Leadership and Management: Roles, Characteristics, and Theories

Leadership and
management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Definitions of a leader and a manager.........................................................................................1
Comparison between roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager.................................2
Role of a leader and functions of a manager using organizational examples.............................4
Leadership and Management theories.........................................................................................5
Concept of operations management and its key approaches.......................................................6
Importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives..................8
Factors that impact operational management and decision making of leaders and managers....9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
References:.....................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Leadership can be defined as to form the team and guide their team mates as per the task
assigned to them. Human resource management is highly responsible in leadership function in an
organization so that people management can be focused on for the employee's as well as for the
employer's benefits. Management can be defined as to manage the company's operations and
employees as well so that they can get as much productivity as they can from the employees for
the company. Human resource management is also accountable for the functions of management
in order to keep the track of employees and working of the company in a smooth manner in an
organization (Carsten, Uhl-Bien and Huang, 2018).
Organization chosen here is Ford, it is one of the leading international auto maker
company based in US in 1903. They mainly deals with the cars and vehicles and sell them in the
market in it's own manufacturing process. They have ranges like Ford Mustang, Ford Figo and
Ford Aspire. This report consist the concept of leadership and management while taking the
example of the company Ford.
The following discussions are based on the leadership and management, concepts of
leader and manager, difference between roles and characteristics between leader and a manager,
role and functions of a leader and a manager in different organizational situations, various
leadership and management theories, role of leader and manager plays in operations
management, key approaches to operations management in context of the role of leader and
manger, importance of operations management in business and business factors that impacts or
affects the decision making and operations management in an organization in context of Ford
with proper findings and conclusion.
MAIN BODY
Definitions of a leader and a manager
Leader is a person who performs the function of leadership in an organization, they are
responsible for giving the motivation and inspiration to employees so that they can work
satisfyingly in terms of job and social relationships in the company. It is important for a leader to
handle employees and tackle conflict and change management with them so that they feel
comfortable working in the company. It is essential for the leader to take care of the employees
because workforce are considered as an assets for the firm and therefore, they are required to be
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satisfied and making them willing to work even harder for the company. There are various
leadership styles are available so that leader can adopt and can perform their functions
effectively such as autocratic, democratic, free rein, transactional, transformational, coach,
servant and many more styles. These styles helps and supports the leader in assisting their team
mates in their tasks and work performed in an efficient manner with a potential behaviour of a
person. Therefore, in order to motivate employees and inspire them by guiding for the work and
appreciating for the same can help the leader to apply such leadership styles in an organization in
a more easier way so that employees try their best to increase the productivity of the company
(Hester, 2017).
Manager is a person who performs the functions of management in an organization, they
are responsible for handling the company's management process to gain the organizational
stability and growth for better revenues and income generation of the firm. They are accountable
for the five major functions of management that are planning, organising, staffing, directing and
controlling. Without these functions, business management cannot be possible in a proper way.
Therefore, manager is important person in every organization to mange the management of the
company in an appropriate manner. Managers are of different departments in a company like
human resource manager, marketing manager, sales manager, information technology manger,
production manger, research and development manager and many more. Each manager is
responsible for the different functions in every department in the company as per the needs and
requirements of an organization. They mainly look that the work that is being carried out by the
employees are accurate or not, basically they instruct the employees for the work and give them
a path for better working in the firm. Managers main motive is to accomplish the task on a given
deadline so that productivity of the company can be increased and their departments could get
appreciated by top management of the firm (Korneeva, Krayneva and Platitsyn, 2018).
Comparison between roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager
Roles of a leader and a manager
Leader Manager
Leader's role is to set direction for it's
followers so that they can lead a way for them
and guide them about the work and task they
Manager's role is to plan the details of the work
or task given by the top management and
instruct their employees by providing them a
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