Critically Evaluate McDonald’s Management’s Actions During the Food-Safety Crisis

Critically evaluate McDonald’s management’s actions during the food-safety crisis

Introduction

In the business world nowadays, it is difficult for a company to develop like smooth sailing invariably. Crisis is ubiquitous and is ready to drop in at any time. A crisis emerges when an event happens suddenly and unexpectedly and will damage the reputation of the company if not handled properly. When a crisis has erupted, crisis management is the urgent and significant “art of making decisions” (Anonymous, 2012) to mitigate the negative effects as much as possible.

McDonald is one of the largest chains of fast food restaurants in the world which has over thirty thousand branches. However, a scandal was exposed to the public in the “3.15 consumers’ right protection party” (Philip, 2012) on CCTV on 15th March, 2012, saying that the company was found selling out-of-date hamburgers using dirty beef as raw materials in one of its branches in Sanlitun, Beijing. This event had caused a sensation within a short period but was soon calmed down owing to McDonald’s successful crisis management. This article will briefly evaluate McDonald’s management’s responses and actions during the crisis of food safety.

Evaluations& Analysis

1. Speed

“Bad news has wings”. (Anonymous, 2012) When a crisis erupts, the bad news is like the bacteria, spreading over with the speed of fission. However, sometimes reliable information cannot be accessed as rumors or hearsays will hold the initiative. Moreover, the public is concerned about the first declaration of the company via the media. As a result, the company is obliged to respond to the crisis promptly and “effectively manage the information” (Ashcroft, 1997) so that no room is available for speculation. After the crisis had happened, McDonald’s apologized and delivered an announcement to the public on its official weibo within one hour after the exposure of the problematic food. Two hours later, the post was “shared by 8400 different accounts”. (Anonymous, 2012) Furthermore, those 8400 accounts owned totally 10 million fans, i.e., over 10 million people were reached by the post within two hours. Gradually, the public was settled down from anger and anxiety. In addition, McDonald closed the problematical branch in no time. The apology was to admit the problem while the shut of the sub branch was to solve the problem. The immediate actions indicated that McDonald attached importance to the issue and was concerned with the interest of the public. Therefore, McDonald’s had held the scandal under its thumb and alleviated the negative effects of the crisis successfully.

2. Sincerity and responsibilities

The public will be generally concerned about