Operations Management and Discipline Regulation

This assignment delves into the realm of operations management, covering various topics such as optimizing smart energy control strategies, production and operations management, human resource management practices, and sustainable logistics and supply chain management. It also touches on the importance of maintaining discipline within organizations and regulating different activities to ensure employee productivity.

MANAGEMENT AND
OPERATION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Roles of leader and characteristics of manager......................................................................3
M1....................................................................................................................................................5
D1.....................................................................................................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P2 Role of leader and function of manager in various situational context.................................5
P3 Theories and several approaches of leadership......................................................................7
M2....................................................................................................................................................8
TASK 3 ...........................................................................................................................................9
P4 Key approaches to operation management and role which leaders and managers play........9
M3..................................................................................................................................................10
P5 Value and importance of operational management in achieving business objectives.........10
D2...................................................................................................................................................11
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
P6 Factors which impact upon operational management and decision-making by leaders and
managers...................................................................................................................................11
M4..................................................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Operation and management are crucial factors of an organisation. Management is
responsible for coordinating, managing and combining all efforts of employees and superiors
towards achievement of business goals and objectives by efficiently utilising the available
limited resources. On the other hand, operations are related to day to day functions of an
organisation that are conducted to earn profits. It involves whole operations like converting raw
material to finished goods from limited resources, handling issues related to product design, its
maintenance and improvement so as to ensure smooth and successful running of business to
attain maximum profit level by meeting customers' expectations (Mets and et al, 2010). Marks
and Spencer (M&S) deals in retail industry and was founded in 1884. It headquarters are situated
in London, United Kingdom. This assignment will focus on different roles and characteristics of
leaders and managers. Different theories and models of leadership are mentioned in this
assignment. Moreover, approaches and importance of operation management and its impact on
decision making has been covered under this assignment.
TASK 1
P1 Roles of leader and characteristics of manager
Managers and leaders both are vital parts of an organisation as they have the desired
capabilities to run all business operation with utmost perfection to achieve maximum profits.
Manager is a person who is responsible for designing, managing and carrying out various
functions of management and ensure work done by employees according to standard procedures.
They formulate strategies for company to earn more profits and encourage sales of the products.
On the other hand, leader is a person who influences individuals or group of employees towards
achievement of goals. It requires functioning of both leaders and manager together to achieve set
vision and missions of Marks and Spencer (Khanna, 2015). It is a huge industries and has stores
across the globe and requires highly efficient and talented personnel to handle all activities and
operations of company. There are different functions of leaders and managers which they
perform on daily basis to ensure desired success to company. They are given below:
Functions of Manager:
 Planning: This is very important for a company and is an important function of a
manager. They have to plan various activities according to preferences of customers and

which can provide company with maximum benefits and profits. In addition, they make
numerous plans and from that they select the best plans which can produce good results.
M&S plans their activities by considering all new trends and which can fulfill all
requirements of customers as well as company.
 Organizing: This means organizing all business activities in a proper sequence so that
they can give maximum output to company. In this, management set objectives and goals
to be achieved in a given time frame (Kale, 2013). After that, they identify all activities
which are suitable for achieving these objectives and give responsibilities to related
employees. By providing necessary resources, they can achieve their goals.
 Staffing: It ensures hiring right candidates and appointing him to the right job is known
as staffing. Managers of M&S ensure that they offer jobs according to candidate's
specialisation as they can perform in that field more effectively.
 Directing: In this, managers give responsibilities to employees and direct their roles
towards an activity or tasks. Manager of M&S are efficient enough in giving particular
responsibilities to their subordinates and guide about their role in their job.
Above are some of the crucial functions of managers which they have to perform in order
to effectively manage their employees as well as business activities. Following are some
functions of leaders:
Functions of leader
 Setting Goals: Leader give directions to company by setting appropriate goals which can
provide M&S with maximum profits. According to that, they give direction for
completion of that set goals.
 Vision: Another role of a leader is to set ultimate vision for company to make them
unique from other competitors. They inspire employees to work together to achieve their
vision.
 Inspiration and Communication: Leader plays an important role in motivating and
encouraging employees. They give them different responsibilities and provide them with
appropriate information and materials to help them with completion of tasks. They
encourage better communication between leaders and subordinates to know each other
and work together as a team (Bendoly and et al, 2010). This leads to achievement of
goals at faster rate.

Below are the comparison between managers and a leader:
MANAGER LEADER
Manager is responsible for setting goals and
objectives for the company.
Responsibility of a leader is to guide and direct
their followers.
Various functions of managers are planning,
organising, staffing, directing, controlling.
Various functions of leaders are inspiring and
motivating their followers.
Managers make strategies for organisation. Leaders facilitate decision.
They take risks for company. They minimise risks.
M1
Role of manager and leader of Marks and Spencer are inter related to each other. They
work together to achieve goals and objectives for company. Leader follows situational leadership
which makes them innovative in nature whereas managers follow classical management theory
which makes them administrative in nature. In addition, leader also follow transformational
leadership in which they allow their subordinates to participate in decision making process.
Whereas managers follow transactional leadership model which enables them to guide an
individual regarding his tasks.
D1
According to (Atasu and Wassenhove, 2012), system leadership is implemented in order
to complete different projects and activities of organisation. They help in controlling the work
and ensure the gap between desired and actual result is reduced and minimised.
TASK 2
P2 Role of leader and function of manager in various situational context.
Managers and leaders both are key personnel for any company. They both work together
to make a strong reputation of organisation in competitive world. They formulate strategies and
activities which help M&S to achieve their set targets in time limit. Leader of company helps
them by creating unique vision statements whereas mangers formulate short term as well as long

term goals for M&S. There are various roles which manager and leader plays at different
situations to manage their activities.
Leader leads the organizational activities and direct and support their employees in every
situations (Lee, Lee and Wu, 2010). They play an important role in maintaining discipline within
firm and ensure proper flow of work. If any situation arises, they formulate solutions to tackle
that.
Situation: M&S can face different situations like shortage of employees within
organisation, some employees unable to perform their work, lack of appropriate technologies.
To handle above situations, managers and leaders follow different solutions to tackle that.
Some of them are given below:
 Hiring of candidates: In above situation, managers can perform recruitment and
selection process to hire suitable candidates for available job position. For this, managers
can first identify positions with organisation. After that they can list down all
specification required to fill that post. This help them to select best candidate for that job
which can encourage profits and sales of company.
 Training and development: Managers can identify which employees are facing troubles
in performing their work and according to their need, they can provide them with
necessary training. This leads to smooth flow of work by trainee and they can perform
more efficiently than before.
 Up gradation of technologies: organisation should have recent and latest technologies to
lead in competitive market. Without that, they cannot produce or manufacture desired
products. For that, company can improve their outdated technologies with recent
advancements and make their equipment up to date. Managers should list down all
technologies and machines which needs replacement with new technologies and try to
implement them in company as soon as possible (Baird, Jia Hu and Reeve, 2011). On the
other hand, leaders can guide and direct their employees by giving them technical
knowledge about operating new machines.
P3 Theories and several approaches of leadership
Leadership can be implemented within organisation effectively when company have
proficient and highly talented leaders. Marks and Spencer have qualified leaders which help
company to tackle all tough situation and guide their followers appropriately. They apply

different leadership theories and approaches in various conditions to operate their business
activities with more efficiency. They first identifies issue in a particular situation and secondly,
they implement the best approaches and theories which are suitable to that circumstance. Some
of the leadership approaches which is implemented by M&S are mentioned below:
System leadership: In this, leaders and managers divide complex activities or tasks into
manageable units, which help them to understand that activity more accurately and can guide
employees properly. Through this theory, they can manage their activities and complete it within
specified time limit. Leaders divide employees in different teams and assign tasks according to
their specialization. This leads to more efficiency and productivity.
Situational leadership: This theory is related to self adaptation rather than forcing others
to adapt changes. In this, leaders and managers initially adapt themselves to external and internal
changes so that they can properly guide about changes to their superiors (Agha, Alrubaiee and
Jamhour, 2011). Different functions which are involved in this leadership their are: telling,
directing, supporting, delegating and coaching.
Contingency theory: This theory is applied when organisation faces unpredictable change
in different department of company like marketing, finance, sales, human resources, services etc.
It help company to manage their situations and uncertainties more effectively. This help
employees to become more diverse and talented and build creative and innovative thinking. They
become used to different challenges and face them with confidence and are not afraid of any
situations.
Behavioral theory: This theory is used to analyze behaviors of leaders. There are mainly
three types of leaders and are mentioned below:
 Autocratic leader: This type of leaders are authoritative in nature. They only
implement decisions which are made by them and does not take any ideas and
opinions from employees. They make their own choices and does not entertain
any judgments. This type of leaders enables dictatorship within work
environment.
 Democratic leader: This type of leaders have supporting nature and involves
every member of company at the time of decision making process. They listens to
ideas and advises given by employees and implement them in final strategies.
Leaders allows employees to come forward and participate in different crucial

activities of management. This type of leadership should be implemented and
encouraged in every organisation because this style leads to more productivity
and employee satisfaction.
 Laissez-Faire leaders: In this, leaders are only involved at the time of
formulating critical decisions and other improvement decisions are made by
employees or group members. This sometime leads to low productivity as
employees don't have experience to take important management decision for
company. Leaders help them by providing them with necessary resources and
materials to implement different tasks.
M2
It is crucial to carry out effective approaches at the time of different situations to handle
unpredictable condition. By implementing appropriate solutions, company can reduce the impact
of unpredictable situations. For this, company should have strong management to provide good
solutions and implement them with higher efficiency.
TASK 3
P4 Key approaches to operation management and role which leaders and managers play.
Marks and Spencer use following approaches to improve efficiency of its business
operation by making relevant modifications in company's strategies and procedures in
accordance with the outcome of these approaches.
Total quality management: This is a management approach which focuses on
manufacturing high quality products and minimising defects in products. Marks and Spencer
implement total quality management within their organisation to make quality products.
Company guide and direct employees to maintain quality standards in every product they
manufacture (Grant, Wong and Trautrims, 2017). By maintaining highest quality, they can
satisfy their customers and can make loyal consumers in long term. TQM serves an important
tool for M&S to maintain their position in market as well as to satisfy needs of customers by
proving them quality products.
Queueing and logistics: Queueing management is a crucial process of M&S. This is
applied to reduce the waiting time for customers going to stores by speeding up of the services
which are being provided to them. This leads to more satisfied customers and they tend to re-

visit those stores. Logistics management on the other hand is concerned with managing of supply
chain to ensure effective supply of products and services from manufactures to customers. This
leads to reduction of extra expenses and enhances customer service. They plan, control and
implement effective movement and storage of related information, goods and service from origin
to destination (Heizer, 2016).
Roles of manager
There are various roles of manager which are mentioned below-
 Main responsibility of manager is to generate innovative strategies and implement them
within organisation to earn maximum profits and enhance company as well as customer
satisfactions.
 They formulate short term as well as long term goals for company.
 They manage all resources and activities of the firm for better productions.
 Managers build different systems to initiate smooth flow of work.
Role of leader
Following are some roles of an operation leader-
 Leader's main responsibility is to guide and direct employees and set vision statement for
company.
 They encourage discipline within organisation.
 They encourage, inspire and motivate employees to perform better in their tasks.
 They focus on activities which are currently going on in organisation.
 Leaders should support their employees at every level and provide them with proper
information when they require it.
M3
Leaders and managers are necessary for organisation to lead their business in right
direction so that they can achieve their set goals and objectives and establish a strong reputation
in competitive world. They can improve efficiencies of employees as well as operational
management as they both are directly related to performing business activities. If employees are
highly skilled and talented and have strong operational management, they can achieve maximum
profits for company and also ensures timely completion of goals and objectives.

P5 Value and importance of operational management in achieving business objectives
Customers have different needs and wants which are changing with time. So it has
become difficult for an organisation to become proactive in catering customer's needs and wants.
Operational management is a process which is concerned with manufacture finished product by
converting raw materials (Urgaonkar and et al, 2010). They also ensures that products which are
being manufactured attains high quality standards and have the capacity to fulfil customers
desires. Marks and Spencer have efficient operation management and they focus on every
activities going on in the company and try to improves its efficiency at regular interval.
IMPORTANCE OF OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT
Cooperation among departments: Operational management ensures that there is strong
communication and coordination between departments and every employee work together in the
direction of completion of goals. This encourages smooth flow of work and information within
company.
Optimum utilisation of resources- Managers have a great responsibility to utilise
available resources in production of finished goods and avoid wastage of raw materials. They
focus on every step of production and ensure that quality of products are not compromised. This
leads to maximising production and sales of products. Thus, operational management ensures
that every employee come and work together on their assigned tasks and produce good products
within limited resources.
Good employer employee relationship: It is necessary for an organisation to have good
and harmonious relations with each other to facilitate team work and timely completion of
activities. This has positive impact on production and operations of company. Manager should
initiate an encourage employees to make good relations with one another.
Customer satisfaction and profit motive: Customer satisfaction is the utmost goal of
every organisation. Managers formulates strategies which are customer centred and try to fulfil
their demands through their products. Gaining their trust by providing them with desired quality
and quantity of products and services demanded by them is the main focus of operations and
management.
D2
According to (Slack, 2015), Marks and Spencer applies different applications of
operational management within their organisation to make their business activities and tasks

more effective and productive. Transforming raw material into finished good should be carried
out effectively by following all quality standards is one major application of this management.
Another one is that, logistic and supply chain management, this should be efficient enough to
provide products and services from manufacturer to customers on time.
TASK 4
P6 Factors which impact upon operational management and decision-making by leaders and
managers.
If organisation wants to achieve desired success in market, they have to consider
customers needs and wants and implement those while manufacturing their products and
services. There are many factors which influence productivity, operation and profitability of
enterprise (Barratt, Choi and Li, 2011). If customers does not like products, company can modify
their production strategies and make necessary modification in that product and re launch it in
the market. Managers and leaders should be of dynamic nature which can help them to convince
employees to make them perform different tasks. Following are some factors which impacts on
operational management:
Sustainability: Companies have some target which they have to fulfil in specified time
and managers help them with effective strategies and ensure that those activities can accomplish
their targets in better manner. Managers should ensure that every strategy formulated results in
best outputs.
Stakeholder: These are the persons which are related to organisation's functioning. It
mainly includes employees, debtors, shareholders, customer, suppliers, creditors, etc. and are
considered as part of company. They mainly give assistance to activities of business so that they
can achieve their targets. So it is important for them to satisfy them. To make them happy,
managers have to sometime alter their procedures and policies.
Ethics: It is the most vital part of organisation and should given utmost priority (Terzi
and et al, 2010). Managers and leader should encourage good environment within organisation
so that employees can focus on their work and result in maximum profits and sales. Better
culture motivate employees to perform better. Every organisation should implement ethical
approach in their functioning.

M4
All the factors discussed above has their direct and major impact on the business
environment. It is essential for company to make their stakeholders happy as they have important
role in day to any operations (Weinmann and et al, 2013). If they are not satisfied with operation
of company, they might discontinue with the same which can impact negative effect on
performance of company.
CONCLUSION
The above assignment concludes that leaders and managers have crucial role in
organisation to ensure desired success. Both of them have different functions and responsibilities
and should be efficient in their work. They should be capable enough to make their employees
work. Marks and Spencer have highly talented managers and leaders and they are well informed
and updated and pass crucial information to their employees. Leaders implement different
leadership styles to encourage smooth flow of work and maintenance of discipline within
organisation. Managers regulate different activities and ensure whether employees are working
properly or not.

REFERENCES
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Online
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