VIKNESH KUMANAN 24157279

1902 - 1984
The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves
Biography
Ray Albert Kroc was a visionary who set the very foundations
of the modern fast food industry in the 1950s. He was often
referred to as the Henry Ford of the fast food industry,
(Gross, 1996 p. 24). Kroc was born in Oak Park, Illinois on
October 5, 1902 to parents of Czech origin. He lied about his
age enlisted himself as an ambulance driver in World War I
despite being 15. There he met Walt Disney who became his
lifelong friend till his last days. After the armistice in 1918, Kroc
pursued sales at a LilyTulip Cup Co. selling the then
revolutionary idea of paper cups. He was then fascinated by a
new piece of equipment called a milkshake multi mixer which
he bought the sales rights for it as he recognised that it was a potential cash cow and began peddling
it throughout the USA.
As Kroc & Anderson (1977) describe, in 1954 Kroc stumbled upon the McDonald brothers in San
Bernardino, California. After realising the immense franchising potential and financial reward of the
restaurant they operated, Kroc offered to become a franchising agent for the restaurant chain. His
vision to expand widely soon eclipsed those of his partners the McDonald brothers. In 1961, Kroc
bought out the McDonald brothers and the rights for the existing McDonalds franchises for 2.7
million dollars. Under Krocs vision, McDonalds retained most of its original character whilst
incorporating new elements such as assembly line style automation and standardisation of
production. He handpicked franchise operators personally for their ambition and drive. Krocs
constant generation of new ideas allowed him to engineer a high profit business model for
franchisees which had strict and detailed guidelines regarding production and operations. This very
trait of being innovative contributed to his success of the McDonalds brand across the world.
McDonalds four core values of Quality, Cleanliness, Service and Value (QSCV) that Kroc formulated
stand as cornerstones of the corporation till today. Ray Kroc passed away in 1984 at age 82; at the
time of his death McDonalds had 7500 outlets in 31 countries worth 8 Billion dollars.
Ray Krocs Leadership Style
Kroc & Anderson (1977) describe Ray Kroc as a constant dreamer who spent a lot of time thinking
about things and that he never considered his dreams to be wasted energy. Using his dreams, Kroc
had the ability to envision the future through his new ideas and how he wanted the McDonalds
Corporation to function. Therefore it is evident that Kroc possesses a visionary leadership style.
Conger, (1989) defines vision as the mental image a leader evokes to portray an idealised future for
an organisation. When Kroc met the McDonald brothers, he instantly realised its potential and had
personal vision of what he wanted McDonalds to be in the future. His vision of expanding the
VIKNESH KUMANAN 24157279
franchise rapidly didnt align well with the McDonald brothers and therefore he decided to buy them
out to achieve his dream of bringing the McDonalds franchise to every part of the country. Baum,
Locke & Kirkpatrick (1998) suggest that, organisations would grow faster when the leaders vision
was focussed on growth (p. 44). Likewise the McDonalds Corporation grew rapidly, by 1960 just six
years into operations more than 200 stores had been opened across the USA, (Gross, 1996).
Collins & Porras (1996) outline a good vision as consisting of a core ideology and envisioned future.
An organisations core ideology is made up of its values and its purpose or mission; it defines the
very character and identity of the organisation. Today at McDonalds, QSCV are its main core values
which seeks to provide customers with utmost value, commitment to staff, ethical business
operations and continuous improvement. McDonalds envisioned future is to promote innovation
and sustainability in its operations around the world. (McDonalds Corporation, 2014)
(Baum, Locke & Kirkpatrick, 1998) argue that a few key attributes such as brevity, clarity,
abstractness, challenge, future orientation, stability and ability to inspire are essential traits of a
leader who wants his or her vision to be effective. The attributes Ray Kroc possessed were similar to
the challenge, future orientation and the ability to inspire attributes. Firstly, Kroc was a man who
wasnt afraid to take on new challenges and risks in business. As Kroc himself states, where there
are no risks, there can be no pride in achievement and consequently no happiness (Kroc &
Anderson, p. 205).
(Collins & Porras, 1991; Nanus 1992), describe future orientation as an attribute that influences the
views and decisions of a leader to be able to change current environmental situations for future
success. Secondly, Krocs future orientation allowed him to re think food service to a whole new
level by incorporating widespread automation in his production. His future orientation also supports
his long term vision of continuous growth and expansion. His future orientation is discussed in Kroc
& Anderson (1977) I have great ideas that strike me sweeping plans that I could see complete (p.
101).
A key element of visionary leadership is the skill of a leader to be able to personally communicate
visions to their followers and to influence them to support it, (Kouzes & Posner, 1987). Westley &
Mintzberg (1989) assert that senior managers and leaders in organisations can inspire and motivate
workers through a well communicated vision. This is demonstrated through Ray Krocs last attribute
of being able to inspire and motivate his staff to collectively achieve his vision for the McDonalds
Corporation. Evidence of his ability is reflected in Kroc & Anderson (1977) I like to get people fired
up, fill them with zeal for McDonalds and watch the results in their work (p. 98).
Kroc & Anderson (1977) describes Krocs leadership traits and values to be persistence, perfection,
integrity, enthusiasm and hard work. Yukl (1999) defines traits as a variety of individual attributes
including personality temperament, needs, motives and values. Krocs personal values of
persistence and perfection influenced him to perfect every process and function of his business,
perfection is difficult to achieve, and perfection was what I wanted in McDonalds, everything else
was secondary (Kroc & Anderson, p. 80). It also provided him with the drive necessary to pick him
and the organisation up whenever there were failures, nothing in the world can take the place of
persistence....I am willing to make a few mistakes in order to get things done (Kroc & Anderson, p.
195).
VIKNESH KUMANAN 24157279
Ray Kroc was a workaholic who was highly committed to the organisation he built. As detailed in
Kroc & Anderson (1977) I worked at something whenever possible. Work is the meat in the
hamburger of life (p. 15), I speak of faith in McDonalds as if it were a religion, I believe in God,
family and McDonalds-and in the office, that order is reversed (p. 147). Krocs constant involvement
and commitment along with his ability to inspire and empower followers at McDonalds it can be said
that Ray Kroc was a transformational leader. Krocs strong and inflexible values in persistence,
perfection and hard work and his habit of trying to cultivate similar values among his close
executives align with the list of ideological behaviours discussed by (Strange & Mumford, 2002). Bass
& Riggio, 2012; House & Shamir, 1993) suggest transformational leadership as the ability to
stimulate, inspire, and develop followers to achieve extraordinary outcomes through an alignment
of values. Krocs capability to articulate his personal vision to his many employees has allowed him
to dominate the fast food industry through rapid growth worldwide.
Ray Albert Kroc was a visionary leader whose future orientation, persistent and perfectionistic traits
allowed him to turn a small scale suburban fast food chain into a multi-national corporation through
his strong ability to inspire and empower others into believing in his visions for the McDonalds
empire. His contributions and ideas to McDonalds had revolutionised the food service industry and
the way people consume food around the world.










References
Bass, B. M., & Riggio, R. E. (2012). Transformational leadership. Psychology Press.
VIKNESH KUMANAN 24157279
Baum, J. R., Locke, E. A., & Kirkpatrick, S. A. (1998). A longitudinal study of the relation of vision and
vision communication to venture growth in entrepreneurial firms. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 83(1), 43.
Collins, J. C., & Porras, J. I. (1991). Organizational vision and visionary organizations. California
Management Review, 34, 30-52.
Collins, J. C., & Porras, J. I. (1996). Building your company's vision. Harvard business review, 74(5), 65.
Conger, J. A. (1999). Charismatic and transformational leadership in organizations: An insider's
perspective on these developing streams of research. The Leadership Quarterly, 10(2), 145-179.
Gross, D. (1996). Forbes greatest business stories of all time (1st ed.). New York: J. Wiley & Sons.
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B.Z. (1987). The leadership challenge: How to get extraordinary things done
in organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Kroc, R., & Anderson, R. (1992). Grinding it out: the making of McDonald's. Macmillan.
Leaders beyond the brand. (n.d). Ray Kroc [Image]. Retrieved from
http://leadersbehindthebrand.wordpress.com/ray-croc/
McDonalds Corporation. (2014). McDonald's System. Retrieved 4 May 2014, from
http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/our_company/mcdonalds_system.html
Nanus, B. (1992). Visionary leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Shamir, B., House, R. J., & Arthur, M. B. (1993). The motivational effects of charismatic leadership: A
self-concept based theory. Organization science, 4(4), 577-594.
Strange, J. M., & Mumford, M. D. (2002). The origins of vision: Charismatic versus ideological
leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 13(4), 343-377.
Westley, F., & Mintzberg, H. (1989). Visionary leadership and strategic management. Strategic
management journal, 10(S1), 17-32.
Yukl, G. (1999). An evaluation of conceptual weaknesses in transformational and charismatic
leadership theories. The Leadership Quarterly, 10(2), 285-305.