Analysing Leadership & Motivation Theories in McDonald's Context

This report examines the practical application of management theories within McDonald's, focusing on motivation, conflict resolution, and leadership approaches. It delves into motivation theories such as Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Vroom's expectancy theory, illustrating how McDonald's addresses employee needs and incentivizes performance. Strategies for conflict resolution, including problem-solving, compromising, withdrawing, forcing, and accommodating, are discussed, with a recommendation for McDonald's to prioritize withdrawal strategies to avoid unnecessary disputes. The report advocates for a democratic leadership style, highlighting its benefits in fostering employee engagement and promoting a sense of belonging within the organization. Ultimately, the report concludes that effective management practices, aligned with relevant theories, are crucial for McDonald's continued success and employee retention.

Management Putting
Theory Into Practice

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................2
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................2
Motivation theories.....................................................................................................................2
Strategies used to overcome the conflicts...................................................................................3
Leadership approach that is suitable for the organisation...........................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6
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INTRODUCTION
Management putting theory into practice means that theory is utilised in practice by the
managers so that tasks can be accomplished by them. This ensures that managers will improve
continuously. The ways through which theory can be put into practice is by acknowledging the
challenge, limit the scope, commit time and considering coaching (Bercovitch, 2019).
A fast food restaurant chain, McDonald's was founded in 1940 by Richard and Maurice
McDonald. The headquarters of McDonald's is located at Chicago, U.S. and it serves worldwide.
MAIN BODY
Motivation theories
Motivation refers to motivating the individuals to achieve the goals that are desired by
them which leads to a behaviour that is goal directed. The theories of motivation that can be
followed by McDonald's are given below:
 Maslow's need hierarchy theory
This theory is based on the needs of the individual which are physiological needs, safety needs,
social needs, esteem needs and self actualisation needs. The needs of the individual which are
listed are from lower level needs to higher level needs. This theory can be applied at McDonald's
as basic needs of the employees of the organisation are taken care by the organisation. These
needs of the employees are met by providing them good salary, better working environment and
providing them with comforts like uniform and air condition where they work.
The next need is safety needs which are provided to employees of McDonald's so that they can
be safe from both physical and physiological harm. Also, McDonald's provide emergency kit so
that if any mishaps happen than the medical treatment can be given to the employees at that time
only. The next need is social needs which are met by the organisation by providing its employees
to work in group so that they can interact with their peers. This interaction provides them the
belongingness towards the organisation as they feel they are being recognised in the organisation
(Bowers, Hall and Srinivasan, 2017).
The next need is esteem needs which are met by the organisation by providing the employees
proper training so that self confidence is there in them. Also, praise and recognition is given to
the employees so that self esteem needs of the employees are satisfied. The next need is self
actualisation needs which is achieved by the organisation by promoting the employees to the
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higher level positions and provides them new uniform which leads to differentiation from the rest
of the workers of the organisation.
 Vroom's expectancy theory
The focus of this theory is upon that individual motivation to work is related to the
outcome that they want. The outcome here is refer to rewards which the employees get when the
organisational goals are achieved. The performance of the employee are based upon major
factors such as knowledge, abilities, skills, personality and experiences of the individual. There
are three key terms associated with this theory which are valence, expectancy and
instrumentality. McDonald's motivates its employees through its payroll which is very best as
they pay their employees on time. The salary is given to the employees fully without any
deductions. Apart from salary employees are given various rewards according to their
performance. Also, the employees who work part time are given bonuses (Dyczkowska and
Dyczkowski, 2018).
This theory is used by the managers in rewarding the employees according to their
performances. This reward helps in motivating the employees to perform well.
Strategies used to overcome the conflicts
Conflict refers to the argument that arises between two or more individuals in an
organisation when they work together. To resolve the conflict management should keep in mind
that parties involved in it do not face any kind of emotional stress. The conflicts can arise due to
difference in opinions related to cost of the product, technical opinions, administrative
procedures and many more. Strategies used to overcome the conflicts are described below:
 Problem solving: In this strategy, individuals involved in the conflict come together to
resolve it. In this individuals, forget about the personal emotions so that best decision can
be taken for the success of the organisation. Here, all the individuals involved in the
conflict collaborate with each other so that conflict can be resolved.
 Compromising: In this strategy, parties involved in the conflict decides to compromise
upon their approach so that middle path solution can be used. As both the parties decides
to withdraw some of their opinions so that they can reach to the conclusion. This strategy
is for short run so that goal of the organisation can be achieved for that time period
(Flannery,2017.
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 Withdrawing: In this strategy, one party involved in the conflict decides to withdraw
from it so that they can reach upon a conclusion. In it other party's solution is taken
forward and another party maintains the silence so that goals of the company can be
achieved. This kind of strategy provides “cooling off” period to the party whose solution
is not taken forward.
 Forcing: In this strategy, person involved in the conflict force upon their authority on
other person so that conflict can be resolved without giving chance to other persons to
give their opinions. This strategy leads to win and lose outcome where one party wins
and other party loses. Due to which someone feels being a loser and other person feels
being a winner. This strategy is mostly used when the conflict is unnecessary and leads to
destruction of the team (Hopper, 2020).
 Accommodating: This strategy is used when the parties involved in the conflict do not
want to come forward to resolve it. In this kind of conflict, one party come forward and
lists out all the points of agreement and disagreement so that they can reach to a solution.
The strategy that McDonald's can follow to resolve the conflict is of withdrawing so that
unnecessary arguments do not follow. This strategy works best for them because the organisation
can have conflict with its customers, among its employees or with its suppliers. So for their own
benefit they should use this strategy of avoidance because customer is the king and indulging in
conflict with them will result in their own loss. Employees can also use this strategy so that their
performance is not effected and when conflict happens with their suppliers they can use it so that
their supply does not stop.
Leadership approach that is suitable for the organisation
Leadership refers to the process through which leaders guide their subordinates and
influence them to work towards achievement of goals of an organisation. Leadership is a inter
personal process and a group process which involves two or more people into it. The importance
of leadership in an organisation is that it initiates action, leads to motivation, providing guidance,
creating confidence and building morale of the employees. The leadership approach that is
suitable for the McDonald's is democratic leadership style. This leadership style is chosen
because the employees of the organisation are also taken into account when any decision is
make. By doing so employees of the organisation gets the felling of belongingness which leads
to better productivity (Petersen,2018). Also, this style of leadership offers every employee the
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opportunity to brief about their opinions and encourages healthy discussion between the
employee and the organisation. In this leadership style, when the employees give opinion and it
is best that suites to the organisation needs they are rewarded for the same. Also, when the
decision is made and is implemented by the leader group members wait for the result so that they
know if the decision that has been taken is correct or not. Employees feel satisfied from their job
and encourages honesty amongst the employees of the organisation. Also knowledge of the
group increases because every gives their opinion which are different from the others (Al
Khajeh, 2018).
This style of leadership is best to retain the employees in the organisation. Also
employees leave the organisation due to variety of reasons which are limited opportunities for
career advancement, unhappiness with management, lack of recognition, dissatisfaction with
company's culture and due to many more reasons. Also the employees can be retain in
organisation through variety of ways which are via mentorship programmes, perks, employee
compensation, wellness offerings, training and development and through many other ways. This
style of leadership can be used to retain the employees as the employees opinions are taken into
consideration when any decision is make which gives them sense of belonging towards the
organisation.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that, putting of theory by manger is essential for the
success of the organisation. The motivation theories that should be followed by McDonald's are
Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Vroom's expectancy theory. The conflict strategy that should be
followed by McDonald's is of withdrawing so that to reach on conclusion is easy. The leadership
style that should be followed by McDonald's is democratic leadership style.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Al Khajeh, E.H., 2018. Impact of leadership styles on organizational performance. Journal of
Human Resources Management Research, 2018, pp.1-10.
Bercovitch, J., 2019. Social conflicts and third parties: Strategies of conflict resolution.
Routledge.
Bowers, M.R., Hall, J.R. and Srinivasan, M.M., 2017. Organizational culture and leadership
style: The missing combination for selecting the right leader for effective crisis
management. Business Horizons, 60(4), pp.551-563.
Dyczkowska, J. and Dyczkowski, T., 2018. Democratic or autocratic leadership style?
Participative management and its links to rewarding strategies and job satisfaction in
SMEs. Athens Journal of Business & Economics, 4(2), pp.193-218.
Flannery, M., 2017, March. Self-Determination Theory: Intrinsic Motivation and Behavioral
Change. In Oncology nursing forum (Vol. 44, No. 2).
Hopper, E., 2020. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Explained. ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 24.
Petersen, C., 2018. Putting theory into practice. Australian Canegrower, (26 Feb 2018), p.20.
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