McDonald s
An Ethical Organizational Communication Analysis of McDonald’s
Yijun Zhang
October 17, 2014
The McDonald’s corporation was started in 1940 and has since grown as a fast food entity, with restaurants and supply outlets all over the world. Maurice and Richard McDonald started a Bar-B-Q restaurant in San Bernardino, the United States in 1940(“McDonald’s History”). In 1948, they introduced the “Speedee Service System” and the CEO Ray Kroc established the McDonald’s System Inc. in Illinois in 1955. In addition, the name “McDonald’s System Inc.” was changed to McDonald’s Corporation in1960. However, the two brothers later sold the company to Ray Kroc in 1961, who grew its merchandise from hamburgers to all the available fast foods. The Corporation went to public in 1965, and the common shares were offered at $22.5 (Brook, n.d.). Nowadays, McDonald’s has over 1.9 million workers and is located in 118 countries in the world, coupled with more than 35,000 restaurants (“Quick”, 2014). Since McDonald’s is one of the largest fast food company, how about its communication actions for employees, customers or suppliers or shareholders? It is interesting for me, thus this paper will explore the McDonald’s communication actions based on Steve May’s six questions.
When it comes to the first point of alignment among “personal, professional, and organizational aspirations and behaviors” (May, 2013), McDonald’s aligns its formal procedures with missions, values and ethic code that are set to facilitate the ethical growth of the company. The formal procedures are outlined in a standard business conduct code that stipulates the way employees are supposed to behave (“Standards”, 2014). There is a free policy of communication between the employees, customers, stakeholders and the company. There are employee magazines that seek to address the issue employees’ face. Also, there are media tools that have been set up for customers and other external forces for effective
Yijun Zhang
October 17, 2014
The McDonald’s corporation was started in 1940 and has since grown as a fast food entity, with restaurants and supply outlets all over the world. Maurice and Richard McDonald started a Bar-B-Q restaurant in San Bernardino, the United States in 1940(“McDonald’s History”). In 1948, they introduced the “Speedee Service System” and the CEO Ray Kroc established the McDonald’s System Inc. in Illinois in 1955. In addition, the name “McDonald’s System Inc.” was changed to McDonald’s Corporation in1960. However, the two brothers later sold the company to Ray Kroc in 1961, who grew its merchandise from hamburgers to all the available fast foods. The Corporation went to public in 1965, and the common shares were offered at $22.5 (Brook, n.d.). Nowadays, McDonald’s has over 1.9 million workers and is located in 118 countries in the world, coupled with more than 35,000 restaurants (“Quick”, 2014). Since McDonald’s is one of the largest fast food company, how about its communication actions for employees, customers or suppliers or shareholders? It is interesting for me, thus this paper will explore the McDonald’s communication actions based on Steve May’s six questions.
When it comes to the first point of alignment among “personal, professional, and organizational aspirations and behaviors” (May, 2013), McDonald’s aligns its formal procedures with missions, values and ethic code that are set to facilitate the ethical growth of the company. The formal procedures are outlined in a standard business conduct code that stipulates the way employees are supposed to behave (“Standards”, 2014). There is a free policy of communication between the employees, customers, stakeholders and the company. There are employee magazines that seek to address the issue employees’ face. Also, there are media tools that have been set up for customers and other external forces for effective
References: Codes of Conduct. (2014). McDonald’s. Retrieved from http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/investors/corporate_governance/codes_of_conduct.html May, S. (2013). Case studies in organizational communication: Ethical perspectives and practices. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications. McDonald’s Corporation’s Decision Making Process. (2012). Thinking Bookorm. Retrieved from http://thinkingbookworm.typepad.com/blog/2012/02/mcdonalds-corporations-decision-making-process.html McDonald’s to Increase Oversight of Chinese Suppliers Meet the Tweeps: @McDonalds Twitter Team. (2014). McDonald’s. Retrieved from http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/newsroom/meet_the_tweeps_mcdonalds_twitter_team.html Norambuena, P. (2014). How Ford, Intel and McDonald’s Align Sustainability Perception and Performance. Brandchannel. Retrieved from http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/140630-Ford-Intel-McDonalds-Sustainability-Panel.aspx Our food. Your questions. (2014). McDonald’s. Retrieved from http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/home.html Psssikoff, R. (2014). McDonad’s Hopes New Social Media Q&A Will Modify Food Image. Forbes Quick Facts. (2014). McDonald’s. Retrieved from http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/our_company.html Riley, C., & Wallace, G. (2014). Big Mac shortage in China as scandal-ridden supplier issues recall Standards of Business Conduct. (2014). McDonald’s. Retrieved from http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/content/dam/AboutMcDonalds/Investors/Standards_of_