Talent Management in McDonalds Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Talent Management in McDonalds - Case Study Example They also do not come about as coincidences or by chance. Indeed, these successes happen as a result of series of coordinated efforts and through the implementation of carefully planned strategies and protocols. One of the aspects of the coordinated used by these organizations has to do with their talent management programs. From the account given by Goldsmith and Carter (2009), it can really be seen that McDonald’s has invested so much into talent management and that process deserves some key consideration. The present paper considers some of the key considerations. Talent Management Program that Led to Success for the Company Goldsmith and Carter (2009) outline the talent management program as used by McDonald’s in gaining market dominance in the food services industry. First, we are made to understand that the company undertook a keen alignment of the individual goals of its human resource to achieve larger goals of the organization. This alignment was necessary in e nsuring that the human resource talent that the company was recruiting was people whose individual concern for success was in line with those that had been set by the company. Inferably, acts of conflict of interest were minimized if not entirely reduced. It will be observed that companies such as McDonald’s and some of its other competitors have their own organizational goals, missions and visions (Barlow, 2006). Because of this, recruiting talents that possess entirely different ambitions from these ones could be suicidal for the companies because it would eventually be like two captains who are trying to control just one ship. Even more, the case presented by Goldsmith and Carter (2009) makes a very clear case of how McDonald’s as part of its talent management program made it a core aim to identify the career paths of highest performers. This component of the talent management essentially involved two key tasks and activities, which were first to discover highest pe rformers. In other words, the company distinguished between ordinary talent and special. This is a very important responsibility in talent management as it paves the way for human resource management policy such as the assignment of roles. Without knowing who is best in what area of operation, the phenomenon of putting round pegs in square holes may arise. The second component of this same management program was to closely and carefully link the career paths of these highest performers to suitable roles. For instance some who is best in pizzas will not be put in charge of pastries. In the long run therefore, there is the creation of a squarely balanced talent positioning. Furthermore, McDonald’s has been a company that has over the years fostered the development of future leaders and this has been a key aspect of the talent management program of the company. By fostering the development of future leaders, reference is being made to the fact that McDonald’s has always c oncentrated on the role that can be played by its human resource in not just the present circumstance but in the future as well. For this reason, the company has constantly directed its endowment programs towards equipping the knowledge and skill of human resource for future challenges (Bersin, 2010). A clear example of this is the creation of the Future Leaders Forum in the company whereby a group of young talents are given technologically advanced skills on the food services industries so that these talents would always be ahead of time in terms of management of the key technological components of the company. The result of this innovation is that the company has always had a competitive advantage in terms of the application of advanced technology in the conduct of business. Finally, the talent manage