University Training and Development Plan: McDonald's Case Study

This report details a comprehensive training and development plan designed for McDonald's to address performance gaps in customer service and management. The plan focuses on improving employee skills in billing, customer interaction, and product knowledge, aiming to reduce long queues and customer dissatisfaction. It incorporates learning theories like connectivism and behaviorism, utilizing classroom and on-the-job training methods. The program includes lectures, discussions, and assessments to evaluate employee progress, with trainers and managers providing guidance and feedback. Resources required include trainers, managers, and equipment to enhance customer service, with handouts and presentations on policies, customer service protocols, product knowledge, and business ethics. The evaluation process involves regular feedback sessions and analysis of customer feedback to ensure effective implementation and continuous improvement. This plan aims to increase revenue and achieve maximum customer satisfaction by the end of the financial year.

Running head: TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Training and Development Plan
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Background of McDonald’s
McDonald’s is one of the oldest and best established fast food chains established in 1940
and is well known for the variety of products and also the state of the art services provided by the
firm. It is reported to be one of the best companies operating in the fast food industry
(Ravichandran et al., 2015). The company considers the need of providing best quality training
and development programs to better the skill sets of the employees and also expose them to a
greater number of opportunities in the field of career development. The most important fact in
this context is that the firm uses techniques and strategies in their training plans and programs
that are I line with the business objectives of the firm.
Increasingly, the firm has noticed a performance in gap in most stores if not all stores
where it is currently operating especially in the context of customer servicing and management.
There are reportedly long queues in every store and so the customers are not feeling the most
comforted and are often ending up complaining. Further there are a lot of new employees and
also quite a good proportion of employees who are not aware of the new deals and offers and are
also not able to properly assist the customers with respect to the specifications and
customizations of different products that they produce and sell. Thus, the firm increasingly needs
to focus on this problem and make sure that the performance gap identified in this context is
reduced and in fact removed if possible (Dhar, 2015). Thus, the firm will have to take proper
steps to ensure that a proper training and development plan is both formulated and implemented
so that the employees are able to better cater to the needs of the customers and the clients. This
plan is both built and demonstrated with the help of this paper.
Participants:

2TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN
As the performance gap has been identified in the customer servicing and management
section of the firm and needs to be worked upon, the training is to be provided to the employees
directly involved in providing services to the customers in the different stores where this problem
has risen, that is the workers who are involved with billing, serving the customers and interacting
with customers directly on a daily basis are the major participants (Zhu & Sharma, 2017). This
will also be accompanies by the managers working in the store management section so that they
help and groom the employees accordingly. The managers will majorly be responsible for
monitoring and availing the entire process and hence making sure that the productivities of the
employees in the respect of performance gap is improved most importantly. Further, the human
resources managers trainers will also form the most important group of participants who will be
both providing the training as well as evaluating the assessments and results of the training
process.
The amalgamated efforts from the employees that need to learn about the product, about
managing long lines of the customers and gain knowledge about the various promotional or
ongoing discounts and offers. This will not only help the employees to perform better and help in
removing the dissatisfaction of the customers, but it will also eventually help the firm as a whole
to adhere to the business objectives of maximum customer cooperation and satisfaction and also
help to increase the revenue generation of the firm. On the part of the trainers, the training
program will allow them to know about the views and problems of the employees. It will also
help them in understanding how the current customer market scenario is different and why are
these problems arising. On the part of the managers, they will be able to act as coordinators and
also as evaluators of the entire process and so will be able to take proper initiatives and steps
towards informing the highest authoritative body of the firm about these problems and hence

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formulate new strategies and techniques through disruptive models so that the firm as a whole is
able to cater to the changing demands of the customers.
Program Plan
To address the challenges faced by the firm and in order to reduce the problems in the
context of customer servicing as described above the firm needs to formulate and frame a plan of
training which is described in this section of the paper.
Learning Theories Used
The two most important theories of training and development that are to be used by the
firm in this regard are the theories of connectivism and behaviorism (Cascio, 2018). The theory
of behaviorism states that the employees should be behaved and groomed in such a way that they
are able to behave and hold themselves up in the very same way in front of the consumers. In this
context the training plan should include features that ensure behavioral techniques along with
product and offer knowledge.
The theory of connectivism states that the training plan should be framed and formulated
in such a way that the trainers feel connected and can place themselves in the shoes of the
employees and understands their problems so that they in turn are able to relate to the problems
of the customers and help them out effectively. In this context, again the employees will be able
to understand the reason and thought process of the consumers’ complaints and hence provide
them better services.
Objectives of the plan:

4TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN
 To teach the employees about the various behavioral aspects and also increase the speed
of billing in order to avoid long queues
 To train and educate the employees on all the different products and also train them on
how to customize the products according to the needs of the customer
 To train the employees on the various ongoing offers and discounts across all the stores
of the company in order to avoid mismatch of information,.
 To achieve the above and hence reach a reduction in performance gap so that the amount
of revenue generation increases for the next financial year.
The Schedule:
The Schedule and plan of activities that will be conducted are described I details in the
following table:
Activities Time Allocated
Total Duration of the Training Six months
Total Duration of the Classroom program Three months
Total Duration of the On-The-Job Program Three months
Monitoring and Evaluation Period One week for each group of employees
Time Allocated for training everyday Two hours
Number of days per week Five Days
Method of Delivery

5TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN
The method of delivery in this case will include the techniques of on the job training as
well as classroom training. The trainers and managers will first induce the employees about the
entire background of the firm and how ideally customers should both be greeted and treated in
the stores. The following steps will be taken for imparting the classroom trainings:
Lecture Method:
The employees will be provided intense and in depth lecture about the various products
and the discounts and offers ongoing in the firm and this will be done rigorously with the help of
videos, charts, diagrams and presentations so that the employees can get a pictorial view and can
place themselves in the very mindset as to how they should be professionally behave and care for
the needs of the customers.
Discussion Method:
The next step of delivery of the training will involve the discussions in between the
trainers and trainees so that the problems and concerns of the employees can be discussed and
also the insight gained by the employees can be monitored and evaluated (Bryman & Bell,
2015).
Assessment Method:
Next, the amount of knowledge gained or the increase in efficiency of the employees will
be judged and evaluated. The assessments will depend upon the products, characteristics of the
products and customer ethics and behaviors, that is the entire material covered in the lectures and
discussions.

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After this the on the job training delivery will be conducted in the stores itself where the
application of the learning will be monitored and evaluated (Keogh, Espinosa & Grigg, 2016).
The employees will be under surveillance in the stores and how they are applying the techniques
and strategies taught to them will be watched and feedback will be shared based on the same.
Instructions for the trainer:
For imparting the proper kind of training including the lectures and discussions as well as the
on the job training, the trainers should also be well informed about the procedures, policies and
background existing in the context of the problem persisting in the customer servicing section.
The instructions that the trainers need to follows are enlisted herein:
 The trainers should themselves be knowledgeable enough and should know about all the
products and offers and discounts
 The trainers should develop modules and videos and presentations that enlist all the
requirements of customer servicing as well as the rules and principles that underlie the
context of customer servicing
 The trainers should themselves be present on the floor while evaluating and monitoring
the on the job part of the training
 The trainers should frame assessments and workshops as well as discussions in such a
way that the employees feel comfortable and the trainers are approachable so that their
problems and concerns are addressed and they feel more confident than before.
Feedback/ Evaluation:
The results and reports of the assessments (both classroom and on the job) should be
assessed and evaluated and internal feedback sessions should be held regularly between the

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trainer and each employee trained in the first round. In the next round of feedback sessions, the
trainees will be going one on one session with the managers (Jiang, Chuang & Chiao, 2015). The
evaluation of the reports of the customer feedbacks shall also be used for efficiently to allocate
the employees properly in different departments depending upon the skills he is best trained at or
is the best performing in.
Resources Required:
The resources essentially required for this purpose does not include any huge
infrastructural requirements but will require a lot of resources in the context of trainers and
managers. The other equipments needed will include the means by which the employees can be
demonstrated the use of different techniques and strategies using which the customer servicing
can be improved and made more satisfying. Further new equipment installation will also be
needed which can record the feedbacks and views of the customers. Other equipments that will
be needed to improve training results include more automated devices that will speed up few
processes like the billing process at different stores.
List of handouts and power points for trainees:
 Handouts and power points related to the set of policies and rules that the employees at
each store irrespective of the department he is placed in is supposed to adhere to
 List of rules for the greeting of customers who are in the servicing section or department
of the store
 List of rules and regulations including both presentations and handouts for the employees
in the servicing serving the customers

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 List of rules and regulations including both presentations and handouts for the employees
in the billing section
 Business ethics and codes of conduct with respect to behavior and knowledge depth of
the products and the specialization options of the employees working in both the briefing
and the billing section
 Business ethics and codes of conduct with respect to behavior and knowledge depth of
the employees about the various offers and discounts and events occurring in that
particular week or month or that year.
 Steps and procedures for operating the new ordering and billing equipments in a faster
and more convenient way as compared to before
List of handouts for trainers and managers:
The list of handouts and presentations that the trainers and managers should specifically be
acquainted with include all the above mentioned lists as well as the following set of handouts.
 The set of points on the basis of which customers shall be providing feedbacks
 The handouts containing the list of criteria based on which the proficiency and
productivities of the employees will be judged post training
 The handouts containing the detailed list of modules based on which the trainers are
going to provide classroom sessions
 The list of points on the basis of which the managers will be holding the one on one
sessions of the employees trained after evaluation of their respective performances
 The list of details based on which the customer feedbacks will be formed and framed

9TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN
 The list of deliverables of the employees or the parameters that will be effectively decide
the department where the employee will be placed after the training assessments and
feedbacks (both internal and external) are evaluated and monitored
Apart from the list of presentations and handouts mentioned above, the trainees, trainers and
the managers should compulsorily have the list of timings and the entire timeframe of the whole
process of the timeframe so that all the employees can align their other responsibilities on an
everyday basis accordingly.
Technologies Required:
The technologies required for the entire process will include projectors, white boards,
laptops, immensely meticulous surveillance systems and software (Jiang, Chuang & Chiao,
2015). The other forms of technologies and equipments that will be needed to enhance the
outcomes or productivities of the employees in addition to their own potential and capabilities
include machines that will automate and fasten the processes of billing, servicing and briefing
the customers and make it easier for the employees to make the conversations with the customers
more didactic. Apart, from all these equipments, there should also be enhanced and
technologically innovative software that can efficiently record customer data based on the
feedbacks they provide and also their set of tastes and preferences.
In addition to all of the equipments and technology that are mentioned above, the firm
will also need to implement the use of smart devices and software that will help collect
information about the training methods and evaluation processes and frameworks being
implemented by other firms and competitors in the same industry so that these employees can be

10TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN
better trained and the limits of revenue generation and customer satisfaction existing and
persistent in this industry can be pushed further and extended as a whole (Stisen et al. 2015).
Location and staff:
The location of the training will include the offices of the firm existing in the cities where
the stores are faced with this problem and also the stores for on the job training where the
performance gap has been noticed.
The staff for the training that is the participants that will be involved with the process of
the entire training and development program will include the managers, the trainers (including
the classroom training providers, on the job training provider and evaluators) and the employees
who are working in the concerned departments across the different stores where this problem has
been noticed.
Cost:
The parts of the training where the classroom sessions are conducted and sessions with
mangers are conducted will not involve much expenditure. However, the implementation of the
automated devices, smart devices and the infrastructure for demonstrating and providing lectures
and even the software will need some amount of investment. The particulars of the budget are
illustrated in the following table in an approximate manner:
Particulars Amounts
Compensation to Trainers and Managers $10,000
Smart Devices $20,000
Feedback Software $15,000

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Billing Automation $10,000
Implicit Infrastructure (Projectors and Laptops) $2,000
Total Expenditures $57,000
Possible Barriers:
Management Support
It might be possible that the management might not agree with all the rules and
regulations or methods being implied and applied to better the situation of the customer servicing
process. They may also pose limitations and barriers as to paying attention or heed to the
problems being faced by the employees in providing the best services to the customers due to the
changing market scenario and the changing tastes, preferences and demands of the customers.
Further the managers might not agree to evaluate and monitor the issues and the process of
training as it will require a lot of human resource allocation as well as time along with the
expenditure to be incurred. Further, the management might not agree with the plan being the best
fit for reducing the performance and might simply not approve the whole plan or even the need
of the training process.
Perception and Participation
The training will only be successful and fruitful and will help in reducing the investigated
performance gap only if there exists a situation of combined effort on part of the managers,
trainers and most importantly the employees. If there is lack of participation and interest from
any one set of the participants involved , it will impose potential and significant barriers to the
process of training and development. Further the perception of the performance gap as perceived