How to Implement a Talent and Workforce Management Strategy

Acceptance Strategy 

Over the past few years, much attention has shifted towards human resource management and its significance in the business environment. Human resource departments have shifted their focus to redesigning how people can assist companies to grow through enriching their value, vision, and strategic position. Should the proposal be accepted, this paper aims to implement a talent and workforce management strategy that aligns with McDonald’s long-term goal, ultimately leading to a better return on investment. However, achieving this goal mandates McDonald’s revamping its human resource department and viewing it as a strategic masterplan rather than a support structure. Moreover, the talent and workforce management strategy will entail performing a skills gap analysis, assessing McDonald’s current staffing needs, and evaluating human resource metrics to foster employee engagement and recruitment initiatives. In the long run, implementing these initiatives will enable McDonald’s to increase its competitive advantage and create more opportunities for global expansion.

Talent Development and Workforce Planning 

Staffing Plan 

Organizations consider several aspects of their internal processes when entering a new market segment. First, the organization must consider its hiring process, the number of employees needed, and its organizational structure to support the move. Additionally, the organization must ensure that it understands all the implications of entering a new marketplace, including communication barriers, language fluency, and cultural differences (Tenzer et al., 2020). These factors can play a significant role in shaping staffing, talent management, and employee engagement. McDonald’s must be wary of these factors if it was to implement the talent and workforce management strategy to address staffing needs. Without addressing such barriers can lead to elevated cases of underperformance within the workforce.

Language fluency is an essential aspect of the recruitment process. For instance, a potential candidate for a given position at McDonald’s should possess the ability to communicate fluently in an accepted language within the target market (Tenzer et al., 2020). If the company fails to address the issue of language fluency when hiring a potential candidate, they will miss business opportunities due to communication barriers. Apart from addressing language barriers, McDonald’s should also place staffing plans that solve current issues and accommodate future expansion plans. In essence, the staffing plan should solve any projected issues in the future, such as more demand for more staff. Ultimately, this staffing plan will be adequate to acquire qualified and competent candidates for the global markets in which McDonald’s wishes to enter.

Skills Gap Analysis 

Conducting a skills gap analysis and providing recommendations based on the findings is another component supported by the talent and workforce management strategy. According to Sohel-Uz-Zaman (2018), conducting a skills gap analysis enables the organization to determine the gap between the current skills and competencies from the preferred skills and competencies. For instance, McDonald’s can carry out a skills gap analysis on its leadership team to find gaps and highlight any incompetence. If the company expects that preferred leadership skill is to conduct a performance appraisal of each team member, then the leaders should receive training on how to achieve such expectations.

Human Resource Metrics 

McDonald’s can significantly benefit from information collected from a thorough analysis of its human resource metrics. Employee satisfaction, turnover, and retention rate are critical human resource metrics McDonald’s should measure. The availability of such information regularly can further help the company plan and meet its future demands. Moreover, all information collected through the human resource metrics can be utilized to make critical business decisions to foster better employee engagement, increased performance, and overall productivity (Sohel-Uz-Zaman, 2018). For instance, if McDonald’s analysis on turnover rate shows that the most exiting employees are procurement personnel, then the human resource management can evaluate this data and formulate action plans to resolve the high turnover rate.

Leadership Development Plans 

Leaders are the face of the organization, and their actions play a vital role in determining the conductivity of the environment. Purwadi et al. (2020) acknowledge that effective leaders possess the skills and knowledge to foster a strong organizational culture, increasing performance and productivity. As such, McDonald’s needs to implement a robust leadership development program to boost its culture and workforce engagement. Additionally, forging strong relationships between leaders and their employees will motivate them to improve their performances, work attitudes, and productivity (Purwadi et al., 2020). Simultaneously, the employees will have a sense of belonging since the leaders understand and care for their well-being and job satisfaction. Ultimately, modeling the leaders at McDonald’s will enable them align their goals and those of the employees to the company’s set objectives.

Return on Investment 

The HR team projects a greater return on investment for McDonald`s if the proposal is adopted. The HR team believes that adopting a balanced scorecard approach to measure the effectiveness of the proposed HR strategies on its workforce will provide a better indication of the company`s return on investment. In essence, the balanced scorecard approach is a strategic management tool that provides non-financial performance measurements, allowing the company to ascertain its position from the perspectives of internal processes, financial, customer-centric, and growth (Malagueño et al., 2017). The approach will enable the HR team to assess the company`s performance based on how customer and employee needs are satisfied. As such, McDonald`s will use key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of internal processes and their potential return on investment. Since KPIs provide a strategic focus on critical operational improvements, McDonald`s focus on its leadership development program can be measured to ascertain its effectiveness in building strong leaders (Kalita, 2020). The program aims to develop leaders and instill critical skills and knowledge to manage the company`s diverse workforce.

Additionally, the management believes that a successful leadership program can increase internal promotion metrics to fill key positions within the company. Therefore, a key performance indicator can be implemented to measure the internal promotion rate of the company ponce the proposal is implemented. Taking a leaf from Starbucks will inform McDonald`s on the significance of streamlining its internal processes to achieve a better return on investment. According to Dignan (2012), Starbucks moved from a more traditional marketing approach to adopt mobile payment systems in a bid to boost its sales velocity. The company reported increased return on investment from its digital strategy. In a nutshell, McDonald`s proposed HR strategies are expected to register similar results if implemented.

Human Resource Strategy 

Employee performance and strategic goals are critical aspects necessary for any organization to gain a competitive advantage. This proposal has considered McDonald’s mission and vision for the future. Moreover, the proposal has evaluated the company’s strategic goals to develop recommendations that will push the company forward and solve its underlying business needs. A review of the staffing needs, assessing human resource metrics, conducting a skills gap analysis, and implementing a leadership development program are the proposed recommendations. While collaborating with the senior management, the human resource department will be well equipped to deliver successful results based on the talent and workforce management planning laid out by this proposal.

Ethics and Legality 

This proposal provides HR strategies at McDonald`s that align with human resource management best practices, providing value and return on investment for the company. All the initiatives within the proposal reflect the company`s best practices and how they relate to human resources and human capital management. These best practices revolve around developing a geocentric organizational culture that encompasses diversity, global recruitment practices, risk and performance management practices, and leadership approaches. In the past, the company faced several compliance malpractice lawsuits that damaged its brand image. For instance, in 2012, a McDonald`s employee sued the company, claiming that their low wages forced her into prostitution (Rossen, 2020). Such lawsuits are expected to rise as McDonald`s continues to expand into new markets. The company remains keen on ethical and legal issues, such as the impact of global terrorism on the organization, technology misuse, and how they impact its workforce and management practices. The company is aware of how such ethical and legal issues can adversely hurt its strategic goal and business model. McDonald`s steadfast approach to ensuring compliance with ethical and legal frameworks, both domestic and foreign, is also reflected in the proposal (Gribincea, 2017). All recommendations included in this proposal comply with ethical and legal practices and promote a geocentric workforce. Further, the implementation of this proposal will follow all the legal procedures and employment laws for each region and are intended to safeguard employee well-being while protecting their rights. The HR department proposes continued on-the-job training to all employees and managers on ethical and legal practices, further creating awareness of avoiding such malpractices.

Conclusion 

McDonald’s Corporation can cement its position in the fast-food industry globally and increase its competitive advantage by implementing key human resource strategies. If the proposal is accepted, the company will have the ability to boost its talent development program and improve its workforce management. Additionally, staffing and skills gap analysis will help the HR management identify challenges that impact its performance metrics. Meeting future demands in this ever-changing business environment will require measuring employee satisfaction, retention rates and fostering effective leadership skills that align with the company’s vision, mission, and values. Ultimately, the HR proposals are geared towards strengthening McDonald’s strategic goals, keeping in check ethical and legal guidelines in human resource management.

References 

Dignan, L. (2012).  Starbucks: How social, mobile deliver return on investment . ZDNet.  https://www.zdnet.com/article/starbucks-how-social-mobile-deliver-return-on-investment/ 

Gribincea, A. (2017). Ethics, social responsibility and corruption as risk factors.  Annals of “Spiru Haret”. Economic Series ,  17 (1), 17.  https://doi.org/10.26458/1711 

Kalita, B. (2020). Human Capital: The ROI Perspective.  Journal of Management in Practice (Online Only) ,  5 (1).

Malagueño, R., Lopez-Valeiras, E., & Gomez-Conde, J. (2017). Balanced scorecard in SMEs: Effects on innovation and financial performance.  Small Business Economics, 51 (1), 221-244.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-017-9921-3 

Purwadi, Dio Caisar Darma, Widya Febrianti, & Dedy Mirwansyah. (2020). Exploration of leadership, organizational culture, job satisfaction, and employee performance.  Technium Social Sciences Journal ,  6 , 116-130.  https://doi.org/10.47577/tssj.v6i1.242 

Rossen, J. (2020).  7 bizarre lawsuits involving McDonald’s . Mental Floss.  https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/616667/bizarre-mcdonalds-lawsuits 

Sohel-Uz-Zaman, A. S. M. (2018). Understanding the fundamentals of talent management for effective business application.  International Journal of Economics, Finance and Management Sciences ,  6 (3).

Tenzer, H., Schulz, M., Klier, H., & Schwens, C. (2020). Sending expats or hiring locals the impact of communication barriers on foreign subsidiary CEO staffing.  European J. of International Management ,  14 (5), 891.  https://doi.org/10.1504/ejim.2020.109819