Leadership and Management Analysis: Unilever Case Study Report

This report delves into the core concepts of leadership and management, using Unilever as a case study to illustrate practical applications. It begins by defining and comparing the distinct roles and characteristics of leaders and managers, highlighting their importance in organizational success. The report then examines how leaders and managers function in different situations, such as managing complex issues and launching new products. Furthermore, it explores the application of various leadership theories and approaches, demonstrating their impact on employee motivation and organizational performance. The analysis extends to operations management, explaining key approaches and the roles of leaders and managers in this area. The report concludes by assessing the impact of the business environment on operational management and decision-making, providing a comprehensive understanding of the interconnectedness of these elements within an organization.

Leadership and
Management Concepts

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK1.............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager....3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P2. Role of a leader and functions of a manager applied in different situations....................6
P3. Application of different theories and approaches of leadership.......................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P4. Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and
managers play.........................................................................................................................9
P5. Explain the significance and value of operations management.....................................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
P6. Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational
management and decision-making.......................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................14
Books and Journal................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Management can be defined as that function which is related to managing
differentindividuals in business firm in order to perform functions and achieve business function.
Manager and leader play a significant role when organisataion aims to expand their plan.
Operations can be defined as that function which is related to managing functions in business
operations and achieving goals by performing different operation in effective way (Kutz, 2018)
. Operational management is a process through which the raw materials are converted into the
finished goods and the focus is to increase the profitability of the businesses. The report is based
on Unilever that is British multinational consumer goods company that has its headquarters in
London, England. The products of the company are available in around 190 countries. In the
report there is discussion related to role of leader and manager and different theories that are
used by them to achieve effectiveness in the organisation. There is explanation related to
importance of operational management. It also covers importance of manager and leader in
decision-making process of the organisation.
TASK1
P1 Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager
Management is a vital function of an organisation as all the other functions are
coordinated by the management team. It helps an organisation to achieve the goals and
objectives effectively and efficiently (Myers, and Pronovost, 2017). Leader and Manager are
important part of organisation and the success of an organisation depends on them. The role of
leader and manager and difference between both of them is discussed below:
Leader: Leader is a person that finds out ways to improve the efficiency in the
organisation and gives direction to people to move towards a vision. Leader helps to change the
mission set into the reality by analysing the capabilities of people and motivating them to work.
The person focuses on building relations with people and making them work towards the goals
and objectives of the organisation. It is desired that the leader is emphatic and connect with
people to make the organisation successful. Leader is the person who manages all actvities that is
necessary for organisation in expansion of plan. When organisation plan their expansion then it
becomes necessary for their employees that should get motivated and encouraged by leaders.

Leaders are the person who integerate individual goal into organisational common goal so that in
this way expansion can be executed.
Manager: Manager is responsible to manage all the functions of an organisation and
coordinate various departments of the organisation so that all the objectives are achieved by the
organisation. Manager is important as the person motivates all the employees and delegate
responsibilities among them.In relation to Unilever, it is identified that their managers perform
their duties and responsibilities very well. So that employees get motivation to do work for
expanding their plan (Oplatka, and Arar, 2017). Motivated employees help to achieve the goals
and objectives of the organisation. Along with that the manager of Unilever provides a good
working environment so that the work can be done smoothly over there.
Role of leader: Innovative vision: In today's era it is important for a leader to be innovative. The person
should grab the opportunities and find new ways of doing and completing those. The
innovative vision of leader helps to gain competitive advantage. It is responsibility of
leader to give new ideas to all the employees so that they can work accordingly. In
relation to Unilever the leader gives equal opportunities to employees and takes their
ideas for effective decision-making.
 Provide effective guidance and training: As the leader knows the strength and weakness
of all the employees that are working in the organisation. There is requirement to provide
proper training and development to the employees so they are able to work effectively.
The leaders of Unilever provide all the updates to all the employees and that helps the
organisation to become successful. Training and development increases the productivity
of the employees and that helps the organisation to become successful.
Characteristics of leader:
Ability to Delegate: Unilever is the organisation in which leader play a main role for their
success and growth. To expand their plan, it becomes necessary for organisation that their leader
should delegate responsibility. A leader should delegate responsibility in an effective way among
their employees. It helps to increase trust in team. The employees know about their work that
helps them to work for the organisation and increase the productivity of the organisation.
Effective communicator: To communicate an expansion plan of Unilever, it is important
for ledaer that they should have effective communication skills in which it inckude two way

cxomunication (Eacott, 2018). A good leader should be a good communicator. All the employees
can understand the instructions given by the leader if they are well communicated. A leader
should know variety of ways in which the information can be communicated to all the
employees. The quality of communication helps to make the organisation successful.
Role of Manager: Develop policies: It is the duty of manager to make policies. The policies made are in
context to the goal of the organisation. In relation to Unilever, the policies are formed
keeping in mind all the employees so they can be fulfilled. It is important to have
transparency and equality at workplace so every employee can work smoothly and helps
in meeting the goals of the organisation.
 Authorization duty: For giving the authority the duties should be distributed among
employees. In Unilever the duties are distributed among employees so there is no
confusion and duplication of work. Authority gives motivation to employees and they are
able to work effectively for the organisation. The employees complete their work on time
and help in achieving targets of the organisation.
Characteristics of manager: Time management: Time management is an important charcter required in a manager.
As manager has to set targets and motivate employees to achieve those targets in time. As
seen in Unilever, the work of employees is always completed on time and this is due to
the time management that they have learnt from their manager (Buturuga, 2017). It is
important for an organisation to set goals and achieve them within time.
 Effective Comuunication: A person having good communication ability to develop more
relations as the individual is able to communicate better. Manger has to lead the team, so
it is vital that the person has effective communication and that helps to achieve the goals
and objectives of the organisation. A good manager understands all the employees and
assigns them tasks according to their capabilities.
Difference between leader and manager:
Basis Leader Manager
Role A leader provides effective
guidance and support to its team so
they can work effectively and
Manager controls the administrative
functions and follow the four
functions of management that are

efficiently for the betterment of the
organisation. In Unilever, the
leader motivates employees to
follow the mission and help them
wherever they want. Leaders
always take his team with him and
always help them in best possible
ways (Huber, 2017).
planning, motivating, organising and
controlling. The managers also takes
care that the roles and
responsibilities are clear among
employees.
Characteristics Unilever’s leaders are influential as
they are charismatic and are able to
attract better. They have good
communication skills which help
them to make employees
understand them better.
A manager of Unilver manages time
that is so important to complete the
assigned work on time. They take
care of employees that they work in
time and communicate with them to
timely resolve the problems if they
arise.
TASK 2
P2. Role of a leader and functions of a manager applied in different situations
Unilever is the multinational organisation that needs good leader and managers so that
their main agenda i.e expansion plan can be met.Business world has dynamic nature that means
there are many situations that occur in which organisation need the support of manager and
leader. The conflicts are to be solved in a manner that both the parties are satisfied. The leader
and manager play an important role in solving all these problems, which is mentioned below
according to the situation that arise:
Situation 1: Effective management of complex situation: The situation sometime
becomes complex and requires effective management to get resolved. Many conflicts arise while
working and the needs of customers are dynamic so these conflicts can give rise to decrease in
sales and also decrement in profitability. Situation may become complex but it is on the leader as
well as manager how they take the organisation out of the situation. In such situations the leaders
and managers of Unilever, perform the various roles:
Role of a leader:

 The leaders at Unilever analyse the whole situation and then take the decision to resolve
everything wrong. After analysing the situation, it is easier to evaluate and take measures. The leader should analyse situations regularly so that they canreduce the possibility of
risk. Take effective decision which is good for organisation as well as employees.
Functions of manager:
 Manager of Unilever, always keep a record of the situations that arise in manufacturing
industry and how they can be resolved as if similar kind of thing happens in company
they already have solution and can came out easily and fast which is good for the
company. It is the duty of managers to keep their employees motivated. In Unilever, no matter what
the situation is the employees are kept motivated so they can work effectively and
achieve the goals of organisation smoothly (Gopee and Galloway, 2017). Unilever
manager perform programmes of reward and recognition that helps to raise employee’s
motivation.
Situation 2: New product launch: At the time of launch of new product there are many
things that need to be managing for proper and good launch of product. Everyone has to work as
a team to achieve the targets. In Unilever, both leaders and mangers work their best and use all of
their skills and knowledge for a successful product launch, their roles and functions are discussed
below:
Role of a leader:
 Leader assures that the product is in line with the vision and makes a report which is to be
circulated in the market. The report should be attractive enough and everyone should
understand the report easily and in a right manner. The leaders at Unilever have to see pre-launch and post-launch details. They need to
communicate well to everyone about the launch and take care of that the product is
launched the way it was decided.
Functions of manager:
 The manager has to perform a lot of functions like checking the packaging, deciding the
promotional strategies, deciding the cost, the sales and the margins.

 The most important thing is to manage all functions in a systematic manner. It can be
done only through effective planningThe managers of Unilever always plan better and
accomplish that plan (Hamidifar, Yusoff and Ebrahimi, 2017).
P3. Application of different theories and approaches of leadership
For expansion of plan, it is necessary for Unilver that they should apply theories and
approaches of leadership in such a way that they motivate employees towards execution of plan.
Businesses face different situations and how effectively they manage them show their success. It
is identified that there are many methods to olve the problem (Fröhlich, Seo and Huang, 2017).
One of them hould be learn so tat organisation can not face similar problem. In Unilever, the
situations are analysed and the problems are discussed with employees they are also given the
authority to give the solutions which keep them motivated. The leader keeps them engage and all
the trends that are going are told to them so they have knowledge of what is going on and work
accordingly. In regard to this various leadership theory are discussed below:
Situational leadership: According to this theory, a leader always reacts differently to
every situation. No leadership style is perfect; indeed the leader has to lead the team according to
the situation. If a leader wants to deal with every situation in a same leadership style then it is not
possible. There are many different ways to deal with every situation. Leaders of Unilever, follow
Hersey and Blanchard model to resolve the problems. The models are explained underneath: Telling: The strategies and decisions are conveyed to the employees so they can work
accordingly). Communicating in an efficient way is improves the work done by
employees. Selling: Under this the leaders of Unilever try to sell their ideas to groups so they can
understand things better and complete the task effectively. Delegating: Herein the responsibility is given to group to take decisions, which improve
their participation and engagement. Delegation helps employees to learn more so they
work better. Participating: The tasks and ideas are emphasised under this model, to motivate the
employees.
System leadership: The prediction is made keeping in mind the industry trend so it is
easy to understand the task. In Unilever, the leaders tell all the employees about real life
situations and then communicate how they have to deal with those situations (Huber, 2017).

There are set guidelines to do the tasks that help employees to take decision easily. The policies
and strategies are already there which are beneficial to complete the task.
Contingency leadership: Contigency leadership is the approach in which organisation’s
leaders try to apply contingency approach. This leadershsip style states that ther is no single
leadership style present in which organisation can apply particular on leadership style. In relation
to Unilever, the leaders keep them prepared for every situation and work according to that. They
have power to deal with changes.
TASK 3
P4. Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and managers
play
Operational Management means managing manufacturing, production and delivery of
goods and services. Unilever is the large orgabisation in which top managemnt uthority decide to
expand their plan, so it is necessary that their operations should be properly managde.It is an
important function as the main production is done in this function (Leitch and Volery, 2017). As
the company will make quality product it will gain competitive advantage. Customers feel
satisfied if they get quality products. The better operations of company give more the chances of
better sales. In Unilever, they use different approaches for operational management, those are
written below: Total quality management: Managing and maintaining quality is an important task and
aongoing process for every organisation to retain customers. For providing good product
it is important to explain the staff about the benefits of quality products. In respect to
Unilever, they focus on maintaining overall quality of the product which is important in
manufacturing industry. They make plans and strategies to improve operations and
production. They believe in motivating the employees would give better results and
improve the productivity of the organisation.
 Lean production: This approach aims to minimise the waste and improve the quality
which will save the time. The main approach is to get maximum production. The focus is
on manufacturing where there is no loss or minimal loss. In relation to Unilever, they
focus on reducing the waste and improving the quality to improve the operational process
(Nguyen and et. al., 2017).

To successfully achieve these, the managers and leader have to play a significant role and their
roles are discussed below: Provide direction: It is the duty of leader and manager to give guidance to the employees
and help them to work. Sometimes it is necessary to direct the employees when they are
going wrong or when some new process is launched. In Unilever, the employees are
trained and updated according to dynamic environment so they can work according to the
needs of company and help them to maximise the quality and achieve economies of scale.
 Bring excellence: Every company in the industry is working on improving the quality
but the leader and manager of Unilever believe in getting excellence. They use new
methods to improve the production and eliminate waste which has given the company
competitive advantage (Novak, Breznik and Natek, 2020). As the work is done accurately
it increases the overall profitability of the organisation. Leaders encourage the staff and
managers try to keep they motivated for overall efficiency of the company.
P5. Explain the significance and value of operations management
Operational management basically focuses on effective and efficient production process
to achieve economies of scale. Operational managemnet is important for expanision plan of
Unilever. In an expansion plan, organistion need to arrange all functions and operations in a
systematic manner. The raw materials are converted into finished goods to achieve profitability.
This function manages delivery of goods and services. If the production process will work
smoothly then it will be profitable for the organisation. The values of operational management
are explained below: Process design: Product design is necessary for organisation and their employes. They
hsould know the importance so that tehy can make strategies accrodingly. As the
production depends on the process used for designing the product. Better the process is
designed better the organisation will produce goods It is important to timely modify the
process if there are some short comings in it. Unilever, design products according to the
needs of customer. Under it the process is designed in parts and the responsibility to
complete the task is given to employees. Customer satisfaction: It is an old saying “customer is king”. The main focus of
organisation should be to satisfy the customers. If the quality of product is good the
customers feel satisfied (Torrisi-Steele, 2017). Producing the product or service

according to the needs of customers helps to gain competitive edge and customer loyalty.
Feedback of customers is also important and helps in serving them with what they want.
Unilever provides the goods and services according to the needs of customer which keep
their customers satisfied. Cost reduction: Company should focus on reducing the cost as customers want product
that are affordable. Use of six sigmas, lead management, TQM help to eliminate waste
and achieve economies of scale. These techniques help manager to reduce the cost and
make the product affordable. As seen in Unilever, the focus is on providing quality
products at affordable prices
 Control and design system: This is the primary activity which is helpful to control the
operational management in an organisation It is significant course of action which is
required to accomplish the goals of organisation. In Unilever, the control and design
system is as strong as they keep a good control on every process. They focus on
eliminating waste and achieving competitive lead.
TASK 4
P6. Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational
management and decision-making
Business environment includes all the internal and external factors that have impact on
business. There are many factors that influence business environment. It is important to study
these factors and their impact on business to work effectively and efficiently. The factors that
impact business environment of Unilever are discussed below:
Corporate social responsibilities: Corporate Social Responsibility is a management
concept which helps company to be socially accountable. Companies are conscious about the
impact they make on environment and society. They perform the activities that are good for
society and do not harm environment. Unilever provides quality products to its customers and
focused on providing employment to the local areas where they have their branch. They focus on
social welfare with the help of providing best quality of goods and services. It is responsibility of
managers to see that the business follows social responsibilities as it created reputation and
goodwill in eyes of public (Cox, and Hassard, 2018). The company tries its best to minimise the

wastage of resources and use them sustainably. If the companies, follow social responsibility
there financial position also gets improved due to their good image and satisfied customers.
Ethics: Ethics are the values and code of conducts that should be followed by
organisation. Due to globalisation it is important to follow business ethics. Ethics are code of
conduct that that organisations are expected to follows. Unilever follows proper ethics such as
they use renewable resources and do not perform those activities that violate their law.
Shareholders: Shareholders are the persons who have invested money in the
organisation. Giving them profit is the main function of the organisation. Unilever focuses on
demands of customers. Leaders and managers try their best to improve the operations so that the
company is profitable and shareholders get proper return (FHKPS, 2018).
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that, Operational Management is a very important function in an
organisation as herein the raw materials are converted into finished goods. It plays a important
role in expansion of organisation plan. It provides a process in which organsiation try tomanage
all the functions and activities that can be change due to expansion of plan. The quality of
products depends on how effectively they are manufactured. The leader and manager play a vital
role in the process as they motivate and direct employees to work according to the set targets and
help them to achieve the goals on time. Unilever, focuses on making their product available to all
at an affordable rate which shows there leader and manager and fulfilling their responsibilities
effectively. This report also uses six sigmas and TQM that help to maintain quality and do the
modifications that are required. Also, there are factors that influence the business environment
and decision making of an organisation.