In Reply to: Written policy is not the same as actual practice. posted by Ashley Lavelle on July 02, 1996 at 10:19:55:
You make a very good point about written policies and procedures vs the real world. I guess sometimes I don't remember that there are differences between corporate restaurants and licensee restaurants, which are owned by individuals that live in the communities that their restaurants are located in. Fortunately, I work for an owner that is very operationally and people-minded, which allows us to not focus in so much on the bottom line, but more on the operations in the restaurants that affect both the employees and the customers. This allows me to operate within the policies and procedures that are established by McDonald's Corp., without the fear of losing my job because we are not the most profitable organization in the system. There is a lot of power in this environment--I have never terminated any manager who works for me for wasting too much food, or for using too much labor. I HAVE ternminated managers who serve overheld food knowingly, and make a point of working with the fewest people possible on the floor. Again, since the owner of these restaurants lives in the community, the repercussions of poor service and poor quality are immediate and personal. I can't speak for every owner or supervisor, but I know there are more of us who take a lot of pride in what we deliver in our restaurants than those who don't.In my tug-of-war, something does give way. The bottom line is not the be-all to end-all, the overriding priority. Our efforts in our organization are to control costs, not to avoid costs. Managers of restaurants who are avoiding costs by cheating the customers as well as the employees do so only because they can't make profit any other way without working harder, or they haven't been shown how, or they simply don't care. I agree that in the corporate structure these managers all too often slip through the cracks, and it is these managers who create the situations that appear in these letters to McSpotlight. And yes, I am proud of the fact that I have made tough business decisions to terminate managers for violating company policies and procedures, but I don't gloat about it. These decisions did not and do not come easily when you have worked side by side with person for as long as 15 years. I think it is very important that everyone realizes that every situation, every restaurant, and every organization is not bad, and that not every upper-level manager lives in an unrealistic and idyllic environment--we work in the restaurants at least half of our hours every week, and are very much aware of what we are asking our employees to do, and we see and experience what our customers are getting as a result of our efforts.
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