Operational Management and Operations INTRODUCTION

Leadership and Management Concepts (Part 1) Leaders and Operations Management (Part 2)

Management and
Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................4
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................4
P1 Describe and distinguish between various functions and characteristics of a leader and a
manger........................................................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P2 Application of a role of leader and functions of a manager in various organisational
situation.......................................................................................................................................6
P3 Usage of several models and theories including systems leadership and situational
leadership....................................................................................................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
P4 Describe primary approaches to operations management with the functions of leaders and
managers ....................................................................................................................................8
P5 Significance of operations management in attaining business objectives ............................9
TASK4...........................................................................................................................................11
P6 Evaluation of factors within the corporate environment which influence operations
management and decision making of leaders .........................................................................11
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................12
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................13
Books and Journal.....................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
The primary concern of operations management is related to constructing strategies,
coordination and supervision in the area of manufacturing products or provisions of services.
The main purpose of operations management is to convert inputs into outputs and respond to
consumers demands in a timely manner. The present report is based on the grocery retail firm
Morrisons which in fourth largest retail chain in UK and was formed in the year 1889 by
William Morrisons. This report describes distinguishing features between a leader and a manager
along with their functions in several organisational situations. Various theories and models such
as contingency leadership are provided in this report. Primary operations management
approaches and their assistance in attaining business objectives is provided in this report. Apart
form this elements which influence operations and decision making by leaders are mentioned in
this report.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
P1 Describe and distinguish between various functions and characteristics of a leader and a
manger
Background of the firm: Morrisons was established in the year 1889 by William
Morrison and sold of egg and butter during early stages of the enterprise. The organisation is
currently a major competitor in British retail market with workforce of 110,000 workers. The
organisation offers various food, clothing items along with books and magazines. There are 494
stores in the Morrisons stores across UK and the firm is part of London stock exchange.
Leaders- One of the most commonly used definitions of a leader include people who
have the ability to influence their subordinates and encourage them to attain certain objectives
(Goleman, 2017). Leaders have a tolerance to chaos and absence of structure and are inclined to
hold closure in order to gain a deeper understanding about the issue.
Characteristics of leader

 Effective Communication: An effective leader is also an excellent communicator. This
characteristic allows leaders to effectively communicate with their subordinates and
express their views in a clear manner. The leadership at Morrisons comprises of effective
leaders which have effective communication skills .This reduces miscommunication
during critical tasks.
 Cooperation: This skill revolves around performing each activity with a collaborative
effort. Leaders at Morrisons posses this characteristics and conduct daily activities by
collaborating with concerned divisions and operating with their subordinates.
 Emotional intelligence: This characteristics allows leaders to understand the viewpoints
of other employees and their aspirations with an objective perspective. In relation to
Morrisons, the leaders showcase high emotional intelligence which allows them to
formulate a strong bond with their subordinates and make unbiased decisions (Carozza,
2019).
Functions of leader
 Team Building: This function of a leader revolves around constructing and supervising
an effective team which completes various tasks quickly without any decline in quality.
The respective firm has appointed capable leaders which are able to build and supervise a
team effectively.
 Employee motivation: An effective leader motivates and encourages their subordinates
to reach their highest potential and continuously improve their performance. Leaders at
Morrisons continuously encourage their subordinates to eliminate flaws so that there is
continuous improvement in their performance.
 Time management: This function of the manager is centred around supervising their
subordinates so that they complete various operations in a limited time. Leaders at
Morrisons ensure that each tasks is completed effectively and swiftly so that the firm
gains competitive advantage by increasing their consumer response rate (Eagly, 2018).
Managers- A person responsible for administrating and supervising a firm or group of
workers is considered a manager. Managers search for stability and control with the aim of
resolving issues swiftly, often without understanding root of the issue.
Characteristics of a manager

 Solution Oriented: Managers aim to find the solutions of an issue swiftly and
take decisions after quick thinking. Managers at Morrisons are solution oriented
and implement policies to resolve various barriers as quickly as possible.
 Delegation: Managers delegate authorities to competent individuals for quick
completion of tasks. Managers at respective firm delegate authorities to improve
effeminacy of the firm and focus on high level tasks.
 Reliability: Ensuring availability to every employee when they ned help is
covered by this characteristic of the manager. The respective firm has hired
managers which poses this trait so that daily operations of the company run
smoothly.
Function of a manager
 Planing: A manager is required to formulate plans to attain various business objectives
which include allotting resources, delegating duties and constructing time limit for every
task. Mangers at respective firm develop appropriate strategies to meet business goals in
a timely manner (Chary, 2017).
 Monitoring: Managers need to monitor employees to gain information about their skills
and area which requires improvement. Managers at Morrisons regularly monitor their
employees to develop plans for their improvement and find areas for skill development.
 Setting goals: This function of the manager is dependent upon developing short term and
long term goals for the employees so that each task is conducted in a timely manner and
every employee understands their responsibilities. Managers at Morrisons construct goals
for their employees which are aligned with overall goals of the company in order to help
the company achieve their goals as quickly as possible (Barnes, 2018).
TASK 2
P2 Application of a role of leader and functions of a manager in various organisational situation
Every business firm faces various challenges and issues in order to maintain stable
growth rate. Morrisons has faced various bushiness situations and the presence of capable
leaders and managers has helped the company overcome challenges present in such situation.
Utilisation of advanced technology
This situation is one of the most common situations faced by various organisation due to
the continuously evolving nature of technology (Cote, 2017). Morrisons recently started

utilising artificial intelligence through their automated system which is to simplify ordering
decision with the use of machine learning tools which are scalable. The reason behind the
utilisation of this type of technology is to improve presence of various products across stores of
the firm and reduce manual labour from workers related to ordering which frees them to
complete various tasks. This will improve consumer satisfaction and help the company improve
their profitability. Role of leader: The leader at Morrisons need to ensure that every employee related with
ordering systems understands the usage of this technology and feels comfortable about
the presence of this technology in their organisation (Alhuraish, Robledo and Kobi,
2017). This will remove any possibility of process disruption during malfunction of the
system.
 Functions of manager: The main function of the manager in this situation is to regularly
monitor the performance of this system in order to ensure stable output of the firm.
Collaborating with the technical division to resolve issues and assure positive effects on
overall output of the company is another function of manager.
Business acquisition
This situation involves acquisition of another organisation by the company to achieve
various business goals such as enhance product range, increase profitability or to land in a new
market. Managers and leaders play crucial part in this business situation. Role of leader: During a business leaders at Morrisons need to communicate with
employees and gain feedback about their doubts and excitements associated with
acquisition. They need to clearly communicate changes which affect the workers as a
result of acquisition (Bertagnolli, 2018). Apart from this presenting a vision related to
the merger to the workers will strengthen their commitment to the firm and reduce
disputes after the merger.
 Functions of manager: The managers at Morrisons need to gain information about the
firm which has been acquired and formulate plans which align with the overall goals of
the company related to the acquisition. This will reduce the chances of deviating from
the aim of the organisation and ensure contribution of employees in success of this
acquisition (Helmold, 2020).
Introduction of product

Leaders and managers conduct various tasks and take over several responsibilities when
the organisation introduces new products. Morrisons faces situations in which they aim to
enhance their product portfolio to accomplish various business objectives.
Role of a leader: The role of leader in this scenario is to ensure collaboration between
various departments and eliminate barriers from their root cause to ensure timely completion of
various activities.
Functions of a manager: The manager at Morrisons ned to develop a plan which
contains short term goals fore their team. This will improve workflow and ensure timely
completion of project. apart from this they need to endure that every operation is of superior
quality in order to maximise consumer satisfaction.
P3 Usage of several models and theories including systems leadership and situational leadership
Operations management is significant to stable growth and success of the company.
Effective leaders utilise various theories and models which are helpful in operations
management and increase productivity of the firm. Several of such theories are provided below:
Systems leadership model
This concept of leadership allows leaders to develop conditions where every employee
attains maximum level of productivity by giving them tools which accurately forecast employee
behaviour. Leaders at Morrisons utilise this model ned to use this approach in order to gain an
insight about interrelation of various parts of the firm which helps tackle complex issues
(Bachrach and Mullins, 2019).
The main advantages provided by this model is that it focuses on multiple parts of the
issue at the same time helps the company adapt to changes with equal emphasis on all
departments. Demerits of this model is the ineffectiveness to deal with long term tasks due to
time taking decision making proves.
Contingency approach
This approach states that adoption of a single management style is harmful for the
company and such decisions should be made according to the variables present in different cases
(Woods, 2019). The respective organisation should use this approach to effectively face various
challenges.
This approach is highly adaptable and can be used in various cases. Apart form this it
improves the decision making process and helps the company construct effective plans

(Shafique and Beh, 2017). Main disadvantage of this approach is that it is very complex difficult
to apply during practical usage.
Situational approach
This approach suggests that the leaders and managers should modify their management
and leadership styles on the basis of circumstances. The respective firm needs to utilise this
approach in order to gain high productivity in various situations.
Flexibility and creation of positive working environment is a major advantage provided
by this approach (Alhuraish, Robledo and Kobi, 2017). The main demerits of this approach
revolve around inability to deal with task oriented environment and creation of confusion
without transparent communication.
TASK 3
P4 Describe primary approaches to operations management with the functions of leaders and
managers
Various approaches to operations management help maximise conversion of
organisational resources into value which helps the company gain success in various endeavours
and survive in the industry for a longer time period. Several operations management approaches
are described below:
Six sigma
The main of aim of this approach is to reduce defects and inefficiencies to the lowest
pints so that the profitability of the firm improves. This is accomplished by increasing output and
decreasing processes variation. Morrisons need to utilise this approach to increase swift
production with low amount of defects and construct infrastructure with minimum inefficiencies.
The main role of leaders and managers in this approach is to analyse the firm and identify goals
and deliverables, analysis of each input to recognise fault and benchmark output of the process
(Bertagnolli, 2018). The managers and leaders ned to ensure that the process is enhanced and
faults are removed.
Lean management
The main aim of this process is to deliver highest value to the consumer while reducing
wastage of resources with focus on continuous improvement. Utilisation of this approach will
help Morrisons better process which reduce costs while giving consumers high value. The role of
leaders and managers in this process is determination processes which bring value to the

consumer and eliminating processes which fail to create value. Creation of perpetual workflow
and optimisation of resource according to demand is another responsibility of the leader
(Helmold, 2020). This will help the gain perpetual success. Leaders need to continuously
improve this process so that they face no interruptions in progress.
Just in time
This operations management approach reorients requirement of raw material directly
with manufacturing schedule. This approach reduces costs related to inventory as the firm does
not have unused inventory which reduces warehousing investment. Morrisons need to utilise this
process in order to increase efficiency of their firm and gain higher profitability (Barnes, 2018).
The role of a leader in this approach is to ensure reliability of suppliers and high performance of
employees. Apart from this they need to build firm manufacturing processes with low
interruptions and usage of quality equipment as the results of this approach are dependent on
these factors.
P5 Significance of operations management in attaining business objectives
Operation management is an important process in order to achieve business objectives. It helps
the business in reducing their cost and work efficiently. The importance of operation
management of Morrison is as follows:
Capacity management: Capacity management refer to utilisation of resources within
organisation optimally to achieve organisation objective with cost efficiency (Dahmani and
Yebdri, 2020). It include capacity management of business, components and service. This
operation is important in order to utilise financial resources and increase performance efficiency.
As Morrison is a retailing company providing different product and service in the market it helps
manager of company in accurately planning and implementing organisations goal. It require
monitoring of activities at work place, measuring performance and make coordination in
different operation and capacity planning to avoid wastage.
Control and Distribution Systems: Control and distribution management refers to the
system that helps in controlling activity from production to sales. It include different activity like
packaging, warehousing, inventory and logistics etc. It is an important function of business as it
helps company in success and growth of business. It helps manager of Morrisons in maintaining
organisation activity more systematic and provide more convenience to the customer:

Process design: Process design is the process of arranging total operation in different
activities. It is important for every organisation to develop certain process to perform any
operation or activity. To perform any activity firm use resources as input to produce output for
generating profit. To design a process manager of Morrison need to follow some steps, these
steps include choice of variety of product, capacity of output, technology for product, employees
and production process length.
Transformation of raw material into finished goods/services: Process of
transformation of raw material into finished goods and service by adding value is called
manufacturing. This process change in physical characteristics, location, ownership, purpose
etc. It is an important step as it helps manager of Morrison to earn more profit and reduce
wastage at work place. Transformation include in terms of manufacture, service, supply and
transport.
Scheduling: Scheduling is process of arranging and controlling working activities so
they take place at right time within organisation. It is an important process in operation
management that can affect productivity of the organisation. Scheduling include planning of
which activity when take place in organisation to ensure minimisation of cost and time related to
particular activity (Chary, 2017). The main function of scheduling is to ensure smooth flow of
production, maintain sufficient production level, keep safety stock and time in organisation.
This function helps manager of Morrison in completing their task on due date, reducing cost,
increasing profit and reducing wastage at work place.
TASK4
P6 Evaluation of factors within the corporate environment which influence operations
management and decision making of leaders
Business environment refers to the surrounding in which a business operate its activity (Deihimi,
Zahed and Iravani, 2016). It include internal and external factors that affect the business like
customer, employees, supplier, customer, competitor etc. These factors affect the decision of
manager and leader in operation management. Factors those affect the decision making of leader
and manager in operation management are as follows:
Corporate Social responsibility: Corporate social responsibility is moral duty of
business towards society and community. By adopting CSR, company get positive impact from
environmental, social, economical factors. Adopting CSP means company operate in way that

result in social welfare instead of negative impact on society. CSP helps in creating social value
of company and increase brand image of the company. Manager of Morrison adopt CSR as it
will create positive impact on brand image of their company. It also provide many benefit from
government like subsidiary.
Business Ethics: Business ethics refers to professional ethics that can be applied to a
problem that arise in business environment (Ahmed and Jiang, 2018). Business problem include
problem related to bribery, corporate governance, discrimination etc. Business ethics build
certain level of trust between business unit and its customer. It helps to ensure better relation
with employees and control fraud activity of business. It helps the manager of Morrison in
increasing their goodwill of business and also in increasing customer satisfaction. It also create
positive impact on commitment of employees, image and reputation of organisation.
Relationship with stakeholder and meeting their expectation: Stakeholders are
individual who are connected with company and affect the operation of the firm. They can be an
investor, customer, supplier or employee. He can be external or internal person have impact on
operation of the company. It is important for a business to maintain good relation with
stakeholders and also meet their expectation as their interest in connected with interest of the
company. It is important for a company like Morrison to maintain good relation with
stakeholders as they sometimes provide finance to the business and helps them in growth and
success.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that both leaders and managers accomplish various
tasks which are essential for the perpetual growth of the company. Effective leaders and
managers conduct different activities during various business situations which assist in the
smooth working of the company. Several models and approaches such as contingency and
systems leadership provide the required assistance in the growth. Various operations
management approaches such as are helpful in conducting daily manufacturing process of the
company and help accomplish business objectives without any interruptions or quality decline.
Leaders and managers play an effective role in operations management and their decisions are
affected by various factors such as which are present in the business environment.

REFRENCES
Books and Journal
Ahmed, A. and Jiang, T., 2018, October. Operation management of power grid system with
renewable energy sources and energy storage system integrations. In 2018 2nd IEEE
conference on energy internet and energy system integration (EI2) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Alhuraish, I., Robledo, C. and Kobi, A., 2017. A comparative exploration of lean manufacturing
and six sigma in terms of their critical success factors. Journal of cleaner
production, 164, pp.325-337.
Bachrach, D.G. and Mullins, R., 2019. A dual-process contingency model of leadership,
transactive memory systems and team performance. Journal of Business Research, 96,
pp.297-308.
Barnes, D., 2018. Operations Management. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Bertagnolli, F., 2018. Lean management. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
Carozza, L.S., 2019. Qualities of Effective Leaders. Leadership in Speech-Language Pathology,
p.13.
Chary, S.N., 2017. Production and operations management. McGraw Hill Education.
Cote, R., 2017. A comparison of leadership theories in an organizational
environment. International Journal of Business Administration, 8(5), pp.28-35.
Dahmani, S. and Yebdri, D., 2020. Hybrid algorithm of particle swarm optimization and Grey
Wolf optimizer for reservoir operation management. Water Resources Management.
34(15). pp.4545-4560.
Deihimi, A., Zahed, B. K. and Iravani, R., 2016. An interactive operation management of a
micro-grid with multiple distributed generations using multi-objective uniform water
cycle algorithm. Energy. 106. pp.482-509.
Eagly, A.H., 2018. Some leaders come from nowhere: Their success is uneven. Journal of Social
Issues, 74(1), pp.184-196.
Goleman, D., 2017. What Makes a Leader?(Harvard Business Review Classics). Harvard
Business Press.
Helmold, M., 2020. Lean Management and Kaizen. Springer International Publishing.
Lean management
Shafique, I. and Beh, L.S., 2017. Shifting organizational leadership perspectives: An overview of
leadership theories. Journal of Economic & Management Perspectives, 11(4), pp.134-
143.
Woods, T.B., 2019. An examination of the suitability of transactional, transformational and
situational leadership theories in evaluating the role of gender in determining the
leadership style: A comparison and contrast of three leadership theories. American
Journal of Management Studies, 4(1), pp.1-11.