Analyzing HR Practices and High-Performance Work Systems at McDonald's

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Developing individuals, teams and organizations 1
Developing individuals, teams and organizations

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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Background of McDonald’s........................................................................................................................4
LO1. Analyze employee knowledge, skills and behaviors needed by HR professionals.............................4
P1.Suitable and professional skills, knowledge and behavior that are required by HR professionals......4
P2 and M1. Analyze a completed personal skills audit to identify suitable skills, knowledge and
behaviors and develop a professional development plan for a given job role..........................................5
D1: Professional development plan that sets out learning goals and training in relation to attain
sustainable business performance objectives...........................................................................................9
LO2.Analyze the elements to be considered when implementing and analyzing inclusive learning and
development................................................................................................................................................9
P3.The differences between organizational and individual learning, development and training..............9
P4.The need for continuous learning and professional development to drive sustainable business
performance...........................................................................................................................................10
M2.Learning cycle theories to analyze the significance of initiating continuous professional
development..........................................................................................................................................11
LO3.Apply knowledge and understanding to the manner in which high performance working (HPW)
participates to worker commitment and competitive benefit.....................................................................13
P5 and M3.How HPW contributes to worker engagement and competitive benefit..............................13
D2. How HPW mechanism used to improve employee engagement, competitive benefit and
commitment...........................................................................................................................................14
LO4. Performance management approaches..............................................................................................15
P6 and M4. Different approaches to performance management that can support high performance
culture and commitment........................................................................................................................15
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................18
References.................................................................................................................................................19

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Introduction
The main or primary motive behind this task is to analyze and outline how knowledge, skills and
behavior of the workers are checked and determined by HR professional while appointing the
applicants. A brief reflection on SWOT analysis and professional development plan will be
presented in the task. The role and significance of high performance working would be
elaborated in the paper effectively. The paper will also explain different performance approaches
that are implemented by McDonald in order to stimulate the employees towards the attainment of
targets and goals.

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Background of McDonald’s
McDonald’s is an American fast food corporation that was incorporated in 1940. The company is
one of biggest restaurant chains measured by revenue. McDonald’s is serving approx 69 million
customers in more than 100 countries. The organization provides several fast food products like
hamburgers, wraps, desserts, soft drinks, milkshakes, chicken products and breakfast items
(McDonald’s, 2019).
LO1. Analyze employee knowledge, skills and behaviors needed by HR professionals
P1.Suitable and professional skills, knowledge and behavior that are required by HR
professionals
Skills, knowledge ad behavior play a major role in performing roles and responsibilities in an
effective manner. For example, McDonald’s is hiring a candidate for administration or
management role then the HRM will check and evaluate the skills, knowledge and behavior of
the candidate. The employee skills, knowledge and behaviors required by HR professionals are
discussed below.
Skills: HR executive checks and measures the several skills like communication, leadership,
planning, interpersonal, team working, collaboration, processes and uses systems skills. For
example, communication skills of the employees are needed and checked by the HRM for
aiming to teach them that how to communicate and integrate with stakeholders and other people
in the organization (Schuler and E. Jackson, 2014). Leadership skills are measured and identified
by HR department to manage and handle the own development and commitment of the workers
towards the attainment of goals and objectives. HRM identifies and analyzes whether employee
is able to understand systems, procedures and systems or not. Team working and collaboration

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skills are evaluated by HR department to maintain professional and effective relationship with
externally and internally across the company (Wang, et al, 2012).
Behaviors: The eight behaviors which need to be checked by HR include decision thinker,
personally credible, driven to deliver, collaboration, role model, creativity, curious, and skilled
influencer. HR executives need to carry out these activities effectively and efficiently.
Adaptability, ethics, integrity, adding value, and proactivity are other skills that are identified by
the human resource management in the global market while selecting the candidates (Paadi,
(2014).
Knowledge: Now moving on to knowledge so this is what the workers need to understand and
know. Firstly looking at business knowledge, HRM one is to know and evaluate the purpose,
vision and mission of McDonald’s and how this relate to candidate role and need (Lin, 2011).
Contextual knowledge further needs to be kept in mind while appointing the candidates for the
administration role at the workplace. Technical knowledge, business awareness, ethical
standards, and leadership knowledge also need to be analyzed by HRM when hiring applicant at
international level for conducting business successfully and effectively (Kelly, et al, 2011).
P2 and M1.Analyze a completed personal skills audit to identify suitable skills, knowledge
and behaviors and develop a professional development plan for a given job role
Skill audit is something which tells about current skills, knowledge and behavior of an
individual. Skill audit plays a major role in my career because it helps in enhancing my skills for
management and administrative role in the organization. This audit helps me in analyzing my
current skills, and diagnoses what skills are needed to attain my tasks that help me to plan more
efficiently and enhance knowledge and skills to be successful and effective person in near future
(Zepeda, 2013). SWOT analysis is important and essential to analyze and identify my strengths,

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weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the competitive market. My SWOT analysis is discussed
below.
Strengths
 My communication skills are strong
that help me a lot and I have observed
new and innovative ways to handle
with people.
 My delegation towards my tasks and
duties really very high and effective
that people always faith and trust on me
and that is how I have an excellent
reputation among other people.
 I am passionate or dedicated towards
my work because I am the person who
possessed objective and I want to
convert my dreams into actualities.
Weaknesses
 An emotional stability and
effectiveness is the biggest weaknesses
that always invade me in attaining my
objectives and goals. The lack in
emotional steadiness sometimes results
in terms of ager, which is quite
complex for me to control.
Opportunities
 I constantly grab ample of opportunities
that can enhance and improve my
capabilities, skills and experience of
learning something new and which
would give a chance to find out and
Threats
 People who damper my courage and
interest is the biggest threat for me.

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evaluate new ways to handle and deal
with complexities.
 I always make people feel happy and
comfortable whatever the situations are
I always give my best to handle and
deal with them.
Professional development plan: The steps that are involved in professional development plan
for management or administration role presented below.
Step1: Request a self-evaluation from the staff member: Have the team members complete a
self-evaluation of their interests, values, worth, skills and personality. Optimize the sample
performance planning and self-evaluation forms listed to the right to direct in the procedure.
When measuring the team-member’s opinions, keep several questions in mind for instance, what
skills, knowledge, technologies and career opportunities interest the individual (Jeffries, et al,
2013).
Step 2: Build assessment of the person’s skills and knowledge level: After conducting the
self-evaluation of the workers, evaluate and identify the team members skills and knowledge in
the following classes:
 Attitude
 Technical skills
 Social skills and aptitude
Step 3.Assess and analyze the department and company’s needs: In order to make
professional development and enhancement successful and effective, the team member’s interest

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and requirements shall be implemented to address and measure organizational goals and
objectives. While making a professional development plan, the team members need to consider
following objectives and goals:
 Individual goals
 Departmental goal
 Team goal
Step 4: Extend development opportunities with the team members: It has been noted that the
McDonald’s needs to extend and explore the opportunities with others to create an effective
professional development plan.
Step5: Evaluate and record the staff member’s success and progress: McDonald’s needs to
gather feedback and opinion from the team members about the performance of the candidate for
the new management role. The company shall optimize and implement a performance log for
recording, tracking and collecting feedback from the team members (Warrick, 2011).

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D1: Professional development plan that sets out learning goals and training in relation to
attain sustainable business performance objectives
It is noted that above mentioned professional development plan helps in achieving desired
objectives and goals of the firm because this professional development plan improves and
enhances knowledge, skills and experience of the candidates. The knowledge, skills and
experience are enhanced and increased by McDonald’s by conducting training and development
programs and by keeping an eye on the performance and productivity of the candidate. In this
way, sustainable business performance objectives are attained by the company by creating a
professional development plan for management role in the organization.
LO2.Analyze the elements to be considered when implementing and analyzing inclusive
learning and development
P3.The differences between organizational and individual learning, development and
training
The difference between organizational and individual learning are elaborated below.
Organizational and individual learning: Organizational learning refers to the process of
retaining, generating and relocating within the organization. It is the technique which a
corporation creates and organizes knowledge concerning their function and culture. McDonalds
use this because of organizational culture that involves policies, meetings and programs that
inspire workers learning and knowledge (Dixon, 2017). On the other hand, individual learning
enhances productivity, quality and business effectiveness. For individual learning McDonald
offers internships, leadership development programs, training, global mobility through

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Hamburger University. This shows that it keeps an organization culture and motivates employees
for learning (Brandi and Elkjaer, 2012).
Training and development: To develop knowledge and skill in the employees as per
prerequisite of the job it is a program organized by the organization. In training, employees are
given skills and technical knowledge regarding specific job. It improves the performance of the
employees. Training is a short-term process (Kleiner, et al, 2012). On the other hand,
development is a self-assessment activity as it is an organized activity in which the manpower of
the company learns and grows. In development, the leaders emphasizes on the organizational
growth and development. It helps in the preparation of employees for future challenges. It is a
long process and continuous also (Wang, 2011).
P4.The need for continuous learning and professional development to drive sustainable
business performance
Continuous learning helps in the further expansion of business according to new developments
and changing environment as it is very important because environment is very dynamic and
change in a continuous way. McDonald’s trained their employee instead of hiring new one
because hiring process is very costly so, they enhance a culture “investing in people”. The
company now a day prefers to invest talent in existing employees so that when there is need, they
can respond well in changing environment. And, also in the employees it develops the feel of
trust and there is addition of new skills in the employees. Continuous learning is essential
because businesses have to be concerned about local and foreign competition. If anyone will not
do proper study then the firm will not be able to deal with changing environment. This learning
also helps in the expansion of the ability of the workers, improving skills and increasing

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knowledge. Because of changing business environment continuous learning is becoming more
and more important.
For example, let’s talk about McDonald’s, how fast they response to the changing environment it
is possible only through continuous learning as they are aware of the facts regarding the business
and also their employees have knowledge regarding the changing environment. They can handle
the situation in a more effective and efficient way.
M2.Learning cycle theories to analyze the significance of initiating continuous professional
development
Learning cycle shows that in order to learn it is not enough just to have an experience. This cycle
commences with real situation which people take experience. This is a cycle which leads to in
which fourth stage leads back to first stage and the cycle continues.
There are four stages in the Learning Cycle
 Concrete Experience
 Reflective Observation
 Abstract Conceptualization
 Active Experimentation
 Kolb Learning Styles
There are various learning style theories that are as follows:
David Kolb’s model: This is based on experiential learning model. And it focuses on two
approaches which are: concrete experience and abstract conceptualization. As per Kolb’s model,
in response to situational demand the learning process involves all four modes; they form
learning cycle. For effective learning, the company incorporates all four approaches. It gives rise
to learning style inventory. McDonald’s implements this model by focusing on the skills,

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knowledge and talents of the workers.Along with this, McDonald’s will focus on the four modes
such as experience, cognition, perception and behavior.
Peter Honey and Alan Mumford’ model: This model includes four learning styles like activist,
reflector, theorist and pragmatist. This model is a self- development tool. And, in order to
become better furnished managers are stimulated to focus on strengthening underutilized styles.
To implement this model, the leaders at McDonald’s act as a reflector, activist, pragmatist and
theorist.
Learning Modalities: These include three learning models that are outlined below.
1. Visualizing modality
2. Auditory modality
3. Kinesthetic modality
Learning modality strengths can arise independently or in combination.
Neil Fleming model: This model includes:
1. Visual learning
2. Auditory learning
3. Physical learning
4. Social learning
Visual learners have the ability of seeing. It is recommended that visual learners can convert
words into images. To implement this model, McDonald’s checks and evaluates the visual,
physical, social and auditory learning of workers so that employees enhance and improve skills
and knowledge while functioning.
All these theories are used by McDonald’s for continuous improvement and development at the
workplace.