1. Critically evaluate the approach McDonald’s has taken to addressing the HR
problems it faced across the organisation. (This is worth 60% of your final mark).
2. What future HR challenges can you foresee, and what recommendations would
you make for addressing these? What other initiatives might the company
consider introducing to further increase levels of employee engagement and
retention? (This is worth 40% of your final mark).
Given the emphasis in this module is on the practical application of theory within the HRM
arena, it is important that your assignment clearly draws on relevant theories and models in
analysing the case study. The lectures and seminars, together with the textbooks and
additional reading provided for the module will constitute a good starting point, but you must
also read more widely around your chosen subject. The marking criteria for the assignment is
provided on Moodle. You need to pay attention to:
1. A well-written, well-presented, clearly structured and well-argued piece of work.
2. The demonstration that you have understood and applied relevant theories in your answer.
3. Evidence that you have read and understood the case study.
4. Critical analysis and insight; in other words, it is important not to just describe your views,
but rather you need to weigh up one argument against another, using academic sources,
and then come to a considered view based on the available evidence.
5. Evidence that you have read and understood a range of academic journal articles. It is not
enough to rely solely on textbooks for your assignment. We are expecting you to conduct
independent research to find relevant articles. You will find some on the CB9046 Moodle
site that will be a useful start, but you are expected to go beyond the resources already
provided to you.
Hints and Tips:
When researching and planning this assignment ask yourself the following questions:
◦ What is your interpretation of the question?
◦ Which theoretical frameworks are you drawing on?
◦ What have you identified as the ‘key challenges’?
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◦ What approaches to & methods of employee engagement, employee retention
and change management have you identified in the McDonald’s case study? How
have you related these to the literature?
◦ What is your proposed structure of your argument? Is it clear & logical?
◦ What are your recommendations?
◦ What supporting evidence – theoretical & practical i.e. supporting
sources/references
◦ How does this map to the marking criteria for this assignment?
Question 1:
As a starting point, you will need to identify the HR problems that McDonald’s UK
faced. Briefly outline these in your answer. Remember to be CRITICAL – the case study
only reports on data up to 2010 & this should be reflected in your answer.
You need to CRITICALLY EVALUATE their approach to resolving these HR problems
using relevant theory and research to support your arguments. To do this you will need
to think about the following:
o What were the strengths of their approach?
o What were the weaknesses of their approach?
o It is ESSENTIAL that you map the approach that McDonald’s UK took to the
changing HRM to the relevant theories & models in the literature.
Question 2:
In this question you are required to PREDICT future HRM challenges for McDonald’s
UK. You should make between 2-3 predications based on your knowledge of HRM
learnt during the module. The recommendations you make need to be based on
relevant theory i.e. you use the theory and evidence to justify both the predictions and
your recommendations.
