Quantities of the products
Another important feature of the principle of McDonaldization is calculability which emphasizes on the quantity of the product rather than quality. Calculability refers to the cost and size of the products as well as the total time required in order to deliver the services to the customer. According to the principle of McDonaldization, quantity and quality are equivalent. This means that the amount of a product and its quick delivery imply that it is good.
From the product point of view, it is has become commonly important for fast food restaurants to pay more attention to the sizes of the products on offer rather than the quality. However, McDonald’s has become increasingly infamous for providing super sized products thereby tricking the customer into believing that they are receiving large quantities of food against a nominal amount of money. This is contrary since the company obtains the best deal as observed in the large profit margins they get (Ritzer, 13).
The McDonaldization feature of calculability impacts both on employees of the corporation and consumers. Most customers have chosen to eat at these restaurants because the calculated amount of time to drive, order and eat at McDonald’s restaurants would be less as compared to grocery outlets and preparing a home based meal. All McDonald’s restaurants are standardized and therefore the time taken by the customer at one McDonald’s restaurant is considered to be similar to the other franchises.
The duties of the employees of this corporation are also quantity based. This is because the standardization of McDonaldization principle does not give room for employees to deliver quality products. It instead focuses on delivering as many quantities of the products as possible in the quickest way possible. This has lead to the feeling by customers that the services offered by McDonald’s are basically average (Ritzer, 14). Predictability This is the third feature of McDonaldization which is based on the uniformity and standardization of the products.
As observed with other features, predictability affects both the employees and the consumers. A customer entering a McDonald’s restaurant in Chicago would expect the taste of the BigMac to be the same as those in Berlin or anywhere across the world. This implies that customers will expect the same standardization all over the world failure to which leads to upsets. The feature of standardization forms the heart of success of the principle of McDonaldization.
This uniformity allows all McDonald’s franchises to offer standardized products across all of its outlets. This ensures that consumer’s get the same product at all times irrespective of the location the product is purchased as well as enabling the company to benefit from huge discounts and economies of scale. The process laid down by the principle of McDonaldization also makes it possible for their jobs to be predictable since employees are trained to carry out their duties in a specific format and thereby reducing the risk of unpredictable conditions.
The course of actions for the employees is preplanned so that they are always aware of what they are required to do. McDonald’s as many other institutions which are customer oriented use scripts which are memorized by the employees. The McDonald’s restaurants create the same experience irrespective of the outlet visited throughout the world. Indeed people always return to McDonald’s because of the predictability and uniformity of their products (Leidner, 82).
