Leadership and Management Concepts (Part 1) - Unit 4 Management and Operations

This report covers the role of leaders and functions of managers in those functions to get things done from employees in an effective and efficient manner. An analysis of the different roles of management and leadership in application to different organisational situations, supported by theories and concepts.

Unit Number and Title Unit 4 - Management
and Operations
Project Title Leadership and
Management
Concepts (Part 1)
1

Table of Content
Assessment Part 1
1. An introduction to the college/ chosen organisation
management structure 3
2. Definition and roles of both managers and leaders,
highlighting the differences between management and
leadership 4
3. An analysis of the different roles of management and
leadership in application to different organisational
situations, supported by theories and concepts
5
4. An evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of different
approaches to leadership and management to draw
conclusions that support theories of leadership
7
5. Conclusions on how managers and leaders have made an
impact on the organisation and recommendations for
future improvements 7
References 7
2

1.0 An introduction to the college/ chosen organisation
management structure
The company which is being chosen is Tesco. It is a British based global grocery and
general merchandise retailer which was founded in the year 1919 and is headquartered in the
city of Welwyn Garden City, United Kingdom. This report covers the role of leaders and
functions of managers in those functions to get things done from employees in an effective
and efficient manner. In addition to that it involves the styles of leadership and theories of
management in context to the Tesco.
2.0 Definition and roles of both managers and leaders,
highlighting the differences between management and
leadership
Leadership can be referred to as the process which involves influencing a behaviour
of individuals by way of making them strive in a voluntarily manner concerning the
attainment of organisational goals. A leader is a person who get things done from its
employees in order to achieve company's objectives. The leader in an organisation plays a
very important role in motivating the employees to achieve objectives. The main objective of
leader is to motivate it employees through proper communication skills and leadership. The
leader basically works on inspiring and influencing the employees to perform in an
organisation resulting increasing the productivity and efficiency in the
organization(Busalacchi, 2018).
Managers are those who are basically involved in the management and designing a
work of a business in a direction of an objective and pre determined goals of business. In
order to achieve goals in the company, the main task of the manager is to establish and
develop desired policies and strategies according to the business objectives. The manager is
basically involved in the management of tasks in different departments(Dombrowski,
Wullbrandt and Karl, 2019).
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Difference between the leaders and managers
The role of leaders and managers are considered to be interchangeable and both of
them perform different functions in order to get things done from the employees in the
company. The main objective of the manager is to set the objectives for the mission and
vision of a company whereas the main work of the leader is to communicate further and
inspire the employees to follow the steps that are provided by the leaders(Feder, 2020).
Leaders Managers
The leaders focuses on motivating the
employees.
The managers focuses on directing the work to
the employees.
The leaders focuses on the people The managers focus on things
They play an important role in implementing
the ideas into real life situations.
They focus on creating ideas for betterment of
the company.
The leaders focuses on persuading goals
developed by the managers
They set objectives for the company.
They focuses on influencing and
communicating the employees to work
according to the policies.
The managers focuses on communicating
policies to the leaders.
In context to Tesco, the organisation is basically involved in general merchandise and
the management of the company is very effective and efficient in developing strategies for
the organisation in increasing the level of productivity. The role of leaders and role of
managers is totally different from each other. The managers of the organisation basically
involved in establishing standards for the performance and tasks of the employees through
use of efficient interpersonal communication skills(Holzem and Katers, 2019).
3.0 An analysis of the different roles of management and
leadership in application to different organisational
situations, supported by theories and concepts
4

Role of leader and functions of managers in the organization
Planning : It is the process of deciding in advance what to do, how to do and by whom it
has to be done. In context to Tesco, the main function of its managers is to set the goals and
plan the goals in the organisation in order to compile the sales and increase the revenue of
the company. The role of leader in the organisation is mainly to interact with employees
regarding their roles that are set by the managers to the company's employees and also
focusing on the efforts of the employees in order to achieve objectives and goals of the
organisation (Kumar, Agarwal and Singh, 2020).
Organizing: It involves utilizing and organizing the resources of the company in an
efficient as well as effective manner so that there is achievement of the organisational goals
and objectives. The main function of the leader is to efficiently allocate resources in order to
inspire employees for performing better in the organisation (Jensen and Ørnskov, 2018).
Staffing: It involves the function of leaders and managers to get the best out of the
employees through the process of recruitment in the company. In context to tesco, the
organisation recruits the staff members and assign them jobs according to their capabilities
and the skills of employees. The leaders in the organisation keeps on allocating the work
according to employee's capabilities and motivating the staff in order to communicate better
in the organisation.
Coordinating: It basically involves coordination among the function of the management
in order to achieve better outcomes. The main function of the different departments also
involves the finance and production department in order to serve the organisation with
various benefits in order to offer high quality products to the customers. The role of leader is
to coordinate different activities in the organisation through implementation of the best
practices for the development of various activities with the help of good leadership skills and
communication(Kim and Choi, 2020).
Controlling: It involves the implementation of the strategies by the leaders and its
formulation in the organisation . In context to the organisation, the leaders keep a check on
various results of performance of workforce according to the set standards that are being laid
down by managers.
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The style of leadership and functions of the management are applied to the organisation
helps in bringing changes to the policies and strategies so that improvement is brought in the
working of the organisation and the cost of the manufacturing can be brought low (Lahunova,
2018 ).In context to Tesco, the function of its leaders are being explained in context to the
roles of manager with an operational department. The role of the leaders and the functions of
the managers mainly helps the organisation to work in a desired direction near to the
fulfilment of objectives in the business. The distinct styles and traits of the leadership with a
help of various functions of the management helps in proper functioning of the functions of
the management. There are various management theories which can be applied to leadership
skills in order to implement and plan such strategies which helps in increasing the revenue
and sales of the company. The various theories of the management with the help of leadership
skills can help in making the company grow in its operations. In context to Tesco, the
operations department mainly focuses on management theories as well as combination of the
efforts of the leaders in cutting down a cost of the manufacturers (Peterson, 2019 ).
Classical management Theory: Under this theory, the managers makes various policies
in order to enhance the productivity. In context to Tesco, the organisation have developed the
strategies which is basically known as the KAIZEN that involves the efforts of the staff and
management that are involved in improvement of the production activities that also involves
application of the participative style of leadership that involve s the input of the managers as
well as workers in the process of decision making for the purpose of improving the
production as well as reduction in cost (Sachin and Sandeep, 2019).
Contingency Theory : It basically focuses on the change in the strategies as per the
changes in situation. The leaders plays an essential role in influencing the behaviour of the
workforce in order to bring the changes in operations for meeting the challenging prevailing
in the market. In context to Tesco, the managers take into consideration the reasons of the
increased cost of manufactures and use these theories in order to implement changes in the
operational activities.
Management by Objective Theory : It basically involves focusing on the combined
efforts of people and the managers so that goals of business are achieved. The managers set
standards of performance and also works with the employees and the leaders then delegate
their duties to employees so that they are motivated towards it in order to perform task in an
effective and efficient way.
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4.0 An evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of
different approaches to leadership and management
to draw conclusions that support theories of
leadership
There are different approaches to the leadership and management which can be
used by the company. Their strength and weakness is as follows-
Contingency theory
ADVANTAGES
 Dynamic in nature- The approach for this theory is dynamic as it changes according to
situations and allows managers to modify the policies as per the situation.
 Leadership skills- This approach helps in enhancing the leadership skills of managers
and also improves their decision skills.
DISADVANTAGES
 Complex approach- Theory may look simple but is very complex in nature when it
comes to implementation.
 Reactive in nature- Managers may find it hard to handle the situations as the approach
is basically reactive in nature.
MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVE THEORY
ADVANTAGES
 Result oriented- This theory focuses on achieving goals and objectives and allows
managers to to the detail planing to achieve them.
 Responsibility- Managers have to establish targets and standards of performance. Each
person involved in this have responsibility and authority of performing the task.
DISADVANTAGES
 Unrealistic goals- Top management can set goals which lower one may find it hard to
achieve and come in pressure. This may result in lack of motivation.
 Paperwork- Lot of paperwork is involved in this increasing the time to execute it and
load of managers as they have to organize also load of managers as they have to organize
meetings and submit report.
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5.0 Conclusions on how managers and leaders have
made an impact on the organisation and
recommendations for future improvements
From the report it can be concluded that, the styles of leadership and theories of
management of management operations according to the theories when applied in the
organisation helps in obtaining better results.
References
Busalacchi, A., 2018. The Management and Operation of the National Center for
Atmoshperic Research (NCAR).
Dombrowski, U., Wullbrandt, J. and Karl, A., 2019, September. Bidirectional Data
Management in Factory Planning and Operation. In IFIP International Conference on
Advances in Production Management Systems (pp. 303-311). Springer, Cham.
Feder, J., 2020. Operation Planning Tool Improves Quality, Efficiency of Offshore Risk
Management. Journal of Petroleum Technology, 72(08). pp.69-70.
Holzem, R. M. and Katers, J. F., 2019. Life-cycle analysis of advanced manure management
systems for a Wisconsin confined animal feeding operation (Cafo). Applied
Engineering in Agriculture, 35(1). pp.51-59.
Jensen, J. S. and Ørnskov, J. K., 2018. Optimisation of management of operation and
maintenance of structures and installations. In Operation and Maintenance of Large
Infrastructure Projects (pp. 113-119). Routledge.
Kim, J. H. and Choi, J. I., 2020. Perioperative dual antiplatelets management for
ventriculoperitoneal shunt operation in patients with hydrocephalus after stent-
assisted coil embolization of the ruptured intracranial aneurysm. Clinical Neurology
and Neurosurgery, 195, p.106067.
Kumar, J., Agarwal, A. and Singh, N., 2020. Design, operation and control of a vast DC
microgrid for integration of renewable energy sources. Renewable Energy Focus, 34,
pp.17-36.
Lahunova, I., 2018. Institutional arrangements of risk management in the construction and
operation of structures. News of Science and Education, (4). pp.036-045.
8

Peterson, D., 2019. Pump Station Management: Eliminate Run‐to‐Failure Operation. Opflow
Online, 45(6).
Sachin, M. and Sandeep, N., 2019. Development of green Operation framework for
Automotive part Manufacturing Companies. Asian Journal of Management, 10(4).
pp.335-342.'
Yamashita, S., 2019. Efficient Network Operation and Management enabled by AI
technologies. IEICE Technical Report; IEICE Tech. Rep., 119(158). pp.21-23.
Zhang, X. and Zhang, H., 2021. Operation and Management of Artificial Liver Support
Systems. In Artificial Liver (pp. 413-440). Springer, Singapore.
Zhichao, L. and Yuping, Z., 2018, September. Research on Distribution Network
Operation and Control Technology Based on Big Data Analysis. In 2018 China International
Conference on Electricity Distribution (CICED) (pp. 1158-1161). IEEE.
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Table of Content
Assessment Part 2
1. An introduction to the key operations of the organisation
11
2. Details of each of the key operational functions, identifying
the roles and responsibilities of managers in the key
operational functions 11
3. Explanation of the key operational approaches to
operations management and their value
11
4. An evaluation of the impact of external business
environment factors that affect decision-making by leaders
and managers 13
5. How operational efficiencies can be improved to
successfully meet business objectives using appropriate
management and leadership approaches
14
6. Conclusions and supported recommendations for future
improvements to be taken by the organisation 16
References 16
10

1. An introduction to the key operations of the
organisation
Operations management is the one which basically involves an administration which includes
various practices of business in order to create a level of efficiency which is possible in the
company. It is basically related with conversion of labour and materials into services and
goods in order to enhance efficiency in order to maximise the profits of a company. The
report basically involves the role of leaders and managers in the company in order to help the
organisation for improving the development and production efficiency of the high quality
products. The organisation chosen for this report is Tesco.
2. Details of each of the key operational functions,
identifying the roles and responsibilities of managers in
the key operational functions
There are various operational functions which can be used by the businesses in order to
manage their key operational functions. These include Business process redesign, six sigma,
reconfiguration manufacturing system and lean manufacturing. The managers and leaders are
required to make sure that they make use of these functions so that they can bring continuous
improvement in the operations. The managers of Tesco must ensure that they study the cost,
quality as well as time consumption of their operations and measure them so that
improvement can be brought in it.
3. Explanation of the key operational approaches to
operations management and their value
Operations management ensures compliance of broad actions that must be performed to meet
with expectations set up by the company by transforming current conditions to achieve
organisational objectives. Managers and leaders of the company plays a major role in
successfully implementing operations management. There are various methods and
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approaches that managers study and conduct to fulfil organisational aims. The key
approaches to operations management that are practised by TESCO are discussed below:
Business Process Redesign (BPR)
The term refers to the absolute redevelopment of a company's business process in
order to achieve a measurable improvement in performance factors like return on investment,
minimum costs and top quality of products and services (Behl and Dutta, 2019). The
company performs this complete overhaul to bring improvement in critical aspects like costs,
quality and time consumption etc.
Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems
This term refers to a system adopted by manufacturers which focuses on the
capability of an organisation to change and adapt quickly to improve production capacity and
practicality. It pays emphasis on the importance of flexibility required to deal with alterations
in a dynamic business environment. The company adopted this system in order to be prepared
for the changes involved in constantly evolving environment and adjust accordingly.
Six Sigma
This refers process improvement business tool that helps in quality control by
eliminating defects and working towards improving organisational performance. The
company follows this approach by analysing statistics and data that is helpful in reducing
defects and helps in better working operations.
Lean Manufacturing
This term can be defined as production method which enhances productivity by
ensuring minimum wastage and reduced time consumption while maintaining high product
quality. The company provides the consumers with best quality products while ensuring
optimum utilisation of resources (Braun and et.al., 2017).
In order to establish effective operations management system, managers and leaders
of a organisation works continuously with other employees in the direction of organisational
aims and objectives. The primary objective of a manager is to set tasks and goals to attain
long term objectives of an organisation. While a leader is responsible for creating vision and
ensuring fulfilment of tasks set by organisational manager. In context to TESCO, the
managers establish long term objectives for the company and communicate them to leaders
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while the leaders formulate strategies and communicate them to employees in order to direct
them towards company's goals. The operational manager implements strategies to ensure
correct procedures and practices in the organisation. The tasks of operations manager
includes procurement of material, managing resources, measuring performance and ensuring
abidance within the organisation. Leaders are accountable for employees actions and they
influence the working of employees by guiding them (Mansdorf, 2019). Leaders and mangers
are collectively responsible for the purpose of accomplishment of organisational activities.
Managers direct leaders and leaders direct employees to work in the areas of fulfilling tasks
and targets to attain objectives decided by organisational managers.
4. An evaluation of the impact of external business
environment factors that affect decision-making by
leaders and managers
While implementing effective operations management some internal and external factors can
influence the working and performance of the company (Olsen, Bjaalid and Mikkelsen,
2017). In context to TESCO, there are various factors within business environment which can
impact upon the working of an organisation's management of operations and affect decision-
making of managers and leaders. They are discussed below:
 Global Competition: Despite being one of the major leading brand globally, the
company face competition in the retail industry by large companies like Sainsbury's
and Morrisons. This affects the decision making of managers and leaders in day to
day management of operational activities (Triche and Flamm, 2018). The operations
manager must analyse factors like price, quality, branding, differentiation and market
presence etc. on continuous basis to in order to gain competitive advantage.
 Material and Capital Security: raw material and capital is the most significant and
crucial elements in operations management. The decisions regarding these
components needs to taken with careful and thoughtful analysis. The managers and
leaders of the company thoroughly evaluate the sources of raw material and the
amount of capital invested in their procurement. Managers have to ensure safety of
capital and proper utilisation of funds of the company.
 Quality and Customer Services: The company assures maximum attention and
satisfaction of customers by providing them best quality of products and fast services.
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Managers and leaders have to continuously evaluate changes in customer preferences
and how to manage accordingly. The company's managers carefully examine and plan
optimum expenditure plans to deal with customer care services ensuring minimum
spending while maintaining quality.
 Social Responsibilities: Being a top successful company, TESCO has to ensure
compliance with social responsibilities in order to maintain its influential position in
the society. The managers are obliged to fulfil steps and methods for ensuring welfare
of the society and protect their interests along with the organisational interests (Yin,
2019). Managers and leaders of the company plans methods of arranging funds and
activities to meet with social requirements.
 Expansion of Technology: Due to increasing advancements in business environment,
the company needs to evaluate decisions carefully to apply technology in production
and other services. The operational manager and leaders analyse technology
requirements and advancements and their usage for the betterment of the operational
performance of the company. Suitable choices need to be implemented in the areas of
production techniques and methods for optimum utilisation of resources ensuring
minimum expenditure.
 Legal Factors: the company pays focus on legal considerations while making
decisions in the course of operations management. The managers and leaders ensure
compliance with Legal obligations to avoid any kind of trouble within the
organisation. Operations managers supports the activities required for the fulfilment
of projects for legal team.
 Business Ethics: ethics in operations management focus on the methods of obtaining
profit rather than the amounts of profit generated. The managers are responsible for
taking decisions regarding these ethics and ensure compliance to promote integrity
among employees (Sennewald and Baillie, 2020). The company's managers are
required to make decisions for Establishing effective business ethics regarding
corporate governance, fraudulent activities, misleading corruption practices etc. to
maintain its reputation in the business environment.
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5. How operational efficiencies can be improved to
successfully meet business objectives using
appropriate management and leadership approaches
` Operations management can be defined as a set of activities which includes planning,
controlling and supervising processes involved in manufacturing, production as well as
delivery of services. It helps in ensuring conversion of inputs into outputs by value addition
for customers. An organisation exercise the practice of operational management to ensure
efficient and potential production as well as distribution of goods and services. Without
effective operations management, an organisation is likely to have chaos and conflicts in
various departments. In context to TESCO, the company is engaged in effective and proper
practice of operations management which helps the company to efficiently operate its
business. It allows the company to manage different resources like human resources,
equipments, office accessories and other valuable resources. The company performs various
functions involved in operations management including formulating strategies, financial
decision-making, product design, ensuring quality and other important functions of a business
entity. Operations Management helps TESCO ensuring fulfilment of organisational goals and
objectives (Melander, 2018). The importance and significance of operations management in
accomplishment of organisational goals and objectives in context to TESCO are discussed as
follows:
3 Enhances Employee Productivity: The practice of operations management helps the
company to improve productivity of the employees. It helps in directing employees of
the company to work efficiently towards the purpose of organisational aims. It allows the
company to analyse and evaluate their performance and suggest changes as well as form
plans to perform tasks to achieve company goals. Through proper operations
management, TESCO supervise and manage its human resources by training them on
regular basis. It also ensures employees satisfaction in order to enhance their efficiency
and productivity.
4 Improves Goodwill: Proper operations management is helpful for the company to
improve its good reputation and goodwill. It helps the company to maintain top quality
of their commodities and a large customer base. It allows the company to effectively
carry promotional activities and mark its significance over the audience. The company is
15

able to generate more revenues through managing operations effectively which helps the
company to establish high brand image and enhance its goodwill.
5 Maximum Utilisation of Resources: Effective operations management is important for
the company in order to assure optimum utilisation of the company resources. It allows
TESCO to carry their production activities properly ensuring minimum cost and wastage
of resources (North and Kumta, 2018). It helps the company in managing functions with
optimum utilisation of resources.
6 Motivation of Employees: TESCO constantly motivate their employees through
effective operations management. It regularly guides and directs their employees
towards achievement of organisational goals and objectives. Operations management
helps the company in identifying personnel talents and provide motivational incentives
to improve their productivity.
Improved innovation: Operations management helps TESCO in development and
enhancement of innovative ideas for growth and development of the company. It allows the
company to work in areas of research and development and suggest changes as well as
improvements to enhance company's performance.
6. Conclusions and supported recommendations for
future improvements to be taken by the organisation
The report mainly focuses on various theories of the management that involves the
contemporary theory that basically focuses on responses in respect of prevailing changes in
the business and involves the leaders that makes the efforts in order to eliminate a situation of
the resistance to the change and also some other theories that involves the explanation of the
report that involves the behavioural and classical theories and also the styles of leadership in
relation to the theories.
References
Behl, A. and Dutta, P., 2019. Humanitarian supply chain management: a thematic literature
review and future directions of research. Annals of Operations Research, 283(1),
pp.1001-1044.
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Braun, S. and et.al., 2017. Think manager—think male, think follower—think female:
Gender bias in implicit followership theories. Journal of Applied Social
Psychology, 47(7), pp.377-388.
Mansdorf, S. Z., 2019. Safety and health ManageMent of InternatIonal
operatIonS. Handbook of Occupational Safety and Health, pp.691-700.
Melander, L., 2018. Customer and supplier collaboration in green product innovation:
External and internal capabilities. Business Strategy and the Environment, 27(6),
pp.677-693.
North, K. and Kumta, G., 2018. Knowledge management: Value creation through
organizational learning. Springer.
Olsen, E., Bjaalid, G. and Mikkelsen, A., 2017. Work climate and the mediating role of
workplace bullying related to job performance, job satisfaction, and work ability: A
study among hospital nurses. Journal of advanced nursing, 73(11), pp.2709-2719.
Sennewald, C. A. and Baillie, C., 2020. Effective security management. Butterworth-
Heinemann.
Triche, J. and Flamm, P., 2018. Using cooperative learning teams to improve exam scores in
the introduction to operations management class. International Journal of Information
and Operations Management Education, 6(3-4), pp.201-210.
Yin, Y., 2019. Three Essays on Learning and Collaboration in Operations
Management (Doctoral dissertation, Northwestern University).
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