Mcdonald Ization

McDonaldization - the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are
coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as of the rest
of the world (Ritzer, G., 2000)
ELEMENTS OF MCDONALIZATION:
1. EFFICIENCY
One important element of McDonald’s success is efficiency, or the optimum method

for getting from one point to another. For consumers, McDonald’s offers the best
available way to get from being hungry to being full. In a society where both parents
are likely to work or where a single parent is struggling to keep up, efficiently
satisfying hunger is very attractive. In a society where people rush from one spot to
another, usually by car, the efficiency of a fast-food meal, perhaps even a drive-
through meal, often proves impossible to resist.
The fast-food model offers, or at least appears to offer, an efficient method for
satisfying many other needs as well. Woody Allen’s orgas-matron offered an efficient
method for getting people from quiescence to sexual gratification. Other institutions
fashioned on the McDonald’s model offer similar efficiency in losing weight,
lubricating cars, getting new glasses or contacts, or completing income tax forms.
Like their customers, workers in McDonaldized systems function efficiently

following the steps in a predesigned process. They are trained to work this way by
managers, who watch over them closely to make sure that they do. Organizational
rules and regulations also help ensure highly efficient work.
2. CALCULABILITY
Calculability is an emphasis on the quantitative aspects of products sold (portion size,

cost) and services offered (the time it takes to get the product). In McDonaldized
systems, quantity has become equivalent to quality; a lot of something, or the quick
delivery of it, means it must be good. . . . “As a culture, we tend to believe deeply that
in general ‘bigger is better.’” Thus, people order the Quarter Pounder, the Big Mac,
the large fries. More recent lures are the “double this” (for instance, Burger King’s
“Double Whopper with Cheese”) and the “triple that.”
People can quantify these things and feel that they are getting a lot of food for what
appears to be a nominal sum of money. This calculation does not take into account an
important point, however: The high profits of fast-food chains indicate that the
owners, not the consumers, get the best deal. People also tend to calculate how much
time it will take to drive to McDonald’s, be served the food, eat it, and return home;
then, they compare that interval to the time required to prepare food at home. They
often conclude, rightly or wrongly, that a trip to the fast-food restaurant will take less
time than eating at home. This sort of calculation particularly supports home delivery
franchises such as Domino’s, as well as other chains that emphasize time saving. A
notable example of time saving in another sort of chain is Lens Crafters, which
promises people “Glasses fast, glasses in one hour.”
Some McDonaldized institutions combine the emphases on time and money.

Domino’s promises pizza delivery in half an hour, or the pizza is free. Pizza Hut will
serve a personal pan pizza in five minutes, or it, too, will be free.
Workers in McDonaldized systems also tend to emphasize the quantitative rather than
the qualitative aspects of their work. Since the quality of the work is allowed to vary
little, workers focus on things such as how quickly tasks can be accomplished. In a
situation analogous to that of the customer, workers are expected to do a lot of work,
very quickly, for low pay.
3. PREDICTABILITY
McDonald’s also offers predictability, the assurance that products and services will be
the same over time and in all locales. The Egg McMuffin in New York will be, for all
intents and purposes, identical to those in Chicago and Los Angeles. Also, those eaten
next week or next year will be identical to those eaten today. Customers take great
comfort in knowing that McDonald’s offers no surprises. People know that the next
Egg McMuffin they eat will not be awful, although it will not be exceptionally
delicious, either. The success of the McDonald’s model suggests that many people
have come to prefer a world in which there are few surprises. “This is strange,” notes
a British observer, “considering [McDonald’s is] the product of a culture which
honors individualism above all.”
The workers in McDonaldized systems also behave in predictable ways. They follow
corporate rules as well as the dictates of their managers. In many cases, what they do,
and even what they say, is highly predictable. McDonaldized organizations often have
scripts that employees are supposed to memorize and follow whenever the occasion
arises. This scripted behavior helps create highly predictable interactions between
workers and customers. While customers do not follow scripts, they tend to develop
simple recipes for dealing with the employees of McDonaldized systems.
McDonald’s pioneered the routinization of interactive service work and remains an

exemplar of extreme standardization. Innovation is not discouraged at least among
managers and franchisees. Ironically, though, “the object is to look for new,
innovative ways to create an experience that is exactly the same no matter what
McDonald’s you walk into, no matter where it is in the world.”
4. CONTROL to NONHUMAN TECHNOLOGY

The fourth element in McDonald’s success, control, is exerted over the people who
enter the world of McDonald’s. Lines, limited menus, few options, and uncomfortable
seats all lead diners to do what management wishes them to do—eat quickly and
leave. Furthermore, the drive-through (in some cases, walk-through) window leads
diners to leave before they eat. In the Domino’s model, customers never enter in the
first place.
The people who work in McDonaldized organizations are also controlled to a high
degree, usually more blatantly and directly than customers. They are trained to do a
limited number of things in precisely the way they are told to do them. The
technologies used and the way the organization is set up reinforce this control.
Managers and inspectors make sure that workers toe the line.
McDonald’s also controls employees by threatening to use, and ultimately using,

technology to replace human workers. No matter how well they are programmed and
controlled, workers can foul up the system’s operation. A slow worker can make the
preparation and delivery of a Big Mac inefficient. A worker who refuses to follow the
rules might leave the pickles or special sauce off a hamburger, thereby making for
unpredictability. And a distracted worker can put too few fries in the box, making an
order of large fries seem skimpy. For these and other reasons, McDonald’s and other
fast-food restaurants have felt compelled to steadily replace human beings with
machines, such as the soft drink dispenser that shuts itself off when the glass is full,
the French fry machine that rings and lifts the basket out of the oil when the fries are
crisp, the preprogrammed cash register that eliminates the need for the cashier to
calculate prices and amounts, and perhaps at some future time, the robot capable of
making hamburgers. Technology that increases control over workers helps
McDonaldized systems assure customers that their products and service will be
consistent.

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McDonaldization - the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are

One important element of McDonald’s success is efficiency, or the optimum method

Like their customers, workers in McDonaldized systems function efficiently

Calculability is an emphasis on the quantitative aspects of products sold (portion size,

Some McDonaldized institutions combine the emphases on time and money.

McDonald’s pioneered the routinization of interactive service work and remains an

4. CONTROL to NONHUMAN TECHNOLOGY

McDonald’s also controls employees by threatening to use, and ultimately using,

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