DAM761 - Managing People: Applying Leadership Theories at McDonald's

This presentation discusses the application of reinforcement theory and servant leadership within McDonald's. It begins by explaining B.F. Skinner's reinforcement theory, highlighting how managers can use positive and negative reinforcement to motivate employees, with examples related to sales quotas and territory assignments. The presentation then examines McDonald's performance appraisal system, noting the use of graphic rating scales and 360-degree feedback, suggesting improvements based on reinforcement principles. Furthermore, it introduces servant leadership, as defined by Robert K. Greenleaf, emphasizing the leader's role as a servant first, focusing on the growth and well-being of people. The presentation provides examples of servant leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela, and suggests how McDonald's marketing department can implement servant leadership to foster a better workforce, operations, and quality, especially given its diverse workforce. The presentation concludes by referencing various academic sources to support its analysis and recommendations.

MANAGING PEOPLE AND
BEHAVIOUR
MCDONALD'S COMPANY

Reinforcement Theory by B.F.
Skinner,
• This theory explains in detail how a person
learns the behavior . the managers who are
trying to motivate the employees should ensure
• Rewards are not given to all employees
simultaneously (corr et al.,2016).
• All employees are told about their errors
• All employees are guided on how they can attain
positive reinforcement (corr & mutinelli, 2017).
• Ex- a salesperson exerting extra effort to meet
the sales quota and rewarded with bonus.

Description
• It states that the behavior of an individual is a function of the
consequences.
• It is founded on the law of effect .
• The law of effect is an individual’s behavior which has positive
consequences. It tends to be repeated (Corr & Cooper, 2016)
• The individual’s behavior which has negative consequences does not
tend to be repeated.
• Skinner suggest that the organizational environment should be positive
• It motivates the employees
• Ex- A bonus is a type of positive reinforce (kulkarni et al., 2016).
• Negative reinforcement- A salesperson exerting effort to multiply sales
in his territory followed by a decision not to reassign the person to
undesirable route of sales.

McDonald’s Performance appraisal system
• the Mcdonald’s company uses the graphic rating scales in order to make the
appraisal systems work in a proper way.
• This method works nicely because it is simple (Walker & Jackson, 2017). .
• It can be done without much effort .
• they also use the 360 degree feedback as their performance appraisal method.
• It helps to know the performance level of the employees (Vlaev & Dolan, 2015).
• Ex- When an employee is persistently praised for being prompt in work, but does
not receive praise in subsequent months, the desirable behaviors might
diminish. Hence, the managers might have to continue offering positive
consequences.

Cont..
• It can be said that although the performance
appraisal and reward system of Mcdonald's is
effective, it can follow the reinforcement theory of
motivation and reshape their strategy accordingly .
• As an example, it can praise an employee for coming
to job early. It can serve as a positive reward
(Troussas,Krouska & Virvou, 2017).
• It can also reward an employee after removing the
negative consequences..
• It can further apply undesirable consequences on
the occurrence of undesirable actions.
• It can utilize punishment as positive reinforcement.

Servant Leadership
• The servant leadership was coined by sir Robert k. Greenleaf in
the servant as a leader.
• He stated that the in servant –leader , the leader is the servant
first.
• It is a choice that brings one to aspire in leading.
• This type of leadership ensures that the needs of people are
being served according to Troussas, krouska and virvou (2017).
• A servant leader focuses on the growth and the well –being of
people along with the communities where they belong
• Ex- Martin Luther King can be considered as an example of
Servant leadership. He contributed to the civil rights movement.
He chose to emphasize on the non-violence approach. He cared
about his people more and earned recognition for his efforts.

Traits of servant leadership
• As per the views of kulkarni et aL., (2016)A servant leader is
always empathetic towards the team .
• He listens to people attentively and resolves the conflicts and
imparts training.
• He is fully aware of the values , short-comiings , strengths ,
emotions and feelings as per vlaev and dolan (2015).
• He promotes the emotional and mental strength of their
employees.
• He has the ability to conceptualize and imagine the possibilities
of future.
• He influences the opinions and actions of others(LEPPER &
GREENE, 2015).
• Ex- Another example is Nelson Mandela. He fought for achieving
equality in South Africa considering himself as “humble servant”
of his people.

Servant leadership model

Servant Leadership in McDonald’s
Marketing Department
• the Mcdonald’s company can use the servant leadership in
their organization for establishing better workforce , better
operations and better quality.
• In Mcdonald’s there is a diverse workforce.
• People from every corner of the world are employed here.
• According to walker and jackson (2017),the servant
leadership will help by creating an advantageous outcome
for the entire group.
• It will enable different people to showcase their own unique
skills (Richter, Raban & Rafaeli, 2015).

References
CORR, P. J., MCNAUGHTON, N., WILSON, M. R., HUTCHISON, A., BURCH, G., & POROPAT, A. (2016).
NEUROSCIENCE OF MOTIVATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR: PUTTING THE REINFORCEMENT
SENSITIVITY THEORY (RST) TO WORK. IN RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH ON
HUMAN MOTIVATION (PP. 65-92). EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LIMITED.
CORR, P. J., & MUTINELLI, S. (2017). MOTIVATION AND YOUNG PEOPLE'S CAREER PLANNING: A
PERSPECTIVE FROM THE REINFORCEMENT SENSITIVITY THEORY OF PERSONALITY. PERSONALITY
AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES, 106, 126-129.
CORR, P. J., & COOPER, A. J. (2016). THE REINFORCEMENT SENSITIVITY THEORY OF PERSONALITY
QUESTIONNAIRE (RST-PQ): DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION. PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT, 28(11),
1427.
KULKARNI, T. D., NARASIMHAN, K., SAEEDI, A., & TENENBAUM, J. (2016). HIERARCHICAL DEEP
REINFORCEMENT LEARNING: INTEGRATING TEMPORAL ABSTRACTION AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATION.
IN ADVANCES IN NEURAL INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEMS (PP. 3675-3683).
LEPPER, M. R., & GREENE, D. (EDS.). (2015). THE HIDDEN COSTS OF REWARD: NEW PERSPECTIVES
ON THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HUMAN MOTIVATION. PSYCHOLOGY PRESS.
RICHTER, G., RABAN, D. R., & RAFAELI, S. (2015). STUDYING GAMIFICATION: THE EFFECT OF
REWARDS AND INCENTIVES ON MOTIVATION. IN GAMIFICATION IN EDUCATION AND BUSINESS (PP.
21-46). SPRINGER, CHAM.
TROUSSAS, C., KROUSKA, A., & VIRVOU, M. (2017, AUGUST). REINFORCEMENT THEORY COMBINED
WITH A BADGE SYSTEM TO FOSTER STUDENT'S PERFORMANCE IN E-LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS. IN
2017 8TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INFORMATION, INTELLIGENCE, SYSTEMS &
APPLICATIONS (IISA) (PP. 1-6). IEEE.
VLAEV, I., & DOLAN, P. (2015). ACTION CHANGE THEORY: A REINFORCEMENT LEARNING
PERSPECTIVE ON BEHAVIOR CHANGE. REVIEW OF GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY, 19(1), 69-95.
WALKER, B. R., & JACKSON, C. J. (2017). EXAMINING THE VALIDITY OF THE REVISED
REINFORCEMENT SENSITIVITY THEORY SCALES. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES, 106,