Operations Management of Unilever Plc

MANAGEMENT AND
OPERATION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Key approaches to operational management and role of managers and leaders.........................1
Significance and value of operation management.......................................................................3
Recommendations to improve operational efficiencies...............................................................4
LO 4.................................................................................................................................................5
P6 Factors within business environment that impact on decision making by manager and
leader and operational management of Unilever PLC.................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Management is the procedure of controlling or dealing with peoples and things,
management also control the operations of business effectively. Management and operations are
the two essential part within company as work together (Schaltegger and Burritt, 2017).
Management of firm and its team members is responsible for managing the overall operations of
business and also measure the effectiveness of the same. The present report is based on
operations and management of Unilever PLC and explains the key approaches to operations
management and role that manager and leaders play. Furthermore, it defines value and
importance of OM in achieving business objectives and also justifies the factors that impact on
operational management, managers and leaders decision making procedure.
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Key approaches to operational management and role of managers and leaders
Operational management is defined as the practices or approaches which creates the
optimum level of efficiency. These practices aims at improving operational efficiencies so that
goods and services can be provided with maximum profitability. Operational management
approaches ensures that all operations are controlled and designed in a way such that
organisations are able to deliver high quality services along with the timely delivery of products
and services.
Role of leaders:
The leaders and managers play an important role in promoting the operational
efficiencies. They must identify the operational areas which needs improvement so that proper
monitoring and controlling can help to achieve the quality goals. In addition to these leaders
must also motivate the team members so that they can adopt such approaches easily with positive
attitude (Heizer, Render and Munson, 2017). When team members of Unilever PLC shows
welcoming approach towards advanced approaches then, there are high possibilities of achieving
goals related to operational efficiencies. Managers of the organisation must identify the most
suitable approaches which meets the business objectives of Unilever PLC. It will also allow
managers to develop appropriate training programs so that staff members can learn the
operational management (OM) practices. Unilever PLC can use following OM approaches :
Six sigma:
One of the most effective and precise operational approach which can be used by
organisation is the six sigma concept. It is statistical and data driven based approach which
detects the errors and functional defects in the services, products or processes. By using this
approach organisation sets the standard deviation of the process so that desired quality in the
operational process can be identified and resolved. On the basis of statistical measurements the
teams can evaluate the isolated inputs, procedures and all other factors which are responsible for
the reduced quality of operations. Thus, this approach can be said to be highly effective in terms
of dealing with real world issues in the production and supply chain process. One of the most
popular model which can be used by Unilever PLC is DMAIC model which will help company
to enhance quality of its process.

To evaluate the quality organisation can also use tools such as chart, scatter plots, check
sheet or graphs (Albliwi, Antony and Lim, 2015) . As per DMAIC model company must first
define the clear meaning of process and parameter of quality. Then organisation must measure
the statistical parameters so that quality can be analysed on the basis of defined quality standards.
The analysis can help Unilever PLC to improve the existing strategies and processes so that
factors causing operational drawbacks can be identified and solved. Along with these regular
checks and improvement it is also required to have complete control of the operational factors so
that such errors can be eliminated in the future practices (Anderson and et.al., 2015).
Total quality management (TQM):
TQM approach is one of the most effective and essential operational improvement
approach which aims at assuring quality of products and services to an extent so that customer
satisfaction goals can be achieved. For the long term success Unilever PLC must emphasis on
quality aspects. TQM can be defined as the operational approach which aims at increasing
continuous improvement by employing all employees and customer focused management. The
increased participation of all employees motivate them to give high performance work and to
achieve shared goals. Along with these principles Unilever PLC must also monitor the inputs and
outputs of process so that process thinking can be improved to enhance quality of services.
The use of suitable strategies and structured plans into the action can be vital for the
accomplishment of goals on time and with improved efficiency. In order to achieve the TQM
objectives company must also develop a culture in which communication barriers can be
eliminated and decision making is supported by the supporting facts (Hill, 2017). These
principles of the TQM helps organisation to develop an integrated work system in which
continuous improvement to strategic plans, actions and processes delivers the high quality
services to the customers of Unilever PLC.
Lean production:
Lean methodology emphasis on reducing waster within organisation so that profitability
can be increased by reducing operational expenses. The key principles of lean production
includes continuous improvement and Kaizen which aims at eliminating the operational
deficiencies and promoting huge flow of innovative ideas which can reduce the operational cost.
By incorporating lead production Unilever PLC can identify wastage involved in excessive
inventory, motion of human resources and machinery, waiting time, defects and over processing.
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The organisation must also consider the perspective and value from the perspective of their
stakeholders. It will help company to earn maximum profits the optimum pricing. For achieving
this objective organisation must identify the waste at every stage of product life cycle so that non
value added things can be eliminated.
Another lean principle which can be used by Unilever PLC is that for minimising the
waste company must try to avoid functional barriers because regular interruptions not only delay
the process but also enhances the waste. To increase the quality of services organisation must
also try to adopt pull system so that production is started only when there is demand so that
inventory based losses can be eliminated (Slack and Brandon-Jones, 2018). Along with these
strategies Unilever PLC can enhance its work productivity by using Kaizen principle so that at
each functional stage root quality concerns can be identified and resolved.
The use of these OM strategies will help Unilever PLC to accomplish its operational
related quality standards within desired time frame and operational cost.
Significance and value of operation management
Operation management is very important for the overall productivity of Unilever PLC as
there is a ratio from input to output is being termed as the productivity of company. Operational
management is being considered as the crucial in the organization as it handles the issues like
daily operations and the maintenance of the system used in the company. Operation management
is the vital component in Unilever PLC specially in the manufacturing operation as it is
important that ensures to have a strong management process. For the company it is very essential
to understand the importance of operational management (Chatzoudes, Chatzoglou and
Vraimaki, 2015). It is very effective in the company as it ensures the product quality
management that enable to enhance the product and the service quality as they take the product
quality in to two aspects that is reliability and durability. To enforce the quality management
process there must be having the effective delivery products and services as well as make the
products durable to the consumers. It also gives the consumer satisfaction within its sale and
production that is being need for the repeat business of consumers. At the same the quality
management also take care of the quality of products to ensure the needs of the customers. Thus,
it will give the idea in order to create the desired consumer product. It is having the great value in
the organization as it reduce the waste and it is one of the important component for the Unilever
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PLC as it also potentially includes the lean management in the manufacturing system and it
minimises the waste and manage the cost of inventory. To eliminate the waste in the operations
save the money and also eliminate the unnecessary cost and improves the overall production in
the operation (Touboulic and Walker, 2015).
Recommendations to improve operational efficiencies
As all the business wants to grow and keep down their cost so that they can hold the
market as a king so it is important to maintain the operational efficiency in the business and the
operational efficiency can be occurred if there is a balance in the combination of people, process
as well as in the technology to optimize the business performance. Recommendations to improve
the operational efficiency in the Unilever PLC is
Enhance the communication and the collaboration
This two is the two pillars in the today's business world as a business it is very important
to ensure that the employees are being located in the different cities in the same countries as well
as in the different country. Communication in between the employees located across the country
becomes critical (Chatzoudes, Chatzoglou and Vraimaki, 2015). They can use the tools like
calendar, video conferencing, sharing of the documents as it makes the work easier and make the
employees collaborate to each other regardless of having n the different geographic conditions.
Set up the proper infrastructure
The right infrastructure is the critical way in improving the efficiency of business. In fact
the networks and the system must be right to support the growing needs of the organization. The
company can use the cloud infrastructure and can customize the usage without doing the heavy
expense on the hardware (Reid and Sanders, 2015).
Enhance the customer service
For the organization the customers were always remains the king in the business so it is
important for the company to make sure that they are getting the best service. Many times the
communication gap in between the employees and the customers lead the complaints and
conflicts and that ultimately effect the brand image so need to improve the customer service and
satisfy the customers (Touboulic and Walker, 2015).
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LO 4
P6 Factors within business environment that impact on decision making by manager and leader
and operational management of Unilever PLC
Political, social, economic, environmental, legal and technological factors impact on
Unilever PLC as well as their operational management. With the help of PESTLE analysis it is
easy to understand elements which effect firm and decision making procedure by manager and
leader of company.
Political factor-
Government policy, foreign trade policy, political stability or instability in markets,
environmental law, tax policy etc. is included in political factors that impact on business
companies. Political landscape influence Unilever performance as well as their management, due
to changes in taxation policies and high charges on taxes negatively impact on company
operations management. Production management must produce products such as food and
beverages, beauty product as other at lower costs via using lower cost materials in which
company can be able to pay charges according to tax policy (Mosadeghrad, 2014). On the other
side it also impacts on leader and manager decision making, in which leader motivate team
members to perform effectively and manager make strategies for trade procedure. When
company need to pay high charges on trade procedure, it might be effect workers wages and
salary packages in order to sustain peoples with firm leader motivate them and manager
communicate with management about solving the issue.
Social factor-
Population growth, health consciousness, age distribution and career attitudes is included
in social factors. Socio cultural issues and trends affect Unilever business as well as their
operational management. In society peoples drive towards health consciousness and avoid
eating unhealthy food in order to stay healthy and look fit (Boyle, 2015). As it impact on
production management of company and they need to make changes in whole manufacture
procedure which is essential for business and required to sustain for longer. In that case leader
and manager decision making activity also get affected after changes in peoples perspective.
Leader provide directions to employees for making goods according to customers needs and
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market demands, manager conduct market research in order to gather more data or information
about current socio culture trends.
Economic factor-
It has significant impact on how the Unilever Plc does business and also how profitable
they are. Economic growth, exchange rates, disposable income of businesses and customers and
inflation is included in economic factors. When Unilever Plc expand their business in new
market place where income of peoples is lower and they cannot be able to pay prices on each of
their product it put negative effect on operational management, company need to cut their
goods costs which is beneficial for consumer but not for them. As it also impact on leader
decision making procedure, in which leader guide employee who to use low cost raw materials
which is beneficial for clients as well as business. On the other side manager make plan how to
reduce cost in production procedure and sets the affordable prices on products.
Legal factor-
Health and safety, advertising standards, product labelling, product safety, consumer
rights and equal opportunities is included in legal factors (Chen, Preston and Swink, 2015). The
Unilever PLC must understand what is allowed and legal within territories they operate in. Due
to some changes in health and safety legislation it impacts on HRM department and other
operational management functions. Human resource department must considered the workers
safety according to government legislation which is beneficial for business growth and success.
It also impacts on leader and manager decision making process, leader focuses on peoples safety
and must be able to understand their needs in context of workplace safety. Manager must be
aware of any change in employee health and safety legislation which impact on business as well
as performance of staff members. Manager make plans related to worker safety and implement
fire extinguishers and fire alarms at workplace.
Environmental factor-
Environment factor is essential due to increasing scarcity of raw materials, carbon foot
print targets set by the government of UK and pollution targets. Due to growing awareness of
potential influence of climate change is affecting how Unilever PLC operate and goods they
offer. Company production management use paper bags for packaging their products in order to
low land pollution and must avoid use of plastic bags or cans for packaging foods and beverages.
Decision making by leader will be affected after rise in CSR, they must guide team members for
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less using plastic bags. Manager take decision for recycling the whole plastic bag which reduce
land pollution and contribute to make environment healthy.
Technological factor-
Due to advancement in technologies it put negative impact on Unilever PLC production
management and leader and manager decision making. Manager need to make plans based on
analysis of advanced technologies within market (Epstein, 2018). They take decision in context
of implementing new technology for manufacturing products effectively. As according to these
change leader responsibilities is changed, they must guide employees and trained them about
using new technologies which is difficult but beneficial for overall business growth.
CONCLUSION
From above it has been concluded that leaders and managers play essential role within
Unilever PLC company. Lean management, six sigmas is one of the best operations'
management approaches that is beneficial for company as helps to grow more than before.
Operations management is very important in organization and helps to achieve business
objectives. With the help of operations management company can be able to deliver products on
time which build good relationship with their customers. Furthermore, it has been discussed that
due to technology advancement, people perspectives change and other factors firm operation
management will affect the most. Manager and leader also make some changes in their working
styles that take a lot of time but still necessary to them.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Boyle, T., 2015. Health and safety: risk management. Routledge.
Chen, D.Q., Preston, D.S. and Swink, M., 2015. How the use of big data analytics affects value
creation in supply chain management. Journal of Management Information Systems. 32(4). pp.4-
39.
Epstein, M.J., 2018. Making sustainability work: Best practices in managing and measuring
corporate social, environmental and economic impacts. Routledge.
Mosadeghrad, A.M., 2014. Factors influencing healthcare service quality. International journal
of health policy and management. 3(2). p.77.
Schaltegger, S. and Burritt, R., 2017. Contemporary environmental accounting: issues, concepts
and practice. Routledge.
Slack, N. and Brandon-Jones, A., 2018. Operations and process management: principles and
practice for strategic impact. Pearson UK.
Hill, T., 2017. Manufacturing strategy: the strategic management of the manufacturing function.
Macmillan International Higher Education.
Anderson, D.R. and et.al., 2015. An introduction to management science: quantitative
approaches to decision making. Cengage learning.
Heizer, J., Render, B. and Munson, C., 2017. Operations management. Pearson Education
Limited.
Albliwi, S.A., Antony, J. and Lim, S.A.H., 2015. A systematic review of Lean Six Sigma for the
manufacturing industry. Business Process Management Journal. 21(3). pp.665-691.
Chatzoudes, D., Chatzoglou, P. and Vraimaki, E., 2015. The central role of knowledge
management in business operations: Developing a new conceptual framework. Business Process
Management Journal. 21(5). pp.1117-1139.
Reid, R.D. and Sanders, N.R., 2015. Operations Management, Binder Ready Version: An
Integrated Approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Touboulic, A. and Walker, H., 2015. Theories in sustainable supply chain management: a
structured literature review. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics
Management. 45(1/2).pp.16-42.
Online
PESTEL Analysis. 2017.[Online]. Available through :
<https://www.business-to-you.com/scanning-the-environment-pestel-analysis/>.
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