My Secret Life on the McJob: Lessons from Behind the Counter Guar

Once upon a time, a Ph.D. went to work at Mickey D's...

And what he found was illuminating. Jerry Newman, a college professor who has taught business courses for nearly 30 years, went undercover as a bottom-rung worker for the biggest names in fast food, including McDonald's and Burger King. Newman found that fast-food chains were the perfect petri dishes for covert research: High-pressure, high-volume businesses with high-employee turnover. The pecking order was also crystal clear, from fry cook all the way up to store manager.

Of the seven restaurants where Newman worked, some were high-morale, high-productivity machines. Others were miserable, misplaced circles of hell. Yet one common trait stuck out from them all: Each restaurant's respective manager determined the climate of the work environment.

Go behind the fast food counter with Newman and see what happens on an average day on the “McJob”…

how the restaurants are run (for better or worse)

how managers reward good employees when raises are impossible (believe it or not, bosses give 'em more hours-and it works!)

how morale and motivation spring directly from the manager's office

and how a few simple adjustments to your own management style-the “Supersized Management Principles” in this book-can transform and invigorate your workplace

Jerry M. Newman, Ph.D., is a University Distinguished Teaching Professor for the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is the coauthor of Compensation, which has been the bestselling book in the category for 21 years. He is also an advisor to firms including AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, Burger King, McDonald's, and Nabisco.