McDonalds CaseTalent ManagementAs McDonald’s business performance began to weaken, the company took its first loss in their history in the latter of 2002. Meanwhile, the mangers were receiving exceptionally high performance ratings. However, when leadership roles became available, senior managers had difficulty placing qualified individuals in the position(s). McDonald’s discovered that there was no correlation between exaggerated performance and potential ratings and the overall performance of the company. Therefore, they revamped their talent management system and processes to better identify and develop their employee’s talent to support the goals of the organization.
Silzer and Dowell (2010) define talent management as, a subset of human resource (HR) processes, programs, and tools designed to identify, assess, develop, and retain talent. McDonald’s developed five initiatives to employ in their revamped talent management system. These initiatives included: redesign of the Performance Development System (PDS); global succession planning; implementation of Leader’s at McDonald’s Program (LAMP); introduce McDonald’s Leadership Institute and the Global Leadership Development Program.
First, McDonald’s restructured their PDS to achieve greater accountability for results, improved performance differentiation and acceptance to change and innovation. Secondly, they focused on aligning leadership talent and development with global industry challenges. Next, the company created and implemented a sequence of enriched development programs. The “LAMP” program was intended to develop high-potential talent for future leadership roles. It tackled the competency/skill gaps previous leadership programs failed to address. Later, followed the McDonald’s Leadership Institute and the Global Leadership Program. The leadership institute was established to support leadership talent development by attracting and retaining high
-level employees during a time when it’s necessary to keep a diverse team. The goal was to foster and nurture the successful leadership of all U.S. staff and employees. The global leadership program—which resulted in a shift to corporate management, more transparent corporate governance and more direct and collaborative governance—helped make the McDonald’s leadership the best and most efficient in the company. For the next nine months, management focused on a series of priorities. One focus was the performance improvement process with a targeted shift to reduce the amount of work required for the organization’s operations. Another is expanding the organization’s workforce and the level of training for those engaged in new career paths. The McDonald’s leadership program supported the investment of millions of dollars in a number of other initiatives, including the acquisition of U.S. General Electric Corp. (NYSE: GE) and, more recently, McDonald’s Innovation Center. Since it’s a part of the company’s strategic initiatives, management has focused on the business transformation goal, which is to reduce employee salaries and expenses, invest in long-term customer service and growth opportunity and work in partnership with others. Through such initiatives, the company and management can work together to support each other’s businesses through new corporate goals, new capabilities available at different levels and new opportunities for new initiatives. At McDonald’s, it’s our mission to empower and help our employees by taking the right decisions in terms of our business. We believe in bringing innovative thinking, innovation solutions and productivity to the next generation of American workers, particularly children of immigrants. I have been serving on a strategic team of leadership with our goal of making the best possible companies that will thrive in my lifetime and help us be the best and best. †On April 3, 2012, we held our first National Innovation Summit to focus on our business success. We also hosted an interactive exhibition at the Apple Store, featuring some of the key innovations we will be able to accelerate as we plan for our next transformation. We spoke in the U.S. throughout the event and the audience took part in an extensive presentation. Our presentation was hosted by Intel Technologies and Technology Ventures, and it was an introduction to the business of digital innovation and how to use it as a platform. Over one-third of the audience of over 40,000 was students. There were more than 80 employees at the event.