the crew members must speak English with each other apart f rom any other languages.
6.2.1 Team communication
6.2.1.1 Conf lict in Group
If groups are to f unction well, there needs to be some conf lict, because the value of group is that they
bring people with diverse skills and ideas together. There, conf lict is inevitable and necessary. If there is too
much conf lict, a group will cease to f unction, whereas too little conf lict can lead to groupthink.
Now in McDonalds a team needs to have a proper conf lict shows in the diagram. If they discuss more than
there is a problem and if they discuss less than there is a problem. If the team perf ormance is not good
enough then there will be a problem in Synergy. So they need to have proper to the point discussions rather
than too short and to bigger meetings or discussions.
6.2.1.2 Group Dynamics
Communication in a group is inf initely more complex than communication between two people. See Figure
below.
When two people communicate, there are two possible interactions.
A B B A
Now in McDonalds teams split in to f our parts that is counter 1, counter 2, counter 3 and the cleaning
team. On the bases of counter one there are three members that is A, B and C. Now A talks with B and B
talks with C but there is no communication between A and C.
If C does not talk with A then there is no interaction between team member A and C. They need to interact
with each other to maintain a proper communication inside a group. If they interact with each they will
automatically f ollow the group dynamics and the outcome will be good or improved.
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