Human Resource Development Report: McDonald's Training Plan

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Human Resource Development (HRD) within McDonald's, focusing on training and development strategies. It begins by introducing HRD and its significance, particularly within the context of McDonald's UK operations. The report explores various learning styles and theories, including Kolb's experiential learning, Honey and Mumford's, Myers Briggs, and the VARK model, evaluating their applicability within McDonald's. It then examines the role of the learning curve and transfer learning in enhancing employee performance. The report further delves into the comparison of training needs for restaurant managers, shift floor managers, and customer service assistants, outlining specific training requirements for each role. It also evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of various training methods, such as induction, workshops, performance appraisals, role plays, and coaching. Finally, the report proposes a detailed training and development plan for top, middle, and low-level management, including the assessment of training needs and the design of training programs. The report concludes with key findings and recommendations for improving HRD practices at McDonald's.

Human Resource Development
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................4
TASK 1.................................................................................................................................................4
1.1....................................................................................................................................................4
1.2 ...................................................................................................................................................5
1.3....................................................................................................................................................6
TASK 2 ................................................................................................................................................7
2.1....................................................................................................................................................7
2.3 ...................................................................................................................................................9
TASK 3 ..............................................................................................................................................10
3.1..................................................................................................................................................10
3.2 .................................................................................................................................................11
3.3 .................................................................................................................................................11
TASK 4...............................................................................................................................................12
4.1 .................................................................................................................................................12
4.2 .................................................................................................................................................13
4.3 .................................................................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................14
References..........................................................................................................................................15
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INTRODUCTION
Human resource development (HRD) refers to the development and enhancement of
the skills, competencies, knowledge and attitudes of employees within the company. The
main aim of HRD is to develop workers for increasing their career opportunities (Human
resource development, 2016). For using the potential of staff members, it is important for
the organisations to provide them environment which can continuously identify, bring to
surface and nurture their abilities. There are various types of HRD techniques such as
coaching, mentoring, etc. which a company can use for development of its employees
(Werner and DeSimone, 2011).
For the proposed study, Mc Donalds, a fast food restaurant of UK is taken into
consideration. The file involves planning and designing for training and development. l.
Along with it, report includes earning theories and styles, evaluation of training events and
government-led skills development initiatives. In the end, conclusion is explained with the
help of key findings and meaningful measures.
TASK 1
1.1
Learning styles refer to the unique approach of a person to learn something new on
the basis of strengths, weaknesses and preferences (Boxall and Purcell, 2011). It provides
companies an opportunity to develop their employees properly and effectively by using
their own learning style. Similarly, McDonald's can implement any of the style to its
development program for effective development of its workers. There are various types of
learning theories and their comparison for the HRD of McDonald's is as follows.
Kolb's experiential learning theory: It is one of the most common and popular
theories. This theory works on two levels which have four stages of the learning and four
separate learning styles. Four learning styles which McDonald's can use are
 Divergers: Such individuals focus to take experience and think deep about
themselves (Jusoh and et.al., 2011).
 Convergers: Such individuals think about the things first and then implement their
ideas.
 Accomodators: Such people like to do things rather than thinking about them. Assimilitators: Preference of these individuals is based on thinking instead of doing.
Honey and Mumford: This learning theory consists of four learning styles which are
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Activist, Theorist, Pragmatist and Reflector. These styles can be naturally preferred by the
employees of McDonald's for increasing their personal knowledge and abilities.
 Activitst: Such individuals prefer to learn things by doing. Preferred activities are
brainstorming, problem solving, etc.
 Theorist: Such people like to understand the concept behind the actions. Desirable
Activities are models, stories, etc.
 Pragmatist: Such individuals try to understand how to put theoretical knowledge into
the real world. It includes activities such as problem solving, discussions, etc. Reflector: Such type of learners learn by observing and thinking. Activities done by
them are time-out, coaching, etc (Ford, 2014).
Myers Briggs: This theory helps organisations in understanding the psychology of
their workers. This theory defines eight traits which are useful in developing the skills of
employees in the field of time management, communication, decision making process, etc.
These eight traits are Extravert and Introvert, Sensing and Intuitive, Thinking and Feeling,
Perceiving and Judging (Cekada, 2011).
VARK Model: This approach gives more emphasis to the sensory modalities of
individuals. There are four sensory modalities explained by this model which are visual,
auditory, read/write and kinaesthetic learning (Cherry, 2015).
McDonald's can use any of the above learning styles for the development of its
workers effectively. These theories will help firm in knowing the learning styles of their
employees and as per the style, it will implement the development programmes.
1.2
Learning curve is a graphical representation of individual's learning process which
shows increase in learning with the experience.
Role of learning curve in McDonald's:
Learning curve plays an important role in determining the improvement of
individual’s performance (Simons and Richardson, 2012). McDonald's can implement this
curve in two ways: where same task is repeated or where knowledge is learned with time.
Various roles of learning curve in McDonald's are as follows.
 It helps the firm in determining the efficiencies of its workers with the chances of
improvement.
 Such curve represents the growth of McDonald's workers with respect to their
performance and work effectiveness (Brown and Sitzmann, 2011).
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 It leads company to understand that learning and development enhances with the
increase in experience (Decenzo and Robbins, 2015).
 This curve shows that employees of fast food restaurant can improve their skills and
abilities when they will perform same task again and again. At each time, they will
face a new problem and at that situation, they will learn something new.
 It helps McDonald's in the effective allocation and utilisation of its resources for the
development of its staff members (Mathis and Jackson, 2011).
Importance of Transfer Learning:
Transfer learning is a kind of problem which gives emphasis on storing the gained
knowledge at the time of solving any issue and then using it to solve any different but
related issue. This plays an important role in developing the skills and abilities of workers
along with their decision making process. Several importance of transfer learning are as
follows.
 It helps in implementing the gained knowledge in practical form which results to
assist staff members to use their skills in practical application of their task (Goetsch
and Davis, 2014).
 This learning leads to storage and processing of the acquired training which tend
workers to review their previous training programmes.
 It will help McDonald's in attractive new talented and skilled candidates who can
contribute themselves in its progress (Knowles, Holton and Swanson, 2014).
 Employees of company can use this method of learning for the future references.
1.3
According to the Wilson, 2014, “Learning theories are used by the organisations as
conceptual framework for developing skills, abilities and knowledge of their employees. It
depends upon the company which type of theory it wants to apply in its working
environment as per the need” (Wilson, 2014). On the other hand Flamholtz, 2012, has
concluded that “Learning styles of the individual vary as per their learning capability,
context and requirement” (Flamholtz, 2012). As per these statements, McDonald's needs
to analyse learning styles and theories before selecting and conducting its event. It will
help the firm in selecting and using right theory and style as per the expectations and
desires.
With respect to the learning theories Storey, 2014, has declared that “All the
learning theories lead companies to know connection between its factors and employees.
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By keeping the relevance with the theories, learning styles are chosen by the firms as per
its values and objectives” (Storey, 2014). In favour to these statements, McDonald's need
to plan and design its learning event as per its learning goals. Any modification in the
design can help the food chain in managing diverse capabilities, skills, potential, etc of the
workers.
On the other hand Ulrich, 2013, has explained that “Implementation of right theory
and style can only give appropriate and expected results to the organisations otherwise it
will lead to wastage of time, money and resources” (Ulrich, 2013). Similarly Mello, 2014,
has demonstrated that “With change in time, new challenges are rising for the firms and to
face them it is important for them to develop their workers. Otherwise they can not able to
grow and get success” (Mello, 2014). With reference to these statements, McDonald's
must chose appropriate theory and style for its employees by considering various factors
such as adaptability, improvement, responsibility, etc.
TASK 2
2.1
Different workers have different training needs as per their work and responsibilities.
It is essential for the organisations to understand and evaluate need of training of each
and every employee working in it. Comparison of training needs for restaurant manager,
shift floor manager and customer service assistant is as follows. Restaurant Manager: His/ Her role is to manage and control working of whole
restaurant effectively. Restaurant manager is responsible for controlling profitability,
optimising restaurant management, overseeing sales of food items, human
resource and team management. For accomplishing these responsibilities, training
needs are related to the development of leadership and managerial skills with
communication and team management skills (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). Shift Floor Manager: Role of shift floor manager is different from the restaurant
manager and due to this their training needs are also different. Responsibilities of
shift manager are to ensure that everything is under control, to greet customers to
the quality and speed of service, maintenance of equipment and monitoring the
quality of food products. For these roles, training needs of shift floor manager are to
develop team management, time management, communication, operational and
managerial skills with sense of service (Bratton and Gold, 2012).
 Customer Service Assistant: This post is for dealing with the customers and
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helping them in solving their queries regarding the food product or service. For this
post, training need is for developing effective communication skills, phone skills,
customer appreciation, patience, ability to relatable, etc. By learning these skills and
abilities, customer service assistant of McDonald's can deal and handle the
problems of customers properly. It is essential for the company to fulfil these needs
for maintaining good relations with people (Hendry, 2012).
2.2
Various training methods are used by the McDonald's for development of its
workers performance and skills. These programmes have their advantages and
disadvantage which are important to analyse before conducting training and development
activities.
Advantages and disadvantage of several training methods used by McDonald's are
as follows.
Trainng Methods Advantages Disadvantage
Induction It helps in introducing
workers about McDonald's,
its working, values, types of
food items, expectations,
opportunities, challenges
and many other facotrs
(Guest, 2011).
If working of McDonald's is
not as per the expectations
of staff then it make them
feel dissatisfied
Workshops In this workers of the firm
gets opportunity to improve
their skills and performance
by working practically.
If employees do not get right
opportunities and information
then it is considered as loss
of cost, resources and time
(Bamberger, Biron and
Meshoulam, 2014).
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Performance Appraisal It motivates and increase
confidence level of workers
by recognising their
performance. It also help in
enhancing the performance
of staff members
It demotivates and
dissatisfied those employees
who are unable to enhance
their performance.
This disappointment leads to
dcrease their performance.
Role Plays This makes staff to
understand the role and
responsibilities of various
posts by experiencing
practically.
This helps in removing
differences betwen the
employees working at
different level (Cummings
and Worley, 2014).
It can create confussion for
those who does not want to
change their job and to take
new responsibilities.
Coaching It results to enahnce
decision making and
meeting skills.
It provides an opportunity to
employees to resolve their
queries face to face.
Biasness and fault can lead
to create negative effect on
the workers of McdOnald's.
This will results to reduce the
participation due to
demotivation (Snell, Morris
and Bohlander, 2015).
2.3
Training and development plan for the top, middle and low level management of
McDonald's is as follows. Assessment of training needs: In this step, McDonald's needs to identify the
training needs of each level. Workers of different level has different needs which are
essential to identify for deciding training type and objectives. Such as top level
management needs leadership skill, middle level needs managerial and low level
needs effective communication skills (Jiang and et.al., 2012). Training Objectives: In this, fast food restaurant will identify the gap between the
existing training initiatives and worker's skills and abilities. These gaps needs to be
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analysed and evaluated properly for deciding training objectives. Generally the
major aim of McDonald's is to bridge the gap between existing and expected
performance with the help of training and development programmes (Ghai and
Vivian, 2014). Creation of action plan: McDonald's decides learning theories, styles, instructional
design, content, etc for developing action plan. All the decisions need to be
appropriate as per the training requirement of restaurant manager, shift floor
manager and customer service assistant (5 STEPS TO CREATING EFFECTIVE
TRAINING PROGRAMS, 2013). Implementation of Training initiatives: In this, company will implement the
planned action plan in to the real world for achieving its objectives. They needs to
schedule activities, allocate required resources, equipments, facilities, etc. After all
these processes, training is launched, promoted and conducted by the firm
(Bernstein, 2014).
 Evaluation of training: In this, training of all levels will be monitored by the
organisation for determining whether it is successful in achieving the expected
objectives or not. Feedbacks needs to be taken by the participants so that higher
authorities can identify effectiveness of their training and development programme.
TASK 3
3.1
From the video A career with McDonald's- Restaurant Manager it is evaluated that
fast food company uses job training method for developing the skills and abilities of its
restaurant manager and other staff members which includes operation manager, shift floor
manager, team leader, crew member, etc. In this video, effectiveness of restaurant
manager with his various responsibilities are evaluated by the mike, an operations
manager. It is important to evaluate the training time to time for identifying changes and
their impact on the work of Restaurant manager. On the job training method of McDonald's
contain various steps and it is essential to complete all the stages before evaluating the
complete process. This evaluation helps in identifying whether training programme
achieves the expected objectives or not. It also helps in determining the loopholes which
can be improved next time (Mathis and Jackson, 2011).
Being working at post of training manager in McDonald's I used Questionnaire and
feedback forms for filling them by the employees who are taking participation in training
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activity. It helps me in knowing that whether the workers are satisfied with the conducted
program or not. These forms contain many questions related to the training and its
effectiveness whose evaluation results to give appropriate answer about it. With the help
of this technique, I able to maintain good and effective relationship with the workers and
can able to identify their needs and expectations. With the help of outcomes, I able to
make changes and improvements in the training and development activities of the
company for future use. The reason behind using this method is to determine the
effectiveness of the training program and how much it helps employees in imporving
themselves.
3.2
By watching video of A career with McDonald's- Restaurant Manager, it is
determined that evaluation of training is its one of the important task. Firm needs to
evaluate training event for identifying its effectiveness with loopholes. This will help the
company in improving its related programmes time by time so that it can fulfil the training
needs of its workers. This will results to employee job satisfaction. Whole evaluation
procedure is done by the training manager and other subordinates of the company due to
his specialization and expertise in this particular field. For collecting the information, I uses
various methods such as questionnaire, feedback and ROI method. With the help of
questionnaire and feedback, I can get information about the effectiveness of training
procedures of the firm.
On the other hand, by using ROI model I gets the information about the return over
the investment of training of restaurant manager. I apply this method after the completion
of whole event so that fast food chain can get real time results. I complete the whole
assessment effectively by achieving my responsibilities of being a responsible employee of
top level management. In addition to it, I uses Kirkpatrick model and CIRO model for
helping McDonald's in evaluating its training event. By the help of all the above methods, I
can able to develop its restaurant manager for handling its overall activities of the
company .
3.3
The effectiveness of the training event for restaurant manager can be assessed by
the following evaluation tools used by me. ROI model: It is used by McDonald's for determining the monetary benefits which
are acquired by it and to analyse the return on investment on training event. While
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using this method, I lead to create value of training program conducted by the firm
among the workers so that they can actively participate in it. It can also help in
achieving the objectives of training and organisation as well. Kirkpatrick Model: By using this model, McDonald's able to identify the
effectiveness and impact of on the job training event on the performance and
development of its restaurant managers. With the help of this model, I give more
emphasis to those areas where restaurant managers are lacking and which are
need to develop for making their work more effective. This model consists of 4
stages which are reaction, learning, behaviour and results. Step by step evaluation
of each stage can help McDonald's in achieving its objectives. I uses all the for
steps for identifying the views and perceptions of the trainees. I follow this model
step by step for getting effective results. CIRO Model: I use this method for evaluating the training event of McDonald's for
developing its restaurant manager. This approach includes four levels which are
context, input, reaction and outcome evaluation. By determining all these factors, I
try to make its training and development programme successful (Techniques of
Evaluation, 2010). I evaluate all the four levels properly such as, make training as
per the needs of the workers, uses resources which are important for the program,
monitors each and every activity of the employees and training professionals and
on the bais of that evaluate the results.
 Questionnaire and Feedbacks: By filling these forms, McDonald's make its
training programme successful in future. These forms will help in identifying the
needs and expectations of the employees with the weak areas of the grooming
program (Crook, and et.al., 2011).
TASK 4
4.1
In the present time, UK government is playing active and effective role in developing
employees of both public and private sector. It is trying to reduce the unemployment factor
by providing training for lifelong development. Various training programmes such as on the
job and off the job training are conducted by the government which is taken by experts.
Lifelong learning UK policy is developed by the government for the under 25's sector
(Wright and McMahan, 2011). The reason behind this policy is to develop skills, knowledge
and abilities of the workers so that they can grow and develop their career with
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