Analytical Review of Experience at McDonald

This analytical review discusses the author's experience at McDonald, including the company's organizational structure, the author's placement role as a crew member and second assistant manager, technical skills gained, and positive and negative experiences. The author also reflects on how well their Masters in Engineering Management prepared them for the placement and the relevance of the experience gained to their future career.

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ANALYTICAL REVIEW OF EXPERIENCE AT MCDONALD
by [Name]
Course
Professor’s Name
Institution
Location of Institution
Date

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SECTION ONE
Introduction to the company
According to James (2009), McDonald's Corporation is the global leading chain of
hamburger fast food restaurant. Brothers, Maurice McDonald and Richard began the business
began in 1940 when they opened their first restaurant in San Bernardino, California.
Consequently, Ray Kroc opened a franchised restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois in 1954
(Johnson 2016). By 1963, the over 500 restaurants had sold above one billion burgers.
Besides, in 1967, Johnson (2016) observes that the McDonald brand went international where
the company opened a restaurant in Puerto Rico and Canada (Richmond, British Columbia).
The expansion of McDonald brand to the international market puts the company on the
forefront globalization and the spread of ‘American way' of life. Neate (2015) reports that
McDonald is serving over 69 million customers every day. In addition, the McDonald chain
operates 36,258 restaurants in over 119 countries, of which 29,544 are franchise. Despite the
tremendous growth, around 350 of the outlets closed down in the United States (US) and
China. In United Kingdom (UK), McDonald operates 1,270 stores, employing over 115,000
by 2017 (McDonald 2018). It opened its first restaurant in 1974 in the UK.
Description of the department
Organizational structure exists to enable coordination of activities and division of work
among members of the company with an intention of working towards the achievement of
objectives and goals. The manager allocated us duties in various departments such as
advertising, marketing, sales, and manufacturing depending on the organization. Moreover, in
McDonald restaurant where I was, there is the restaurant manager who controls all

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operations, assistant manager, area manager, host, crew trainer, shift manager, and crew
member.
Thomson (2017) acknowledge that McDonald's organizational structure enables markets
management based on performance levels. The structure of McDonald keeps evolving to
address emerging and current market issues and it is adapted to the changing business
environments. The structures includes;
Global hierarchy
This hierarchy cover all its international operations. Its main mandate is emphasizing
on corporate control. For instance, the chief executive officer (CEO) directs all business
activities. Besides, the CEO passes their mandate to middle managers, restaurant managers,
and personnel.
Performance-based divisions
Thomson (2017) assert that this is the most distinguishing feature of restaurant's
organizational structure. Before changing the organizational structure in 2015, the company
had its geographical structures as Africa, Middle East, Asia/Pacific, Europe, the US, and
other countries like Latin America, and Canada. However, after restructuring, McDonald
used performance to divide its organizational structure. As such, the new structure is as
follows, foundation markets and corporate, high growth markets, international lead markets
and the US.
Function-based groups
This organizational structure maintains function-based groups. For example, legal
group, human resource management group, and a franchising and supply chain group, falls

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under the department of corporate operations. In essence, this kind of organizational structure
enables the global restaurant chain to monitor the basic functions of its daily business.
Description of placement role
At McDonald, I served in two capacities, as a crew member and as a second assistant
manager.
Crew member
As a crew member, I ensured that customers are satisfied by performing tasks like
counter services, cleaning, production, and preparation in accordance with McDonald's
standards. Besides, I followed directions from shift manager, assistant manager and the
restaurant manager on specific number of days of integration to ensure that I covered all
operational areas like service area, lobby, and kitchen. Together with other crew members,
we ensured that customers' orders are prepared and delivered in addition to collecting
payments.
Second assistant manager
My main responsibilities as a second assistant manager was to help the assistant
manager in performing management duties. For example, maintaining an inventory of
supplies and equipment, ensure that menu items are available, supervise the acceptance of
takeaway, and welcome customers. Besides, I also helped the assistant manager run the store
when the branch manager was absent. Furthermore, I had the responsibility of making
decision on demanding circumstances, which helped improve services in the restaurant. For
example, ordered purchase of ingredients that were finished to enable preparation of the
foods consistently so that customers could not miss their preferred orders. Additionally, I
helped the assistant manager to supervise the planning teams, recruitment, and training and

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their respective controls. Besides, I was responsible for safeguarding the restaurants' safety as
well as took part in analyzing operational results and sales forecasts.
SECTION TWO
Review of tasks during placement
Reflection is a tool for enhancing metacognition by creating a positive correlation between
motivation and academic performance. As such, this reflection has helped me understand the
activities I carried out at McDonald, which have consequently enhanced my understanding
and thus adding value to my overall skills.
Carrying out tasks like hygiene and safety, and drive-thru module helped improve my public
relations skills which will be very instrumental in my career development. For example,
welcoming customers and directing them built y confidence in handling diversity. I achieved
this by following orientation instructions offered to me by the crew manager. In particular, I
welcome customers with broad smile while directing them to their seats. Moreover, I
interacted by customers politely and enthusiastically to show that at McDonald, we really
cared for their support. Intrinsically, appreciating customers show how much the organization
value their support and they feel motivated to come over again and again. Despite welcoming
customers with reception, some appeared moody and could snub my attempts to give them
direction. However, that did not deter my spirit and commitment to the restaurant. I continued
with my duties while expecting both negative and positive reaction from customers. That

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strategy helped me overcome instances where customers behaved otherwise. Furthermore,
my role in driving through involved welcoming customers at the door as well as directing
other crew members to direct other customers. From that, I learnt the importance of
delegation, I could not perform all the tasks alone. In essence, I nurture my relational skills as
well as confidence by believing in other peoples’ potential. I considered them equal to the
task. Additionally, delegating duties to other people also gives them an opportunity to learn
and overcome their fears. As such, we all felt satisfied by serving and meeting our customers’
needs. Interestingly, the restaurant recorded increase in sales during my stay at McDonald.
That signifies the importance of bringing in new talent to the organizational management. It
therefore true that working with others help nurture the best out of an individual. I now feel
satisfied for having brought an impact to the company.
Analysis of technical skills
While in the kitchen, I learned how to grill products by checking procedures, food settings,
and equipment. I am now able to cook perfect meat patties, which are hot and juicy without
signs of red or pink meat juices. I managed to grill products well by following the
instructions of the main chef at the restaurant. This was possible since I followed every steps
and applying ingredients as required. Even though I faced challenges of hot furnace that did
not deter my commitment to grill quality meat. I overcome the furnace challenge by
regulating the intensity of the heat. Besides, I also overcome the challenge of customers
wanting their orders quickly by explaining the importance of them waiting for quality cooked
food which will not have any negative effect on their health. Furthermore, in the kitchen, I
served as a crew member, preparing customer’s orders and I learnt a number of lessons. For
example, grilling quality meat made customers happy and I could see smiles on their faces.

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As such, producing a quality product is the sure way of maintaining and retaining customers
be it in engineering or any other sector.
Analysis of other knowledge and skills gained during placement
I gained leadership and team working skills while serving as a crew member and second
assistant manager.
Leadership
I gained leadership skill while working at McDonald. As a second assistant manager,
I had to take up the responsibility of guiding crew members on carrying out their daily
routines. I managed to lead other crew members successfully by allocating roles and
responsibilities to every member, this ensured that all tasks received adequate attention for
delivery. For example, I gave Jane, Peter, and Ken the responsibility of receiving customers
and taking their orders. Marya was at the cashier. Philis, Adams, and Alicia were at the
kitchen serving orders. As a leader, I did not just sit and gave instructions, I chipped in
whenever there was a work load. For instance, during peak, there were many customers and I
helped in picking orders and serving. Accordingly, customers got their order on time and thus
we met their needs without delays. Besides, I interacted with crew members on work related
issues as well when taking accounts on our duties to identify areas that had lapses where we
corrected and adjusted techniques. Though leadership is good, it has challenges of taking
responsibility on behalf of crew members on mistakes made to customers. Consequently, I
overcome that challenge by reminding colleagues to be observant of their duties to avoid
mistakes like dropping and reporting to work at the required time to avoid penalties that
portray management negatively. As a second assistant, I carried the responsibilities of the
assistant manager when he was absent and any other responsibilities assigned. Overall, I

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learned that leadership is a call, it requires patience and understanding to work with people
from diverse cultural backgrounds.
Team working
Teamwork is a vital element in today's workforce. I acquired team working skills by
being able to work peacefully with crew members as well as the management. In particular, I
achieved this by observing working boundaries, not overstepping my mandate. This ensure
good collaboration amongst us. Even though some crew members developed attitude because
of my outstanding skills, I reached out to them when the customer traffic was low and we
sorted out our misunderstanding for better service delivery. Even though I was a crew
member who worked in collaboration with others in the tea, I did not hesitate to take up roles
whenever the team leader was help up with other cores. The assistant manager was our team
leader and thus stepping up for him was a challenge I embraced wholeheartedly from the
whole experience, teamwork is the best way employees should approach duties, and there is
unity and collective effort that ensures systems run smoothly. Moreover, team collaboration
makes it easy to understand individual strengths and weaknesses and thus overstepping on
one’s weakness is avoidable. This helps create harmonious relationship that promote focus on
organizational goal achievement.
Analysis of positive and negative experiences at McDonald
Most of my experiences at McDonald was positive. Working conditions were good, the
relationship between management and the crew is quite commendable. For that reason, a
good working environment provides grounds for exploiting full potential of an employee. I
gave my best since I was free to express my opinion to the management and contributed to

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the organizational success. I was given ample time to learn as well as apply my management
skills that enhanced my innovativeness and creativity to deliver quality services. In essence,
hospitality industry allows workers to express their creativity in cooking and serving.
Despite the numerous good experiences, some customers were difficult to deal with. They
would abuse employees for slight mistakes. In such circumstances, I learned that humility
was the only option since two people cannot be at the same level of temperament and reach a
consensus. I endeavor to stay calm in such situation even in future only reason my point
when my colleague is calm and collected. Accordingly, I will avoid confrontation and
contemptuousness.
How well the course prepared me for placement
Masters in Engineering Management prepared me well enough for the placement. The
management aspect of the course was very instrumental during my stay at McDonald. In
particular, the course improved my confidence in handling and collaborating with other crew
members. I treated both customers and colleagues with utmost respect since I am aware they
are important stakeholders for the success of the McDonald restaurant. Furthermore, the
course prepared me to manage a business, for example, I used Microsoft packages to keep
daily records as well as used my vast information technology to operate the systems at the
restaurant. Generally, the course prepared me to become a great team player, improvement in
communication with everyone, learned to deliver exceptional customer service, and applied
analytical skills gained to make valid decision under pressure.
It also prepared me to adapt quickly to the workplace since I had learned the importance of
onboarding. Adaptability is a skill that employers admire. An employee who embraces
organizational culture quickly has the ability to learn and reduce strain to other senior

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employees for training. Despite all the many skills, the course equipped me with, it did not
equip me with culinary experience. I did not learned how to cook. I had to learn from the
crew members how to fry and grill quality meat. But owing to adaptability skills, I learned
from the course, I quickly learned how the crew grilled and fried, surprisingly, I was perfect
within a month.
The relevance of the experience gained to both the course and future career
The work integrated learning at McDonald strategically inspired my creativity and
innovativeness. Today, keeping in pace with change determines whether one succeeds or not.
The creativity skills gained while serving customers and adaptability will help me stay ahead
of my peers career wise. Creativity and adaptability reduces amount of time to onboard on
my future organizations. However, I feel I already have a place to work at and continue
serving the customers at McDonald.
The placement at McDonald took me back to drawing board on my career path. Ever since, I
wanted to be an engineering, designing programs and working with big machines. However,
after the placement, I feel I should take another path. Service industry. That satisfaction I saw
on people’s faces after filling their tummy is epic. I would wish to serve people at a joint like
McDonald. The main reason is because I will be meeting my customers’ expectations
immediately as well as feedback on areas I am supposed to improve. Moreover, I will get
more time to engage with fellow workers to nurture different talents for the wellbeing of the
society. Accordingly, I would like to pursue career in management to get an opportunity of
rising the management ladder at McDonald to become regional manager because without
adequate qualification, I may not realize this dream.

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Conclusion
McDonald Corporation gave me an opportunity of learning and gaining experience during
placement. I served as a crew member as well as second assistant manager that enabled me
acquire some technical skills like grilling and frying. Additionally, the knowledge and skills
acquired are leadership, time management, teamwork, and communication. Ideally, the
course prepared me for the placement task by improving my confidence in handling and
managing the restaurant. On the other hand, placement at McDonald enhanced my soft skills,
personal development, enhanced job applications and interviews, and an opportunity to
identify my strengths and weaknesses for career development.

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References
James, R., 2009. McDonald’s Abroad. Time. [Online] Available at:
http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1932839,00.html (Accessed April 12,
2018).
Johnson, H., 2016. The true story of how McDonald's became America's fast food king.
Business Insider. [Online] Available at: http://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-history-
timeline-2016-10?IR=T (Accessed April 12, 2018).
McDonald, 2018. History. [Online] Available at:
https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/newsroom/history.html (Accessed April 12, 2018).
Neate, R., 2015. McDonald's: a brief history in 15 facts. The Guardian. [Online] Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/may/02/mcdonalds-a-brief-history-in-15-facts
(Accessed April 12, 2018).
Thomson, A., 2017. McDonald’s Organizational Structure Analysis. Panmore Institute.
[Online] Available at: http://panmore.com/mcdonalds-organizational-structure-analysis.
(Accessed April 12, 2018).

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Appendices
Reflective log for month beginning 01st Aug 17
1) Start of month: Write a list or short description of the activities and tasks you are
expecting to work on. These could include your day to day responsibilities or a
specific area of development.
Expected tasks and activities to be carried out
This month is probation period and I learn about Hygiene and Safety.
2) End of month: Write a record of your progress, reflecting on each of the
activities and tasks undertaken. What went well? How did you make a difference?
What skills did you develop? What would you do differently next time?
Reflection on tasks and activities carried out
Food safety has always been priority at McDonalds and the entire restaurant staff
must play a major role in ensuring food safety is maintained. All types of raw
meat, fish, and eggs can be a potential source of bacteria and only your adherence

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to hygiene and cooking procedures will ensure food safety.
Comments from Supervisor/Manager
Reflective log for month beginning _1st Sept. 17
1) Start of month: Write a list or short description of the activities and tasks you are
expecting to work on. These could include your day to day responsibilities or a
specific area of development.
Expected tasks and activities to be carried out
Quality for food and Beverages.
2) End of month: Write a record of your progress, reflecting on each of the activities
and tasks undertaken. What went well? How did you make a difference? What skills
did you develop? What would you do differently next time?
Reflection on tasks and activities carried out
I did the all e-learning regarding to Food, Beverages, and SOC’s as well. I learnt
from that, we care about the quality of food and drink our customers. We dedicate
as much effort to making sure their meal tastes great as we would at home making
our own breakfast, lunch or dinner. We aim to give everyone the same high quality

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food and drinks.
To do this we have standard for everything on our menu, which we aim to meat
in order to make the customer happy.
I suggest some ideas to crew member while they did mistakes like: once
opened, products kept covered or resealed with ‘ Opened Box-Use First’ tape,
current secondary shelf life on display, complete waste counts accurately, activates
the timer when put the baskets in fryer.
Comments from Supervisor/Manager
Reflective log for month beginning __1st Oct. 17
1) Start of month: Write a list or short description of the activities and tasks you are
expecting to work on. These could include your day to day responsibilities or a
specific area of development.
Expected tasks and activities to be carried out
Holiday.
2) End of month: Write a record of your progress, reflecting on each of the
activities and tasks undertaken. What went well? How did you make a difference?
What skills did you develop? What would you do differently next time?
Reflection on tasks and activities carried out
I went India on emergency basis because my mom health was in very critical
situation, and I informed course leader and placement department as well.

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Comments from Supervisor/Manager
Reflective log for month beginning 1st Nov. 17
1)Start of month: Write a list or short description of the activities and tasks you are
expecting to work on. These could include your day to day responsibilities or a specific
area of development.
Expected tasks and activities to be carried out
Learn about Service of the Restaurant.
2)End of month: Write a record of your progress, reflecting on each of the activities
and tasks undertaken. What went well? How did you make a difference? What skills
did you develop? What would you do differently next time?
Reflection on tasks and activities carried out
I did the all e-learning and SOC’s like order taking, order presenting, customer

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areas.
I learnt from that, we have procedures for making food and drink, and for serving
customers, ensuring everything is ready to go quickly and is of great quality.
However, your behavior while you are working has just as much import on how
customer feel about their experience.
It is quality products and good services together that makes a great customer
experience. No matter whether you are on the front counter, in the dining area or
the kitchen, follow the procedures well and demonstrating good behavior towards
customers will create that experience.
I developed my skill like station preparation, greet to the customer, taking order,
station preparation and I treat some crews for mistakes and correct them.
Comments from Supervisor/Manager

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Reflective log for month beginning _1st Dec. 17
1) Start of month: Write a list or short description of the activities and tasks you are
expecting to work on. These could include your day to day responsibilities or a specific
area of development.
Expected tasks and activities to be carried out
Cleanliness about Restaurant.
2) End of month: Write a record of your progress, reflecting on each of the activities
and tasks undertaken. What went well? How did you make a difference? What skills
did you develop? What would you do differently next time?
Reflection on tasks and activities carried out
I did all e-learning and SOC’s like hygiene & food safety, health & safety,

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filtering, delivering, milkshake and soft serve machine and DPSC (Daily Product
Safety Checklist).
Food safety is effective procedures to ensure food is free from any contaminants,
bacteria, viruses, or other harmful substances. To prevent contamination from
chemicals or foreign objects. To prevent temperature abuse to products.
Also I suggest some new crews about hygiene and cleanliness like Do not work
if you are ill, No unpleasant body odors/unhygienic personal habits, Hair is kept
clear of the face, under a hat, or secured with a hairnet where appropriate, No
watches or visible jewelry worn, wash your hand using five steps before starting
work for the day
Moreover, always report accidents to the manager. If you see a problem, you
should tell a manager or put it in the hazard reporting.
Comments from Supervisor/Manager

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Reflective log for month beginning 1st Jan. 18
1) Start of month: Write a list or short description of the activities and tasks you are
expecting to work on. These could include your day to day responsibilities or a
specific area of development.
Expected tasks and activities to be carried out
Learn about Grilled Products.
2)End of month: Write a record of your progress, reflecting on each of the activities
and tasks undertaken. What went well? How did you make a difference? What skills
did you develop? What would you do differently next time?
Reflection on tasks and activities carried out
That all our burgers are made from 100% beef taken from forequarter and flank,
supplied by British and Irish farms accredited by a nationally recognized farm

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assurance scheme.
I did the grilled products through the procedures like, checks product settings are
correct, check equipment, Cook perfect meat patties for the customer that: hot and
juicy, have no signs of red/pink meat or juices, have juices running clear/yellowish,
check DPSC (Daily Product Safety Checklist) to ensure completion before serving
any product, demonstrates correct procedures for batch cooking multiple runs of
the same product, timers is immediately activated.
To keep the grill area hygienic and to ensure the meat continues to cook
correctly: Clean the grill and tools after each of batch cooking.
Comments from Supervisor/Manager
Reflective log for month beginning _01st Feb. 18
1)Start of month: Write a list or short description of the activities and tasks you are
expecting to work on. These could include your day to day responsibilities or a specific
area of development.
Expected tasks and activities to be carried out
Learn about Drive-Thru Module.
2)End of month: Write a record of your progress, reflecting on each of the activities
and tasks undertaken. What went well? How did you make a difference? What skills
did you develop? What would you do differently next time?
Reflection on tasks and activities carried out
Drive-Thru is one of the stages within the customer experience unit. I learnt all
steps which is involved in this process like Greet, Order, Payment, Assemble,

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Present and Farewell.
I search, over 60% of customers visit us through the Drive-thru lane and just like
when they visit us in-store, they expect accurate, friendly and fast service. This
module looks how we deliver that.
After completion of relevant E-learning I did some practice on that like station
preparation, respond immediately to the arrival of a car, does not interrupt the
customer, take order within 25 seconds, ensure order accuracy, cash payments
taken in 15 seconds or less, achieves target assembly time of 25 seconds or less,
manages held orders politely and efficiently, creates farewell that are unique to
each and every customer.
Comments from Supervisor/Manager

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