Human Resource Management in KFC

 

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN KFC. Introduction: International Human resource management is the process of selecting, training, developing and compensating personnel in overseas positions. International human resource management is about the worldwide management of human resources. The purpose of International Interna tional human resource management is to enable the

multinational

enterprises to be successful globally, which is achieved by implementation of the Multinational Enterprises global strategy while creating sufficient flexibility to meet local conditions (Clarke (Clar ke 2007). 2007). The Human Resource management in KFC is more concentration in managing the issues in cultural diversity. Most probably in China and India, KFC is highly concentrated in expanding and capturing those countries fast food market, but the human resource management is facing major problems in recruitment and managing the employee towards those countries cultures. In western countries, KFC human resource management management is failing to provide proper proper quality of service to the customers. This is too because of failed in recruitment and training.

Kentucky Fried Chicken: KFC is an internationally renowned fast food industry in the world. Their aim is to capture the fast food industry, industry, ambition ambition is to increase and maintain maintain the quality quality in fast food industry. Kentucky Fried Chicken was founded in 1939 by Colonel Harland D. Sanders, who pioneered what he called ³Sunday Dinner, Seven Days a Week´ and what is now frequently referred referre d to as ³home meal meal replaceme replacement´ nt´ which selling comp complete lete meals to carry out . Before starting this, he did several kinds of works works from f rom railro railroading ading to operating operating a station -powered -powered ferryboat.Colonel was founded a way to combine 11 herbs and spices with flour to create a finger licking¶ licking¶ good coating. coating. KFC specializes in chicken dinners that includ include e Ori ginal Recipe, Recipe, Extra Crispy, Twister, and Colonel¶s Colonel¶s Crispy Strips chicken with a variety of ³home -style´ sides. More than 300 products, such as Chunky Chicken Pot Pie in the United States and a salmon sandwich sandwich in Japan, are offered offered in various locations locations worl dwide. Franchising Franchising began began in 1952, and the unit count had risen to 6,600 units by the time KFC was acquired by PepsiCo in 1986. In 2002 Tricon changed it is name to YUM! Brand Inc, combined with Pizza Hut and www.yum.com) Taco Bell, there are nearly nearly 30,000 30,000 restaurants restaurants w orldwide. (www.kfc.com ( www.kfc.com,, www.yum.com) Now almost ten million customers are served daily in the more than 11,000 restaurants. This long-established long-est ablished brand is located in more than than eight countries and territories. Trying to differentiate the brand from other QSR products, in 2002 the company introduced the ³there¶s fast food. food. Then there there¶s ¶s KFC´ advertising campa campaign ign (www.kfc.com). www.kfc.com). In spite of of these the se efforts, sales remained flat. In 2003, the entire QSR segment came under harsh criticism by activists who claimed the rise of obesity in children is attributed to meals that are high in fat

 

and calories calories (Harrison 2005). 2005). In an effort to present its chicken prod products ucts a s healthy, KFC developed an advertising campaign that has many crying foul. KFC began in late 2003 airing a national advertising campaign that identifies the fried chicken products as low fat. In the advertisements advertiseme nts KFC Original Original Recipe Chicken Breasts are c ompared to Burger Burger King Whoppers. There were 838 Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises across the United States by 1964. The KFC concept was introduced to Britain in 1965, the first outlet at Preston.

HRM: Human resource management is managing the people wor king in an organisation organisation who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of organisation¶s objectives or  goals. According to Armstrong (2006), it is a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organisation¶s most valued asset, which contribute the a achievement chievement of  organisation¶s objectives. Storey (1989) believes that HRM can be regarded as a set of  interrelated policies with with an ideological and philosophical underpinning. The process process by which management management will determine determines s how the org anisation anisation should move from its current manpower position to its desires position. Through the planning management strives to have the right number and the right kind of people, at the right places, at the right time, doing things which result in both the o rganisation and the individual receiving maximum long term benefits.

Increased emphasis on quality also means an increased focus on customer service. Service management management helps for the long term c customer ustomer relationships relationships . Albrecht (1988) defines defines Service management is a total organisational approach that makes quality of service, as perceived by the customer, the number one driving force for the operation of business. The entire organisation needs needs to u understand nderstand that the organisation can survive only if it meets the needs of customer.Mullins (2001) Service management strategies are successful only when they are accompanied by a corporate culture that can be labelled a service culture. The culture can be described described as a culture c ulture where where an appreci appreciation ation for good good s ervice exists, where giving good service to internal as well as ultimate external customers is considered a natural way of life and one of the most important norms by everyone. A service culture enhances the ability truly to meet the needs of the customers . The KFC did not capture the fast food industry in China and India, because of the culture difference and tradition. Managers need need to be aware of how cultural difference can influence the attitude and motivations of staff, and their pace of work. work. Murase (2004) from their research on on brand preference preference ; suggest that KFC¶s future strategies should exploit this favourable position in Japan. In the United States, on the other hand, hand, KFC has a weeker brand personal personality ity than McDonald McDonald¶s ¶s or Wendy ¶s. Inthe

 

United States, there may be some confusion as to where KFC belongs in the Competitive set.Witkowski (2003), also found that KFC have good image in China compared to USA. Most quick-service restaurants have menus focusing on sandwiches or pizza and also the poor service quality and culture difference. Few years back, due to franchising problems and cultural diversity, Kentucky Fried Chicken temporarily shut down its Beijing Units and also concerns for employees¶ safety (Jones 1995).

Cross-cultural Cross-cultur al differences differences in the wor kforce exist among all employees employees - CEO¶s, staff, supervisors, and other workers. No one is exempt from cultural difference or conflicts that grow out of them. One of the dangers in managing managing cross -cultural -cultural differences differences is the assumption that all individuals within an ethics or nationality group are the same. In the context of international international business and cultures, cross - national national interaction interaction involves complex human relations dynamics. From this perspective, the interchange of ideas, thoughts, and motives must be communicated communicated at appro appropriate priate le levels vels of cultural awar awareness. eness. The term cross national interaction is used to mean the interchange and interrelation of culturally different ideas, thoughts, and motives in business dealings (Henderson, 1994). Cultural diversity changes the workplace by providing new human resources and managerial challenges to employers.Success in the global market place and maximization of human resource are synchronous (Leonard, 1991). Changing technologies technologies and the global marketplace require organisations to adapt or lose their competitive edge. Indeed, the survival of businesses and industries are dependent on how well they manage cultural diversity (Sue, 1991).

There are many causes of cross -cultural -cultural conflict, including, but not limited to language and communication barriers, racism, sexism, and ageism. According to Henderson (1994), the following barriers to cross -cultural communication communicati on must be bridg bridged, ed, language differences, differences in emotional differences, emotional and art articulate iculate forms of nonverb nonverbal al communica tion, cultural stereotypes that distort meanings, evaluating the content of speech as either good or  bad, and high high level of anxiety that distort meanings. meanings. A company¶s culture can be defined defined as a set of assumption or an ideology ideology shared shared by members of an organ isation. The These se assumption assumptions s are used by people to identify what is important and how things work in a company. When these assumptions become formalized, rules for behaviour are established so that people know how to act (Redman 2006). 2006).

The International Ho tels and restaurants companies were and still are expanding, a att the expanse of the small, mid -priced indepen independent dent hotels, the important contractual methods of undertaking business, such as franchising, management contracts and licensing (Knowles 1996). Due to the very fast expansion of KFC through franchising, the service quality and

 

poor management is existing. Consumerism is also the opportunity of marketing. It will force businesses to become market focused in their action as well as their pronouncements. Developing a positive response to consumerist sentiment is probably more effective than resentment and resistance (Powers 1995).

Training   A major aspect of developing developing an e effective ffective performan ce system is training for  those individuals involved as works and evaluator. Currently KFC is not focusing on the training of its people and and it can suffer from some problem in future. According to   Armstrong (2006), the planned and systematic modification of behaviour through learning events, programmes and instructio n, which enable individuals to achieve the levels of knowledge, skill and competence needed to carry out their work effectively. CIPD (2001), defines learning and development as follows, the organisational process of developing peo people ple involves the integrat ion of learning an and d development processes, operations and relationships. Its most powerful outcomes for

business

are

to

do

with

enhanced

organisational

effectiveness

and

sustainability. For the i ndividual ndividual they are to do with enhanced personal personal competence, adaptability and employability. employability. The t raining should start w with ith a focus on providing the manager with a systematic approach to the practice of effective people management. This training needs to focus on the process of managing, motivating and evaluating em ployee performance because because if the people who are going to assist others and they are accountable for the management of people working in the organization

are

not

properly

trained

then

how

can

theycarry

out

good

management? Performance appraisal appraisal is only a p art of this overall process and it is important that managers see it within its wider context and not as a simple ³quick fix´ solution. Thus training should begin those levels of management that will be involved in administering administering the programme and and providing training for lower lower levels of  supervision. Once the senior managers have ³bought into´ the system, skills training are needed for junior managers and supervisors.This specific training should include at least the following, supervision skills; coaching and counselling; conflict resolution;setting performance standards;linking the system to pay providing employee feedback. Once an individual employee has been through the necessary training, periodic refresher refresher courses will be required required to help the employee maintain necessary skills in performance assessment. Employee involved in the appraisal process should also be evaluated on how they conduct performance appraisals. This will help to make sure that evaluations are performed in a similar and consistent mann er throughout the org organization. anization. S ome training is required foral foralll

 

employees. This training should should include how to set o bjectives, how to keep accurate records, how to communicate all aspects of performance and how to provide better  better  service quality. The six mont h training is offered by the KFC, which is only only to the franchiser, but not to their employees. From the research Lee et al., (2009) found that,a that, a

gap

between

customerexpectations

and

brand

performance

motivates

experientialbr experien tialbrand and avoidance. avoidance. Participants avoi d products and services thatper thatperform form poorly, the

extra

inconvenience

of

rectifying

failedpurchases,

and

unpleasant

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environments.Anincongruity between the symbolic meanings of a brandand the individual's sense of self motivates identity identity avoidance. Parti Participants cipants protect their their i denti dentity ty by avoiding brands that represent their undesired self; in particular, they avoid brandsthat are associated with negative reference groups, inauthenticity,or a loss of individuality. Chon (2000), suggest overall to the re staurants that, restaurants need to have more thorough multicultural training programs, progr ams, focusing on training training goals which which are practical and job specific. Job -orient -oriented ed training goals, including increasing employee teamwork among culturally diverse employees and improving cross-cultural skills, must be a part of the training goals to encourage employee participation and eventually help in facilitating job performance in dealing with multicultural work environments.  

Performance appraisal can be defined as the formal asses assessment sment and rating of  individuals by their managers at, usually, an annual review meeting. In contrast, performance management is a continuous and much wider, more comprehensive and more naturall process of managemen natura managementt that clarifies mutual expecta tions, emphasizes emphasizes the support role of managers who are expected to act as coaches rather than judges, and focuses on the future. Townley (1989) views performance appraisal as exercising managerial control, which tend to backward looking, concentrating concentrating on w hat had gone wrong, rather than loo looking king forward to future development needs. Managing performance is about coaching, guiding, motivating and rewarding colleagues to help unleash potential and improve organisational performance. It works well, built on excellent leadership and high quality coaching relationships between managers and teams (Armstrong 2006). Performance management is designed to ensure that what employee done is guided by their values and is relevant to the purposes of the organisation.

The research department in KFC is at good stage, but usually they are not call by that name, it has a staff of 50 in the USA and four in the UK engaged in this activity. It is cleared through through the introducin introducing g innovati innovative ve ideas to attract the customer customers, s, like, Gril led chick en in 2009, Boneless Chicken in 2 chicken 2010, 010, and displaying nutrition content in each menu (Jones 1995).

 

  KFC also failed in recruiting and selection process, there is a lack of work force, while in peak hours; there will be long queu queue e in most of KFC outlets, which affects the customers¶ satisfaction. Staffing is the important part in the human resource management, according to Powers 1995, staffing is the work that managers and supervisors do to determine the specific specifi c personnel needs needs of their operatio ns to attract qualified applicants and to choose from these the best suited for employment and training. The manager accomplishes the human resource resource management management function by using special specialised ised staff plann planning ing tools.

The

selection process involves gathering, cl assifyi assifying, ng, and analysing information available available from several sources. An application blank often tells more than an applicant realizes. But the recruiting is slightly differing from the selection process, selecting the qualified applicants from pool of application appl ication for each the organisation identified. Recruitment pattern on Harrison (1995) view, view, the importance of the right right type of work force is self -e -evidence vidence to any organisation organ isation wishing wishing to achieve achieve its objectives. Ryan et al., (20 (2010) 10) findings findings also imply that that it is necessary to take care over selection and recruitment because attitudes more oriented towards friendship peer groups rather than specifics of work routines which imply a lack of  commitment to long-term employment with in the industry. industry. So the employee retention is also notable one in KFC. The turnover of the key employees can have a disproportionate impact on the business and the people organisation wishes to retain are probably the ones most likely to leave (Armstrong 2006).

KFC now involved in co-branding, which is better to improve the organisation, they planned to co-branding with airlines also, to sever the KFC customers.

Conclusion: From the above discussion, the Human Resource Management in KFC needs more attention to further development. development. The KFC has proper Research and Development department which is functioning properly by implementing some new strategies and technique techniqu e to attract customers¶ and development development like like co -branding. -branding. The marketing of KFC are also doing well. well. The KFC may be the second in t he fast food industry in wester western n countries, because of most of western people prefers the burger and sandwiches. But in Asian and Pacific countries the KFC is the fast food market pioneer. In Malaysia and China it is the dominantt fast food industry. This m ay have chance to loss the market because dominan because of poor  service quality and Human resource management. In western countries it loss the market because of poor service quality, poor infrastructure, unclean, lack of per performance, formance, lack of  work force and untrained wo rker. So if this condition is continues in Asian countries, it will ends in loose market. To overcome those issues the Kentucky Fried Chicken, should

 

implement strong human resource strategy. Because most of the above mentioned issues are came under the Hu man Resource management. To overcome the issues in performance and service quality, it should implement the training to employee about their job d description, escription, which reduce the working stress and helps to clear the objective and goals of the job. The periodical performance appraisal and performance management should be offer to the employee, which helps to know the position of the individuals and also the organisation. This will help the KFC to know about the drawbacks drawbacks an outlet outlet at a certain periodica periodicall interv al. The KFC should have more attention in Planning and staffing to overcome the lack of work force. Without proper work force it cannot survive in the market. Finally, Staffing, planning, training, and performance performance management management are more important important and essentia l thing for Kentucky Fried Chicken to maintain the customer retention and their further growth

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