Leadership and Management: A Comparative Analysis with Amazon Case Study

Management and Operations

Table of Contents
Introduction..............................................................................................................................................3
Task 1.......................................................................................................................................................4
a) Definitions of a leader and manager...............................................................................................4
b) Comparison of the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers giving examples within
your organisation.................................................................................................................................4
c) Explanation of how the following apply in different situations......................................................5
I. The roles of a leader.....................................................................................................................5
II. The functions of a manager.........................................................................................................6
d) Explanation of how a manager you identified carry out his/her functions giving examples..........8
e) Application of at least 2 leadership models (which could include situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency leadership) to explain how they are applied in the organisation by any
manager...............................................................................................................................................9
Task 2- Amazon case study...................................................................................................................11
a) Explain the key approaches to operations management................................................................11
b) Explain the role of Amazons leaders and managers with regards to its operations management 12
c) Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving Amazons business
objectives...........................................................................................................................................12
d) Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon Amazons;........................13
I. Operational Management and...................................................................................................13
II. Decision Making by its Leaders and Managers........................................................................14
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................15
References..............................................................................................................................................16
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Introduction
Leadership and management are two approaches that help the organisation in achieving the
objectives and goals. The main aim of these two terms is only to run the required processes of
the organisation in a way that could be helpful in achieving targets of the company. The
current assignment highlights the functions of these two terms and also explains about how
these terms work in the organisation.
The current assignment is divided in two parts. The first part of the assignment describes the
terms leaders and managers and also the roles and functions of these two. Along with this, the
roles of leaders and managers in the different situations of the organisation also would be
explained through the example of ASDA (a supermarket chain in UK). The two leadership
theories are also explained in this section. Second part of the assignment includes a case
study of Amazons where the key approaches of operation management would be described.
The roles of leaders and managers in Amazons and importance and value of the concept
operation management to Amazons also would be described.
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Task 1
a) Definitions of a leader and manager
Leader and manager are very important for the organisation especially in achieving the goal
of the company. Many people think that these two terms are same but in reality these are
quite different from each other. Here, the definition of leader and manager is explained.
Leader
The main task of leader in the company is to inspire, motivate and direct the followers so that
all of them could perform the task easily and effectively and the goal of the organisation
could be fulfilled. Here, the definition of leader:
A leader is a person that works for the betterment of the organisation and employees. He or
she inspires, motivates and directs the employees of the organisation so that their skills could
be enhanced and the task of the organisation could be performed effectively with these
enhanced skills (Stanley, 2016).
Manager
Managers also play a very important role in an organisation. The main motive of the
managers of the company is to perform all tasks in the effective manner so that the vision and
mission of the company could be achieved. Here, the definition of manager is explained:
A manager in an organisation is the person that manages all the tasks in a way so that all of
these could be fulfilled timely. For that purpose, he or she directs the employees, organises
the resources, coordinates with activities and also controls on the factors to achieve the
organisational goals and objective. Managers work only for the betterment of the
organisation.
b) Comparison of the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers giving examples
within your organisation
Here, the example of ASDA would be taken which is a supermarket chain in UK. The
company is operating at the various locations of London, Scotland etc. There are the various
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