I read a recent story from Bloomberg BNA about plummeting revenues at McDonald’s—and the company's proposal to fix the problem with "toasted buns" and "grilled burger patties"—and had two immediate reactions. First, Burger King has been saying this for years. Char-grilled flavors arebetter (granted, I'm biased). Second—and more important—is there another cause? Is a toasty bun really the answer to a decade of dwindling revenues?
Alex.Alonso
Bio:
Alexander Alonso, PhD, SHRM-SCP is the Society for Human Resource Management's (SHRM's) Chief Knowledge Officer leading operations for SHRM's Certified Professional and Senior Certified Professional certifications, research functions, and the SHRM Knowledge Advisor service. He is responsible for all research activities, including the development of the SHRM Competency Model and SHRM credentials.
During his career, he has worked with numerous subject matter experts worldwide with the aim of identifying performance standards, developing competency models, designing organizational assessments, and conducting job analyses. He was also responsible for working on contract task orders involving the development of measurement tools for content areas such as job knowledge (like teacher knowledge of instructional processes) and organizational climates (like organizational climate forecasting in military health care).
Dr. Alonso received his doctorate in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Florida International University in 2003. His works have been recognized for their contribution to real-world issues. They include being recognized by the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology (Division 14 of the APA; SIOP) with the 2007 M. Scott Myers Award for Applied Research in the Workplace for the development of the federal standard for medical team training, TeamSTEPPS; being awarded a 2009 Presidential Citation for Innovative Practice by the American Psychological Association for supporting the development of competency model for team triage in emergency medicine; and receiving the 2013 SIOP Distinguished Early Career Contributions for Practice Award.
Throughout his career, he has published works in peer-reviewed journals such as Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, Journal of Applied Psychology, International Journal of Selection and Assessment, People and Strategy, Personality and Individual Differences, Quality and Safety in Health Care, and Human Resources Management Review. He has also authored several chapters on community-based change initiatives in workforce readiness, as well as co-authoring Defining HR Success: A Guide to the SHRM Competency Model in Practice.
Dr. Alonso also served as a columnist analyzing major trends in the workforce for The Industrial Psychologist and HR Magazine. In addition, he has served on several professional society boards including the SIOP and the Personnel Testing Council of Metropolitan Washington.
Screen Name:
Alexander Alonso, Ph.D, SHRM-SCP
History
- Member for
- 9 years 6 months
Articles by Alexander Alonso, Ph.D, SHRM-SCP
I attended an HR conference last month where I heard some of the savviest business speak ever. Speakers from all over the globe discussed “leveraging,” “ROI,” “streamlining,” “interfacing,” “synergy,” and “big data” more eloquently than ever imagined. I’ll be honest though. By the time I got to the fifth speaker, I was snoring because my head could not make anything palatable out of this jargon salad. Everywhere I looked someone was tossing business-speak land mines as if they were trying to make my head explode.
June 9, 2015
I recently woke up hyperventilating and sweating profusely. After my fiancée made sure I was okay and smacked me upside the head for waking her, I realized I’d been roused from a nightmare. Now I don’t usually suffer from night terrors, but this one was particularly memorable. You may be wondering what led to this. The answer is I awoke from a nightmare where I had been asked to lead organizational change.
May 11, 2015
May 6, 2015
One of the biggest keys to success in any career is mentorship. Research over the last 30 years suggests that finding the right mentor can serve as a true lever for career success. In HR, the role of mentoring can be absolutely pivotal in preventing faux pas and learning the virtues of leadership and navigation, a core competency. Each time I think of mentorship I recall the impact my mentors have had and key incidents where I learned the most.
April 28, 2015
Do you despise performance management time? Do you despair at the thought of performance appraisal season? Do you ever call in sick when asked to rate someone’s performance?
April 21, 2015
Pardon me as I take a trip down memory lane. Join me if you can. Close your eyes. Think back to when you were starting out as an early career professional. Think back to your interviews and the things you learned from those experiences. What did you learn? 
April 15, 2015
SHRM, as the world’s largest HR professional association, has been leading the profession in the development of a certification program based upon competency-based assessment. This is an exciting and pivotal time in our profession and the new SHRM certification, officially announced in May 2014, is the first certification that is focused on teaching and testing the practical, real-life information HR professionals needs to excel in their careers today.
June 3, 2014