HNBS 304 Management and Operations

Management and
Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1. Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager........3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P2. Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts.......................................................................................................5
P3. Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency.........................................................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P4. Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and
managers play..............................................................................................................................9
P5. Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business
objectives...................................................................................................................................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
P6. Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational
management and decision-making by leaders and managers...................................................11
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Operations management is a business process which is used by management and business
owners for changing the functions into more efficient one and bring out most productive results.
The operations management technique is used for converting raw materials into finished goods
and commodities which company offer to the consumers for fulfilling their needs and earning
revenues in to most efficient and cost effective manner (White, 2016). The report is developed
on Marks & Spencer (M&S) a leading British retailer which was founded in 1884 by Michael
Marks and Thomas Spencer. The company has its operations in worldwide locations serving to
millions of customers on daily basis and headquartered in London, England, United Kingdom.
The assignment is inclusive of the roles and characteristics of managers and leaders along with
applying them in different situational context for practical understanding and clarity. Different
theories like situational, contingency and system are applied in organisational context and then
approaches of operations management are examined and explained. At last, operations
management value and importance for company and its functions is identified along with
determining the factors which affects the effectiveness of operations management techniques and
phenomena and over the decision-making of managers and leaders.
TASK 1
P1. Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager.
MANAGERS
Those individuals who manages the work and activities of the whole organisation and
who are responsible for making the whole firm operates efficiently are effectively at all levels
and in all respective areas are known as managers. The managers make plans and strategies for
company and its goals for attaining success and growth. Every company have different functions
units and for each functional unit a manager or managers are assigned. The characteristics and
roles of managers are defined below in context of M&S (Arribas And et. al., 2019).
ROLES OF MANAGERS:
 Monitoring- The managers of M&S performs several task like every other managers of
entities and amongst them Monitoring is one major role played by the management and
managers where they ensure that employees have all the required resources for
performing their tasks appropriately and efficiently.

 Negotiation- Another role which manager plays is of negotiation on behalf of the firm in
external environment and on behalf of employees in internal environment of the
company. The people will be reaching out to managers in case of any problems and the
managers will be negotiating with top level management and employees as well for birng
solutions to the issues or the situations.
CHARACTERISTICS OF MANAGERS:
 Risk Avoider- Managers always take a safe path to work on rather than a riskier one. It
is their characteristic that the managers adopt tried and tested ways of working rather than
innovating new phenomena's (Manzini and et. al., 2018).
LEADERS
The leaders are the individuals providing guidance and direction to employees and their
followers when they are stuck. Leaders make the best use of human resource to make them
potential and keep them motivated. Every team either permanent or temporary have their leaders
who guides them and make them work efficiently and effectively. Characteristics and roles of
leaders are elaborated underneath in context of M&S.
ROLES OF LEADERS:
 Motivator- The leaders plays a role of motivator that is they make sure the team
members and subordinates are happy and enthusiastic to work efficiently for the end of
their team and for contributing towards the ultimate objectives of M&S.
 Assigning Duties- The leaders of their teams are well aware about the skills and
expertise of members and their role is to assign them jobs and duties which are directed
to the end goal of M&S.
CHARACTERISTICS OF LEADERS:
 Risk Seeker- It is one potential characteristic of leaders that is they take innovative
approaches to work and for which they undergo risky situations for brining out the best
results (Huang and et. al., 2019).
 Change Agent- The leaders take creative ways to work over the old methods this
showcases their characteristic of leading the team and ultimately M&S towards change
and make people comfortable in adopting to the change and adjusting according to it.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ROLES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF LEADERS AND
MANAGERS