McDonaldization

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McDonaldization

McDonaldization is a concept developed by an American Sociologist, George Ritzer, and refers to the specific kind of rationalizing production, consumption, and work which has become prominent in the 20th century. According to George Ritzer, the McDonaldization of a society is a phenomenon that takes place when the society, its organizations, and its institutions are adapted to have similar characteristics found in the fast food chains (Ritzer, 2002). These include calculability, efficiency, predictability, and control. An example of a McDonaldized company is Walmart. Walmart is an American multinational retailer that operates a chain of grocery stores, supermarkets, discount stores, hypermarkets, and neighborhood markets. Walmart fulfills the four key concepts of McDonaldization.

The first concept is efficiency. According to Ritzer, efficiency involves a managerial focus on minimizing the time that is required to complete individual tasks and also to complete the whole process or operation of distribution and production (Ritzer, 2002). In the case of Walmart, it has services that help its customers. It contains pick-up services where customers can order their products online, and arrive at the stores physically where their products are loaded into their cars by Walmart workers. There are also delivery services where customers can order their products through online channels and have their products delivered to their place of residence. There are also self-check-out lanes found inside their stores. These lanes can be used by the customers to ring up or bag their products instead of depending on the worker to do it. Most of these tasks by Walmart enhance distribution efficiency.

The second concept is calculability. According to Ritzer, calculability is the focus put on counting things (Quantifiable objectives) rather than quality evaluation (Subjective ones) (Ritzer, 2002). Walmart, through its commercials and articles, lets its customers be aware of the low prices they offer and they will be able to live better with them. The calculability category consists of the services and all the prices that Walmart offers. This is a good strategy since this enables the company to attract more customers by telling them what they would want to hear which is giving those memberships, discounts, low prices and so much more.

The third concept is Predictability. Predictability is the assurance that the services and the products would be the same in all locals and over time (Ritzer, 2002). Walmart is well known for the predictability of its products. It has a similar store design, store layout, same products, and similar services that are offered. This is a good strategy since if one of Walmart’s stores has anything different then it would not be fair for other stores not to have a similar thing. For example, Walmart has a different name in Mexico ‘Wal-Mex’ from ‘ASDA’ in the United States. The names are distinct but everything else is the same and people think of Walmart when they hear such names.

The fourth concept is control. Control is exercised by the management to make sure that the workers act and appear the same on daily basis. It also refers to the use of technology and robots to replace or reduce human employees where possible (Ritzer, 2002). Walmart has all its products prepackaged and ready to be placed at their respective positions in the stores. There are also self-check-out areas where customers scan their products and purchase them afterward. Overall, Walmart customers and employees just push buttons and then computers do the rest of the work. This helps make work easier for both customers and employees.

I, therefore, think that McDonaldization helps Walmart o operate better and more efficiently. With the services offered, self-check-out lanes that help the employees to the customers would make the customers come back again. McDonaldization is a positive due to how it makes things convenient. This is because today, people want things to get done quickly and with ease and McDonaldization is one of the methods to make this a reality.

References

Ritzer, G. (2002). An introduction to McDonaldization. McDonaldization: The Reader, 2, 4-25.