Mcdonaldization

McDonaldization



McDonaldization

Introduction

The main purpose of this paper is to discuss management theory and give a brief analysis of the theory. The theory discussed in this paper is McDonaldization theory. This paper discusses the brief definition and analysis of theory of McDonaldization and a description of the case study related to the McDonaldization. This paper also discusses the application of McDonaldization theory to the case studies.

Definition of McDonaldization

According to the real originator of the term McDonaldization George Ritzer, “The term McDonaldization refers to the trend of fast-food restaurants dominance in the whole world”. There is a misunderstanding that McDonaldization refers to only the increase of McDonald's restaurants (Wasson, 2005, p. 67). In real, this is a wrong concept the author has just used this term that refers to all the restaurants. This term can be used for any restaurant spreading in the world (Alfino, 1998, p. 45).

According to Ritzer, McDonaldization is a term that refers to the continuous rationalization of social life in various areas of the world. Many other classical sociologists like Max Weber have also acknowledged this process. Sociologists have originated this term in order to make students understand the concept and process of rationalization (Thorner, 2003, p. 90). The McDonaldization process refers to all the developments that follow the increasing appearance of fast-food restaurants. Ritzer argues that bureaucracy, scientific management and fordism are the pioneers of the term McDonaldization. In the preceding era, of the twentieth century, Frederick Winslow Taylor has explained this as the breakdown of individual work related tasks into the minute components and these components are to be combined in the most effective combination (Severini, 2005, p. 112). In spreading the concept of McDonaldization, Fordism has been significant in order to build upon the scientific management so that the needs of fragmented jobs can be recognized (Sam, 2002, p. 4). The main purpose of recognizing these fragmented jobs is to link the standardized products in order to manufacture the products by following a continuous production flow. If we talk about the term bureaucracy, the inspiration of the term McDonaldization comes from the organizational behaviour regulations which are done by following the rules and regulations and the strong managerial control (Ritzer, 2008, p. 223). Thus, it can be said that these three terms have a genuine influence on the term McDonaldization, even though the first McDonald's restaurant has opened after many decades.

McDonaldization is the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society, as well as the rest of the world' (G. Ritzer, The McDonaldization of Society, 1993). The forces behind this tendency, as described by Ritzer, are 'efficiency', 'calculability' and 'predictability', manifest in 'increased control and the replacement of human by nonhuman technology'. There are contradictions in this process, not least a loss of' quality', which has to be counteracted by defining the latest products favourably in extensive advertising. The 'advantages' of McDonaldization are such that its principles have spread in many areas, including ...