Leadership and Management: A Comparative Analysis with Case Studies

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MANAGEMENT & OPERATIONS

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Task 1: Case Problem......................................................................................................................3
a) Defining a Leader and a Manager...............................................................................................3
b) Discussing the differences in characteristics and roles between a manager and a leader...........3
c) Explaining the following.............................................................................................................4
I. Roles of the Leader.......................................................................................................................4
II. Functions of the Manager in the organisation.............................................................................4
d) Explaining with examples how the manager executed their functions.......................................5
e) Application of the Leadership Theory Models............................................................................5
Case 2: Amazon Case Study............................................................................................................7
a) Explaining the key approaches in the context of the organisational management......................7
b) Role of leaders and managers in operations management..........................................................8
c) Importance of operations management in Amazon's business goals...........................................9
d) Factors that affect Amazon’s Operations Management............................................................10
I. Operational Management...........................................................................................................10
II. Decision making by the Leaders and the Managers.................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
Every company needs managers and leaders for its survival. Managers basically prepare its team
members for short-term goals and leaders generally are visionaries These guys think about an
idea and think about strategies about how to implement it. Managers and leaders are required for
the company’s overall growth. Now, leaders and managers can be recruited from outside or they
can be promoted from within. Promoting somebody from within will mean cost cutting and also
beneficial in the long run since that person will be aware of the company's culture and vision. A
new person recruited from outside will have to be trained for that.
Task 1: Case Problem
a) Defining a Leader and a Manager
A leader is a person who has a unique idea and works or influences his subordinates to achieve
that goal. He is a visionary and he believes in his goals. He believes that the goal can be achieved
through cooperation and hard work. He takes the risk and thinks about the future. A manager is a
person who is responsible for various aspects of planning, coordination, direction and planning.
A manager is a person who thinks about the current situation and the work in hand rather than
the future. He thinks about his department and engages his subordinates and also motivates them
to accomplish those goals (Bolden, 2016). These managers are responsible for various functions
of the organizations like marketing, sales finance, HR etc. Leadership indicates a person’s ability
to influence others in order to achieve a common goal. The leader is the brainchild behind the
idea and he will do his best to convince others to work on that idea and successfully implement
it. So, a manager is a person who manages a team or a process from a micro level.
b) Discussing the differences in characteristics and roles between a manager and a leader
Leaders create the long-term goal. They see a future opportunity which can create a USP for
their company. Then they inspire and motivate the employees to attain that objective. They
discuss the plan or the approach with other key people and convince them to an extent where
they are compelled to believe in them. They think beyond what normal people think and
encourage people to think about bigger objectives. Managers, on the other hand, think about the