MCccccDonalds.... you rock

About five years ago, before coming to United States, I had only been to McDonald’s once in my whole life, so it kind of seemed something luxurious. But since I came to US, I find McDonald in about every neighborhood, so it has lost that place in my way of thinking. About any restaurant, I don’t really matter to me how fast or slow they fulfill my order, as long as the food is what I expect it to be. So when I usually go to McDonald’s I’m am pretty sure the sort of service I will get. Up until today, I haven’t paid whole a lot of attention to the process the management goes through as they fulfill my order. Today was one of the times when I actually tried to dig deep into the managerial process involved in fulfilling my order.
First, giving my order to the cashier. As I walked up to the register, there was only one person in front of me; he was almost finished with receiving his order. There were total of three cashiers taking the orders from the customers. So I walked to one of them and told them what I needed, he seemed confused and asked me again, then his fellow cashier came along and tried to explain what I asked for, I am pretty sure the first person was on training. So the actual person who punched my order was the last cashier who was the manager at the time. Simply, there were three people involved in just getting my order. It may seem that it may have taken a while, but it was pretty quick.
Secondly, getting the order ready to take out. Simply, punching the number into computer can tell the chef what to make, but the cashier went to the chef and told him exactly what I asked for. First, he asked him for cheeseburger, then I corrected him that I actually needed hamburger, so he corrected the order to the chef. The inclusion of chef involves the total of four people into the process. And then the fries, I think they had just took out fresh fries from the oil, so they just gave it to me without any salt on them, so it was not a big deal for them to get me fries with no salt.
Now the total time it took for them to complete my order, seriously, it took them exactly three and half minutes to complete my order, which is pretty quick. Maybe because my timing was wrong, I went there at a time, when there were not too many customers in the restaurant. I went there at 8:35 PM, while my friends awaiting in the car.
There were no problems with the treatment I received while I was in the restaurant. Because the order was quite unique, I was expecting some sort of negative feedback from the server, but actually nothing of that sort actually happened. The server ensured that I received the right order with exactly the same topping I asked for, he used the term “exactly” when he told the chef what I needed to ensure accuracy. I really have to give them credit for that.
On the scale of 1 through 10, I would rate the order preparation to be 10, because it was prepared in timely and accurate manner. I would rate communication 8, because I did have to tell them several times, what I actually was asking for. I would give 9 to coordination, and 10 to customer service, because the server or the cashier did ensure several times that I received exactly what I asked for. As a consultant to McDonald’s to help them improve efficiency, I would definitely make some recommendations. Especially with communication, the server didn’t need to go the chef to ensure that I received accurate topping. He should have signaled some way on the computer to let the chef know that I wanted exactly that, that way time would have been saved and could have been used for better customer service, which was already great without question.
My experience today at McDonald’s has made my beliefs stronger about the servers at McDonald’s. I can definitely trust the restaurant servers for quality and accuracy. The McDonald’s Management team is doing a great job, as a team, and I’m proud of them.

Did D,I,S,C evaluated my managerial skills accurately..?

In our class activity on Monday,April 7, 2008, we used personal profile system called "D,I,S,C" to evaluate our managerial skills. Each letter in the term D,I,S,C refers to a unique managerial style. "D" stands for Dominance style of management. "I" stands for Influential style of management. "S" stands for Steadiness style of management and "C" refers to conscientiousness style of managing.
People who score high on "D" style are very active in dealing with problems and welcome challenges. They are also considered demanding, determined, ambitious, aggressive,and strong willed. This person desires an environment that gives him an authority, power, prestige snd opportunity for advancement. he also requires freedom from controls and supervision, and is more open to welcoming new and varied activities.
Secondly, people who score high on "I" are capable of influencing others through their way of communicating with others. This type is also considered to be emotional type. The person with this type care more about making a favorable impression, creating a motivational envirionment, generating enthusiasm and entertaining people. This person desires an environment that leads to popularity, social and public recognition, freedom form controls and details, and creates democratic relationships. Of all the four type this type is considered the most effective.
Thirdly, people scoring high on "S" demand a steady pace, predictable, and secure path to doing things. These people are calm, relaxed, patient, and tend not to take think from emotional perspective. These people try to resist instant changes in their way of doing things. They prefer routine tasks, and demand credit for their accomplishments at work place. They try to identify themselves with some group and resist identification as an individual. Our management professor also belong to this category, that should give you some idea of what kind of person this type is refering to.
And finally, people with high score in "C" tend to lead a structured life where all the directives and standards are fully understood. They tend not to make mistakes and get it right the first time. They people are analytical type who are very diplomatic with people. They desire an environment where all the regulations are fully set forth. An environment that values their qualities, and that demands expertise.

After choosing between long list of vocabulary words that best suited my peronality, and graphing the results, the test concluded my type to be "D high I", meaning I was high on dominance style and Influential type to be my second highest trait. I think that test was quite accurate in judging my management type. I am always looking for immediate results, deciding and finishing up things quickly, sometimes I do try to take charge of things and try to enforce my perspective on things. I also like it when people distignuish my accomplishment as an individual. I also like to try and learn new and different ways of doing things and be better at doing things than others. I definitely hate it when someone tries to dictate rules and limit my perspective on certain issues. I also don't like to get to answer indirectly, I like the direct way of reaching to conclusion. Simple, I think it was quite close.
At first, when professor was describing each type of styles. He mentioned that best of all four type was Influential type, I instantly wished that I was that type. But when he said that both D and I were pretty much best of all four ways, that relived me alot. This also took away the doubt that I was not the best, but after finding out that D and I were not that much different, my tension went away, and I said to myself that at least I'm good enough.
I really think this kind of test is helpful to a person because this allows them to see where they stand in an actual life. This also always them to think differently when faced with future problems. Let's say I'm "D" and I know it, but I feel that "I" is better, next time I will do something, I can try and be less directive and act more as an "I" type and reduce the effect of "D" in my management style. After taking the test, when I went back to the workplace, I attempted to stop at certain times and try to act differently so that I can improve the relations and better understand the other perspectives.
If you haven't tried it yet, try taking it and see how different you perceive things...