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0:00
Hello and welcome
to this session.
My name is Dr.
Tinkuma Edafioghor,
and I'm a senior lecturer in
human resource management
at the University of
the West of England
in the United Kingdom.
Today, we just want to
look at how McDonald's,
one of the world's
largest fast food chains,
encountered challenges
implementing performance reviews
in its Middle
Eastern operations.
We'll look at the cultural
resistance managers faced,
the actions that they
took, and the outcomes,
with implications for global
human resource management.
0:39
Let's set the scene.
McDonald's is one of
the biggest global fast food
brands, as I said earlier,
and it is famous for
standardization,
and that be it in its Big Mac
or the drive-through process
or even its HR systems
and processes.
McDonald's expanded into markets
like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
The company tried to bring
the same US-style annual
performance reviews
that worked in the US back home.
The goal was consistency
across various regions
or all the regions,
making sure employees
were evaluated fairly
and by the same
global standards.
1:23
Here's where the problem began.
Employees in the Middle East
weren't very receptive
to these reviews.
Why was that?
Well, in cultures that
place a high value
on hierarchy and harmony,
direct feedback, especially
negative feedback,
can be seen as very
disrespectful.
Instead of motivating employees,
the reviews sometimes
embarrassed them.
Some people even feared
losing face in front
of their managers.
What McDonald's thought would be
a constructive HR practice
actually caused discomfort
and resistance.
This shows how performance
management can't always be
copied and pasted from one
culture or country to another.
To tackle this challenge,
what did McDonald's do?
