Leadership and Management Roles in Operations

The provided report focuses on the different roles of managers and leaders in operational functioning within an organization. It defines various approaches and theories of leadership, highlighting the distinct positions of leaders and managers. The report then critically examines external factors influencing decision-making processes in these contexts.

Management and
Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3
P1. Roles and characteristics of leaders and managers.........................................................3
The functions of managers and the role of leaders in the organization are as
follows:....................................................................................................................6
L02. Apply the role of a leader nd the function of a manager in given contexts..................7
P2. Roles of a leader and function of a manager will be applied in organisational context..7
P3. Different theories and models of approaches..................................................................7
L03. Demonstrate an appreciation of the role leaders an managers play in the operations
function of an organisation ......................................................................................................10
P4. Approaches of operation management and roles of leaders and managers...................10
P5. Importance and value of operation management in achieving business objectives......11
L04. Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between leadership and management
in a contemporary business environment.................................................................................13
P6. Factors which will affect the business environment and decision making by leaders
and managers.......................................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Management and operation is the governing body of commercial enterprise practices
to create the advanced level of efficiency in the organisation. It is the operation of converting
raw material into finished goods and services. Organisation undertaken in this report is Mark
and Spencer which was founded in 1884 in UK which is associated with retail industry. This
report will explain the difference between the roles and functions of a manager and leader.
Then it will examine the various theories and styles of manager and leader. It will
demonstrate the role of leader and manager played in the operations function in an
organisation. Later part of the report will give an understanding about the relationship
between leadership and management in a contemporary business environment.
L01. Differentiate between the role of a leader and the function of a manager
P1. Roles and characteristics of leaders and managers.
Marks and Spencer is a major and well-established British multinational retail
organisation in Westminster, London. It was founded in 1884 by Sir Michael Marks, Thomas
Spencer. Company mainly specialise in selling of different variety in clothes to the customers
at affordable price. M&S follows a flat organizational structure. This structure has limited
levels of administration between front-line employees and administrative level. This
structure is applied in organization to promote workers in more decision making process.
Leaders and managers are very crucial part of the organisation. They are the separate
entities from each other and having different roles and characteristics. Operation management
is the process concerned with the overall planning, organising, controlling, directing, etc.
Managers are responsible for performing various important functions of the company in an
effective manner (Aboelmaged, 2014). Mark and Spencer will have various managers and
leaders which will perform numerous duties and roles.
Manager
Manager is a person who is accountable for managing organisation. They control and
monitor the departments and guide people to work in accordance of the organisations goals
and objectives. Managers job is very crucial in an organisation. They perform their work at

various levels and they are known as with different names in different departments. In Mark
and Spencer, manager will perform several roles and characteristics which are discussed
below :
Roles of a manager in Mark and Spencer
Role is concerned with different pattern of a manager in an organisation. Following
are the roles performed by manager in Mark and Spencer:-
 Interpersonal roles : Manager will exercise several duties as a figure head
(Bendoly, van Wezel and Bachrach, 2015). They are required to perform certain
duties of everyday routine of legal and social nature. Activities included in this are
like greeting visitors, signing judicial agreements, etc.
 Informational roles : In this they will exercise the role of monitor, disseminate and
spokesperson . They will seek and receive wide variety of information to develop a
critical understanding of organisation and environment. They will act as a link
between transmission information to the environment and other related people.
 Decisional roles : Managers will act as entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource
allocator and negotiator. They take decisions regarding resource allocations, handles
problems and take decisions regarding problems faced by people, etc.
Characteristics of managers
Following are the characteristics or features of managers required in Mark and
Spencer:-
 Reliability : Manager must be reliable in leading the group of people. This means,
they will be available for their employees, getting work done and assisting the people
in task allotted to them (Castro, Rocha and Oliveira, 2014).
 Respect for employees : They will always give respect and treat their employees
equally. It is important to maintain harmony and motivated environment for them so
that goals and objectives are accomplished effectively and efficiently.
 Disciplined : Manager will always be in disciplined as they will act as a role model
for their employees. They must bring the feeling of etiquettes in their employees.
Leader
A leader is a person who is responsible for influencing the individual or group of
peoples to work for the attainment of organisational goals and objectives. It acts as an art of
guiding others and inspire them to work for the growth and productivity of the company.
Leader of Mark and Spencer will exercise several roles and characteristics and they are
discussed below :-

Role of leader
Different roles of leader required to be performed in Mark and Spencer are:-
 Training : They provide adequate training to the people and employees in
organisation. This will help employees in learning adequate skills and knowledge.
 Monitoring : Leaders will keep a control and monitor the activities performed by
people. This will help them to know that work is being carried as per the plans.
 Motivation : They will motivate employees financially or non financially so that
people will work with full zeal and confidence (Choi, Wallace and Wang, 2018).
Characteristics of a leader
Leader poses various characteristics and features which are essential in governing
their roles in Mark and Spencer and they are discussed below :-
 Effective leadership skills : They will follow such leadership styles which will be
beneficial for the organisation by analysing the conditions and situations. These styles
can be autocratic, democratic, laissez faire, etc.
 Communication skills : Leaders must have effective communication skills which
will help them in clarifying the mission and vision of the company to the employees.
 Listening skills : They must have effective listening skills so that leaders can
understand the issues and problems and find an appropriate solutions for the same.
Difference between leader and manager
Basis Manager Leader
Origin Individual opts for managerial
position by the virtue of their
skills and knowledge.
A person becomes leader by
the virtue of their personal
attributes and traits.
Functions Manager is responsible for
performing POSDC functions
of management.
Leader perform the function of
influencing people to work for
the accomplishment of goals.
Risk They work to minimise the
risk.
They take risk in the
organisation.
Similarities between leader and manager

Basis Leaders and manager
Communication Both poses effective communication skills
which is useful in implementing the mission
and vision and resolving conflicts in the
company.
Motivation They are accountable for motivating the people
with incentives, bonuses, enrichments,
attention, etc. to work for achieving goals.
The functions of managers and the role of leaders in the organization are as follows:
Planning: It can be considered as the main function of M&S in which they have to
plan and set goals for the organisation. Main objective behind this role is to enhance the sale
and satisfying the customers. For increasing the sales figures, Managers of M&S have
decided to implement KAIZEN technique so that productivity or efficiencies of firm can be
improved. Role of leaders of M&S in this function is to communicate and delegate specific
roles and responsibilities to the employees and monitor the activities of employees so that
goals or objectives can be achieved in a given time-frame.
Organizing: It is also a major function which is performed by the managers of Marks
and Spencer in which they have to organise and utilise the resources of firm in an effective
manner so that organisational goals will be achieved in the given time period. In it, the role of
leaders are to allocate the source of resources and motivate their team mates so that available
resources are utilised in proper manner.
Directing: In this, Managers of M&S have to direct the employees so that given task
will be performed in a systematic manner. Whereas, roles of leaders is to form a team and
direct them that how the work would be completed.
Staffing - In this, managers have to recruit the knowledgeable and experienced
employees and leaders have duty to get best efforts from the recruited employees of firm.
M&S recruit the employees and provide jobs as per their skills and responsibilities and
leaders have duty to motivate and support the staff members in allotted work so that better
outcomes will be received in a short time period.
Coordinating - In it, managers of organisation have to make coordination between
the departments so that better contribution can be gained from them in achievement of goals.
Like production and marketing department always supports the M&S in making a good brand
image of firm in the mindset of customers through delivering better quality of product to

themselves. In it, main role of leaders are to implement or use best practices so that better
coordination will be made at workplace which is beneficial for achieving the goals or
objectives.
Controlling- Strategies are formed by the managers and these are implemented by the
leaders in M&S so that chances of conflicts can be reduced and productivity and profitability of
firm can be increased in the marketplace.
L02. Apply the role of a leader nd the function of a manager in given contexts
P2. Roles of a leader and function of a manager will be applied in organisational context.
There are various roles which are performed by leaders in an organisation. And
managers perform the function of planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling
(Christopher, 2016). In some situation, Mark and Spencer will be required to perform these
functions and roles and they are discussed below:-
Rapid changes
When there are rapid and fast changes in the business environment then managers of
Mark and Spencer will be required to cope up with these fluctuations. In such cases, leader
will use autocratic leadership style so that quick decisions can be taken without utilising time
in discussing with the subordinates. Manager will make thorough study in predicting the
future of the organisation. They will also apply modification in several policies and programs
which will be needed. In order to deal with this situation, business manager play vital role by
providing training classes to the employees. Along with this, business leader also play vital
role in guiding to those people who are not able to face rapid changes easily.
Slow changes
When business environment is stable with no or less changes then leaders will apply
democratic leadership style so that decisions can be taken by discussing views and thoughts
of employees. Manager will not modify their policies quickly (Fagel, 2016). They will work
together with research and development department for identifying and analysing customer’s
preferences. This will give them relevant time to make unique products. For instance, this can
result in developing better services and products for Mark and Spencer and ensures stability.
P3. Different theories and models of approaches.
There are various theories and models of managements and leadership which Mark
and Spencer will use for effective functioning.
Theories of management

The scientific management school
This theory was developed by F.W. Taylor. It involves break down of manual task in
manufacturing environments and allocating timing to each task so that they can be performed
effectively. It promoted standardisation and specialisation by advising that workplace task
must be divided in smaller parts.
Strength Weakness
Improving work methods, increases
productivity and efficiency of M&S.
It leads to disintegration of work due to
increased labour divisions which becomes
complex for leader
Contribution in developing healthy working
environment for M&S which motivates
employees to work harder.
Ignores the humanitarian aspects of people and
focuses on increases efficiency which
sometimes decrease productivity level of
employees.
Situational theory of leadership
This theory states that no single style is best for every situations instead it depends on
the conditions. Effective leader is the one who changes and modifies their style according to
the situations faced by M&S.
Strengths Weakness
After implementing and using this approach,
M&S can survive in every conditions they
faced without affecting their potential which
would assists them to gain competitive
advantage over others.
As it is hard to find different types of
approaches of leader in M&S as it is not
practical in nature.
Henry Fayol principle of administrative management
Fayol proposed the theory of general management which is applicable to all types of
fields and administration. Fayol examined the organisation by through the managers point of
view and the situations they might face (Fredendall and Hill, 2016). Main aim of this theory
is to increase workforce productivity and efficiency of M&S.. For this purpose, all activities

of enterprise was divided in six groups that is to forecast, plan, organise, command,
coordinate and control.
Strength Weakness
Focussed on pay which must be fair for
employees and M&S.
Absence of attentions like individual interest,
general interest, etc.
Harmony is the great strength and encourages
team work which increase overall efficiency of
M&S.
Their functions cannot cope up with rapid
changes in business environment.
Theories of leadership
Contingency theories
These theories of leadership stresses on specific variables related to the environment
which will define a particular style that will be appropriate for a situation. If it is properly
implemented on M&S then it will increase their overall potential which will create positive
impact on balance sheet of company.. (Gobetto, 2014). It depends on leaders power and
ability to influence, followers expectations, complexity of the organisation, certainty or
uncertainty of the work.
Strength Weakness
Motivation within employees would be higher
which will increase their potential while
working.
Difficult to determine all the factors related to
a particular situation.
Emphasises on leadership style and situations
so that M&S will fully maximize their
resources..
It is hard to implement as it is time consuming
for M&S which will attract more cost to the
company.
System theories
It is one of the important theory of leadership. This theory enables the leaders in M&S
to create the conditions where people can work at all levels of management with their full
potential and capability. If every employees are working with highest potential then it will
automatically enhance profitability and sales of company to its fullest. It provides users with

instrument that helps to predict peoples behaviour in an organisation. There are two types of
systems that is open and close. Open system regularly interacts with people and closed
system are not surrounded by environment.
Strength Weakness
Easily manage change from interaction with
the environment so that M&S productivity
wont get affected.
Difficult to apply in practical problems as
M&S has thousands of employees which is
hard to manage.
Takes and utilises feedback to improve
systems easily which will increase customers
experience engagement.
Does not adequately explains the power and
social inequalities and their causes.
Transformational theory- this is a theory of leadership in which leaders have to
work with their team mates along with providing motivation to them so that their morale and
confidence level can be enhanced and they performs better on the given task. In addition to
this, it is a leadership style in which leaders have to encourage, inspire or motivate their
employees for innovating and create changes so that company can gain growth and success in
the marketplace.
Strength Weakness
It reduces the employees turnover rates due
to which cost of organisation will be saved
and needs of employees are satisfied in
proper manner.
Sometime leaders can't communicate the
roles and responsibilities to the employees in
effective manner due to which given tasks
are not performed in expected manner.
Transactional theory- In this leadership style, Leaders are commanding in nature
and manage large corporations through using their skills and capabilities. In large
corporations like M&S should have to manage the peoples as per the rules and regulations so
that goals or objectives of firm can be achieved on the given time period. This style is totally
different from the transformational leadership because in it employees are self motivated and
performs their duties in well manner.
Strength Weaknesses
It can use for motivating the team mates so
that productivity can be enhanced.
It eliminates the personal needs and focuses
on group needs which increases

dissatisfaction among the employees.
So it can be concluded from the above mentioned information that leader and manager should
synchronize working activities of employee's so that pre set goals and objectives would be
achieve. If leaders wants to make their leadership effective then they should be dynamic in
nature and should easily adaptable in every situations. Moreover environment of workplace
plays an important role in the success of organisation as it motivates employees to work
harder and surpass their own productivity.
L03. Demonstrate an appreciation of the role leaders an managers play in the
operations function of an organisation
P4. Approaches of operation management and roles of leaders and managers.
Marks and Spencer is one of the largest retail organisation in the world and to
maintain the status in the market. Company have to use many advanced and latest technology
which assist them to maintain their quality and quantity of services to its fullest. There are
various approaches of operation management and leaders and managers exercises various
roles in Mark and Spencer.
Those approaches are discussed below :-
Total quality management (TQM)
It is an extensive and organized approach that emphasises on continuous quality
transformation of products and services by using regular feedback. It is useful in identifying
the deviations and determining the suitable solutions which will eliminate the risk and errors.
This is a process which stress on customer and aims for regular improvement in business
operations of Mark and Spencer (Jacobs, Chase and Lummus, 2014). It is to guarantee that all
employees work towards the communal goal of improving product or service quality and
developing the production process. For the purpose of increasing employee’s morale and
involvement, TQM emphasises on high level of communication.
Leader play a very crucial role in TQM process. They guide and provide adequate
training to the employees so that they can perform the task effectively and efficiently. They
are also accountable for motivating the people in the organisation which will enhance them to

work towards the attainment of goals and objectives. Effective leadership styles will be useful
in smooth and efficient functioning.
Managers of Mark and Spencer are responsible for handling the working of
organisation. In TQM, manager will decide on effective planning of programs and policies
which will help in clear description of mission and vision of the company (Vasenev,
Hartmann and Doree, 2014). With effective controlling and monitoring function of manager,
it will help in analysing the deviations and minimising the errors and risk. They will treat
supplier as partners of the business and assures focus on internal and external environment.
Six sigma
It is a qualitative, quantitative supported, data driven approach and regular
transformation methodology for getting free of defects in a product, service or process. It
represents the population standard deviation, which is a measuring instrument of the
fluctuation in a data set gathered about the procedure (Karlsson, 2016). It will help Mark and
Spencer to achieve maximum customer satisfaction by reducing deviations, improves return
on sales and investments, prevents defects in the manufacturing and production process.
The role of leader in six sigma is to invest in its training and resources. They are
accountable for effectively communicating the importance and advantages of using six sigma
with their employees so that they feel motivated to work on this approach. It is also useful for
leaders in recognising and supporting employee participation.
Managers are responsible in devising policies and programs which will enhance the working
on six sigma. They will include this approach in their working as it is a cost saving method in
management goals and reviews. They are accountable for monitoring and controlling the
implementation and execution of the six sigma approach in organisation.
P5. Importance and value of operation management in achieving business objectives.
Operation management is a process that involves planning, organising, managing,
controlling and supervising the production and manufacturing processes. The main aim of
this is to assure punctual delivery of products and convert raw materials into finished goods
(Ravindran, 2016). Operation management is very crucial in Mark and Spencer because of
various reasons in accomplishing organisational goals and objectives which are discussed
below:

 Minimises and controls cost : Effective operation management ensures minimum
cost of production and controlling cost acquires significant importance. There are
large number of tools and techniques available which reduces cost and increases
efficiency;
 Product selection and design: The correct selection and designs are crucial for
accomplishing success in the organisation. Methods like value engineering may be
employed in creating alternate designs which does not contain any an appropriated
features and meet the intended functions at lower cost.
 Inventory control: It deals with determination of optimal inventory levels of raw
materials, component parts, tools, etc. to assure the availability of tools at minimum
cost. Latest techniques which can be used by Mark and Spencer to reduce and control
inventory are just in time and material requirement planning (Rotaru, Churilov and
Flitman, 2014).
 Innovation: Operation management is also important for innovation. This will help
managers and leaders to think and create innovative products and ideas for Mark and
Spencer.
 Capacity planning: It is concerned with determination and planning of cultivable
resources which guarantees that their accessibility matches the economic process of
demand and supply. They have a direct determinant on execution of production
scheme in regard of resource fruitfulness and customer service. These decisions can
be long term which will be related to extraction and contraction in Mark and Spencer
and short term decisions are concerned with shift adjustments, overtime, etc. Most
suitable tool used in capacity planning is break even analysis.
 Logistics and inventories : This is very important for Mark and Spencer as without
effective channel of transmission or logistics inventories, the finished goods will not
be transferred to the direct customer. It overcomes the obstacles of delivery process
in the right time to the right place. It assures that proper logistic channel is selected
for distribution of goods which will not incur extra cost.

L04. Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between leadership and
management in a contemporary business environment
P6. Factors which will affect the business environment and decision making by leaders and
managers.
Operation management procedure stresses on cautiously managing the process to
produce and distribute products and services. In every business organisation, leaders and
managers will concentrate on various environmental factors that can affect their decision
making directly or indirectly (Slack and Brandon-Jones, 2018). For the effective execution
of operations management, in order to fulfil the demands and needs of customers, leaders and
manager will examine the external environments. Therefore, it is very crucial for Mark and
Spencer to identify the impact of external factors on business environment and develop
appropriate strategies and policies to minimise those effects. Following are the factors which
will affect the decision making process of Mark and Spencer :-
 Political factors : These factors are concerned with the political stability of the
country. Decisions of leaders and manager of Mark and Spencer will be affected by
the changing taxation policies, import export duties, etc. For instance, if tax rate
increase then it will affect the prices of raw materials used for production and further
lead to increase in selling price of the products. So in such cases, leaders and
managers will form suitable polices to deal with changes.
 Economic factors : These factors are concerned with the financial stability and
profitability of the company. Decisions of leaders and managers will be affected in
Mark and Spencer with the various economic factors such as inflation, deflation,
currency fluctuations, etc.
 Social factors : These factors are concerned with analysing the market trends which
will help in research and develop new and innovative products.
Decisions of leaders and managers in Mark and Spencer are greatly affected by the
changing demands and preferences of customers (Thaler, 2014). Every organisation
exists due to customer satisfaction so satisfying their demands are very crucial.
 Technological factors : This is very essential factor in today's business world.
Technology is increasing with a rapid pace in every sphere. Decisions of leaders and
managers are affected in Mark and Spencer with up gradation in technical fields. To
deal with this, organisation can shift its operations from labour intensive techniques to

capital intensive methods by using advanced machines and systems in field of
manufacturing and production.
 Legal factors : They are concerned with legislations and laws. Mark and Spencer can
use various laws and rights like patent mark, copyright, etc. to their businesses.
Leaders and managers will take decisions which are legally valid and compliance
their operations under the laws.
 Meeting stakeholders expectations : Stakeholders are the people who are connected
with the Mark and Spencer either directly or indirectly like customers, employees,
communities, suppliers, distributors, etc. The manager and leaders are accountable for
effectively fulfilling the needs and demands of the stakeholders (Turner, 2014).
Corporate social responsibility is a self control business framework that helps a company to
be socially responsible. It is a management conception by which companies incorporate with
social and environmental concerns in their business operations and fundamental interaction
with stakeholders. Mark and Spencer is always involved in socially programs like they collect
donations and sent them to the Shelter which is a charity partner and supports homeless
people. It also donates their date expired food to the charitable organisation and one of them
is Fare Share which is a community food network which distributes food where there is
surplus to the vulnerable communities.
Stakeholder are the people associated with the organisation. They can be individual,
group, employees, customers, suppliers, finance's, creditors, etc. It is very important to meet
the stakeholders expectations of Mark and Spencer to survive in the business world. For
instance, organisation will do regular market analysis for investigating the needs and
demands of customers. And customers are the most important stakeholder and their demands
are needed to be fulfilled.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that operation management is the
important process which is useful in converting the raw materials into finished goods and
services. This report gives the clear understanding of different roles and characteristics of
managers and leaders with their differences and similarities. It also examined the different
roles of manager and leaders in different situations. Further it defines the various approaches
and theories of leadership. This report also depicted the roles of leaders and managers in

operation functioning of the organisation. Later part of the report has critically evaluated the
various external factors which can affect the decision making process of leaders and
managers.