P1 Defining and comparing roles and characteristics of leader as well as manager

Management and Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................3
P1 Defining and comparing roles and characteristics of leader as well as manager..........3
P.2 Examining the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in different
situational contexts.............................................................................................................5
P.3 Different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, System
leadership and contingency.................................................................................................5
P.4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and
managers play in Marks and Spencer.................................................................................6
P.5 The importance and value of operations management in achieving Business
objectives in Marks and Spencer........................................................................................7
P.6 Assess the factors within the business environment and how they impact upon
operational management and decision-making by leaders and managers..........................8
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Operational management can be defined as procedure which involves designing as
well as controlling of many business process. It might also includes redesigning of business
operations. Operational management can also be referred to as administration of various
activities which are executed within an enterprise. An effective operational management is
crucial for smooth functioning of business. This procedure is mainly concerned with
converting the input into output. Marks and Spencer is a British multinational organisation.
An organisation specialises in selling home products, luxury food, clothes etc.
The report will include the comparison between the role of manager and leader in
marks and Spencer. It will also include the description about different approaches of
operational management. Study will also have focus on analysing the effect of external
business environment on the decision made by management. In addition to this, Different
theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, System leadership and
contingency will also be explained in brief.
TASK 1
P1 Defining and comparing roles and characteristics of leader as well as manager
Marks and Spencer is global company which offers various products such as food,
clothes etc. Business entity have approx. 979 stores worldwide. In addition to this, an
organisation has flat structure which enables manger to make quick decisions.
A manager can be recognized as a person who is accountable for administrating
various business activities as well as people within an organization. In other words,
manager is in charge of certain business task or group of people. They are responsible for
managing whole business. In context of marks and Spencer., business entity have skilled
and experienced manager who has played an important role in driving firm towards
success.
Leader is a person who provides command to other people. They are basically
people who influences people to make their significant contribution towards achievement
of business goals. In context of marks and Spencer, management in an enterprise makes
leaders by providing them training . Marks and spencer company makes huge capital
investment on developing employees and providing them opportunity to develop abilities
which are required for managing business.

Difference between leaders and managers:
Basis Leaders Managers
Meaning A leader is a person who
lead group of people in an
organization
A manager is a person who
manages all business
operations as well as people
in an enterprise.
Focus Leaders in M&S
organization have focus on
providing direction to
people.
They mainly emphasize on
tactical activities
Style In marks and Spencer,
transformation leadership
style are adopted by leaders.
Transnational leadership
style is adopted by manager
in marks and Spencer.
Qualities They have high influencing
power
Manager posses high
decision making power
Function Function of leader to manage
the activities of followers
and provide them proper
training as well as guidance.
Function of manager is
formulated business
strategies, set goals as well
as standards (Zhang and
et.al., 2016).
Characteristics They are honest and have
good sense of humour.
Manager have problem
solving abilities and they are
result oriented
Functions of managers and role of leaders:
Planning: It is considered to be as Crucial function of manager in an enterprise. It
is duty of manager is to create an effective strategies and establish smart goals for firm.
Role of leaders in an organization is to encourage employees for increasing their

participation in business activities. It is the important function of leader to formulate
strategies for achieving group goals (Goetsch and Davis, 2014).
Organizing: Role of manager in marks and Spencer is to arrange as well as
administer and allocate resources. Duty of leader is to ensure effective utilization of
resources.
Directing: It is the responsibility of manager is to direct the work which are to be
executed by employees. Function of leader is to create team and provide guidance to team
members related to the completion of task.
Coordinating: Manager is responsible for facilitating the coordination between
different department in marks and Spencer. Function of leader is to assist team members to
work collectively and coordinated towards attaining goals of company.
Controlling: Role of manager is to formulate business plan or strategies. Function
of leaders is to implement plans. Function of manager is to monitor all business operations
and ensure that ll the activities are being performed according to the set standards.
P.2 Examining the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in different
situational contexts.
Managers and leaders are the key persons of every organization where they ensure
that activities can be carried in such a way that employees feel motivated towards their
work. Along with this, they think in organizational direction as well. Leader of a company
perform their duties in such a way that marks and Spencer can achieve its objectives.
Role of leader and manager in different situations:
 Leaders and managers of company makes various strategies to overcome with the
situations and deal with the same.
 Leader motivates employees when situations are not favourable in the company or
they provide direction to workers when they feel demotivated.
 Managers try to manage every activity in different situations and marketing
conditions that are faced by the organisation.
The first situations in high employee turnover rate in marks and spencer, In such
case role of manager and leaders is to identify the root cause of problem. Function of

manager is to bring improvement in policies. It is the duty of leader to identity the
problems faced by workers and to provide them an appropriate solution.
The another major issues faced by marks and Spencer company is related to
increase in customers complaint about the quality of products. This is the issues which has
negative effect on image of company and also on sales. In such situation role of manager in
an organisation is to set some specific quality standards for products or services. Riole of
leader is to ensure that all the activities in an organisation are being performed according to
set standards. It is required by leaders in an enterprise to provide training to employees, as
this strategy will assist in improving productivity. It will also support management in
ensuring effective as well as efficient utilisation of resources.
P.3 Different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, System leadership
and contingency.
Situational leadership: This theory of leadership says that every leader should make actions
and take decisions according to the situations that is prevailing in the company. Every
leader should develop their leadership style according to the different circumstances they
are facing in the company (Ferguson and et.al., 2017.) This leadership is a very flexible
kind of leadership where the style of leader changes according to the situations that are
being faced in the company. Leader of Marks and Spencer follow situational leadership
style so that employees feel satisfied that there is no rigid rules in the company. For
example Employees of M&S are involved in decision making process and there consent is
taken before making any new rule for employees. It is a good thing that decisions are taken
as per the situations after analysing and understanding it completely. This leadership style
is for those business organization who needs to achieve the following:
 Adopt a common leadership style at every venture and department of company.
 Create and train workers and form effective working teams.
System leadership: This leadership style focuses on taking out best from employees so
that they can come up with their best and new ideas can be implemented and organisation
can run according to that. In this form of leadership leaders focus on studying behaviour of
employees and all the workers in order to make the strategies as per the nature, wants and
needs of employee as well as Company. This will motivate employees as their wants and

needs are being taken care of. It results in brining more positive outcomes and better
results.
Advantages:
 The Biggest advantage of this approach is that it focuses on both the things that is,
organisational as well a employees needs and wants.
 It is adaptive in nature and also dynamic.
Disadvantages:
 In context of marks and Spencer, it is very much difficult for leader to bring change at
workplace without support of employees. (Meredith and Pilkington, 2018).
 In addition to this, this theory is very over conceptual.
Contingency leadership: This leadership theory says that there is no best option or way to
manage the organization and its employees (Kumar Mangla, Bhattacharya and Luthra,
2018). This leadership style majorly says that there whatever style is followed by leader
that should continue and that is the best style for the situation that is prevailing in the
organization. Marks and Spencer will follow this leadership style as well due to this less
complexity will be faced by the leaders.
Advantages of contingency leadership:
 It is flexible in applying and it is a universal theory for which all leaders should
strive for.
 In contingency leadership employee opinion matters to a great extent which gives a
sense of satisfaction to all the workers working with the company.
Below are some disadvantages of contingency leadership:
 It is not highly proactive in nature
 It is difficult for leaders to follow this theory as due to the dynamic environment
that prevails in the company, it is not easy to apply in every situation. For instance,
manager in marks and Spencer organisation has faced difficulty in managing people
during expansion of business.

TASK 2
P.4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and
managers play in Marks and Spencer.
Operations management is the key essential department of the company which
focuses on taking out maximum possible efficiency within a company.
There are two major approaches of operations management which are described below -
Total quality management: It is the major approach in which company focuses on
quality of product. Marks and Spencer follows this approach where the manager and
leaders try to make continuous improvement in the quality of product of the company As
quality plays such a role which helps in attracting maximum number of customers. (Sando
and et.al., 2018). Marks and Spencer measures quality on the basis of durability of their
clothes and reliability of the same. In addition to this. Total quality will help in increasing
sales and profits of the organisation. Thus, company can attain a different position in the
market and earn so many benefits by the same.
Just in time approach: It is that approach which says that that raw material only should be
purchased which will come in use. No stock of raw material or goods is maintained in this
approach. Here manager and leaders ensures that organization is not purchasing higher
amount of raw material for the purpose of manufacturing. It will also help in enhancing
overall productivity of the company. Operations department of M&S checks every single
product output and input level so that it can be carried out in planned manner. This will
help the M & S in increasing productivity and thus objectives and goals can be met by the
same. It will save cost of handling raw material and cash flows will be improved by the
same. In addition to this, less dead stock is required to be maintained by the company
which will result in less risk of unwanted stock that is being left in the company.
Roles of manager and leader in the same: Every department in the company has a
different manager who runs and check that all the activities are being carried as per the
planned process or not. Marks and Spencer follows both the above two operational
management approaches in order to carry out maximum possible benefits from the
organisation.

P.5 The importance and value of operations management in achieving Business objectives
in Marks and Spencer.
 Operation management of M&S concentrates on optimum utilisation of resources
which has given various benefits to the company in some or the other way (Bozarth
and Handfield, 2018). This will reduce overall cost of the company as less wastage
leads to declining cost and increasing profits of marks and Spencer.
 It will also help in enhancing overall productivity of the company. Operations
department of M&S checks every single product output and input level so that it
can be carried out in planned manner. This will help the M & S in increasing
productivity and thus objectives and goals can be met by the same.
 It can be said that operational department is most important part of the company
because from manufacturing to selling products effectively is done by operational
department. Thus, it has a great role in achieving business aims and objectives.
 Total quality management approach is followed by operational department of the
Marks and Spencer. It has a great impact where they make it possible to enhance
there quality of product as much as the company can. This helps in attracting
consumers due to the reason that quality products are always preferable by
customers. Hence, this leads to achieving goals and objectives of company as it has
a major goal of increasing its sales and profits by covering maximum possible
market.
P.6 Assess the factors within the business environment and how they impact upon
operational management and decision-making by leaders and managers.
There are various factors which affects the business operations of the marks and Spencer
in some or the other way. Some Internal factors that affect business environment are as
follows:
 Finance
 Human resource
 Marketing issues
Finance: It is that part of organisation on which basis every decision are taken by
management in marks and spencer . Entire expansion or current operations are dependent

on finance of the company. Marks and Spencer is one of the well stable company in terms
of finance and due to which its all other factors are entirely dependant on the section of
finance (Meredith and Pilkington, 2018). Operational management take every decision
after considering the finance of the company, cash flows and bad debts are major concern
while making any decision regarding operation and production of organisation. Leaders
and managers of the company take such decisions which give maximum benefits to the
organisation. Marks and Spencer also follows the same process and take their major
decisions accordingly. Manager in marks and Spencer takes pricing decisions considering
the competition , economic situation of nation , income of target customer group, as this
strategy helps business entity in maintaining profitability. Availability of cash sufficient
amount of cash reserves encourages marks and Spencer to facilitate innovation. Lack of
funds might lead top the compromise in the quality of different business operations as well
as products.
Marketing issues: There are various changes that are faced on daily basis and that
impacts organisation in some or the other way. These marketing issues impacts on decision
making of leaders and managers of the company. They have to make such decisions which
are not biased and make maximum benefits to the environment. In context to operational
department of Marks and Spencer, it operates and make major decisions after knowing the
issues that are been faced due to change in marketing condition. As Marks and Spencer is a
retail sector, due to this it has to face various issues that are required to be deal with.
Objectives of marks and Spencer is to fulfil customers needs and provide them with high
level of satisfaction. Decisions of marketing manager in marks and Spencer organisation is
completely based on the information gathered through research. As this tactic supports
management in making appropriate decisions. Continuous changes in trends, manager in
marks and Spencer is facing issue in developing the market plan. Availability of huge
promotional, tolls has provided firm an ease in promoting its products or services at
international Level.
Human resource: This is a separate department in every company which gives
training, development and recruit people for vacant position in the organisation. It also has
the duty to solve conflicts that arises between employees. So these all activities of human
resource department also has a major impact on operation of the company (Jacobs, Chase

and Lummus, 2014.)Leaders and managers take every decision and that affects the
employees in some way. Thus, human resource is the only department that carry out the
things in the best possible manner. One of the objective of marks and Spencer organisation
is to provide high level of satisfaction to workers. Human resource manager takes decisions
considering interest of both company and employees. It is the human resource manager in
marks and Spencer who review the performance of workers and helps leaders or managers
in determining the time of training required by employees. If human resource manager in
marks and Spencer will perform their duties in effective manner then it will help an
organisation in smooth functioning. Not Fulfilment of duties by human resource managers
can have adverse effect on the operational efficiency as well as productivity of firm.
External factor that affect business environment
 Technological change
 Economic environment
 Legal changes
 Social factors
 Political factors
Some above factors are briefly described below:
Technological change: It is also a factor through which operations department of
the company gets affected. As every company needs to make decisions as per the latest
technology. It affects the organisation decision making and managers has to operate
business as per the latest trends. Implementation of advance technology has supported
marks and Spencer in reducing the cost of operations . It has also assisted business entity in
increasing productivity as well as operational efficiency. Technological advancement has
given rise to stiff competition due to which marks and Spencer is facing issue in
concentrating on its core business operations.
Thus, external factors also affects the organisation and decision-making of leaders and
managers.
Legal changes: Operational department of the company carry out its activities as
per the legal structure that prevails in the nation. It also has a high impact because
decisions by managers and leaders are required to be taken after considering the law of the
country. These are the major changes and issues that are being faced by the Marks and

Spencer. In context of marks and Spencer, changes in regulation and legislation related to
the environment places new challenges for operations objectives. Changes in
Environmental norms has forced or encouraged marks and Spencer to use ozone-friendly
material for packaging its goods or services.
Conclusion
From the above report it has been summarized that managers and leaders play a
very important role in running operation of a company in well defined manner. In context
of marks and Spencer., business entity have skilled and experienced manager who has
played an important role in driving firm towards success. In addition to this, there are
various theories of leadership which helps in guiding the leaders about the work they need
to perform in the company. Other than this, Marks and Spencer follows total quality
management approach where the manager and leaders try to make continuous improvement
in the quality of product of the company. Furthermore, the entire business environment of
M&S is the major concentration of operation department where they check quality on
regular basis and efficiency so that business objectives can be met.

REFERENCES
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Kumar Mangla, S., Bhattacharya, A. and Luthra, S., 2018. Call for Papers-Production
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