Page 174 - Everything I Know About Business I Learned

Everything I Know About Business I Learned at McDonald’s

have discussion, leaving conversations with the corporate office
as the avenue of last resort.
Retired CEO Jack Greenberg put it this way: “In a franchis-
ing system, a highly decentralized business model which the
business required, it wasn’t a philosophical question . . . about
centralized versus decentralized, because you can’t do franchis-
ing in real estate or run retail operations without having a decen-
tralized system. You have to get people understanding what you

Food for Thought
How can your organization’s structure be molded to
enhance communication?

Regionalization, or decentralization, can be an effective
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organizational structure, and can play a critical role in
communications within an organization. Some thoughts:

• Pick individuals who have the skills, talents, and
leadership to run independently.
• Allow these individuals the responsibility and the
authority to make decisions.
• Establish a solid relationship of communication that
allows those in the field and corporate headquarters
to bounce ideas and issues off each other (so that
the regions are independent, yet not alone).
• Whenever possible, have individuals that under-
stand the local market.
• Use an “earn the right to be left alone” process. Sim-
ply put, this means that as an individual gains more
experience and tenure in the specific area, greater
authority can be relinquished by headquarters.