Training at McDonalds is an integral part of the company’s management program. In fact, McDonalds regards management training as so important that they actually created “Hamburger University” wherein managers and possible franchisees learn “The Basics of McDonald’s Operations”. Hamburger University was created by McDonalds Corporation in order to instruct their employees or personnel employed by McDonald’s Independent Franchisees in every aspect of the business. Some of the characteristics of the global training plan at McDonalds include everything from cultural awareness and managerial evaluations, to proper cooking and cleaning techniques. And they offer these comprehensive training programs to all staff levels.
Hamburger University, which was founded in 1961, has its home office campus in Oak Brook, Illinois. This University boasts over 130,000 square feet of state-of-the-art technologically equipped classrooms and training environments, 30 resident professors, and can teach its classes in up to 22 languages simultaneously. Other Hamburger University locations include universities in London, England, Tokyo, Japan, Munich, Germany, and Sydney, Australia, not to mention additional campuses throughout the United States. Through these various universities, McDonalds Corporation ensures that all of its management staff and franchisees are properly trained in the McDonalds Corporations operational methods.
The Essay on McDonald’s
... eligible to get into Hamburger University, the company’s world wide training center for management personnel. About 2,500 managers ... That’s why McDonald’s Independent Franchisees and McDonald’s Corporation look for individuals who like to have ... economic cycles, competitive and entrepreneurial cultures (book). McDonald’s is a large international company. It’s restaurant distributed ...
McDonalds Corporation believes that their restaurants should be a direct reflection of the communities that they serve. In order for them to achieve these goals, they tend to “promote from within” and hire most of their management from people who started out as cashiers and fry cooks and such. One of the keys to the successful HR practices of McDonalds Corporation’s global training programs is their method of taking the best “people practices” found in the various McDonalds restaurants around the world and blending them into the one method that is most effective for a given location. For example, opening a McDonalds in India with no beef products whatsoever, replacing the all beef patties with “vegi-burgers”. Another good example of McDonalds’ ability to adapt to their environment is their franchise in Saudi Arabia where the restaurant has two separate dining rooms, one for the men the other for the women and children.
Characteristics such as the ability to quickly adapt to the cultural issues and the various labor laws within each country, standardized training for managers and employees alike, a strong HR department to ensure that only the most enthusiastic people are hired, and their method of “positive people practices” gives McDonalds global training program a keen edge over many of it’s competitors. That coupled with the popularity of the McDonalds name and the various community assistance programs that the Corporation participates in makes McDonalds a very successful international business. The fact that they have “Hamburger Universities” located in key areas around the world, allows them to cut the costs of training their personnel while still maintaining the standard “smiling faces” that people have come to associate with McDonalds.
