QUESTIONS 1 INTRODUCTION This report is providing metering and data collection and management services that applied to service industry such as Mcdonalds. The objective of this report is to improve the quality of service by doing an analysis and to provide the recommendations about the improvements to be made. ANALYSIS HISTORY: THE MCDONALD’S STORY The birth of McDonald's began with Raymond Albert Kroc.

Ray Kroc was the exclusive distributor of a milk shake maker called the Multimixer. Meanwhile, two brothers, Richard and Maurice McDonald owned and ran a hamburger restaurant in San Bernadino, California, in the 1950s. Ray Kroc heard how well the McDonald brothers were doing using his Multimixers to serve their customers. He met up with them and acquired the franchising right from them to run McDonald's restaurants. A great success story was in the making. In 1955, Ray Kroc founded the McDonald's Corporation and opened the first restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois. In 1961, he bought out the McDonald brothers. And the rest, as they say, is history. McDonald's grew into the largest restaurant organisation in the world. Today, there are more than 33,000 McDonald's restaurants in 118 countries. Ray Kroc died in 1984 but his legacy is very much alive. His success story continues with McDonald's families of employees, franchisees and suppliers. His commitment, dedication and achievements continue to live on at McDonald's restaurants across the world. BRAND MISSION To be our customers' favourite place and way to eat.

BRAND PROMISE To provide Simple Easy Enjoyment to every customer at every visit. OUR VALUES McDonald's mission is to be our customers' favourite place and way to eat – with inspired people who delight each customer with unmatched quality, service, cleanliness and value every time. The following core values guide our actions as we strive to achieve our mission: We place the customer experience at the core of all we do Our customers are the reason for our existence. We demonstrate our appreciation by providing them with high quality food and superior service, in a clean, welcoming environment, at great value. Our goal is outstanding QSC&V for each customer every time. We are committed to our people We provide opportunity, recognise talent, and develop leaders. We believe that a diverse team of well-trained individuals working together in an environment that fosters respect and drives high levels of engagement is essential to our continued success. We believe in the McDonald’s System McDonald’s business model, depicted by the “three-legged stool” of owner/operators, suppliers, and company employees, is our foundation, and the balance of interests among the three groups is key. We operate our business ethically Sound ethics is good business. At McDonald’s, we hold ourselves and conduct our business to the highest possible standards of fairness, honesty and integrity. We are individually accountable and collectively responsible. We give back to our communities We take seriously the responsibilities that come with being a leader. We help our customers build better communities, support RMHC, and leverage our size, scope and resources to help make the world a better place. We are committed to sustainable business practices and are determined to conduct our operations in a manner that does not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their needs. We grow our business profitably Our stakeholders support our ability to serve our customers. In return, we work to provide sustained, profitable growth for all members of our system and our investors.

We strive continually to improve We consider ourselves a learning organisation that is green and growing which anticipates and responds to changing customer, employee, system and community needs through constant evolution and innovation. Service firms like other organizations are realizing the significance of customer-centered philosophies and are turning to quality management approaches to help managing their businesses. An effective approach has been studied and its role in the analysis of the difference between customer expectations and perceptions has been highlighted with support of an example. The important service quality gaps associated with external customer services, it could be extended to close other major gaps and therefore, it could be developed in order to be applied for internal customers, like the employees and service providers. Data collection and reporting services Quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy states or implied needs. As a consultant I should provides a data collection service. This information is fed back to McDonald's for their quality of service clarification. In addition, analysis from this reports and the recommendation are provided to compare existing with existing quality of service. From my observation quality of service in Mcdonalds can be divided into:    The restaurant The employees The food

THE RESTAURANT Location of McDonalds’s outlet would be of the factor to be in the analysis. From my point of view, McDonalds’s outlet is quite a strategic location because it is located in the building KL Central. However, the outlet which is located in big cities is not big enough to serve their customers at one time especially during peak hours. As the size of this outlet is not too large, the number of counters that operate are only four when the number of customers who are served are many. Furthermore, the number of seats a little bit difficult for customers to wait before they can sit and enjoy a meal. A bit disappointing when there have a table that have not cleared by McDonalds workers, dirty and slippery floors, toilets are dirty and not cleaned. The overall cleanliness of the outlet is low and should be improved immediately to ensure they do not lose customers.

In terms of parking is also quite difficult if the customer came to the outlet using its own vehicles such as motorcycles or cars. They had to find a strategic parking and close to the elevators and pay the cost of parking. If the amounts of time spent waiting for, book and enjoy a meal is a long time so strengthened the parking costs. Quite lucky if customers come to the outlet using public transportation such as bus, taxi or monorail so they not to worry about parking cost which much higher and wasting time. THE EMPLOYEES Customer service is keys to ensuring the quality of service excellence can be achieved. Through observations made, these outlets have employees in the shortage of which has only one employee who clean the tables and floors, while others are at the counter and kitchen outlets. The lack of workers, the level of cleanliness in the outlet environment is also neglected. In terms of quality of service provided, most employees are new employees in which the less skilled and less efficient in dealing with fast service and customer friendly. Face reaction is quite sour and makes no friendly greeting customers do not feel satisfied with the services were provided. Food preparation is also slowly cause customers to wait longer before they can enjoy the food. RECOMMENDATION – PLACE CONSISTENCY All branches, outlets, and distributors of the company, as long as they carry the same company name, should provide the same fast, reliable and efficient service to all customers. Whether they are company owned or franchise or non-exclusive is not relevant, since customers see these outlets as extensions of the same company. Customers do not care about their respective ownership and form of management. If they see the same logo and brand displayed outside, they go in and expect the same service. Unlike the fast-food companies, most banks, gasoline stations, restaurants, and supermarkets suffer from service inconsistency. Variation in outlet service quality is so wide, customers tend to patronize one branch over another branch of the same company in the same vicinity. For instance, franchise-owned and non-exclusive outlets often tend to give poorer service than company-owned ones. Another aspect of variability is branch size. This is an area of surprise. In general, big branches provide better service than smaller ones, the reason being the former have more manpower, budgets, and capacity to spare. But again customers will not buy this argument. Size is not an excuse. If the big and small branches offer the same product or service, they should provide it with the same promptness, efficiency, and courtesy. There is no reason for smaller branches to be intentionally designed to be inefficient from the very start. All branches should be selfsufficient and have adequate capacity to cope with the expected demand for their services.

On the other hand, there are large branches which provide slower services than the smaller branches. The reason big branches are more bureaucratic, have more managers, and signatories, and checkers. Small branches are supposed to be nimble, flexible, and can offer better personalized service. Again this argument or logic confuses the clients, especially if they are paying the same price or fees for the same services, and then receive different treatment. Size should not determine the ultimate efficiency and quality of service. Outlets in different locations may also show differences in service quality. For instance, services in the cities are usually perceived to be faster and better than that provided in the country and rural areas. There also occasions in which customers also claim that rural branches are better, since they can provided more personalized and faster (because of size) service. World class service requires that branches and outlets in various locations should provide more or less the same quality. McDonalds as a policy aim to provide the same service and product quality in their branches or franchisees anywhere in the Malaysia and in the world. RECOMMENDATION – PRODUCT CONSISTENCY The next area for service quality variability is the product itself. By this we mean that some products are served better or faster than others. While we expect some variability due to the nature of the product itself and the required controls built into it, efforts should be exerted to reduce the variation in service quality among McDonalds products, not only in terms of speed but also in manner of execution. As far as the customer is concerned in McDonalds, you get the same fast and courteous service whether you order hamburger or French fries. RECOMMENDATION – TIME CONSISTENCY It is public knowledge that service varies by time of delivery, such as by the hour, day of the week, day of the month, and month of the year. In many service industries, lunch time, and just before and after lunch time, employees are not in the mood to serve customers, if they are in their work stations at all. Another worst time to queue up or arrive is just before closing time, say 9:00 pm. Employees are tired, eager to go home or raring to meet their dates waiting outside the office, and a customer is the last person they want to see. There are peak and valleys in service quality during the working day. Interestingly I have noticed that in some restaurants, waiters do their best during peak hours, such as when there is a lot of pressure from customers. During slack periods when many tables are empty, waiters take their time and pretend not to see customers beckoning them, serve is dismal. Quality may also vary during the week. Normally, service is bad on Mondays and Fridays, because of Sunday hangover, and the "TGIF" (Thank God It's Friday) employee syndrome. An absent-minded assembly worker might have forgotten to tighten a screw or two. Ideally, service should be prompt, efficient, and consistent throughout the week, from the first hour of

the first working day to the last hour of the last working day. Customers are important any time and day of the week. Similarly, service should not deteriorate before and after special days during the month like paydays and holidays. Employees should be primed and ready to serve the first customers after these special days. Holiday months, like December and January, are noted for slow and undermanned service. Avoid all these service inconsistencies and variability in time. RECOMMENDATION – PEOPLE CONSISTENCY Service variation can also be observed in who is being served who is customer and who is serving who is service provider. In fact the high interaction between people or people-topeople contact in the service business is usually given as the reason why service cannot be managed, controlled, and standardized as much as a manufactured product. It is taken for granted that when people are the providers and the ones being processed or served, variability is normal or expected. But the point is to reduce variability to such a level that the service is perceived to be fair and reliable by the customers. In general, current customers are treated better and faster than new or walk-in customers. Discrimination is one best way to lose customers. Discrimination, sometimes known as VIP treatment, special handling, etc., sounds logical - treat big customers better than small ones, since the former bring in more money. One risk with this policy is that the same customer or person can transact a sizable business at one time and a minor business in another occasion. In McDonalds, you get the same service whether you order 20 hamburgers or 1 hamburger, whether you are a millionaire or a blue-collar worker. Everybody falls in line and nobody jumps the line. The service provider, clerk, cashier, etc. - can also show variability in service quality. Their moods may change during the day or week, depending on their personal lives. Some frontliners greet you "Good Morning" others don't. Efficiency may vary according to the level of training and experience of the service personnel. New employees may be slower than more senior employees. What we should appreciate is that customers do not see nor care about what is going on inside the employee's mind, his background and experience. He expects the same service from whoever is behind the counter as long as they wear the same uniform. RECOMMENDATION – MEETING CUSTOMER NEEDS The company is implementing their customer relationship by implementing different program that will ensure that their customer are getting the standard attention and treatment from the employees, and will make sure that their employees are doing their job in terms of the quality of their products and services, together with their proper treatment with their customers.

The company focuses on the implementation of their Mystery Shopper. The said entity will visit different branch or store of the restaurant every month. The qualitative information that will be gathered by those entities will be reported to the management via the use of their Business Objects that caters to and tackles to the different customer relations subjects or aspects such as the friendly greeting, the cleanliness of the restaurant as well as the appearances of the staff and crew, such as their proper uniform and name badges. The performance of each and every restaurant will be monitored by the Operational Consultant. He is responsible for the performances of maximum of ten branches of the restaurant. The Business Object is used by the consultants as well as the managers of each and every branch in order to have an access to the information or performance of the restaurant from the previous day. The said activity will help the branch to monitor their activities and will help them to distinguish and plan about the different problem and underperformance that they have faced. It can help them to correct their wrongs (Business Objects 2008). The information will then be aggregated and pass to the Operations management in order for them to produce a performance management report or scoreboard that will be a basis for them to give incentives for those branches and employees who had followed the standard of the company (Business Objects 2008). RECOMMENDATION – CUSTOMER FEEDBACK As a whole, McDonalds has its website where in the customer will be able to send their comments and suggestion that pertains to the products and services of the company. But in order to get closer to their customers, the company had placed their National Enquiries System that is placed in each and every office around the country. The said system will accept any concern, questions as well as suggestions about the service and product of the company. The said customer/public enquiry system is located in 6 different areas in the country. All of the information that had been inputted to the system will be directly forwarded to the Vice President or the Director of the People Resources of the company for the immediate answer or response. The comment and suggestions of the customers will then be studies by the management. Those suggestions that are possible and found out that will be helpful will be studied and applied to the company. It will also serve as an eye-opener for those branches that will accept bad comments. It can also cause the management to investigate for a specific branch in order to make sure that the comment of the customer is correct or fact.

CONCLUSION Consistency is one of the most difficult aspects of service to deliver, yet it is the most important and conspicuous. It can provide a definite edge over the competitor. Companies achieve high levels of service consistency through systems streamlining, setting standards in all aspects of customer service, and continuous employee training. Consistency is rewarded by high sales and strong customer loyalty. McDonalds had achieved world class status focusing on service consistency. As a policy, they do not compromise quality and service for anything else.