The focus is on practicalities. A retired policeman conducts a fast-paced class on conflict management. He shows a video of a woman driven berserk by the fact that she cannot get chicken McNuggets at breakfast time. He asks the class if they have ever had a difficult customer, and every hand goes up. Students are then urged to share their advice.
Self-esteem and self-management are on the syllabus, too. Steven Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” is a popular text. A year-long apprenticeship program emphasizing English and math leads to a nationally recognized qualification. McDonald’s has paid for almost 100 people to get degrees from Manchester Metropolitan University.
The company professes to be unfazed by the fact that many alumni will end up working elsewhere. It needs to train people who might be managing a business with a ￡5m turnover by their mid-20s. It also needs to satisfy the company’s appetite for senior managers, one of whom will eventually control the entire global McDonald’s empire.
