McDonald??? s is the most famous and largest fast food retailer in the world and we can easy to find the ways of this company to motivate their employees by leadership skills. I have visited one of McDonald??? s stores this week at Copenhagen.
It is easy to find out that the line manager leads and in charge most of the work. For example, he is observed as a coach of the new or inexperienced employee. He teaches the newcomer how to use the machine to make the order with patience. Also, the manager, on the one hand, give different clear directions to the different employees what they need to do, on the other hand, he motivates employees to work fast but with same quality during peak periods.
Besides, even he is the manager; he would express his real concern of his employees, which was not necessary for working environment. ??? Are you ok? Have you see the doctor???? he asked when an employee was coughing. It is a case of leadership because there is an ??? interpersonal process??? between one person and a group (Jackson and Parry, 2011) with shared responsibility and value. It is easy to find some kinds leadership in the case. Firstly, According to the homepage of McDonald??? s, their mission is to be the favorite place and way for every customer to eat with high-quality food and superior service in a clean, welcoming environment every time?????? McDonalds.
n. d.). This clear mission and value make both manager and employees can work together to provide high-quality service to customers.
In this case, the manager gives different clear directions to the different employees what they need to do during peak periods and coach the new employee shows that he focuses on production and quality that leadership behavior reflects a task-oriented style for all members. And, it shows that manager uses the position power to influence others. Secondly, there is an obvious relationship between frontline manager and his subordinates, including cashiers and chiefs. And it is not only just working relationship, but also is similar to a family or a friendship. Of course, coaching the inexperienced employee is one of frontline managers??? works.
But is there a need or must for him to teach with patience? Furthermore, is there a need or must for him to care about employees healthy? But this manager does so. His behavior can be classified as transformation leadership. A major characteristic that differentiates transformational leadership from other styles is the leader??? s efforts to engage followers??? self-esteem, self-efficacy, and self-confidence (Shamir et al., 1993).
His supportive leadership makes the work pleasant for subordinates. Moreover, McDonald??? s shows Individualized consideration which means paying attention to followers??? development needs (Bass, 1999) with providing training and development at all levels to help them refine their skills, grow in their current position or transition to a new role in the company?????? McDonald??? s. n. d.).
Lastly, when things went completely out of control (in the case is during the peak time), the managers exhibited a coaching style of leadership, directing the subordinate on how to achieve a specific goal, and showing both high directive and supportive behaviors. To sum up, we can see there is transformation leadership, task- orientated style and coaching style of leadership. However, it is difficult to find other types of leadership, such as authentic leadership, Spiritual Leadership, Charismatic leadership during the short observation without direct communicate with the manager and other subordinates. Reference ListBass, B. M.
(1999). Two decades of research and development in transformational leadership. European Journal of Organizational Psychology, 8, 9 ??? 32. Jackson, B., and Parry, K. W.
(2011). A very short, fairly interesting and reasonably cheap book about studying leadership, (2nd ed.). Los Angeles: Sage. Machias Ali, N.
(2005). The Prince. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Research Initiatives. (n.
d.). Retrieved February 2, 2013, from McDonalds website, http://corporate. mcdonalds. com/content/mcd/our_company/our-ambition. htmlResearch Initiatives.
(n. d.). Retrieved February 2, 2013, from McDonalds website, http://corporate. mcdonalds. com/mcd/corporate_careers/training_and_development.
htmlShamir, B., House, R. J., & Arthur, M.
B. (1993). The motivational effects of charismatic leadership: A self-concept based theory. Organizational Science, 4, 577 ??? 594. Jack Welch served as the CEO of General Electric -?? http://essaylab. com/blog/leadership-essay
