Case Study Of Mcdonald's Fast Food Chain

I have chosen to look at McDonald’s fast food chain for this assignment. Below I have used Greiner’s growth model and Mintzberg’s configuration to describe the organisations present growth and structure, as well as how I believe the organisation is likely to evolve over the next number of years. I have also tried to give my reasons behind these thoughts. Greiner’s growth model is often used by companies to determine what growth phase their company is in. This gives them an idea into how the future of the company may look like and what crisis may arise. Along with Greiner’s model, Mintzberg’s configurations gives us a greater understanding into how the organisation is structured and what parts of the organisation are important for them to succeed

Larry Greiner was a professor of management and organization at the University of Southern California. The model is a curve describing the growth of an organisation using phases. Each phase has two parts to it, an evolution stage, when there’s steady growth and stability in an organisation and a revolution stage, where there’s substantial organizational change and turmoil. As an organisation grows in size and age it tends to move through the phases, but in order for it to move from one phase to the next, the organisation will go through a crisis period. In order for the company to get through the crisis, it must change the way in which the organisation operates. Five phases are mentioned in Greiner’s article, but how quickly an organisation grows and moves through these phases depends on the size and age of the organisation, as well as the industry it is in. For example the technology and pharmaceutical industries are growing at a much quicker rate than other industries, such as the agricultural

McDonald’s simple structure could be seen when it first opened back in the 1940’s. A simple structure is usually used by small and young companies; often associated with entrepreneurs when they first set up their business. The configuration is mainly made up of the strategic apex and operating core. The strategic apex are the top managers, who run the business. When companies are small and just starting out, the strategic apex are usually the owners of the business. In McDonald’s case ….. The operating core are workers, who do the work they are told to do by the strategic apex. They are often the people ….. McDonald’s operating core are their restaurant staff; the workers who cook the food, clean the restaurant and serve customers. McDonald’s started off with….. only a handful of operating …… but now has over….. employees working in their