Sunday, December 9, 2007
Communicating via Blog
This class has been a class out of the mainstream. The tools and projects that were given to us duing this semester can be descrobed as "out of the box", which includes the Blog assignments. The Blog assignments were very revealing to me and helpful because it gave me a perspective within myself but that is the only fucntion that it has served me. I am not faulting the blog assignments becuase they replaced the standard homework that I would have received in nay other class. I appreciate it but it was an assignments that gave e some liberty to dispense. My schedule does not allow me the ablity to "network" with my fellow classmates, so i ws not able to develop any ties with anybody else from class. It figues, as I have no comments on any of my blogs. At the time, I saw the merit of the projects within the class but I could not make any sense in the blog, again no time to fully extend myself to the blog. As far as using the blog as a management experience, that is correctly defined. It took management of time to be able to post and to response to blogs. The grade issue is also, greatly appreciated becuase the blogs determine some of the grade and I greatly need it. Finally, I do not think I will keep the blog site, unless I need some place to vent my fustrations with my current job.
A Haiku
I picked this type of poem because it is short and simply but more importantly, it is short and concise, a characteristic that we need to develop in the business environonment. The Method of the poem is a Haiku which is noticable by the 5 - 7 -5 word ratio, a total of 17 words to express an idea. Can you tell me what I am trying to depict?
The Manager by Walter Palacios
The Leadership role
Can I dictate it to them?
Or just sit and watch?
Thank you. WPX
The Manager by Walter Palacios
The Leadership role
Can I dictate it to them?
Or just sit and watch?
Thank you. WPX
Monday, December 3, 2007
McDonald’s: the Management Process at Work
During the course of our semester, we have seen various theories of management. These processes have very different aspects which all serve to incorporate a strong value of stability and reliability. But these have been only theories that I have never really seen as an objective participant. Remarkably, it is very apparent at McDonald’s and other places, as well. The object of this essay will be to show you that the management process that was involved in my order is complex and that the workers of McDonald’s deserve more credit than they have been given.
It was late in the night, which is my customary time to arrive at my neighborhood from my daily routines. I regularly do not consume any McDonald’s food, as they are very high in fat calories even with the zero fat oil they are now using. I walked to the counter and ordered the small burger with four pickles and a side order of French fries without salt. The order was taken by a young woman, probably in her early twenties. I wanted to tell her that it was a project from school but I thought it best if I let her take my order without any pressure from me. She politely took my order and gave me a smile, a good customer service trait. She charged the order to the cash register. The total of the charge was two dollars and seventeen cents. It seems that this process of registering the charge is a dual process, at the very least. The register acts as a recorder of the order and displays my order on an internal screen that only the McDonald’s employees are privy. She verbally relayed my order to two people behind her, one at the frier and the other to the person at the grill. Both persons wore blue shirts. They were very amicable. It may have been because they were bored. Whatever the case, it made me feel very welcomed and valued. The person by the frier had no problem providing me with his respective part of the order but the other person did have some problem. Before I proceed, I must state that I do not possess any inner knowledge of the employee role in providing service to their customers but it seems that they have a support staff at McDonald’s. One of the members of this support staff, in a red shirt, assisted the person that was handling the hamburger request. She cooked the meat and the other prepared the pickles. Apparently, this must be a complicated process! The physical order was checked by confirming the order description on the internal screen. In any case the order was prepared in the span of four minutes, a reasonable time to wait for any order. The girl that took my order gave me a smile as I left. The whole operation of preparing a hamburger was coordinated by a total of four people; each had their own task and responsibilities but all worked in unison to perform a specific function.
The function was flawless, which was not what I had expected. It is obvious to me that McDonald’s has a corporate, business and functional objectives which can help any employee focus on the company’s goals. I expected shoddy service or at the very least a shoddy burger but both were superb. It was my impression that all employees have been given some type of course in customer relations, as displayed by the young girl at the counter. It was not clear to me if this young lady was a manager or not but she handled the delegation of each respective task with any consequence. In the four minute event I saw the hierarchy of management. We had a formal structure where the girl at the front delegated my order to the support staff. Then I saw the informal structure, where the cook in the front got received help from the person with the red shirt. Their communication skills were adequate. They managed to get my order correct. I did not see any of the inadequacies that others have referred to. I think that they thankless job of McDonalds goes unnoticed. It is these people that serve you a burger, fries and drink with the enough sense to get an order correct that should get tips. I mean, we tip other waiters that are dumber and ruder than these workers.
The workers at the McDonald’s may not have the vision to manage but they have the sense to get the order correct. They were able to hear the order and relay the message to the proper department. Each department handled their task some with ingenuity. They seem to have a cooperative work force where each handled their task regardless of rank. They satisfied me to the fullest as a McDonald’s patron.
If there were things that I would change, I would have to do the following changes:
Change the uniforms. These may sound trivial but the clothes make a man and most of these uniforms look very uncomfortable. I would prefer to have a comfortable employee than a bothered one. God knows what he is planning to do with your meal.
Provide better technology. Though the monitor in the McDonald’s was able to relay my order to the “floor”. It was not flexible to the activities of each worker. They were forced to go to the front or have someone relay my order to them. I propose hand held devices.
Language Classes. It is apparent that we have developed into a multicultural society with culture holding on to their beliefs and interpretation of certain actions or words. We need to educate the employees of McDonalds the mainstream language or the McDonald’s jargon of fast food ordering. Implementing such policies would eliminate some degree of miscommunications and presenting the public with correct orders.
In conclusion, my trip to McDonald’s was pretty uneventful and the food was great but I have had some complains about McDonald’s staff. I believe if er were to implement some of these programs that I have mentioned above, we would have more service as the on that I had on November 27, 2008.
It was late in the night, which is my customary time to arrive at my neighborhood from my daily routines. I regularly do not consume any McDonald’s food, as they are very high in fat calories even with the zero fat oil they are now using. I walked to the counter and ordered the small burger with four pickles and a side order of French fries without salt. The order was taken by a young woman, probably in her early twenties. I wanted to tell her that it was a project from school but I thought it best if I let her take my order without any pressure from me. She politely took my order and gave me a smile, a good customer service trait. She charged the order to the cash register. The total of the charge was two dollars and seventeen cents. It seems that this process of registering the charge is a dual process, at the very least. The register acts as a recorder of the order and displays my order on an internal screen that only the McDonald’s employees are privy. She verbally relayed my order to two people behind her, one at the frier and the other to the person at the grill. Both persons wore blue shirts. They were very amicable. It may have been because they were bored. Whatever the case, it made me feel very welcomed and valued. The person by the frier had no problem providing me with his respective part of the order but the other person did have some problem. Before I proceed, I must state that I do not possess any inner knowledge of the employee role in providing service to their customers but it seems that they have a support staff at McDonald’s. One of the members of this support staff, in a red shirt, assisted the person that was handling the hamburger request. She cooked the meat and the other prepared the pickles. Apparently, this must be a complicated process! The physical order was checked by confirming the order description on the internal screen. In any case the order was prepared in the span of four minutes, a reasonable time to wait for any order. The girl that took my order gave me a smile as I left. The whole operation of preparing a hamburger was coordinated by a total of four people; each had their own task and responsibilities but all worked in unison to perform a specific function.
The function was flawless, which was not what I had expected. It is obvious to me that McDonald’s has a corporate, business and functional objectives which can help any employee focus on the company’s goals. I expected shoddy service or at the very least a shoddy burger but both were superb. It was my impression that all employees have been given some type of course in customer relations, as displayed by the young girl at the counter. It was not clear to me if this young lady was a manager or not but she handled the delegation of each respective task with any consequence. In the four minute event I saw the hierarchy of management. We had a formal structure where the girl at the front delegated my order to the support staff. Then I saw the informal structure, where the cook in the front got received help from the person with the red shirt. Their communication skills were adequate. They managed to get my order correct. I did not see any of the inadequacies that others have referred to. I think that they thankless job of McDonalds goes unnoticed. It is these people that serve you a burger, fries and drink with the enough sense to get an order correct that should get tips. I mean, we tip other waiters that are dumber and ruder than these workers.
The workers at the McDonald’s may not have the vision to manage but they have the sense to get the order correct. They were able to hear the order and relay the message to the proper department. Each department handled their task some with ingenuity. They seem to have a cooperative work force where each handled their task regardless of rank. They satisfied me to the fullest as a McDonald’s patron.
If there were things that I would change, I would have to do the following changes:
Change the uniforms. These may sound trivial but the clothes make a man and most of these uniforms look very uncomfortable. I would prefer to have a comfortable employee than a bothered one. God knows what he is planning to do with your meal.
Provide better technology. Though the monitor in the McDonald’s was able to relay my order to the “floor”. It was not flexible to the activities of each worker. They were forced to go to the front or have someone relay my order to them. I propose hand held devices.
Language Classes. It is apparent that we have developed into a multicultural society with culture holding on to their beliefs and interpretation of certain actions or words. We need to educate the employees of McDonalds the mainstream language or the McDonald’s jargon of fast food ordering. Implementing such policies would eliminate some degree of miscommunications and presenting the public with correct orders.
In conclusion, my trip to McDonald’s was pretty uneventful and the food was great but I have had some complains about McDonald’s staff. I believe if er were to implement some of these programs that I have mentioned above, we would have more service as the on that I had on November 27, 2008.
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