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McDonaldization
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Discusses the growing trend toward efficiency, calculation, & predictability in businesses.... More...

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Paper Abstract:
Discusses the growing trend toward efficiency, calculation, & predictability in businesses.

Paper Introduction:
When George Ritzer speaks of McDonaldization, he is referring to a social phenomena that actually predates McDonald's but that has increased since the creation of that hamburger chain; it is a phenomenon that the chain itself has come to symbolize. McDonaldization is a form of rationalization leading to efficiency, calculation, and predictability. Ritzer says that McDonald's has been successful because it offers the consumer efficiency and predictability: It has also flourished because it has been able to exert greater control through nonhuman technologies over both employees and customers, leading them to behave the way the organization wishes them to (Ritzer 11). McDon

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Thedesigners of expert systems pick the brain of a human expert to find outwhat sorts of things he or she needs to know to make a decision. Arguably, human error is at fault fornot changing the codes or putting in the correct data, but at some pointhuman action is always necessary if only to make decisions and tell themachines what those decisions are. McDonaldization is a form ofrationalization leading to efficiency, calculation, and predictability.Ritzer says that McDonald's has been successful because it offers theconsumer efficiency and predictability: It has also flourished because it has been able to exert greater control through nonhuman technologies over both employees and customers, leading them to behave the way the organization wishes them to (Ritzer 11).McDonaldization clearly also means a certain leveling, the creation ofsameness and repetition, so that the consumer always knows precisely whatto expect when entering a Mcdonald's no matter what part of the country heor she may be in at the time. The ads say, "Have it your way,"meaning that your order will be prepared according to your instructions andnot on an assembly line. This is seen as the nextdevelopment in the overall automation of the workplace, with thisautomation seen as a progression from the earlier, non-automated office toa more fully automated workplace. Burger King is hardly abastion of individuality and can also be seen as a company that has beenrationalized. The computer will in fact state thatit lacks such needed information and will then call in a human expert tosolve the problem ("Smart advice from dumb machines," p. We see this in thesupermarket where the universal code and the electronic reader have becomestaples. This sort of mechanization and use of thecomputer and computer technology has become more and more widespread, andit has done so with great rapidity. These devices do much the same thing as the soft-drink machines atMcDonald's--they control transactions so that human error is eliminated,they are faster, they are more accurate, and they are more convenient. We can see evidence of the McDonaldization of society in manydifferent businesses where service has always been the key, and themechanization that has been introduced clearly has as its intent increasedspeed and accuracy as a way of satisfying customer needs and assuring acertain sameness in service from visit to visit. Expert systems imitate the waypeople think, following the long-standing hope of AI developers. The effect is to extendMcDonaldization outside the realm of the individual store and into theworld at large--we transact business more and more in the same way in everylocation, using the same plastic cards and the same bank codes to pay forgas, food (both at the grocery store and at many fast-food chains, as wellas at the more traditional restaurants), and even other retail stores thatare now introducing sales by bank card. This leveling takes place not only in termsof the product and the service but in terms of the way McDonald's trainsits personnel. Most of the gains in efficiency are on the side of those who are pushing rationalization upon us. The McDonaldization of society is something that many people may notnotice consciously, but it is a process that is being noted in manyquarters and that has produced a certain backlash. This seems to happen especially during sales when the machines maynot have been properly programmed. Our food costsmore when we buy prepackaged meals or fast food than it would if we createdour own food with raw ingredients, the common method of doing so until theadvent of fast food and TV dinners. Every companytries to put out uniform products so that every consumer will receiveprecisely the same goods in terms of quality. That cost is a small percentage of every sale to the banking systemthat takes care of the transaction. 61). These rules are then fed intothe computer, and the resulting system can duplicate the decision-makingprocesses of the expert in 8 to 9 percent of cases. Most supermarkets also make use today of some sort of electronicpaying system that allows the customer to use either a credit card or bankcard, or a special card issued by the individual store that serves as atool for electronic checking. This form of efficiency is moreinsidious--it reduces choice, and if truly effective, it reduces even thedesire for choice on the part of the consumer, who is conditioned to acceptgoods and services in a certain pattern without question. When George Ritzer speaks of McDonaldization, he is referring to asocial phenomena that actually predates McDonald's but that has increasedsince the creation of that hamburger chain; it is a phenomenon that thechain itself has come to symbolize. Ritzer refers to this when he writes: Although the forces of McDonaldization trumpet their greater efficiency, they never tell us for whom the system is more efficient. Thedesigners then work through the "if-then" rules used by the expert to reacha decision based on the information at hand. The trend toward mechanization as an efficiency move has been relatedto several improvements machines bring to the job--greater accuracy,greater speed, and uniformity: Human workers, no matter how well they are programmed and controlled, can foul up the operation of the system. McDonaldization has proceeded to such anextent that it can make uniform even criticisms of itself and make thosecriticisms elements in a larger effort at controlling the consuming public. Mechanization has been a trend in Americanbusiness since at least early in this century with the creation of theassembly line, seeking increased efficiency and accuracy. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press, 1993."Smart advice from dumb machines," The Economist (February 11, 1989), pp. A worker who refuses to follow the rules can leave the pickles or special sauce off a hamburger, thereby making for unpredictability. The McDonaldized systems that produce such goods are efficient and aredoing well for those who operate them, but they are costly to the consumer: The fact is, we must pay extra to deal with the inhumanity and inefficiency of the various elements of a rationalized society. Indeed, McDonaldization attempts to make the consumeruniform as well--uniform as to expectations, uniform as to behavior,uniform as to purchasing patterns. 61-62. Yet, it is also a company that perceives that suchrationalization is resisted in many quarters. The coming round will automate decision-making itself, which could give workers more time for creative work andreduce the repetitive tasks they now have to perform. We are therefore treated toa picture of a company that is itself McDonaldized using advertising thattries to show it is not McDonaldized. The first round of automation automatedroutine tasks in the sixties and seventies, leading in many cases toreductions in company workforces. McDonald's makes use of nonhuman technology to replacehuman workers on one level, and to direct the activities of those humanworkers who remain on the job. Most often, we will find that such systems are not efficient for us (Ritzer 124).Ritzer finds that much McDonaldization is actually more expensive to theconsumer than other, less rationalized behavior would be. The frozen meal rationalizes both theproduct and the consumer--the consumer's behavior is patterned in aspecific way rather than being left to the more "natural" pattern ofacquiring foodstuffs, creating meals, and cooking them. Atthe same time, they do introduce other potential hazards. The same is true of creditcards--though we understand that we pay more in interest, we may notrealize that there is another cost because the merchant has to pay apercentage for the service, just as he does for our use of other types ofcard. Instead, theconsumer buys a prepackaged dinner, puts it in an oven or microwave, takesoff the wrapper, and eats what has been prepared in a rationalized system,probably a mechanized system, and certainly a system designed to produce auniform product. The consumer may not perceive thiscost because it does not appear on the bill, but in fact the consumer willpay for that added cost by price increases. And a distracted worker can put too few fries in the box, making an order of large fries seem awfully skimpy (Ritzer 11).McDonald's has therefore turned to technology such as the soft-drinkdispenser that shuts itself off when the glass is full, the french-frymachine that rings when the fries are crisp, and the preprogrammed cashregister that eliminates the need for the cashier to calculate prices andamounts: The result is that Mcdonald's is able to reassure customers about the nature of the employee to be encountered and the nature of the service to be obtained (Ritzer 11). The McDonaldization of society as described by Ritzer is not anentirely positive trend, either, and indeed Ritzer states that it may be amatter of how one views the trend as to whether one believes the advantagesoutweigh the disadvantages. A slow or indolent worker can make the preparation and delivery of a Big Mac inefficient. How often haveyou taken merchandise to the counter and had it scanned only to have theprice show up as something different than advertised or than stated on thetag? . An article in the British magazine TheEconomist (1989) makes it clear that a change is coming in businessadministration with a new kind of automation. This new round ofautomation comes under the heading of "expert systems." This is thetechnology that will take on a corporate role and that promises to changeboth the ways in which companies compete and the ways in which people workwith machines, and even with each other. When such errors occur, they createproblems for the customer, slow down the transaction, and may create illwill, not at all unlike what would happen if a customer encountered anemployee who was too slow, rude, or inaccurate. ReferencesRitzer, George. There is a cost to the use of these cards for making purchases,though it is a cost that is often hidden to us. Of course, there are efforts to reduce even further the potential forhuman error through the creation and implementation of technologies thatwill make decisions for us. In the remainingcases, the computer will recognize that it does not have access to thenecessary information or expertise. Of course, most of the food at Burger King isprepared on an assembly line, and "your way" usually means minor variationson a central and uniform theme. The McDonaldization of Society. . The issue becomesmore questionable when the effort to achieve efficiency takes the form ofMcDonaldization, meaning in this case the attempt to make uniform serviceas well as product. The great success and profitability of these McDonaldized systems, the fact that there is such a rush to extend them to ever new sectors of society, and the fact that so many people want to get into such businesses, indicates that these systems are swallowing up a great deal of money (Ritzer 125).Consider again our increasing use of ATM cards and similar cards for makingpurchases. This sort of accuracy andefficiency is accepted and makes good economic sense.

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