Bureaucratization And Popular Culture

McDonaldization, as defined in, George Ritzer’s book ‘The McDonaldization of Society,’ is when a society begins to exhibit the values and practices of the fast-food restaurant. The four main values are: efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. McDonaldization could benefit an aspiring entrepreneur developing a business model, one which is sustainable in a capitalist economic system.

McDonald's has successfully met the demands of its customers by gradually adding to their menus. Breakfast meals, hamburgers, chicken, salads, salads and even desserts are provided by the restaurants which aids in the success of McDonald's. The organizational structure for McDonald's

Since Richard and Maurice McDonald founded in 1948, McDonald's has grown from a small restaurant in California into one of the most recognized brands in the world with a chain of outlets that spans the globe. For over 50 years, McDonald's defined the fast food industry while indelibly etching its golden arches logo on the face of both American and global culture through such icons as character Ronald McDonald and the Big Mac sandwich. Millions of people started their very first jobs at McDonalds while even more began to have their eating habits redefined by the chain. Concepts like the drive-thru window were introduced along with the Happy Meal for children in order to provide a fast, affordable, and enjoyable dining. Ray Kroc, saleman

First, Schlosser and Wilson describe the history of fast food. Everything started with a fifteen-year-old boy named Charlie Nagreen at a county fair squishing a meatball between two slices of bread, creating the hamburger. The authors then go on to talk about how McDonald’s was the first restaurant to introduce a quick system for customers to get their food. After seeing the success of the McDonald brothers, a businessman named Ray Kroc made a deal with them to travel the country, spreading the chain. Later, Ray Kroc would buy McDonald’s from the McDonald brothers. When other restaurants, such as Wendy’s and Burger King, saw the success of McDonald’s, they began to do the same thing, having a chain of identical restaurants across the United States. Not only did restaurants adopt this idea of complete sameness, but so did other companies such as

Its three main characteristics are that it has a division of labour, hierarchy of authority, and an impartial and impersonal application of rules and policies (www.faculty.rsu.edu/Theorists/Weber/Whome.htm). Thus, from that definition of a bureaucracy, one would conclude that McDonald's is a bureaucracy. The fact that it is bureaucracy is supported by the fact that each assigns workers to a specific job where each worker individually contributes to the overall success of the restaurant by doing his or her job. For example, McDonalds workers are assigned to work at the grill, register, or drive-through window. The restaurant also has ranks while on the job such as worker, shift manager, crew chief, and franchise owner. These ranks demonstrate the hierarchy of authority. Furthermore, the restaurant enforces the impartial and impersonal application of rules and policies.

The first changes that McDonalds had made was to move the “factory system to the back of the restaurant.” This change allowed other processes to form, for example, employees were given only one task, paid in low wages, provided low prices, and cut the menu. Following these changes, the company grew larger and faster, and soon became the top fast food service available everywhere. As the new leaders of fast food, much power had come with it. McDonalds became the largest purchaser of beef in the United States, and they were ultimately in control of how the beef was “made and supplied.”

McDonaldization effects all aspects of today’s society—even the venues we often overlook. Two examples of some commonly overlooked McDonaldized venues are the Kimmel Center and the Hard Rock Cafe. Both of these venues emphasize the McDonald elements of success according to George Ritzer: efficiency, Calculability, predictability, and control. (14, Ritzer). Although these places may feel like a luxurious break from the everyday fast food trip, they are not all that much different.

In his book “The McDonaldization of Society” the author George Ritzer provides us a very clear explanation of the kind of world we currently live in. According to Ritzer, Mcdonaldization influences many other companies, such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot, to follow the same principles of the fast-food industry. This fast food moved a step up, it is no longer considered just a company like other ones, it has become a part of our culture. For example, before I moved from my home country if anyone mentioned the name “McDonald’s” around me I would instantly think about United States.

The first aspect of McDonaldization as highlighted in the article is the “assembly line” structure, as used by fast food restaurants; it provides an efficient way for food to be prepared, served, eaten and disposed of as fast as possible. It utilizes multiple employs at different stations to make food

Modern American society is difficult to explain fully. There are many aspects that must be considered in order to form a cohesive definition of modern society and how each part comes together such as bureaucracies and individual thinking. McDonaldization within bureaucracies allows us to explain how it has changed over the years and gain an understanding as to why society is the way it is now. According to George Ritzer, McDonaldization is when tasks in everyday society, specifically within bureaucracies, are rationalized to the point that they are as efficient as possible. To me, this makes sense as an explanation of what has happened to society. Emphasis is placed on how much of something can be made and with the least amount of materials necessary and least steps in order to make a profit. When Max Weber defined

McDonald’s has combined Taylor’s, Weber’s, and Fayol’s theories picking out some of the components that best fit their mission. These components include Taylor’s supervision practices, emphasis on efficient specific tasks, and employee placement practices, which represent the mechanistic organization theory. Weber’s hierarchical authority structure, merit based promotion principles, and impersonal management practices. In addition to, Fayol’s bureaucratic management style that stresses planning, organizing and coordinating. Common principles among these three theories like the shared belief in the division of labor, order, and extensive policies are part of McDonald’s management style. In essence, McDonald’s has gathered the components it believed would allow them to accomplish

The McDonaldization theory defines the process of 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 (Ritzer 1). Within McDonaldization there are five different concepts embedded into this theory, which are efficiency, calculability, predictability, control and lastly irrationality of rationality. These concepts are not just used in fast-food restaurants, but are becoming more

George Ritzer came up with the phrase “McDonaldization” to describe the extreme rationalization that our society has become accustomed to. Drive throughs, assembly lines, ATM’s, packaged salads, or, even, salad bars or buffets. Efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control are the four main parts of McDonaldization that require for it to work.

McDonald has been a well-known and valuable brand for over half a century. The company’s mission and vision is striving to be the world’s best quick service restaurant and formalizing their beliefs into “People, Vision, and People Promise”. “Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value” also became the company’s motto. The company’s first McDonald store was built “in 1940 by the original McDonald brothers, Dick and Mac. Later in 1954, Ray Kroc became the first official franchisee appointed by Dick and Mac McDonald in San Bernardino, California” (Chandiramani, Ravi). Soon after, Mr. Kroc opened his first restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, and the McDonald’s corporation was created. The new franchise began to grow rapidly as a result of its

The company researched for the purpose of this paper is McDonald 's. This company 's history dates back since 1940 when Mac and Dick McDonald initially opened McDonald 's BBQ restaurant located in San Bernardino, CA. In 1948 they shut down the restaurant, just to reopen it as a self-service drive-in restaurant. According to About McDonald’s (2012), their menu included only 9 items, such as: milk, coffee, soft drinks, cheeseburger, hamburger, potato chips, and a slice of pie. Potato chips were then replaced by French fries. The history of this company is significantly market by Ray Kroc, who in 1954 at a visit to McDonald 's in San Bernardino decides to have a franchise of McDonald 's. A year later, in 1955, he opens his first restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois. The franchising plan allowed growth and by 1965 there were more than 700 restaurants across United States. McDonald 's