Operations Management: Concepts & Applications

This assignment delves into the field of operations management, examining core concepts and their practical applications. Students are tasked with analyzing various case studies drawn from diverse industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, and logistics. The analysis requires a critical evaluation of the operational strategies employed, identification of strengths and weaknesses, and formulation of recommendations for improvement. The emphasis is on applying theoretical knowledge of operations management to real-world scenarios and demonstrating an understanding of how effective operations contribute to organizational success.

Management and
Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................1
LO1..................................................................................................................................................1
P1 Define and Compare roles and characteristics of manager & leader.....................................1
LO2..................................................................................................................................................3
P2 Application of leader's role and manager's functions in different situations.........................3
P3 Application of different theories and approaches of leadership............................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
LO3..................................................................................................................................................5
P4 Important approaches to operations management and roles that managers and leaders play5
P5 Value and importance of OM in attaining business objectives..............................................6
LO6..................................................................................................................................................7
P6 Assessment of business environment factors that influence on OM and decisions making..7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Management is considered as the most important aspect of organisation and plays crucial
role in managing, organising & coordinating all the activities of firm in systematic way.
Operations has its own significance and mainly deals in transformation of raw materials or inputs
to finished goods (AbouRizk, 2010) . The area related to development & controlling of
production process as well as redesigning of operations that includes in manufacturing of
products & services are referred as OM (Operations Management). This function of organisation
plays an essential part in attaining its all the targets and objectives. In the present assignment,
given company is Marks & Spencer which deals in clothing, luxury and home products,
groceries etc. It is a British multinational retailer which is headquartered in London. The report
covers different roles and characteristics of manager & leader as well as its its application in
certain situations. It also includes theories of leadership and key approaches to operations
management. Apart form this, significance & value of OM in attaining business objectives and
forces of business environment that influence operations management & decisions of managers
as well as leaders are included in the project.
TASK 1
LO1
P1 Define and Compare roles and characteristics of manager & leader
Marks & Spencer is a British multinational firm of United Kingdom and headquartered in
London. The company perform its operation in many countries and offer its products worldwide.
M&S follow simple structure of management in which number of levels are limited between
administrative & front line staff. This framework is followed in order to promote employee
engagement in decision making process. Its basic objective is to decrease bureaucracy and
develop thinking as well as other skills of manpower by giving them authority to take decisions.
Leader is defined as an individual who is able to influence other persons by their
communication, thoughts and actions. They lead the team and administer them guidance to attain
individual as well as organisational goals (Ageron, Gunasekaran and Spalanzani, 2012).
Managers are the persons who manage all activities and functions of organisation in
systematic manner and majorly emphasize on attaining objectives of the company. They
formulate strategies for their future action plan.
Characteristics and roles of leader & manager:
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Similarities:
Roles and characteristics of managers and leaders is very similar as their main purpose is
to attain firm's objectives. Some of these are defined below:
Motivators: In M&S, they both play role of good motivators and motivate their
workforce in effective manner (Alderton and Saieva, 2013). They provide them direction to
achieve objectives of company.
Communicators: Both, managers and leaders are good communicators and with the help
of their excellent communication skills, they convey all the messages and informations to
employees in effective way.
Decision makers: Both are good decisions makers and take decisions regarding timely
completion of tasks and activities of firm. Their decision making skills are excellent and
contributes in firm's growth.
Differences:
Manager Leader
 In M&S, managers are responsible for
systematic administration of functions
and activities of firm.
 They design plans and formulate
strategies for the purpose of attaining
objectives of M&S.
 They focus on managing work by
taking effective decisions.
 Leader of M&S influence others and
make teams. They coordinate with all
the team members and lead it.
 They emphasize of identifying issues
and draw effective solutions of those by
taking appropriate decisions.
 They focus on leading teams and gain
achievements.
In Marks & Spencer, different roles and responsibilities are played by manager and leader
in attaining objectives of firm (Ashby, Leat and Hudson-Smith, 2012). They determine needs of
staff members and satisfy them by fulfilling those. They meet their goals with organisation's
goals and collectively work to attain those. Leaders identify skills need of manpower and
communicate it with manager so that appropriate training programme can be designed. It assists
in improving knowledge and skills of personnel and enables them to work in better way.
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Planning – It is the responsibility of leader to make analyse the approve the plans which
are made by managers. Manager play crucial role at the time of planning but they do not have
authority to make long term plans.
Organising – It is the function of manager to organise all the resource in proper way so
the work can be done in managed in the better way. Leader is responsible for solving complicity
cases which manager fail to do or need assistance at the time of allocation of resources or
organising significant things.
Staffing – Leader is accountability for choosing right managers in company while on the
other hand manager's main function is to recruit employees at lower level. Leaders should have a
talent of understanding quality of the workers and then give them position accordingly.
Coordinating – Keeping coordination between all the major activities is another
responsibility which manager has to manage. Leader do not focus on coordinating day to day
activity, their prime job is to synchronisation of all the most important activities.
Controlling – The role of leader is very important at the time of controlling various
activities. He/she has to make sure that all the division of the organisation move on right track
and do not get diverted by any distraction. The function of manager is limited to finding and
assuring the all the work is done according to plan.
LO2
P2 Application of leader's role and manager's functions in different situations
In every business concern, managers as well as leaders play crucial role in its growth and
sustainability. They take decisions regarding various functions and activities of firm. In Marks &
Spencer, managers develop plans & strategies and leader play vital role in effective
implementation of those. They both apply their competencies and skills in attaining targets of
firm (Bozarth and Handfield, 2016). There are various situations that takes place in organisation
in which leader and manager apply their roles and functions.
Training and development: All employees have different skills and they all are not
expertise that. They need proper training in order to develop their skills. Here, managers and
leaders play crucial role. They identify and understand skill needs of workforce and responsible
for administering them appropriate training. In Marks & Spencer, leader determine requirements
of their team members and communicate these with manager so that employees get proper
training that assists in enhancing their competencies and abilities. They both have the
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responsibility to provide overall growth and development to personnel so that they enable to
attain individual as well as firm's objectives.
Decision making process: At times, there are many situations that arise in firm in which
managers and leaders required to take major decisions. These situations may include conflicts
among employees, lack of proper communication, unhealthy employee relations etc. In such
situations, they both need to take appropriate actions in order to handle and manage these.
Manger of Marks & Spencer involve completely in the process of decision making and leader
play facilitative role in it. They both make effective strategies in order to resolve all such issues
that takes place within company. Leader takes specific project related decisions and ensures its
timely completion by applying suitable tactics and strategies. Administrator design plan and
ensure its implementation in appropriate way (Brandenburg and et.al., 2014).
Delegation of authority: Sometimes, situations arise in which managers and leaders need
to divide their responsibilities among others. For example, work pressure, urgency, deadlines to
complete tasks etc. In these, it is important for both to delegate their authority among all the staff
members so that work can be done in effective manner. In Marks & Spencer, both leader as well
as manager delegate their work in order to ensure their timely completion. They perform their
duties with coordination and accomplish firm's objectives.
Every leader has to change his/her leadership style according to the situation. When M&S
decided expand their business then the leadership had to bring some changes in their leadership
style. At the time of entering in countries like India, they have to adopted domestic leadership in
order to get ground details and find information about market. Above mentioned are some areas
and situations in which managers and leaders of Marks & Spencer apply their roles and
effectively handle these.
P3 Application of different theories and approaches of leadership
There are various theories and approaches that are applied by manager and leader of
Marks & Spencer (Carter and Liane Easton, 2011). These theories assists in increasing morale of
employees and promote effective working. Some theories are as follows:
Situational theory: This theory of leadership is based on leader member relation. This
approach relies on situation needs and is divide into 4 categories. These are nature of job,
characteristic of leader, control the followers and nature of firm. So, skills, knowledge and
competencies of leader assists their follower in taking organisation's decisions. The other
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dimension is related to administering job as per their expertise in specific area. The next one is
related to flexibility in which leader influence their followers to become flexible or change as per
the external surroundings & ensure control over them. The last magnitude is related to workplace
culture and the refereed organisation is known for its team work. This assists in attaining their set
objectives in specific period of time.
System leadership theory: This is considered as collaborative leadership of various
networks in several functional departments in the manner which ensures cooperative
surroundings for a particular change. As per this theory, it is difficult for managers and leaders to
flexibly adapt with such environment where legal and political changes are frequently occur.
Under this approach, the main thing is that it is distinct from those who succeed within single
firm but, this theory is deal with multiple players. The business of Marks & Spencer is
diversified in different countries where leaders of various departments administer guidance to
their team members so that they can effectively deal with customers in order to get sustainability
in different markets (Chowdary and George, 2011). A major strength of this theory is that it
assist in managing the chaos in better way but it also have a major weakness i.e. to it may not
work when leader have to make decision in short period of time.
Contingency theory: The theory focuses on the significance of two components, i.e.,
personality of leaders and situations in which they operates. Two leadership styles are outlined in
this theory. These are relationship motivated and task motivated which refers to interpersonal
relationships and accomplishments. The theory ascertain that there is no suitable way to set up
corporation, lead firm and take decisions. A contingent leader can effectively apply their own
leadership style in appropriate situation. Effective leadership is determined by individual traits,
their psychological profile & external conditions. In Marks & Spencer, leaders emphasize on all
these conditions so as to gain competitive advantage as well as enhance productivity of firm.
Strength of this approach is that it is realistic. It provide effective solution of a problem but this
does not mean that it does not have any weaknesses. Finding appropriate solution of a problem in
a particular situation is not an easy task as it consume lot of time and money also.
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TASK 2
LO3
P4 Important approaches to operations management and roles that managers and leaders play
Operations management referred as a field of management that majorly deals in
production of goods and services and controlling & redesigning of business processes and
operations. It assists in improving efficiency as well as effectiveness of firm and manufacturing
high quality products in order to satisfy needs and demands of customers (Clausen and et. al.,
2010). This ultimately influence productivity of firm as it increase its sales and revenues.
Mangers and leaders of Marks & Spencer use various approaches of operations management
that assists them in improving production process and attaining objectives and targets in effective
manner. Some of the approaches are defined below:
Lean production: By using this approach, waste related to production department can
easily be eliminated without compromising in quality and productivity. Here, crinkled work
loads and overburden are the main cause of creating waste. Administrators emphasize on
manufacturing such products and services that assists in creating some value for customers.
Basically, lean is done by organisations so that maximum customer satisfaction and high
profitability ratios can be attained. Leaders and administrators of Marks & Spencer needs to
administer appropriate training to their workforce so that they are able to use resources optimally
and can enhance their overall productivity as well as efficiency. This assists the firm in their
future growth and sustainability.
Total quality management: This approach assists in satisfying customers by providing
the m high quality goods and services. Application of this technique assists the firm in gaining
loyalty of consumers. It includes efforts of firm towards delivering quality goods and services to
its potential customers (Closs, Speier and Meacham, 2011). Administrators ensures that all the
personnel of business enterprise equally contributes towards processes, services, products and
surroundings in which they work. The approach assists in eliminating the errors regarding
streamlining, production, improving customer experience, supply chain etc. In Marks &
Spencer, administrators ensures that all the individuals work towards attaining common goal that
leads the firm towards high profitability and sales.
Just in time: This technique emphasize on reducing flow time of process of production
and dealing with suppliers as well as customers in effective manner within a specific time frame.
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In this method, products are manufactured on the basis of their demand so that inventory
turnover can be avoided (Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons, 2013). This strategy majorly focuses on
enhancing manpower efficiency and eliminating waste via manufacturing goods only when these
are required by customers. Administrators of Marks & Spencer are required to identify
customer's needs so that they produce products accordingly. They require to increase motivation
level of their manpower so that operations can be performed in effective and efficient manner.
Continuous improvement method: Kaizen improvement process is the another name of
this approach. It basically emphasize on improving goods, processes and service quality. These
are the constant efforts of administrators and leaders of firm towards delivering good and high
quality products to customers. It ultimately assists in increasing sales and profits ratio. This
approach is applied by managers of Marks & Spencer so that inventory cost can be controlled
via reducing errors of production process. They takes feedback from their customers and transfer
complete data and information to production department which assists in modifying products
according to customer's requirement.
Above mentioned are various approaches to operations management that are used by
administrators and leaders of Marks & Spencer. This assists in attaining objectives of the
company by increasing productivity and profitability in effective manner. This helps the firm in
attaining growth and sustainability in market.
M&S adopt a fine process for attaining getting expected outcome. They select latest design and
then produce cloths and other products accordingly. This company also send money on
marketing of their brand and this ultimately assist them in earning desired amount of revenue.
P5 Value and importance of OM in attaining business objectives
Operations management is describes as the set of administration activities that includes in
planning and controlling of operations of firm. It is important for the managers due to two main
reasons. First is to improve productivity that ultimately improves financial health of company
and the second reason is that is assists the firm in meeting competitive priorities of customers.
Operations management majorly deals with transformation of inputs into finished goods that
fulfil the desires of customers (Galindo and Batta, 2013). If firm's operations are managed in
systematic way, it influence the functioning of all departments. Some significance of operations
department are as follows:
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 Operations management emphasize on improving standard as well as quality of products
and services & business processes as well.
 It is the major responsibility of organisation to meet needs and desires of target audience
in effective way. In this, Operations management plays an important role in satisfying
their demands in appropriate way.
 Good performance of organisation administers sense of security to investors in terms of
investments, creditability, image and market return. Operations management improves
performance of the company (Hamilton and et. al., 2011, January).
 Helps in taking strategic decisions regarding sustainability and growth of organisation.
This enables the managers of firm to get competitive benefits in market over their
competitors.
 Operations management assists in delivering high quality goods and services to
customers this will help in gaining customers loyalty.
If operations of the firm are effectively run then it become easy for the managers and
administrators of Marks & Spencer to effectively attain objectives of firm. It provides
competitive edge to firm over its competitors and firms are able to gain high profitability and
productivity. Effective process of production helps the firm in satisfying needs of customers in
better way. Managers needs to provide appropriate training to manpower so that they enable to
perform in better way and attain targets of company. It helps in improving performance of both
manpower as well as organisation. Administrators also collect information regarding taste and
preferences of customers and provide this information to production department. This will assist
operation manager in developing products according to requirements of consumers and altering
products if required. This will assists in satisfying their needs and gain loyalty.
LO6
P6 Assessment of business environment factors that influence on OM and decisions making
The factors of business environment influence operations of firm as well as decisions of
leaders. Two types of factors are involved in business surroundings, that is, internal and external.
Internal factors are those which exists within the enterprise and firm has full control over it.
External forces are exist outside the firm and are uncontrollable (Matta and et. al., 2014). Some
internal factors are:
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Corporate social responsibility: It is related with adopting ethical practices and bring
transparency in policies and procedures of firm. It means doing something that do not harm the
society. Section 135 includes all those firms who came under the prescribed limits & Marks &
Spencer is one of them. They do many CSR activities which leads the firm towards
sustainability. These are the efforts by firm to improve the society. These efforts range from
donations to execution of employment friendly policies. This assists the company in improving
their image in public and increase employees engagement (Ronen, Pliskin and Pass, S., 2012).
Business ethics: These are the values and ethics of firm their work culture. Adoption of
ethical practices in business activities assists in increasing loyalty of customers and improves the
goodwill of company in market.
Stake holders: They are the individuals who have stake in the company and they expect
good returns on their investments. Marks & Spencer ensures to provide good return to their
stakeholders every year. Ignorance of shareholders leads the firm towards loss of financial
position & brand equity.
External factors:
Political factors: It includes all the laws and regulations that is necessary to be followed
by the company. Business viability highly relies on government interventions, political stability,
land laws etc. so, it is necessary for Marks & Spencer to consider all the political factors so that
operations can be run smoothly and rational decisions can be taken by managers.
Social factors: These includes factors related to society and culture which influence the
strategies of firm related to promotions, pricing policies etc. So, manager needs to consider this
factor and make appropriate pricing decisions related to prices. This helps the company in
effective management of operations (Schroeder, Goldstein and Rungtusanatham, 2011).
Economical factors: Marks & Spencer needs to consider all the economical factors that
influence operations of firm. It involves BOP policy, foreign policy, inflation, fiscal measures
etc. Ignorance of these factors also influence decisions of administrators in negative way.
Technological factors: Various technologies needs to be adopted by the firm. This assists
in managers of Marks & Spencer in gaining competitive edge over competitors. Firm requires to
adopt digital technology so that cashless transactions can be done.
Recommendations
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M&S should invest more money in the name of CSR for assuring social development in
poor and developing countries. They should also give more importance to their stakeholders like
suppliers as it will improve their brand value and make a positive impact on their revenue.
CONCLUSION
As per the above mentioned report, it has been concluded that the aspect of operations
management is essential for every organisation as it assists in reducing costs of production and
producing high quality products. This ensures optimum utilization of available resources of the
company. Operations management assists in delivering high quality goods in order to satisfy
needs and desires of customers. Managers and leaders play crucial role handling various
situations that arises in the firm. They apply their skills and competencies to deal with challenges
in effective way. Various approaches of leadership assists in improving motivation of workforce.
Approaches to operations management assist in improving production quality.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
AbouRizk, S., 2010. Role of simulation in construction engineering and management. Journal of
construction engineering and management. 136(10). pp.1140-1153.
Ageron, B., Gunasekaran, A. and Spalanzani, A., 2012. Sustainable supply management: An
empirical study. International Journal of Production Economics. 140(1). pp.168-182.
Alderton, P. and Saieva, G., 2013. Port management and operations. Taylor & Francis.
Ashby, A., Leat, M. and Hudson-Smith, M., 2012. Making connections: a review of supply chain
management and sustainability literature. Supply Chain Management: An International
Journal. 17(5). pp.497-516.
Bozarth, C. B. and Handfield, R. B., 2016. Introduction to operations and supply chain
management. Pearson Higher Ed.
Brandenburg, M. and et.al., 2014. Quantitative models for sustainable supply chain management:
Developments and directions. European Journal of Operational Research. 233(2).
pp.299-312.
Carter, C. R. and Liane Easton, P., 2011. Sustainable supply chain management: evolution and
future directions. International journal of physical distribution & logistics management.
41(1). pp.46-62.
Chowdary, B.V. and George, D., 2011. Improvement of manufacturing operations at a
pharmaceutical company: a lean manufacturing approach. Journal of Manufacturing
Technology Management, 23(1), pp.56-75.
Clausen, J. and et. al., 2010. Disruption management in the airline industry—concepts, models
and methods. Computers & Operations Research. 37(5). pp.809-821.
Closs, D. J., Speier, C. and Meacham, N., 2011. Sustainability to support end-to-end value
chains: the role of supply chain management. Journal of the Academy of Marketing
Science. 39(1). pp.101-116.
Fitzsimmons, J. and Fitzsimmons, M., 2013. Service management: Operations, strategy,
information technology. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Galindo, G. and Batta, R., 2013. Review of recent developments in OR/MS research in disaster
operations management. European Journal of Operational Research. 230(2). pp.201-
211.
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Hamilton, J. and et. al., 2011, January. Ice management for support of arctic floating operations.
In OTC Arctic Technology Conference. Offshore Technology Conference.
Matta, A., and et. al., 2014. Modelling home care organisations from an operations management
perspective. Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, 26(3), pp.295-319.
Ronen, B., Pliskin, J.S and Pass, S., 2012. Focused operations management for health services
organizations. John Wiley & Sons.
Schroeder, R.G., Goldstein, S.M and Rungtusanatham, M.J., 2011. Operations management.
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