Started as Crew: Jan Fields and McDonald’s

laura hartman, DePaul University
j. sheehan, DePaul University
e. mead, University of Virginia - Main Campus

Abstract

In the “quick service” food industry, infamous for high turnover and poor training, McDonald’s Corporation defies norms. The international fast food giant uses a combination of promotion-from-within strategy and employee training programs to develop an abundant pool of human capital. The success of this strategy, built on the modest, hard-working ethic of company founders such as Ray Kroc and Hamburger University creator Fred Turner, has an unexpected impact on the lives of crew members: the wages, benefits, and opportunity for promotion available to every employee of McDonald’s gives thousands the opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty. The Fields case, one that involves promotion from line crew to one of the highest executive position in the United States, along with the following case involving a manager of a “store,” as McDonald’s calls its restaurants, are used as examples.