Management and Operations: Roles and Characteristics of Leaders and Managers

This document discusses the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers in the field of management and operations. It explores the different approaches to operations management and the importance of leaders and managers in achieving business objectives. The document also provides examples of how leaders and managers apply their roles in different situational contexts.

Management and Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................3
PART 1.........................................................................................................................................................3
Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager.........................3
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in different
situational contexts.................................................................................................................................5
P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency.....................................................................................................................6
PART 2.........................................................................................................................................................8
P4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and managers
play..........................................................................................................................................................8
P5 Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives.......9
P6 Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational management
and decision-making by leaders and managers.....................................................................................10
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Management and operations is the process which carefully focus upon the business
activity through which effective services can be provided to customers with the help of
managerial activity. It is among those activity which are always seems to be profitable for the
company because only positive outcomes are achieved in it. It is helpful because efforts of
leaders and managers of the company can be seen where they puts their efforts for the betterment
of the company. For the purpose of understanding the whole concept of Management and
operations, TESCO Plc is the company which has been chosen. The chosen entity is a retail
sector industry which deals in global market for attaining its targets. The file will contain number
of information such as roles and the functions of leaders which they perform in the organization.
Manager and leaders need to use different leadership style for performing smoothly which will
be explained in detail.
PART 1
Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager
Managers are the key persons to the business organization who develop the working
environment within the entity with their plans and policies so that goals can be accomplished
(Aggarwal, 2020). It is the duty of the manager to form proper strategies with the company so
that each of the task can be performed smoothly without having any sort of errors and mistakes.
Roles of Managers
There are different roles and responsibility which an manager needs to fulfil so that organisation
like Tesco Plc do not have to suffer from any sort of issues. Some of the major roles are:
Recruit and manage staffs: It is necessary that manager of TESCO Plc should be able to
hire the employees who are full of confidence and able to perform as per the requirement of a
company (Enescu and Enescu, 2010).
Training and developing staffs: Once candidates are hired within the entity, it is
equally important that those employee’s must be trained and for that proper leaning environment
should be created by the manager of Tesco Plc.
Characteristics of Manager

Working in the capacity of manager of Tesco Plc, there are lots of characteristics which
manager must possess and they are listed below:
Knowledge: The first thing which manager must understand that he should have the
knowledge that how they are needed to handle any of the situation and for that they should have
proper knowledge regarding each of the things (Ionescu, Meru and Dragomiroiu, 2014). Their
knowledge can be helpful for Tesco Plc for enhancing the profit of the company.
Experience: For the success of a company experience equally matter which can help to
resolve any of the matter in required manner. In context of Tesco Plc, it is necessary that their
manager must have experience so that effective decision can be taken which can be helpful for
the company in attaining their goals.
Leader are understood as the person within the entity who can play the supportive role
for manager by guiding and motivating the employees to perform any of the task (Cachon,
Girotra and Netessine, 2020). They are not only responsible for helping out motivating but there
is a huge role in providing the proper training for the adaptation of new working style in the
company which are goals oriented in nature.
Roles of Leader
Any of the organisation requires leader where they are needed to perform number of task
so that company do not suffer in any of the conditions. Some of the roles of the leader of Tesco
Plc are listed below:
Inspire & Motive: Different situation arises within the Tesco Plc where they need to
bring changes and in that respective circumstances, it is necessary for the leader to inspire and
motivate the employees. It is will be needed because it will allow the worker to perform effective
(Lin. and McDonough, 2011). Also, leaders must provide bones and incentives for motivating
them in monetary form.
Representatives of the entity: Always it is having been seen that leader has the role to
represent the company and in this particular situation, leader of Tesco Plc needs to manage each
of the things in a systematic manner. It means that they must be able to conduct meetings as well
as seminars which can be helpful for the organisation.

Characteristics of Leader
Person obtaining the position of leader is not sufficient but they must possess some of the
specific characteristics as well which are defined below:
Communication: Firstly, it is essential that leader of Tesco Plc should be able to
communicate well with the leaders. It is needed because, subordinates can get idea that how they
are needed to perform. Secondly, there are some of the condition where dispute arises among the
employees where communication skills of leader can be effective in dealing with those critical
situations.
Decision-making capability: In each of the organisation, manager needs to hold the
position of taking decision for the organisation (Kozlov, 2020). But it is equally important for the
organisation that their leader should be capable of taking decision because it can be one of the
effective process through which target can be achieved as per the planning made by the
management.
Difference Between
Manager: Manager are the one who takes the decision. Planning as well as controlling falls
under their responsibility which they must possess. It is essential that every time the planning
made by the management should be favourable for the company so that each of the task can be
performed systematically.
Leader: These are the person in an organisation who needed to implement those decisions
taken by manager. It is the duty of leader to motivate and provide proper training to the
employees of a company. On the basis planning made by manager, leaders are required to select
the employees who are capable of performing the task and for remaining one, proper training
program should be conducted.
Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in different
situational contexts.
Manager and leader are the one who are required to meet out each of the responsibility
which has been given to them so that any of the problem does not occur upon the entity (Stein,
2016). Discussing about they have the responsibility to function some of the important work

such as planning, organizing, directing staffing, coordinating and controlling all of those activity.
On the other side, leaders also have some important role which they must perform such as
guiding the employees and implementing upon the decision taken by their manager. In respect to
the mentioned role of leader and functions of manager, below, different situation will be taken
and on that basis manager and leader needs to show their support for attaining the goals.
First Situation: Introducing new working style
The competition in market is increasing at a rapid speed and keeping it in mind, it is
necessary for the organization like Tesco Plc to introduce new working style which can be goals
oriented. In this respective condition, there is a crucial function which must be possess by
manager as they need to decision which types of working style can be effective for them
company. According to this proper plans and policies should be formed so that company do not
suffers with changes brought in working style (Aggarwal, 2020). At the same time, leader also
needs to show their support as it is said that leader is specialized in providing the training to the
employees. It means that leader of Tesco has the role to understand the new working style
adopted by the company and in accordance to that proper training and knowledge should be
given to employees so that they can work effective for attaining the goals.
Second Situation: Increasing Employee Turnover ratio
Whenever Turnover ratio for the employees get increased it certainly increases the
problem for the entity if they are not well aware about the plans of a company. In this particular
situation, manager of the company can be effective as they are the one who needs to ensure that
manager of the company only hires the require number of employees by identifying the need to
employees in each of the departments. At the same time, leader can also play the vital role in
who of this process because they are needed to ensure and provide proper knowledge to
management about the employees and must try to retain the existing employees so that company
will not require to change their employee on a regular interval (Zurich and Documentation,
2018).

Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency.
Organisation is among those premisses where frequent changes are required for dealing
with situation. It is necessary for leader and manager of the company to understand the situation
and must take decision that how they need to perform so that any of the problem doesn’t arises
upon the company at the time of performing any task. Discussing about Tesco Plc, their leader
and manager has the option where they can take the help of different types of theories which can
suggest them that how they need to perform. If company will be able to do so in an effective
manner then, targets of the company can be achieved easily. Considering the requirement of
question, some of the theories has been presented below:
Situational Leadership: This is a leadership style which seems to completely different
as compared to other style of performing the task. It means that any of the entity which is willing
to perform their task according to situational leadership style then company must analyse the
requirement of situation and according to that decisions should be taken (Clemm, Zhani and
Boutaba, 2020). If leaders of Tesco Plc is also capable of doing these then they can easily attain
their targets in a very short time period. As company like Tesco is currently facing issue because
of high competition in the market so situational leadership can play supportive role for them in
accomplishing the targets. Organisation like TESCO can apply situation leadership where they
need to bring frequent changes to the working style For example: Rivalry firm has introduced
new plans and policy to compete with the company like TESCO and in this particular situation
company can bring new working style under the needs of situation so that tough competition can
be vein to rivalry firm.
 Strength: It can become effective leadership style for leader because there will be higher
possibility with organization to deal with any of the situation.
 Weakness: There are number of situation where these types of leadership style do not
provide required information to the leaders.
System Leadership: It is also among the effective leadership style as it guides the leader
that how they need to control the working condition in the company so that organisation can
attain their targets. Here, leader of Tesco Plc can communicate with their subordinate and guide
them that how they are needed to perform for the organisation so that company can give tough

competition to their rivalry firms. These types of leadership style can be implemented within
TESCO Plc where management wants to take control of every single work being performed by
them. For example: Each of the employee working within the organisation has to report the
management about their working style so that leader can analyse that whether work is being
performed as per the requirement or not.
 Strength: It focuses on accomplishing the goals at individual as well as at organizational
level.
 Weakness: It follows proper procedure due to which decision-making process can be
lengthy in it.
Contingency Leadership: These types of leadership style is quite different for the
business entity where their leaders need to perform differently for the entity so that they can
accomplish their goals. It means that leaders of Tesco Plc need to find out the possible way from
which they can perform the task. In simple words, this type of situation always allows the
organisation to attain their target within the specified time period. For example: If cost of raw
material has increased but still company wants to provide the products at a same price then they
must try to ensure that proper changes has been made to the operational activity so that
unnecessary expenses can be reduced for attaining the goals.
 Strength: Possibility of attaining the goals for company always increases because of this
leadership theory.
 Weakness: This leadership do not explain about the leaders who doesn’t fit in any of the
situation and how their performance can be improved.
After understanding the concept and the behaviour of different types of theories, it will be
important for the manager and the leader of Tesco Plc to focus upon situational leadership which
can allow them to achieve their targets. It means that there will be different types of difficult
situation but situational leadership style can easily allow them company to overcome from those
problem.

PART 2
Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and managers
play.
Company requires leader and manager but at the same time they also want that their
leader and manager should be able to take favourable decision so that entity can outperform in
each of department for attaining the goals. Here, leaders and manager of Tesco Plc can use
multiple number of key approaches which can easily guide them that how company can improve
their performance for giving competition to the rivalry firms. So, the different types of key
approaches are discussed below:
Six Sigma: It is the primary option which can be opted by the manager and the leader of
Tesco Plc as it is effective in obtaining the result. Here, this approach main focus that how team
can be brough together to perform any of the organisational task so that company do not suffers
for attaining the task. In other words, these types of approach can easily allow the company to
enhance their performance which is quite important to remain within the current competitive
market (Holmqvist Larsson and Tapper, 2020). In addition, with the help of six sigma, manager can
form the strategies through which they can utilise each of the resources properly whereas leader can
provide all of the necessary training to bring out the best from employee of the company with equal
efforts.
Total Quality Management: The approach which emphasis on bringing the improvement of the
organisation’s performance is known as Total quality management. Under this approach, company like
Tesco Plc can focus upon the main agenda of providing the services to their customer as per their
requirement. Here, manager of Tesco Plc has the role of select the strategy which they can use such as
KAIZEN and many more which can allow through which they can easily identify the to improve the
performance on a daily basis. On the other side, leaders have the role to motivate the employees and even
they can guide them how they any of the employee can work according to their potential for attaining the
goals.
Just in Time Inventory: It is the effective approach which can be used by the company
like Tesco Plc for attaining the goals. Under this strategy, company can order suppliers for
material as per their requirement. This particular approach will allow them to save unnecessary
expenses which is essential for attaining the targets. The effective decision as per continuous
improvement approach can allow the organisation to outperform by generating higher revenue.

As per Just in Time Inventory, it is necessary for the manager have the role to handle all of
operational related activity so that company can improve their overall performance. At the same
time, it is essential for the leader is required to play important role of evaluating the performance
of employee so that inventory management system can be improved and even wastage reduction
can be done.
All of the above mentioned approached will certainly boost the performance of the
company which is quite needed in current scenario. With the help of this key approaches, tough
competition can be given to rivalry firm due to which it can become easy for entity to survive
within the market for longer time period.
Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives.
In current scenario, business activity can be performed in a simplest manner as it was
performed in ancient time which means proper analyses to each of the activity is mandatory for
attaining the goals. In the same manner, Tesco Plc is also dealing in current market where they
need to be more attentive towards their operational management so that objective can be
achieved. Below, some of the importance of operational management has been considered:
 Develops positive working environment: Business activity are required to be performed
in a systematic manner and if it is done, then only it is possible for the company to attain
its goals. It is said that whenever any of the organisation is able to work upon their
operational management activity, it means they have higher opportunity of attaining the
goals. In detail, Tesco Plc and their management has the better option to show their
presence in the market if they have strong operational management team (Cachon,
Girotra and Netessine, 2020).
 Improves Goodwill: There are number of business activity which works in the market
but they always struggle because of weaker goodwill in the market. If an organisation
wants to succeed in outperforming in each of the department for attaining their goals,
they must be able to work upon their operational management. It because company like
Tesco can easily improve its goodwill and with its help business objectives can be easily
attained.
 Productivity of the company can be improved: The key focus of any organisation is to
improve their productivity so that they can meet out the requirement of each of the

employees. Discussing it in detail, Tesco Plc has the better option to improve their
productive with the help of operational management and through which goals can be
accomplished easily.
These are some of the major importance of operational management which is quite necessary
for the organisation in attaining their goals and target. The operational activity is important
because it can guide the company that how they are needed to deal with any of the situation for
attaining their targets on specified time period.
Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational management
and decision-making by leaders and managers.
Performing business activity is not an easy task because there are lots of responsibility
which must be fulfilled. At the same time, business environment shows its impact upon
operational management which can be either beneficial for problematic for the company. The
business environment has its impact upon organisation into two different ways and they are
internally and externally.
Internal factors: This factor shows its impact on the organisation from the internal
activity which are being conducted by the entity. Some of the internal factors that can have its
impact on company like Tesco Plc are:
Organisational structure: The working structure which is developed by the entity for
performing every single task in the organisation can have its impact upon the organisation. For
example: If company like Tesco Plc provides proper working environment to their employees
then company can outperform and desire result can be obtained (Stein, 2016). But, if in case,
specified orders are required to be followed and employees are forced to perform the task where
they are not capable then it can affect in inverse manner as well.
Human resources: In an entity human resource management holds important position of
hiring and providing training to employees. It is their responsibility to see the criteria and
according to that candidate should be selected. If they are able to do so then company can attain
its goals. But, if HR department of Tesco Plc shows carelessness then they may have to suffer as
well which can create serious issues for the organisation.

External factors: In the same manner to internal factor, external factor also has huge
importance as it needs to be considered before taking any of the decision. For example: If
management of Tesco Plc is not considering the factors such as political, technological, social
and environmental within their planning then company will not be able to meet out its desire
goals. But at the same time, if they are able to do so then targets can be attained easily by the
company. In external factor, Corporate Social Responsibility must be considered by the business
organisation where each of the decision are for the welfare of external stakeholders and certain
benefits can be provided them. CSR forces the organisation to take only those decision which are
beneficial for their stakeholders which means in some of the situation company may have to face
problem as well as they will not be allowed to take those decision which are favourable for entity
only.
CONCLUSION
The whole of discussion shows that efforts from manager and leader can be crucial for the entity
as their decision and policies can be effective in resolving any of the issue. The leader and manager are
playing vital role in Tesco Plc as their each of the decision is supporting the entity to perform better then
the previous time period. There are certain circumstances where it is necessary for the leader to ensure
that they are capable of using appropriate theory, approaches and models for taking effective decision
which are goal oriented.
REFERENCES
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Change", Procedia Economics and Finance, vol. 16, pp. 293-298.
Lin, H. & McDonough, E. F. 2011, "Investigating the Role of Leadership and Organizational
Culture in Fostering Innovation Ambidexterity", IEEE Transactions on Engineering
Management, vol. 58, no. 3, pp. 497-509.
Kozlov, 2020. To the question of functions defining of innovative culture of the future manager
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Stein, 2016. Schools Need Leaders-Not Managers: It's Time for a Paradigm Shift.Journal of
Leadership Education,15(2).

Aggarwal, 2020.Managing operations of a mobile drive unit within a workspace based on a fire-
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Zurich, B. L. L. and Documentation, X., 2018. Service operations and management. Master of
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Clemm, A., Zhani, M. F. and Boutaba, R., 2020. Network management 2030: Operations and
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Holmqvist Larsson, J. and Tapper, F., 2020. Supporting Facility Management and Operations
through User-Centered Design.
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