Cain: McDonald's diversity successful
Kate Walter
Diversity is an important and necessary component in any business today, according to Diane Cain, director of McDonald's Diversity Initiative Group at Tuesday's lecture held in the College of Business Administration.
"To be successful, you have to take the diverse mixture of workers that you've got and make them work," said Cain, a McDonald's employee for more than 15 years.
The mission of the Diversity Initiative Group is to provide valuable leadership and resources, enabling the McDonald's system to integrate strategic diversity goals that impact the business in a positive way. The group serves as the diversity conscience for the corporation and aims to monitor diversity and provide education and employment.
According to Cain, diversity is defined as an environment in which differences are recognized, understood and valued. She said that as a corporation, McDonald's attempts to follow these guidelines for diversity by mirroring the community in which each franchise is located. For example, in largely African American communities, the number of African-American employees will be greater than in areas with a lower African American population.
In the 15 years that Cain has worked for McDonald's, she has noticed an increase in the level of diversity at the McDonald's home office in Illinois. She said that the levels of minority groups, including African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans, have risen since she first became employed by the corporation.
McDonald's also looks to incorporate the goals of diversity into their menus.
"We're a very people-sensitive corporation, and we try to understand and respect our customer's likes and dislikes," she said.
Cain also said that as an additional step toward accommodation of customers' varying needs, McDonald's has become much more accepting of "grill orders" in recent years, meaning that burgers and other menu items can be made to order. Adapting to regional differences, different menu items are offered exclusively in some areas.
Looking to the future, Cain said that the concept of being people-sensitive could lead to a more drastic change in McDonald's menu.
"If today's youth grow up to demand more healthy food, we'll respond willingly to that demand," Cain said. "Right now though, people still seem to want a burger and fries."
All News Stories for Wednesday, September 22, 1999
