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Final Assignment
Edexcel BTEC Level 7 Extended Diploma in Strategic
Programme Title
Management and Leadership (QCF)
Unit Title Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills
Unit Code Unit code: F/602/2058
Assignment No 01
QCF Level 7 BTEC Professional
Credit value 10
Assessor Dr. Abhijit Ganguly
Deliverer Dr. Abhijit Ganguly
Handout Date 01/05/2013
Hand in Date 28/06/2013

Assignment Title: Assessing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills in McDonalds

To address the Learning Outcomes you are required to analyse the case study given below.
You will be expected to research relevant literature to inform your analysis of the case study.
You will be expected to carry out your own research about the company based on internet
searches, the business press and other relevant sources. Your analysis of the case study
should show clear evidence of: evaluation of theory, concepts and relevant research
methods; critical thinking; and application of theory, concepts and research methods to such
a business context.

Answers should be structured around the four elements of the assessment task, which relate
to the four Edexcel learning outcomes for the Developing Strategic Management and
Leadership Skills module.

Answers should be based on the case study, your personal experience, relevant research,
investigation and analysis which you personally have carried out. Further research should be
taken from authentic and reliable sources which must be properly referenced in the text of
your work and fully referenced in an appropriate section at the end of your assessment.

Task 1: Understand the relationship between management and leadership

With reference to McDonald’s Strategic Challenge, discuss the relationship between


strategic management and leadership. In your answer refer to the impact management style
and leadership style can have on strategic decision making, and how leadership styles can
be adapted to suit different business situations.

(This provides evidence of Learning Outcome 1: Assessment criteria 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3)

Task 2: Apply management and leadership theory to support


organisational change

(a) With reference to at least three theories of management and leadership discuss and
evaluate how each might affect McDonald’s Strategic Challenge.

(b) In relation to McDonald’s global competitiveness and business imperatives describe and
discuss one leadership strategy that would support organisational change

(This provides evidence of Learning Outcome 2: Assessment criteria 2.1 and 2.2)
Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills
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Task 3: Assessing leadership requirements

McDonald’s strategy is to ‘focus on the core business’ of the organisation. Imagine you are a
consultant to McDonald’s and you are required to:

(a) Critically review McDonald’s leadership needs


(b) Develop a plan to address the projected leadership requirements to support their
business strategy.

(This provides evidence of Learning Outcome 3: Assessment criteria3.1 and 3.2)

Task 4: Plan the development of leadership skills

Provide a plan to demonstrate how McDonald’s could effectively develop leadership skills to
allow the organisation to focus on its core business. Discuss how useful the methods of
developing leadership skills may be to help McDonald’s achieve its strategic development.

(This provides evidence of Learning Outcome 4: Assessment criteria 4.1 and 4.2)

Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria

In order to pass this unit, the evidence you present for assessment needs to demonstrate
that it can meet all the learning outcomes for the unit.

The assessment criteria determine the standard required to achieve the unit. The
assessment criteria act as a guide to help you put into context your answers to fulfil all four
of the learning outcomes.

Learning outcomes Assessment criteria


1.1 Explain the link between strategic
1. Understand the relationship management and leadership.
between strategic 1.2 Analyse the impact of management and
management and leadership leadership styles on strategic decisions.
1.3 Evaluate how leadership styles can be
adapted to different situations.

2.1 review the impact that selected theories


2. Be able to apply of management and leadership have on
management and leadership organisational strategy.
theory to support
organisational direction 2.2 create a leadership strategy that
supports organisational direction.

3.1 use appropriate methods to review


3. Be able to assess leadership current leadership requirements.
requirements
3.2 plan for the development of future
situations requiring leadership

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4.1 plan the development of leadership skills


4. Be able to plan the for a specific requirement
development of 4.2 report on the usefulness of methods
leadership skills
used to plan the development of leadership
skills

Case Study: McDonald’s ‘Plan to Win – a Strategic Challenge’

McDonald’s is the largest food retailer in the world and is part of the American way of life.

After 50 years of operation, McDonald’s top management and leadership is busy working on
strategic developments such as revitalizing its products, and pushing innovation through a
variety of initiatives. This food service giant with more than 30,000 restaurants in 100
countries provides food to over 50 million customers each day, but decades of expansion,
sales growth, and profits have made the burger giant complacent. By focusing on getting
bigger, not better, the company stumbled in 2002, recording its first losing quarter. By 2003,
U.S. sales had flattened, as many consumers were turning to healthier options and
restaurants with more upscale menu items, a segment sometimes referred to as ‘fast –
casual’. Morgan Spurlock’s film, Super Size Me, released in 2004, also seriously diminished
the public image of the quick-service chain as moviegoers watched Spurlock become ill and
gain 25 pounds after eating only McDonald’s food for one month.

With pressure to get back on track, it was time for McDonald’s management to rethink and
re-strategise the business. The chain devised a recovery strategy that included new menu
items, redesigned restaurants, and a focus on the consumer experience. Through a program
titled ‘Plan to Win’ McDonald’s focused on making a deeper connection with customers
through the five business drivers of people, products, place, price, and promotion (the ‘five
p’s). Using its five P’s, the company developed and refined new strategies to deliver value
for money, offering product variety, developing updated and contemporary stores, balancing
the delivery of value pricing with more expensive items, and marketing through bold and
innovative promotions.

In order to remain competitive and an iconic American institution, McDonald’s developed


programs and strategies for motivating employees and teaching leadership. McDonald’s
corporate management believes in training and leadership at all levels through its
Hamburger University. On Hamburger University’s website McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc’s
training focused ideology is quoted: “If we are going to go anywhere, we’ve got to have
talent. And, I’m going to put my money in talent”. This ideology demonstrates that
McDonald’s does not believe its restaurants’ crew jmembers are just gears in a machine that
can be easily replaced. Because training is not just offered to executives or managers,
McDonald’s is able to spread and reinforce its culture and values in all directions, not just
downward. McDonald’s corporate values also have ‘people’ as one of its pillars (McDonald's
Corporation, 2008). Corporate policy says that employees should be paid at or above the
local market rate, and should also value both their pay and their benefits. By addressing
employees higher needs by providing training they make employees feel important and

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valuable. Training also serves to reinforce the culture at all levels through education and
fostering a positive image of the employees’ importance to the company.

Execution of the above strategy has included mystery shoppers and customer surveys,
along with grading restaurants to help the company deliver on its people goals. New menu
items like the Fruit & Walnut Salad in the United States and deli sandwiches in Australia are
part of the commitment to serve high-quality products to satisfy customer demand for choice
and variety. Restaurants are staying open longer, accepting credit and debit cards, enabling
wireless internet access, and even providing delivery service in parts of Asia. As part of the
program, franchisees and suppliers are asked to provide their opinions and ideas on facility
design, while the company benchmarks retail leaders, such as Crate & Barrel, to help
produce cleaner and smarter restaurants. The company is testing small handheld devices to
use on what it calls “travel paths” a process for checking operational failures such as the
temperature inside the refrigerators. Experiments with a new grilling concept from Sweden,
which grills burgers vertically instead of horizontally, offers space-saving possibilities for the
chain. Product offerings like the McCafé, a concept developed in the Australian market that
provides gourmet coffee inside 500 existing restaurants, are proving to be successful.

The trouble experienced in the early part of the millennium has abated, and executives at
McDonald’s have declared success after several years of progress under the Plan to Win.
Company revenues are up, and the firm plans to remain focused on its core business. One
indication of its commitment to fast food was the divestiture of its seven - year ownership
stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill, a highly successful fast - casual burrito chain. With the sale
of around 5 million shares of Chipotle stock, the burger maker is now refocusing on Brand
McDonald’s.

Attracting more customers to McDonald’s remains its goal for growth. In the U.S. market, the
strategy is to leverage menu innovation; in Europe, upgrading the customer experience and
enhancing local relevance have driven management efforts; and the Asia/Pacific, Middle
East, and Africa markets have focused on building sales through extended hours. The
question remains whether focusing on the core business will yield maximum return. At
McDonald’s, the executives are betting on the core brand and hoping that this strategy will
pay off.

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Instructions and information for students

 The four assessment tasks are designed to assess your achievement of all the
Edexcel learning outcomes and associated assessment criteria in the relevant unit
of the qualification you are undertaking.

 Your tutor will advise you when you should start work on the assignment, and the
date when you must hand in your completed work.

 You should make sure that you plan your work carefully, to ensure that you cover all
the requirements of the assignment, and complete it within the time limit specified.

 Your answer to each of the four assessment tasks need to be prefixed with the
specific number and Learning Outcome heading. This will help you keep focused on
the task and help ensure you address what is required.

 You must make sure that you acknowledge any sources you have used to complete
this assignment, listing reference material and web sites used.

 You must submit your work as hard copy with a Turnitin report of less than 20% of
similarity index. You should mark the assignment with your name, student id number,
the unit number, and your Centre name. You may include a title page if you wish.

 You are strongly advised to keep a copy of your completed assignment before you
submit it for assessment - the copy you submit will not be returned to you. Your
assignment may be retained by the British Institute of Technology and E-commerce
for quality assurance purposes. Any assignment not kept for quality assurance
purposes will be securely deleted/destroyed.

 The assignment result will be published to BITE’s moodle, normally within 6 weeks of
submission.

 If your assignment is assessed as referred, you will be notified with an indication of


the areas to be addressed. You may resubmit an assignment, or submit a new
assignment, on a further two occasions during your period of registration as a student
at the British Institute of Technology and E-commerce.

 If there is anything in these instructions or in the assignment itself which you do not
understand, please seek guidance from your tutor.

Developing Strategic Management and Leadership Skills

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