To what extent do McDonalds use motivational theories to enhance the performance of their employees and hence increase efficiency/productivity? Are these methods effective?

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To what extent do McDonalds use motivational theories to enhance the performance of their employees and hence increase efficiency/productivity? Are these methods effective?

Introduction

McDonalds is a large multinational company that supplies millions of people with fast food. It is important for them to ensure that the workforce they employ is working to their full potential. McDonalds are very customer/ market orientated. They depend on a reputation for customer service. If employees are not motivated then this will suffer. If workers aren't motivated costs rise. E.g. training costs increase in proportion to staff turnover.

"When an employee is given a task to do and it is not carried out satisfactorily, this failure may well be due to a lack of motivation, rather than a lack of ability". With this in mind McDonalds must ensure that their workforce is motivated.

Motivation can be linked to a number of factors such as pay, working hours, working environment etc.

(see appendix p1 for full list). As well as these the corporate culture and management styles can play a part influencing the motivation of the employees.

Well-motivated employees achieve more. They are more committed, vigorous and productive. Over the years various strategies for motivating employees have been developed. These are known as motivational theories. Many different and often contrasting theories have been put forward by a number of different theorists (see appendix p1, p2). I am going to look into the extent that McDonalds, Hertford, use these.

Hypothesis/theories

Employees who are poorly motivated often score badly on at least one of the factors influencing motivation: an undemanding job, unpleasant working conditions and low pay. (see appendix p1)

A lack of motivation- either limited to one area or department, or spread throughout the firm- cause employee dissatisfaction. This results in a higher labour turnover...