Management and Operations: Roles of Leader and Manager

This study explores the different characteristics and roles of leader and manager in management and operations. It discusses the leadership and management styles of Joan Pearson and examines how the role of leader and function of manager apply in different situational contexts. The strengths and weaknesses of different approaches used by Joan Pearson are justified. The study also explores the key approaches to operations management and the role of leaders and managers in achieving business objectives.

MANAGEMENT AND
OPERATIONS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART-1............................................................................................................................................3
Compare and define the different characteristics and roles of leader and manager..............3
Joan Pearson management styles and leadership style...........................................................5
How role of leader and functions of manager apply in different situational contexts...........6
Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches used by Joan Pearson.............................7
Apply various models and theories of approach applied to which would be best suited to soft
company.................................................................................................................................8
Critical analyses of several theories & approaches................................................................9
PART 2............................................................................................................................................9
Key approaches to operations management and role of leaders & manager play..................9
Importance of operations management in achieving business objectives at Soft company.10
Leaders and manager can improve efficiency to meet set objectives of business................11
Factors within business environment that impact on management and operational decision
making..................................................................................................................................12
Analyse how different factors affect environment of business and wider community........13
Critically evaluate application of operation management and elements that impact on broad
business environment...........................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Management and operation are crucial for growth and long term success of companies,
management is defined as procedure and art of managing people and resources available within
company. On the other hand, operations help to increase the profit margin and generate revenue
for organizations. Both are vital elements in business firm as it helps in using resources of
companies to achieve objectives and goals by applying different models and strategies as well.
The current report is based Soft company, produced mobile units and provide large number of
consumers with better quality. This study explains the role & characteristic of manager and
leader, leadership and management styles of Joan Pearson and examine how role of leader and
function of manger apply in different situations. Furthermore, this assignment justified strengths
and weakness of approaches used by Joan Pearson, evaluate theories and also clarified
approaches to operations management in achieving objectives. Moreover, different factors that
impact on decision-making of manager and operations and importance of OM will be discussed
in this study.
PART-1
Compare and define the different characteristics and roles of leader and manager
Leader is defined as experienced person who is accountable for motivating and leading a
team of peoples in companies.
A person regarded in term of their abilities and skills in managing assets, specially those
of household is known as manager.
In organizations such as Soft company, the role of leader and manager are quite different
from each other. These roles and characteristics are being discussed below, that define and
compare it:
Basis Leaders Manager
Definition Leader is the person who are
able to motivate their staff and
inspire them to work better
than before, they guide
workers to move on right path
(Putra and Cho, 2019). The
A manager is a person who are
accountable for managing the
overall activities of
organization, they are able to
manages work in every
situation. It helps in achieving

reason behind staff motivation
is to increase their
performance and productivity
level.
aims and set objectives by
showing the right way to work
on it.
Characteristics The characteristics of leader
are different from manager. In
include honesty, creative,
communication, motivator,
good decision-making and
caring.
There are few characteristics
of manager, that is different
from leader. Including
empathy, patient, reliable,
flexible and accountable.
Roles The leader plays vital role
within Soft company, it
provides full support to
workers in order to enhance
their performance and
motivational level. It gives
clear directions to employees
and encourage them to
perform their best towards
accomplishment &
achievement of organizational
objectives and goals.
On the other hand, the role of
manager within company is
different from leader because
of their major accountabilities.
Its role is to manage each of
task and functions in firm
(Hoch and Dulebohn, 2017).
They had to coordinate each
applicant and take care of
work provided to staff which
need to accomplish on timely
manner according to deadline.
Roles-
Manager-
Resource handling-
The role of manager in Soft company is to handle and manage available resources in
order to work effectively. Manager focus on inventory section, they allocate assets according to
demand and requirement at workplace.
Planner-

Manager play role as planner, they make effective plan for collecting resources from
market and also create a list of require things that is essential for completing day to day task.
Leader-
Motivating staff-
Leader plays effective role in company, they motivate staff and find out their needs that
help to inspire them. With the help of communication, leader prompt people to perform and
accomplish their work in systematic manner.
Building morale-
The role of leader is to pull each staff members together to work towards achieving
common goal. Employee some time-work in high stress situation, this will cause team to lose
their focus or worse yet, low down emotionally. At that movement leader play role as motivator,
they help through let people known how much their work is appreciated.
Characteristics-
Manager-
Reliable-
It is another traits of manager, they had to be reliable while leading a team, it means
being available at all the time for workers, getting things done that said by them and helping
team members however needed.
Responsible-
Manager is accountable for different things, they understand that they are ones in charge,
meaning responsible for everyone performance, failure and successes.
Leader-
Caring-
It means showing genuine concern for and sincere interest in others. Leader take care of
their workers, they show sympathy and empathy towards them. They always take good care of
staff members, by considering their needs and attempt to fulfil it as soon as possible.
Good decision maker-
It is another characteristic of leader, they take decision after focusing and analysing the
whole situation at workplace in context of staff well fare.

Joan Pearson management styles and leadership style
In context of case study, Joan Pearson by their nature an assertive kind of persons, she
give orders that comes naturally to her. Her leaderships style define nature and behaviour
towards staff. She had Autocratic leadership styles, defines through given statement that her
workers make complains against because Joan Pearson leadership style put negative impact of
staff performance as well as productivity (Yusuf, 2016). According to this style, leaders always
take decision individually without taking input from other team members. People in military
team are neither considered nor consulted superior to a direction and are anticipated to adhere to
judgement at a time. Autocratic leadership styles in not suitable for every leader as it create
negative environment around work place and directly impact on team performance negatively.
Joan Pearson was able to give order, she never asked to take participate in decision-making
procedure and always want to rule over other people, as this nature or behaviour found to
demotivate employees who are perpetually found complaining.
Directive management style is appropriate and suitable according to the personality of
Joan Pearson (Toupin and et,al 2018). She gives order and seek followed by other member, so it
can be said that this management styles suited her with personality. This style is characterized by
top down decision-making procedures, where decision are take from top and all other below are
expected to follow and fall in line.
How role of leader and functions of manager apply in different situational contexts
Situation 1- In order to increase the company image within market place management has
decided to increasing their productivity.
In context of this situation leader role is to inspire and encourage staff to work better than
last few months because it helps to increase the productivity of business as they work faster
(Choi and et.al., 2016). They provide clear and proper directions to workers and motivate them
to perform the best towards increasing their productivity as well as business. Leader play role as
motivator.
At this situation the function of manager plays vital role, planning and organizing
workers and performance are the main function. Manager of Soft company, make plan to
enhance the abilities and skills of existing staff, they create plan for training session because it
required in return improve performance level and increase productivity.

Situation 2- High work pressure impact on staff performance, it brings many challenges for
company to retain skilled applicants.
Role of leader are effectively applied in this situation, as they had experience how to
motivate and inspire workers. Leader conduct a small meeting to communicate with employees
and identify issues they face while doing job. With the help of this procedure, leader is able to
solve the problems, and retain staff for longer. They play role as communicator, determine needs
and then send it to top management in which they had to focus on.
Manager function is to organize different organizational activities in company in such
manner that work in sequential way (Kepczynski and et.al, 2018). To organize performance of
workers, manager identify the needs of resources such as training, break time and other, and then
provide it to workers which make them able to work better. Manager also make plan for hiring
new applicants and reduce work pressure on existing people, and they can retain with company
for longer.
Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches used by Joan Pearson
Autocratic leadership and Directive management style are the two approaches can use by
Joan Pearson that is not appropriate because it impacts negatively on other members
performance and motivational level.
Basis Autocratic leadership style Directive management style
Strength By following this approach
Joan Pearson can take quick
decision specially in stress
filled and conflict situations. It
can be beneficial in some
cases, such as when decisions
want to be taken quickly
without consulting with other
people.
This approach is quite
beneficial in term of providing
structured to unstructured
tasks, it emphasizes security
and safety. Directive
management style creates
clarity and very easy to learn.
It helps to reduce problems
within demotivate staff.
Weaknesses But on the other hand it
impacts negatively, when
person with this style take
Along strength, this approach
comprise with some weakness
such as it restricts initiative of

decision individually, it affects
motivational level of their
team member. It controls
consistency at personal level,
that means Joan persona would
not longer afford to give her
group any freedom to operate
and participate in decision
taking procedure.
few workers. Leader with this
method avoid use of
collaboration, they like to take
decision and desire to follow
by other. Joan Pearson as
directive leader disregard
benefits of collaborative
practices because she believed
her knowledge and experience
is more valuable to work. She
do not seek out to empower
others.
Apply various models and theories of approach applied to which would be best suited to soft
company
In above situations different types of theories can be applied that help to provide positive
outcomes and help to overcome problems, these theories used by manager and leader while
playing role in Soft company.
Leader in 1 and 2 situation can use situational leadership theory because it helps them
to analyse the overall situation and take decision accordingly, it best suited to organization.
Situational theory refer to those leaders who adopt different leaderships styles and change their
current practices according to situation and improvement level of their team. In order to increase
the productivity of workers that increase performance level of company, leader with situational
leadership, examine the needs of company and then inspire current workers to contribute in
gaining better results and competitive benefits. Leader according to the situation guide and treat
their employees, provide all the things that enhance productivity, they also contribute by taking
equal participation for completing task that work effectively and motivate staff to perform much
better than the other team members.
Furthermore, in 1 and 2 situation, contingency theory of management is best suited to
chosen organization because it contingent operations that consider app of behaviour of effective
function for outcomes. Manager used this approach to handle the circumstances and fulfil the

needs of company. Contingency manager create effective programs that are undertaken for
emphasis on positive results. Manager of Soft company analyse the situation and take decision
related to employee skills and performance, they decide to train them and plan small get to
gather activity to reduce stress level and create positive environment around working area.
Critical analyses of several theories & approaches
Situational leadership theory in beneficial in term of increasing productivity and
performance level of workers. It helps leader to recognize the need for flexibility, creates a
comfortable and positive environment for employees and takes different improvement phases
into account. By applying this leadership theory, leaders can get many benefits as it focus on
short term needs or requirement, that permits person to tailor training scenarios for new as well
as existing staff that will bring them up to performance and speed quickly. But on the other hand,
situational leadership theory is based on meeting an exact need, it focuses on immediate actions
more than long term which affect in the further procedures negatively. Without thinking and
focusing on long term needs, leaders cannot be able to handle the future situations and loss
confidence level at that movement (Dyczkowska, 2018).
Contingency theory of management is effective for contingent operations because it focus
on application of behaviour of better operations for results (Heyman, 2017). Decision taking and
training accountability is to be assigned to manager regarding objectives and goals of company.
Factors and demand will be examined on situational factors along with maximizing decision
making procedures, this theory will enhance motivation of employment for right decision taking.
This theory allows person to change their policies according to current situation and help to
enhance their decision-making skills. Despite advantages and lucrative features that this theory
has to provide to company it is not completely liberates from criticism, there is no respective
optimal solution to a issue which means that manager can iterate as much as they need in search
of solution, as it lead to wastage of available resources, money and time.
PART 2
Key approaches to operations management and role of leaders & manager play
There are different types of approaches are used in context of operations management
because it helps to understand it in better way.
Just in time inventory-

It is one of the most effective and useful method helps in centring on procedure of
production within Soft company (Malik and Hashmi, 2016). By implementing this approach, the
process of production is completed on timely manner with set aims. It can aid in getting
outcomes set earlier in planing, the CEO of organization want to increase efficiency and quality
as well as seeking to cut costs in productivity of mobile units produced by firm. This approach is
suitable and help to meet the demand of business. With the help of reducing wastages of assets
and using them to their full potential, it becomes in just in time. Furthermore, tools and
machinery are being take care to put manufacturing in right way with desired outcomes.
TQM-
Total quality management also utilized in operations and production management of Soft
company (Kiran, 2016. It is the procedure which support and contribute in planning for long
term success. This approach is defined as act of considering all activities and tasks desired to
maintain excellence level which includes implementing and creating quality planning and
assurance and quality improvement. The common method of TQM is to centre on betterment of
performance and quality in all functions, procedures and departments across company to cater
good products and services which match consumers expectations.
Six sigma-
It is disciplined, data driven and statistical based approach used for eliminating defects in
existing products of company such as mobile units. It comprises six stages such as Define,
measure, analyse, improve and control (Antony, Vinodh and Gijo, 2017). By following these
stages' manager of operations management cut cots of production as they identify defect and
remove it that improve quality of goods.
Role of leader and manager played in above approaches-
Leader role is to assure effective utilization and involvement of entire work force, to
established performance measurement and to treat people as essential assets of company that
enhance motivational level and increase productivity.
The role-play by manager in TQM approach is to order for right materials of products
after analysing needs, and to make assure that received materials are properly use in production
procedure and are not wasted.

Importance of operations management in achieving business objectives at Soft company
Operation management is referred to the process which linked with directing, planning
and controlling aspects connected with production and manufacturing system within Soft
company (Ivanov, Tsipoulanidis and Schönberger, 2017). In organization, the importance of
operation management and its value are to be understood in order to achieve objectives and
desired outcomes. The objective to company is to increase profitability and provide quality
goods rather than before, in which operations management play vital role.
It helps in increasing ratio of profit and make more revenue, by expanding business in
different areas, with the help business expansion process soft company can capture another
segment of market and drive them towards purchasing their mobile that in return increase
profitability also outcomes in achieving them.
Operation management is important for company because it helps to increase sales of
mobile units produced by firm. They conduct market research and analyse the new technologies
which will be implemented in existing products to make it better than before, it added value
considered by consumers. With the help of conducing research, operating management collect
al the information about current trends and then make plan to implement it which help to gain
competitive advantage.
Operation management is very significance in business functions since it forms heart of
company by handling system of production. It deals with operation, improvement and design of
products that delivers firm primary and quality mobile.
Distribution and controlling function is essential elements in operation management as
it is accountable in managing production procedure and assuring proper distribution of goods in
order to achieve and fulfil objectives of Soft firm.
Transformational of materials into finished products is the another function in
operation management as by examining customers needs of goods the raw materials are utilized
in order to make final mobile as main product of company. It fulfils the second objective of firm
which is to manufacture and then cater quality mobile for to their consumers.
Leaders and manager can improve efficiency to meet set objectives of business
As discussed in above study that leaders and manager play significance roles in Soft
company. Relationship of leader and manager will helps to meet set objective of firm, manager
make plans regarding employees well-being and coordinate with leader to take final decision.

Leader inspire workers to follow the plan created by manager such as week training sessions that
help to enhance performance and productivity level more than before. Decision making will help
in examining and understanding each situation and evaluating resources. Leader role is to
identify the needs of employees, then send it to manager because they are able to make effective
plan and organize every thing including organizational environment according to desire. As it
help to retain talented applicants for long period of time and increase productivity as well.
Furthermore, decision take by manager will support in evaluating and measuring requirements of
staff and consumers and make them able to fulfilled accordant to market situations. Proper
planning is being done by manager and implemented by leader at workplace that bring positive
results and help to maintained efficiency of workers. Manager play their role in effective manner,
they control every function within company, that caters an opportunity to firm to enhance their
operational efficiency rather than before. Here, problems and issues within production system are
determined and corrective actions to control are taken by leader, that create positive work culture
in organization.
Factors within business environment that impact on management and operational decision
making
Technological changes-
It is considered as external factors that impact on management as well as operational
decision making positively. Manager within production department, adopt new technologies for
their mobiles and add HD video call features that gain attention of consumers towards
purchasing it. Technologies changes are adopted by firm when manager and leaders predict
changes as well as plans for the future.
Resources of company-
There are many resources are accessible in company and work together, such as
employees. Workers performance impact on management decision taking process, when
employees are demotivated, manager consider it and then take actions to enhance their
motivational level. Identify methods regarding it and chose the best one among range of ideas,
which is quite beneficial in term of creating healthy work culture and environment.
Financial status-
It is another internal factors that affect negatively when, poor financial status drive leader
and manger to take effective action. They plan to improve quality and strategies of production

process, that increase sales and improve financial budget of firm. Decision related to quality and
cost of goods offered the best item to consumers and investments done in firm are being affected
by profits.
Market trends-
It is an external factor affect positively on operational decision, each new day new trends
in technology sector are being evaluated in market, that impact on judgement related to product
production. Consumers demand for advanced technology and smartphones, it put pressure on
Soft company to design and manufacture accordingly that increase its sales.
Analyse how different factors affect environment of business and wider community
There are many factors include external and internal that affect wider community and
business environment (ten Rouwelaar, Bots and De Loo, 2018). Market trends is the first
component that impact on business environment and other things positively. When new trends
arise in market it gives an opportunity to Soft company to increase their sales of mobile units and
gain competitive benefits. It put pressure on management of firm to conduct research and gather
data about new trends properly that bring success in organization.
Financial status is another factor which directly effect environment of company and
wider community, poor financial status will higher stress level and drive top management to
think out of boxes. Manager plan for increasing financial budget of company by reducing costs f
production system, they make list and mention require items that save cost. Leader give clear
instruction to workers to produce product with available resources and deliver in timely manner
that increase sales and profit more than before.
Along with above factors, employees are the most essential element of company as they
are able to put high pressure on management to make changes according to their needs. It creates
negative environment within business when the requirement are not considered by top authority.
All above factors impact on business environment and broad community in which leader
and manager by playing their role handle all situations, they can use power given by high
authority in effective and systematic manner that gain profitability and increase productivity.
Critically evaluate application of operation management and elements that impact on broad
business environment
There are different applications of operation management and factors play a positive and
negative impact on business environment, exist.

Controlling and managing are the main application of OM that help to provide better
quality products to consumers with affordable prices. It makes positive impact as help to review
operations that can be done effectively and smoother production process.
Transformation is another app of operation management that impact positively as it help
to convert raw materials into useful goods which increase sales and profit margin of Soft
company, it also helps in growth process of firm rather than its competitors.
Evaluation application of this function improve the manufacture system of company
and measure its effectiveness. Manager evaluate issues and barriers in production and then plan
to solve it as soon as possible.
Capacity management is the procedure of information technology with assuring
effectiveness and usefulness of existing as well as future requirement for general interpretation
of activity and assured outcomes in term of increasing sales.
All above factors impact on business environment positively and negatively, change in
need of workers make negative affect, but manager and leader solve their problems and identify
needs, then cater every thing accordingly that affect positively.
Along with it, technology changes impact positively because it helps to increase profit
margin by implementing advanced features and selling mobile with it.
CONCLUSION
From above analysis, it has been concluded that leader and manager play crucial role in
Soft company, they increase profitability, performance and productivity of business by providing
the best facilities to employees which make them able to retain and contribute in several
operations. Effective management of operations is essential for long term sustainability and
success of company. Six sigma, TQM and just in time approaches to operation management help
firm to achieve their set objectives, in effective manner. Furthermore, it has been concluded that
roles of leader as well as manager in execution of plans and in production management
mentioned above it important. By planning their roles effectively, leader and manager handle
every situation, reduce the negative impact of above factor on business environment and
implement strategic plan that create positive atmosphere at workplace. Decision taken by
manager enhances productivity of staff, they make work of operation management smoother and
achieve the objective of company by implementing all their applications.

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