Importance of Operational Management

The given document is a compilation of references from various sources, highlighting the significance of operational management in different contexts. It includes research papers on complexity and performance measurement for retail supply chains, leadership and management of public sector undertakings, and configuring last-mile delivery systems. Additionally, it covers topics like distributed leadership, bureaucracy, and system leadership in education. The document also touches upon lean manufacturing, kaizen, and the impact of just-in-time approaches on production system performance.

MANAGEMENT AND
OPERATIONS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
P1. Define and compare different roles and characteristics of leader and manager...............1
P2 Different role of leader and function of manager of TESCO............................................3
P3 Presenting system, contingency and situational theory.....................................................4
P4 Describing key approaches of operational management...................................................6
P5 Describing importance and value of operational management.........................................7
P6 Describing factors that impact upon business environment..............................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Management and operations refers to the administration of various practices of business
for creating the highest level of effectiveness and efficiency possible in the company. Both
leaders and managers play an important role for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness. In
the same way, The report main focus is to describe the importance of operations and
management. The chosen firm for this report is TESCO which is one of the multinational retail
company in UK and also offer different clothes and grocery to their customers at reasonable
rates. The report will present roles of leader and manager and by using different examples and
theory, report will present role of leader and function of manager. Further, study will describe the
key approaches and importance of operational management of TESCO and assess some factors
that creates impact upon company's environment.
P1. Define and compare different roles and characteristics of leader and manager.
Leader is the person who is focused on leading and providing commands to a group of
people within the organization (Northouse, 2018). Leadership refers to the art of motivating the
team or group of people for accomplishing common and targeted goals and objectives of the
company. Leader can be also known as the inspiration and director of actions.
Manager is the person who is provided with the responsibility for administrating and
controlling the group of people within the organisation. Manager is the job title which is used
within the company for denoting an employee having particular responsibilities and duties for
leading different functions and employees as well.
Though the roles and responsibilities of leader and manager are interchangeable, there is
difference between functions that are performed by leader and manager for getting the work done
from employees. The manager of the company is responsible for setting objectives of company
according to the mission and vision of Tesco company (Bush, Bell and Middlewood, 2019).
Whereas, leader is responsible for communicating the objectives with employees and inspiring
them for achieving it.
Roles of Managers:
 Manager of Tesco plays the role of setting the objectives.
 Focus of manager is to follow structure and system.
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 The role that manager play is related to making plans and strategies and implementing
them in Tesco.
Roles of Leaders:
 Leaders of Tesco company plays the role of persuading the objectives developed by
managers.
 The focus of leader is on people of the organization.
 Role played by leader in the Tesco is to inspire and motivate employees for
accomplishing targeted goals.
Functions of Managers:
 Planning is the most important function, manager aims at making effective plans and
setting goals so that it can achieve Northouse, P.G., 2018targeted goals.
 Manager of Tesco aims at organizing and utilizing resources in effective and systematic
manner to fulfill organizational objectives.
 Manager focuses on directing the tasks and activities which needs to be performed by
employees of Tesco (Gupta, Kulkarni and Khatri, 2018).
 Manager of Tesco also focuses on monitoring and controlling the activities and
implemented strategies in order to verify effective outcomes.
Functions of Leaders:
 Leaders of Tesco helps in organizing resources of the task and also make it available for
right employees.
 Leaders focus on initiating actions and decisions related with task and achievement of
organizational objectives.
 Co-ordination is the another function that is played by leaders and thus he reconciles the
employee's interest with that of Tesco. Leader of Tesco is focused on making link between the workers and management and
thus he acts a platform between workers and higher level of management for conveying
task-related and important information.
Basis of
Comparison
Managers Leaders
Characteristics  Manager is administrative in  Nature of leader is innovative.
 Leader generally relies on
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nature.
 Manager generally rely on
control.
 The manager generally
possesses short- term view in
the organization.
inspiring trust and bringing
innovation.
 Leader often posses long-
term view for the
organization.
Key theories  Classical management theory
is applied by the managers of
Tesco. For example, manager
makes policies for enhancing
productivity and develop
KAIZAN strategy in which
management puts efforts for
improving the production
activities.
 Trait theory of leadership is
based on the qualities and
traits of leader. For example,
leaders uses their trait for
motivating employees for
adopting advance technologies
so that they can gain benefits
of lower cost of
manufacturing.
P2 Different role of leader and function of manager of TESCO
Situation 1: In TESCO when the management wants to change company's management
style, then at that time, the role and function of manager and leaders is completely different such
that by using behavioural theory of leadership, that shows the special behaviour of the leaders.
Such that in this situation, the manager assign duties to their employees and on the other side,
leaders motivate their employees and uses different techniques in order to increases their
working efficiency (Flemes, 2016). Moreover, the task oriented skills is also used in which the
leaders and managers are focused on given task and even the performance is also required In
order to achieve the results by completing the task. In this particular task, the leader chooses
behavioural leadership style so that it will help them to complete the objectives in well manner.
Further, it is not suitable to opt the situational leadership style because it mainly based upon the
styles which is opted by analysing the particular situation.
Situation 2: The top management of TESCO tries to arrange training and development in
order to raise the skills of employees so that they all work together and help to achieve the results
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as well (Aarons and et.al., 2016). In this situation, the role of leader and manager is different.
Such that by using contingency theory of management that is based upon the effective programs
and training and development decision is the responsibility that is assigned to manager and they
assigned duties to their employees as well. While on the other side, leaders uses leadership trait
theory in which they provide training sessions to their employees as per their traits. As a result, it
will help to enhance the productivity of their employees. Therefore, it has been analysed that by
using contingency leadership style, the leaders and managers of the firm are easily manage the
training sessions and can be opt the best style which Is suited for them.
Situation 3: A manager of TESCO is assigned a new task through their top management
and they has to complete the work within specific time period. In this situation, manager uses
Classical theory of management that enhances the employees productivity so that they can easily
get the results and further the theory also help to increases the efficiency as well as output.
Manager uses this theory in order to enhance the job and skills for increasing the abilities in a
firm and that is why they plan their working activity and increases the output and satisfaction
level (Raelin, 2016). On the other side, leaders of TESCO motivate their employees to perform
their best so that they help their managers to complete the work. Therefore,it has been analysed
that by opting classical theory, the company's leaders can easily manage the things and leads a
business towards further level of success.
From all, the contingency leadership theory is one of the most effective theory among all,
it is so because it help leaders to opt the style that is best suited for situation. Apart from this,
through this theory, the leaders and managers can easily attain the defined goals in better way.
P3 Presenting system, contingency and situational theory
System Leadership theory: It is defined as leadership in which the organization
structure is consider as a complex system in which the organization function Is also carried out
(Kamp, 2018). By using this theory, the organization will benefit because it helps to attain the
long term goals and by using strategies developed by leaders the goals of a firm are easily
achieved. Therefore, this theory helpful when the managers wants to introduce new management
into the working area. So that it will helpful to attain the aim and objectives of TESCO. The
leaders can be used this theory when the want to attain the long term goals such that they want to
change the management, at that time, they can easily cope with such situation.
Strength:
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 This theory help for presentation and interpretation of phenomenon and realities as well.
 The theory helps to clarify the thought of complexity and also helps to generate the ideas.
Weaknesses:
 The theory is complicated in nature and also engages different parameters as well.
 The theory is not so popular and as it contain some risk that is why Leaders generally did
not adopt the theory.
Contingency Leadership Theory: This theory mainly states that there is no best style
which is opted by leaders and that is suited for an organisation. This theory is suitable when the
leaders and manager of TESCO introduce training and development sessions to their employees.
The theory also observes that there are two types such that task oriented and relationship oriented
in nature. Thus, the theory helps to increases the productivity of a task and also establishing
better relationship with each others (Arena and Uhl-Bien, 2016). Further, leaders and manager of
the company uses this style when they want to provide training sessions to their employees and
using this they can easily defined the goals as well.
Strength:
 This theory helps in clarity of purpose and helps to increases the job satisfaction level of
the employees.
 Leader of TESCO uses this style then, staff also feel empowered and meaningful due to
some internal working atmosphere.
Weaknesses:
 It leads to increases customer dissatisfaction and as a result, it decreases profit of the firm
as well (Mendes and et.al., 2016).
 Low morale as the employees are not motivated.
Situational Leadership Theory: This theory states that leaders and managers should
adopt different leadership style for a situation as they face time to time rather using one
particular style. Leader and Manager of TESCO opted this style when the situation is not suited
for any style at that time, leaders opted situational style which is mainly used as per defined
situation. The theory states 4 style such as:
Telling: In this, leaders tell the people about the task and help them to complete the
work.
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Selling: In this, Leaders sell their ideas to their team members so that they will come into
process.
Participating: In this style, leaders of TESCO will offer less direction and also allow the
group of members to take more active role and also come with different ideas as well.
Delegating: In this leaders are less involved and group members tends to take most of the
decisions without consulting with leaders.
Strength:
 This helps in boosting motivation as it involves the employees in decision making
process so that they feel positive and comfortable (Lumby, 2019).
 The theory is flexible in nature and also helps in taking best business decisions.
Weaknesses:
 Sometimes this theory leads to creates confusion within a group and this may leads to
personal conflicts.
 It mainly covers short term strategy as its focus is only on current scenario.
P4 Describing key approaches of operational management
Operational management is that business practice which is used to create the highest level
of efficiency that helps a business to gain profit. There are some key approaches which is used
by the leaders of TESCO, such as:
Total quality Management: It is defined as a customer oriented process that helps to
improve the business operations. It is also ensured that this mainly focus on improvement of
quality and performance in all functions across the company in order to provide the best quality
of products that helps to improve customer satisfaction as well (Ross, 2017). The approach is
also based upon some principles such as Employee empowerment, continuous improvement,
commitment from management, customer focus. Therefore, by using TQM, the company also
increases the awareness of quality culture and also leads to improve the quality of products as
well.
Therefore, in the same way, for enhancing the quality of products and services, the
leaders and managers of the firm use situational leadership style in order to adjust into the
working area. Therefore, it has been realized that using situational leadership style, that helps to
improve customer satisfaction as well.
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JIT: It is another approach that helps to increases the efficiency and decreases waste by
receiving goods at the time of manufacturing process. The main purpose of this strategy is to
reduce the storage space as the goods of TESCO are stored in proper space and it also saves the
money as well. Further, this key approach of Operational Management also helps to reduces the
wastage of manufactured goods and helps in making lesser investment cost of a firm (Filippini
and Forza, 2016). When the quoted firm uses this strategy, the role of manager in TESCO is to
supply the goods at proper time and also maintain good relationship with the suppliers in order to
make sure that they supply the exact goods to their customers or not.
It has been analysed that using contingency leadership style, the leaders and managers of
TESCO will reduces the wastage of manufactured goods and helps in making lesser investment
cost of a firm. Moreover, by using contingency leadership style, the role of manager in TESCO
is to supply the goods at proper time and also maintain good relationship with the suppliers in
order to make sure that they supply the exact goods to their customers or not.
Kaizen Theory: It is the continuous improvement which mainly applies to improve
every functions in a business. Such that its main aim is to eliminate the waste in all system of a
firm by improving in its process. Even it is also based upon the principles of 5S, such as sort, set
in order, shine, standardise and sustain. Therefore, if TESCO uses this key approach, then it
encourage the development of team work and also break down some departmental barriers as
well that helps to achieve higher level of quality and innovation (Pinto and et.al., 2018).
Therefore, in this, the leaders measure the success of Kaizen theory and also identify the scope of
a task.
It has been further analysed that using system leadership style, leaders and managers start
eliminate the waste in all system of a firm by improving in its process. In this way, they used the
style in order to attain the defined goals of the firm in more effective way.
P5 Describing importance and value of operational management
Importance: OM mainly involves overseeing, designing and controlling of the process
and also redesigning the production of goods and services. Therefore, it also converted the raw
material into finished goods and input into output (Importance of Opertional management,
2019). Therefore, its main functions are:
Control and distribution system:It is the main function and also ensures proper
distribution of products. Therefore, the efficiency of control and distribution system can be
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improved by adopting strong control system and to improve logistics infrastructure as well. This
mainly concern with proper control of the resource according to process so that minimum waste
of resource is ensured.
Transformation of raw material into finished goods: Another important function in
which the input are converted into output (Qi and Shen, 2019). This will help to fulfil the
objectives of a firm and also improved by reducing the excessive resource to transform material
into finished goods. Therefore, through proper control and distribution system, the OM of
TESCO can easily attain the aims and objectives.
Process design: Designing is another important function of OM such that by specifying
the process in production process that helps to meet the demand of customers and helps to
generate profit as well. Even the process designing is well then company gain more productivity
by applying the right process of production.
Value
 Operational Management helps in higher standard of living and also raise the ability of
productivity. Further it also helps to lower the cost of goods and services.
 Operational management of TESCO also increases the quality of the products so that it
will helps to sustain its brand image in the competitive market (Hübner, Wollenburg and
Holzapfel, 2016).
 The operational management of TESCO also make sure that the environment Is
prevented and the products material are also recycled and also help to improve the
working conditions as well.
 Lastly, the operational management also helps in providing better job designing and
employee participation as well. So that the business can reach with defined aims and
objectives.
 Operational management also help in quality management such that it mainly used for
continuous improvement that further match the consumer taste and preference as well. In
the same way, company also uses performance indicators such as benchmarking that is an
internal process that leaders and manger uses to diagnose the weaknesses and identify the
way to turn it into strength so that it will help to raise the sales and relationship with
customers. In this way, it will help to achieve the defined goals of TESCO as well.
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 Facilities management is an important part of operational management such that an
effective operational management in company's activity is entirely depend upon the
facilities which it have such as storage, office, computer etc. In the same way, inventory
management is quite critical for TESCO and by using Just in Time inventory control
methods, the operational management can be improved. As a result, this will help to
achieved the goals and objectives of a business as well.
P6 Describing factors that impact upon business environment
Some factors are as mentioned below:
Political Factor: this is the external factor that affect the external environment of the
company. Such that sudden increases the tax rate by government also affect the business
operational management, it directly affect the sales of a business because as the tax rate
increases, the people did not spend more money and this also affect the profit margin of the
business.
Economical Factor: It is another factor that affect the entire business such that if the
country's economic situation is strong then it will help to increases the profit. While on the other
side, if there is a recession, then prices of products are high and as a result, operational
management of TESCO affect because they have to produce the products at lower rates (Zhang,
Fan and Xue, 2019).
Technological factors: Using advance technology into working area will help to creates
positive impact upon business such that using new and advance technique, the leaders and
managers saves time and money that will creates positive impact upon business performance.
CSR: It is the best approach that helps to contribute the sustainable development by
delivered economic and social benefits. Therefore, TESCO large part of its CSR policy is
dedicated towards welfare of society and helps in growth of the company. Therefore, CSR policy
should also affect the decision making of an organization which are ethical in nature and will be
beneficial for stakeholders as well.
Ethics and value: As TESCO follow CSR policy, which means that it should be ensure
that it must use ethical practises as well so that it will not cause any harm to the stakeholders of a
business. Apart from this, leaders and manager should also make sure that company's mission
and vision should be modified with time to time in order to comply with business ethics and
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values. Therefore, managers should also focus on developing a proper culture to provide exact
platform so that non- ethical cultures are not valued.
Sustainability: It is an important aspect that promote themselves as a responsible
organization to the general customers so that the customers also get more aware about the
products. Further, the material used by the firm is also used in eco- friendly manner so that it will
help a business to creates positive impact upon business (Lim and Winkenbach, 2019). Further,
the overall operations of the business should be sustainable so that it will help to protect the
environment. Moreover, the top management of a company also includes the leaders an manager
to make sure that the objectives which are used by the firm is sustainable in nature and did not
harm the culture as well.
Cultural: It is the idea, customs and social behaviour of people at specific place. It also
plays an important role in operation and management. Such that as TESCO is operate at
international level which means that it has to produce the products that as per people's needs
(Ekinci and Baykasoğlu, 2019). If the needs are analysed and then the company offer the same
products then it will creates positive impact upon the business performance.
CONCLUSION
By summing up above report it has been concluded that management and operations
plays an effective role in every business. Such that as study concluded that role and function of
manager and leaders is different in every situation. Even leaders of TESCO also uses
contingency leadership style that will help them to adopt the style as per situation. Further, study
concluded that operational management helps to transform the raw material into finished goods
and by using TQM, JIT and Kaizen, the efficiency can be improved. Lastly, the report also
concluded political, social and economical factors, CSR and ethics that also affect the
management and leadership.
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References
Books and Journals
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Arena, M. J. and Uhl-Bien, M., 2016. Complexity leadership theory: Shifting from human
capital to social capital. People and Strategy, 39(2), p.22.
Bush, T., Bell, L. and Middlewood, D. eds., 2019. Principles of Educational Leadership &
Management. SAGE Publications Limited.
Ekinci, E. and Baykasoğlu, A., 2019. Complexity and performance measurement for retail
supply chains. Industrial Management & Data Systems.119(4).pp.719-742.
Filippini, R. and Forza, C., 2016. The impact of the just-in-time approach on production system
performance: a survey of Italian industry. A review and outlook. In A Journey through
Manufacturing and Supply Chain Strategy Research (pp. 19-39). Springer, Cham.
Flemes, D. ed., 2016. Regional leadership in the global system: ideas, interests and strategies of
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Gupta, V., Kulkarni, S. and Khatri, N., 2018. Leadership and Management of Public Sector
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Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
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channel to omni-channel. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics
Management. 46(6/7). pp.562-583.
Kamp, A., 2018. Assembling the actors: exploring the challenges of ‘system leadership’in
education through Actor-Network Theory. Journal of Education Policy, 33(6), pp.778-
792.
Lim, S. F. W. and Winkenbach, M., 2019. Configuring the Last-Mile in Business-to-Consumer
E-Retailing. California Management Review. 61(2). pp.132-154.
Lumby, J., 2019. Distributed leadership and bureaucracy. Educational Management
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Mendes, M. and et.al., 2016. Promoting learning and innovation in organizations through
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Northouse, P.G., 2018. Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
Pinto, J. L. Q. and et.al., 2018. Lean Manufacturing and Kaizen. In Just in Time Factory (pp. 5-
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Qi, W. and Shen, Z. J. M., 2019. A Smart‐City Scope of Operations Management. Production
and Operations Management. 28(2). pp.393-406.
Raelin, J. A. ed., 2016. Leadership-as-practice: Theory and application. Routledge.
Ross, J. E., 2017. Total quality management: Text, cases, and readings. Routledge.
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