Key Approaches to Operations Management and the Role of Leaders and Managers - A Study on Bentley Motors Limited

This report focuses on the key approaches to operations management and the role of leaders and managers in Bentley Motors Limited. It discusses the different roles and characteristics of leaders and managers, examines examples of their roles in different situational contexts, and applies various theories and models of approach. The report also explains the importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives and assesses the factors within the business environment that impact operational management and decision-making.

Management and operation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager....3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts..................................................................................................5
P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency....................................................................................................7
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
P4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and
managers play.......................................................................................................................10
P5 Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business
objectives..............................................................................................................................12
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................14
P6 Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational
management and decision-making by leaders and managers...............................................14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Management and operation is a joint term which is associated with so many different
practices that includes production control activities and many more. A leader and manager is
having prominent role in business organisation in managing staff and providing them direction
by motivating them towards achievement of goals and business objectives. This report is
prepared with a view to understand significance of leader and manager within organisation.
Along with this concept this report includes various leadership theories so as to understand about
them and select those theories according to business perception. The second part of report is
prepared to highlight concepts of operation management within business and its significance in
business as well. In order to understand these concepts the taken in this report is Bentley Motors
Limited which is British cars and SUV’s manufacturer headquartered in Crewe, UK. The
company is a subsidiary company of Volkswagen Group. Bentley Motors Limited is having their
business in more than 15 countries which proves their global existence (Harmon, 2019).
TASK 1
P1 Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager
Leader: - As the word suggests Leader is someone who leads the whole team or group
from the front and represents the team as a whole. He is the one responsible and accountable for
the results of the activities carried or by individuals under his guidance or leadership and make
sure that efforts of team are in direction towards desired goals and objectives.
Roles of Leader: -
1. Provides Direction: - It is responsibility of Leader to guide and provide direction to the
organization towards achieving the vision and objectives. In Bentley, Leaders are taking
organization towards its aim of creating extraordinary cars the world is yet to see.
2. Boost Morale and Motivation: - It is responsibility of every leader to boost morale and
motivation level of each individual in the organization so that they can work in more

efficient and effective manner towards vision of organization. Leaders of Bentley keep
boosting morale of their employees both in monetary and non-monetary form.
Characteristics of Leader: -
1. Charismatic: - Leaders are known for their Charisma, which make them to be an idol
and go to person for answers who conveys and delivers vision of organization to each
individual anyways part of it.
2. Effective Communicator: - Every Leader should be an effective communicator who
conveys all the information and vision completely, timely and in the manner, it is best
suited so that adverse effects could be diminished and understanding of recipient aligns
with understanding of originator of message.
Manager: - In Contrary to leader Manager is the one who supervises and manages activities
of those working at lower level to make sure everything is in the direction provided by leaders
towards organizational objectives in planned manner both financially and non-monetary terms.
Roles of Manager: -
1. Establishing Policies: - Responsibility of formulating and circulating policies, rules and
guidelines lies with managers, to be clear on work to be carried on, in expected manner
with timeliness. There are various policies issued and framed by Bentley Managers to
make sure that everything is on track and carried on in ethical manner (Ravichandran,
Taylor and Waterhouse, 2016).
2. Delegating Responsibilities: - To make sure people understands their responsibilities
Manager have to delegate and distribute the tasks and activities among the individuals.
There is organized and formal policy issued and being followed by all managers in
Bentley to delegate the tasks at lower level.
Characteristics of Manager: -

1. Time Management Skill: - Arguably, time is most precious out of many things and to
make sure no time is wasted and whole time is utilized in most effective manner every
manager should be possessed with Time management skills.
2. Effective Interpersonal Skills: - Every manager have multiple interpersonal skills like
good communication, ability to delegate and organize, good observer, cautious etc. to
make sure whole task is managed and controlled in best possible way.
Differentiation between Leader and Manager: -
Basis Leader Manager
Role Role of Leader is to Direct and Motivate
organization towards organizational
visions and objectives.
Role of Manager is to Manage
organization so that directed visions
can be achieved.
Characteristics Leaders are effective communicator and
idols to go to and are best at their
communication skills
Managers are good at their
interpersonal skills to carry on their
activities smoothly.
Theories Leadership theories include contingency
theory, systems theory and contingency
theory.
Theory of manager includes
Bureaucratic theory, behavioural
theory and theory of scientific
management.
TASK 2
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts.
In every business organisation they have to face various situations within their operations
which are to be tackled by manger and leader in a very effective manner so as to avoid any
business and operational losses. This will help the business to carry on their business on timely
manner so that to get competitive advantage and business sustainability in long term. In order to
understand role of leader and manager various situation are given underneath:

Situation 1: Crisis management
Crisis management is defined as managing things in a business when it is having high
crucial situation. In crisis situation business get involved in disruptive business operation due to
which stakeholders of business may have threats (Nawaz and Khan, 2016). In order to manage
this situation manager and leader of Bentley Motors Limited is having significant role which are
explained as under:
Role of leader
 Under this situation leader of Bentley Motors Limited will provide extreme leadership
with the organisation so as to control and the business and cover it up from this crisis
situations.
 In this situation leader works as a spokesperson in front of media and other stakeholders
so as to console them and keep them entrusted towards their business.
 During this situation leader of Bentley Motors Limited is required to take whole the
accountability to take tough decision so that to give their organisation power to handle
such crisis situation.
Functions of manager
 In this situation manager of Bentley Motors Limited will gather information from various
sources and provide brief to leader about taken decision so that leader can convey those
decision to their sub ordinates in an effective manner.
 The other major role of manager is to delegate responsibilities within various departments
so that to assign jobs to each and every member according to the prevailing situation.
 Under crisis situation in order to manage this manager of Bentley Motors Limited is
required to set effective lines of communication so that information can be shared in a
very prompt manner whenever needed by any workforce.
 The major function of a manager in Bentley Motors Limited during crisis situation is to
analyse functioning of each and every department and motivate workforce to tackle this
additional pressures which has arisen due to this situation.
Situation 2: A new product launch

When a new product is launched by Bentley Motors Limited then they are required to
make new policies and strategies so as to position their product within market in an effective
manner. In this context manager and leader of Bentley Motors Limited is having prominent role
and function when the company is going to introduce new and innovative product within
marketplace, the explanation is as under:
Role of leader
 In this context leader is having responsibility to set vision and examine about those
strategies which are required for the product to exploit new market opportunities.
 In Bentley Motors Limited leader acts as a spokesperson during trade launch and press
conference so as to position new product within mass public.
 Leader is having prominent role in taking so many significant decision such as about new
product investment and capacity of existing and new products within business so as to
take decision regarding new product development (Offermann and Coats, 2018).
Function of manager
 Manager of Bentley Motors Limited is having major functions in relation to pricing
strategy and product deliveries. These functions are related to subsistence of new product.
 Another function of manager within Bentley Motors Limited is to recruit new staff so as
to enhance manufacturing efficacy and get new skills within business in order to control
overall business efficiency.
 Another major function of manager is associated with persuading public to but their new
product and for this all the strategies are made by the manager of Bentley Motors
Limited.
P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency.
In every business organisation it is necessary to apply appropriate leadership theory so as
to establish proper leading measures and control the business in effective manner. In context of
Bentley Motors Limited some leadership approaches has been elaborated as under:

Situational leadership: This approach states that there is no way by which a business
can be lead in a best manner, so business can be lead in a manner in which situation is pertained.
This leadership style is the most flexible style and helps the business to cop up with any kind of
change in effective manner. Leader of Bentley Motors Limited may use this leadership style so
as to get success over range of business situation. According to Blamchard and Hersey there is
various style of situational leadership such as:-
Telling: This type of leader are one who is decision maker and try to communicate with
their team by establishing two way communication.
Selling: In this type of situational leadership style leader of Bentley Motors Limited try
to sell their ideas within their subordinates and persuade them by explaining task directions
(Cote, 2017).
Delegating: This is a low risk task under which leader gives responsibilities to their team
mates so as to take decisions regarding tasks. This style can be used within Bentley Motors
Limited as when leader is having high maturity in their followers.
Participating: Within this leadership style, leader try to motivate their team mates to
share new and innovative ideas to business so as to boost confidence in them and maintain high
relationship with them.
Systems leadership: Systems leadership is the set of skills and capabilities which can be
used by leaders so as to catalyse change of system within business. This is a mixture of
collaborative leadership style and innovation within decentralised working network. Within this
leadership style team mates are having openness to perform in the most productive and effective
way. Systems leadership helps leaders of Bentley Motors Limited in creation of system that to
manage all the business operation by leader so as to maintain superiority and control. For
instance in Bentley Motors Limited they are having separate department of HR, finance, legal
and many more so within this leadership it is ensured that all the operations are completed within
system only just like employment laws are properly enforced by legal department of HR or
feedbacks are taken by marketing department in effective way. This leadership style is helpful in
establishing interdependence between departments so as to enhance coherence (Harrison, 2018)
(Kawamata and et. al., 2016).

Fiedler’s Contingency model: This leadership style states that effectiveness of a leader
can be recognised by matching of leadership style within prevailing situation. This leadership is
consists of three major factors which are employee relationship, structure of work and Leader’s
power. This says that organisation is able to gain group effectiveness with the help of appropriate
leadership style. Leader of Bentley Motors Limited is required to assess the prevailing situation
at first instance and then make a match between leadership theory and work structure. This
theory will help the leader to manage the team in more effective way.
Strength and weakness of various leadership theories
Leadership style Strengths Weakness
Situational leadership  This helps the employees to stay
happy and comfortable.
 This leadership style helps employees
of Bentley Motors Limited to
enhance their efficiency as proper
direction is been given to them.
 This style is not suitable for long
term business objective within
Bentley Motors Limited.
 In order to examine situation it can
be seen that gathered information
is not enough to frame decision.
Systems leadership  This leadership style is highly
focused on achieving personal and
business objective at collective level.
 Decision making process is very
time taking.
 High dependency on each other
department which may give rise to

 Multiple business dimensions are
taken care under this style.
internal conflicts.
Contingency leadership  This is highly flexible in nature.
 It involves suggestion of team mates
by which they feel valued (Kumar,
2016).
 It is a rigid process and
acknowledges so many difficulties
on implementation.
 High skills and knowledge is
required which is not possible for
every business.
TASK 3
P4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and managers
play.
There are various approaches to operation management which are helpful for the business
to manage its operational activities in prominent manner. These approaches are helpful for the
business of Bentley Motors Limited so as to get its fuller efficiency and tackle its operational
efficacy in significant manner. These approaches are explained as under:
Six sigma: Six sigma is an approach which is highly focused on minimising defects in
production process so as to get highest efficiency in manufactured products. This principle says
that defects in a manufacturing lot should not be more than 3.4defects per million opportunities
that could cause customer dissatisfaction (Singh, Singh and Gandhi, 2018). Six sigma involves
whole the manufacturing process by which business can get their full quality with highest
improvements in manufacturing so as to minimise their defects. Furthermore six sigma includes
an approach called DMAIC which is defined as:
D-Defining the problem and the project goals
M-Measuring in detail the various aspects of the current process
A- Analysing data to identify defects in a process
I- Improving the process, and
C- Controlling how the process is done in the future.

Lean principle: This principle of operation management is focused on eliminating waste
and unrequired cost so as to give highest value to the customer by using company’s offerings.
This approach is highly emphasised on cutting down those activities which are not required. This
approach is having five principles by which business can get high workplace efficiency and high
customer satisfaction within offerings of Bentley Motors Limited.
Total quality management: This approach is engraved with adoption of continuous
improvements in manufacturing and delivery process. This undertakes each and every aspect of
process which includes managerial decisions and manufacturing process so as to bring overall
improvement in business. This approach is highly focused on improving quality of a product and
adoption of those processes which ensures best quality of the manufactured product. With this
context Bentley Motors Limited is using those manufacturing processes by which they can have
high impact on improving their manufacturing process so as to get business efficiency and
sustainability in long run (vom Brocke, Zelt and Schmiedel, 2016).
In this context leader and manager are having significant roles associated with
operational management approaches. These are elaborated as under:
Providing direction: In this context leader is the person who directs their subordinates
whereas manager is responsible to check every detail and supervise them. So the leader of

Bentley Motors Limited is accountable to provide direction within operations and manufacturing
process whereas a manager is accountable to cross check every process so as to bring
improvements in them.
Bringing quality initiatives: In a business leader and manager is having major role of
introducing quality initiatives so as to provide distinct identity to the organisation within
marketplace. Major role of leader is to foster, motivate and guide their subordinates whereas
manager is having role to manage implementation of operation management approaches such as
JIT, TQM and six sigma.
P5 Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives.
All the businesses are requisite to use various activities which are having direct impact over
their business and its activities. Bentley Motors Limited is a multinational company and they are
the manufacturer of luxurious cars which is their prominent market identity. On the contrary with
the view to get high competitive advantage over marketplace they are requisite to maintain their
quality of cars so as to remain as market leader and get long term sustainability (Zurich,
Instruction, X. and Documentation, X, 2018). Similarly Bentley Motors Limited is required to
focus on continuous improvements in their manufacturing process so as to minimise their
wastages and enhance business efficiency. Operation management includes several concepts
which are as under:
 Planning: This is a role of manager to plan and implement effective strategies which can
be helpful for the business in achieving overall business objectives. In this context
manager of Bentley Motors Limited makes effective plans and path to achieve business
goals in prominent way.
 Organising: Under this approach all the business functions are required to be arranged in
such a manner that all the departments’ gets full supervision so as to carry business
operations in effective manner.
 Directing: Within this aspect appropriate direction is required to be given by manager to
their sub ordinates as by delegating responsibilities and proper guidance.
 Controlling: Within this approach performance is to be measured and all the corrective
action plans are to be set up by manager of Bentley Motors Limited in order to get
business efficiency.

Bentley Motors Limited is a car manufacturer company so their business objectives are
having high impact of operation management decisions. As Bentley Motors Limited is aiming to
enhance their market share by 24% so with this context they are promising their customers to
render best quality and for this they are using TQM principles in their manufacturing process. On
the other hand in order to meet customer’s expectation in prominent way they are focusing on
their delivery schedules and for this they are having major on implementation of six sigma
principle so as to minimise their defects and enhance manufacturing capacity and increase
business efficacy so as to meet their delivery deadline in effective manner. Similarly Bentley
Motors Limited is promising to give continuous supply of their products into the market so as to
avoid any stock out. For meeting this objective Bentley Motors Limited applies queuing theory
so as to avoid any delay between the process of manufacturing this will help them to minimise
time leg in between production process. So by this they are meeting tehir objective in an
effective and considerable way (Lemmey and Vonog, 2016). At last Bentley Motors Limited is
focused to manufacture cars with relevant cost so as to earn high profit by delivering good
quality to their customers. In order to cater this objective they undertakes Kaizens so that to
inculcate improvements on regular basis which is helping them to avoid any additional costs.
TASK 4
P6 Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational management
and decision-making by leaders and managers.
In the procedure of decision making by Bentley Motors Limited there are some external
factors which are having high significance within leader and manager that are explained as
under:
CSR: CSR is described as the extent at which business is taking care of social, economic
and environmental impacts which are taking place due to organisational activities. In the context
of Bentley Motors Limited, the manager and leader is having high impact of CSR and for this
they are adopting several policies regarding CSR such as adopting effective re-cycling processes
so as to utilise procured resources in effective manner in order to minimise industrial wastages.
On the other hand manager of Bentley Motors Limited is taking care of their transportation
policies which are environmental friendly, so at time of making business strategy leader and

manager of Bentley Motors Limited is required to focus on this aspect as well (Bromiley and
Rau, 2016).
Ethics: Ethics are reflection of conduct of an organisation and treatment of them with
their customers, suppliers, employees and other stakeholders. Further it can be said that ethics
are those principles which creates gap between good and bad business practices. With this
context Bentley Motors Limited is conducting their business operations by keeping their ethics
on majority so as to safeguard interest of their employees and other stakeholders. In this aspect
manager and leader are supposed to take those decisions which are profitable for its employee
and overall business in order to stimulate ethical practices in business. Besides this manager of
Bentley Motors Limited is making rule of thumb for ethical code of conduct within business so
as to take decision which are adhered to ethical practices.
Sustainability: The business is having their success when the have long term market
survival without any obstacle. As Bentley Motors Limited is a multi-national company and they
have apt market sustainability as they are having their major focus on innovating their products
so as to keep their customers engaged and keep on making new clients as well. So within this
context manager is having responsibility of taking decisions regarding implementation of
projected innovation in an impactful manner so that it would give high value to their customers.
On the other hand leader is having impact on decision making regarding direction to their team
so as to make them worth to achieve business objective in considerable manner (Reid and
Sanders, 2019).
CONCLUSION
Form the above detailed report it can be concluded that management and operation are
two different aspect of business which are having significant role and impact over business. A
business is having major impact of a leader and manager; both of them are having their own
roles, responsibilities and function within business so as to achieve high growth over
marketplace. Furthermore leadership style is helpful in business to manage and control every
aspect and dimension of organisation so as to tackle the entire business situation in effective
manner. On the other hand operation management is having major role in manufacturing process,

with the help of TQM, six sigma and kaizen business can minimise its wastages and enhance its
efficiency and capabilities.

REFERENCES
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