Strategic Management of Operations

This assignment delves into the multifaceted realm of strategic management, examining its application across diverse domains. It encompasses a comprehensive review of literature from reputable sources such as academic journals and patents, highlighting key concepts, theories, and best practices. The assigned readings cover a wide spectrum of topics, including risk management, dynamic capability, sustainable construction, and information systems management. By synthesizing these insights, the assignment aims to provide a holistic understanding of strategic management's crucial role in achieving organizational success.

Management and Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ..........................................................................................................................................1
P1 Role and characteristic of leader and manager......................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P2 Leader's role and function of manager in various situational context...................................3
P3 Theories and models of leadership .......................................................................................4
TASK 3 .........................................................................................................................................5
P4 Main approaches to operations management ........................................................................5
P5 Significance and value of operations management in attaining business objectives.............6
P6 Factors which made a significant impact on the operational management of Ford ..............6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
An organisation with sound management can attain their objectives in desired time.
Managing resources in the most efficient way is the target of all the managers. Focusing on
business operation is essential for achieving the goals (Zhang and et. al., 2015). Ford motors is a
renowned firm in auto-mobile sector. Almost 200,000 employees are working in this enterprise,
this organisation has around 90 plans across the globe. This assignment will discuss about
characteristics and responsibilities of leaders and managers. Their role in different situations will
become part of this report. Various theories and models will be included in this file. Main
approaches of operational management and its importance will be explain under this project.
This assignment will talk about impact of business environment on the process of decision
making.
TASK 1
P1 Role and characteristic of leader and manager
An organisation who has good quality of human resource can easily attain consistent
growth. The importance of employee in an enterprise is continuously increase because
companies now understand that worker play significant role in success of a corporation. Many
people get confuse between a manager and leader. But these two terms are completely different
from each other. In my view, Henry ford was the most important person of Ford motors. He has
his own leadership style which was surprising for many people in that time. Below are some of
role and characteristic of a leader:
Create a vision – Vision of a company decide all the strategy which they they may adopt
in future. Many organisation fail to taste the success because they did not focus on this point.
Ford wanted to make something that help people in making their life better (Morschett,
Schramm-Klein and Zentes, 2015). Vision is basically a great perception. The leader of ford
motor played crucial role in taking the organisation to a next level. He knew that many people
lack creativity, one he said that if he would have asked customers that what they want from this
company then they must have said a five leg horse instead of a car. Worker also look toward the
a person who is confident about the task which enterprise is going to do in upcoming time.
Leader is responsible for creating a vision so firm can move in a single and correct direction.
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This also help workers in sharing values and develop a team spirit in the corporation. Pioneer set
aggressive goals so they can push the limit of staff members.
Lead change – Many people do not support change because they have a face of
uncertainty. This problem is integral part of business organisation. Ford was founded in 1903,
making alteration in the company is essential for remaining the industry. I think that leader of
this played crucial role in success of this corporation. They implemented six sigma and adopted
other aggressive strategy. Henry ford asked his employees to do hard work, he knew that bring
change in the organisation us not easy so he started spending most of his timing in the office.
This act increase the morale of various senior managers and employees and they supported the
essential modifications in different process of the company. If a leader will not walk his talk then
other personnel will not obey his/her order and it will result failure to attain the objectives.
Inspire people – Employees are human being, they need continuous motivation in order
to improve their performance (Hong and et. al., 2015). It is the role of a leader to energise the
workers by giving them more authority or monetary benefits. I firmly believe that if the main
person of an enterprise show confident and gain trust of the employees then if will be beneficial
for both sides. Pioneer is responsible for energising the staff members so they can work on their
shortcoming and remove them. This is crucial for formation of a good team and quality
workforce.
Analyse strength of an employee – This can be considered as one of the main
characteristic of a leader. He is responsible for finding the best quality of a worker and then ask
staff member to push his/her limits. Most of the people in an organisation do not know the skills
which are present in their personality. Pioneer can help them in this crucial task. This will
provide benefit to company as well as to the personnel.
Role and characteristics of manager
Implementation of strategy – Top level management make long term goals for the
organisation. They seek help of managers in attaining their objectives. Managers play an
important role in executing the strategies like adopting six sigma in the firm. They communicate
the message of higher authorities to the workers so employee can get the basic idea about the
target which they have to achieve in upcoming time.
Monitoring – Managers are responsible for keeping an eye on their subordinates in order
to ascertain the success that workers attaining in their targets (Barratt, Choi and Li, 2011). This
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characteristic is necessary for gathering different type of information which can be used by
making future plans.
Conflict resolution – Dispute among employees is normal in big corporations like Ford
motors. It is the role of manager to solve the issues between two parties. I think this
characteristic of manager is related to good communication and negotiation skill.
Difference between manager and leader
Leader Manager
Bring change in the organisation. Solving complexity in the business.
Motivate and inspire workers. Mainly focus on administration work.
Make vision Follow vision
Do planning of long term goals Make short term goals and execute strategies
made by leaders.
TASK 2
P2 Leader's role and function of manager in various situational context
One can argue that most of the organisation in this era seek leaders but they should also
think about the activities which managers perform in an enterprise (McNeil, Frey and Embrechts,
2015). Both have their own importance and they should be given equal credit for success of a
firm. Below are some situations in the context of Ford motor, role of leader and manager
function are as follows in different circumstances:
Decision making
Leader's role – When Henry ford, the main leader of Ford motors, took a significant decision that
this company will raise their standards in order to provide better customer satisfaction, he
adopted the approach of six sigma. It is the role of pioneer to identify the need of changes in the
corporation and motivate worker to modify their working ability and attitude accordingly.
Workers do not like put addition effort in their jobs, they refuse to get necessary training. If this
scenario managers cannot do much because they self has many queries in their mind. But a
leader motivates staff members by telling them the future benefits. This ability to change the
perception of an individual is a great quality that a person can have in his/her personality.
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Manager's function – Their main aim is to properly communicate the thoughts of the top level
management to the employees. In this scenario, manager lead by example (Burke, 2013). When
they spend extra time on their training without hampering their daily work then it send a positive
message to the workers. Developing corporation in the organisation is their duty and at the time
of implementation six sigma they did their work in a fine way.
Risk taking
Leader's role – It is difficult to change the perception of a leader. Henry ford understood the
importance of human capital at a very early stage and this can be considered as the prime reason
that he promoted the culture of equality in this firm. He took a big risk by giving employment to
women and African American people. Some expert of the industry thought that this is not a good
strategy because it may reduce the quality of the production of Ford. The risk taking ability of
Henry ford got appreciation from across the globe and now most of the firm are trying to bring
diversity in their organisation.
Function of manager – Managers are not known for taking bigger risks. Their main function is to
support the leader when they try to do something new. In this situation, administrators helped top
level management in the process of staffing and training to disable people and women also.
P3 Theories and models of leadership
Leaders have different style of work, some are does not want to involve their followers in
decision making process while other always like to their opinion. Below are some theories and
models relating different types of leadership approach:
Situational – When Henry ford found that their can be 20,000 opportunities of defect in
production of a car then he order to implement six sigma in the manufacturing process.
Situational leadership deals with the adjustment that a leader has to made in his style of leading
the organisation (Niknam, Meymand and Mojarrad, 2011). In this case, their were many
employees who had concern about executing the six sigma approach. Instead of forcing them to
this task, Ford ask them to take necessary training. He made them understand that it is also
beneficial for career growth of the staff members. He delegated some significant authorities to
the senior managers, this was not his original style of working.
Systematic leadership – This theory talks about the linkage between various components
in the organisation. When Ford tried to increase the level of customers satisfaction they first
focus on solving issues of the employees because if workers of an enterprise is not satisfied with
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their management then there is no chance that they can focus on providing better products and
service to the buyers.
Contingency approach – This concept states that their is no perfect strategy then can
applied in every situation. Leader should first understand a circumstance and then do necessary
changes in his leadership style. Pioneers in Ford also used this approach several times specially
when they try to synchronise the values of Henry ford and attain technical excellence in similar
time.
TASK 3
P4 Main approaches to operations management
Focusing on operational areas is essential for an organisation. This is one field which has
direct connection with the profit of the firm. Below are some approaches which Ford adopted in
their corporation:
Six sigma – This concept help an enterprise in improving quality of their product. It
requires lot of data and a measurement system but it can long benefits are necessary for attaining
significant market share in an industry (Haddad and Mariño, 2011). When Ford motors
announced to adopt this approach in their organisation then senior managers supported them by
giving extra time to the training procedure. Their is a general perception that Six sigma only help
in improving quality of the production. But, it also help in increasing customer satisfaction which
is very important in this business era. It is significant part of operational management. Their are
many companies who do not want to adopt this approach in the firm because they think that it
involves enormous amount of efforts. Lot of data and various kind of measurement tools are
need in this process (Operations and Project Management (OPM), 2017). Ratios, trend chart,
etc. are some important elements of six sigma. Managers played crucial role in following this
approach. Leaders of this company consider customers as their top priority and sound operational
management can help them in solving various issues of the buyers.
Lean manufacturing – Wastage in manufacturing process is considered as the prime
problem in operational management. Lean manufacturing approach focuses on eliminating
different type of wastage that is present in production process (Luna and Bott, 2012). Under this
concept, the activity is distributed in proper way, the pressure of overload and issue of uneven
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work is resolved in this approach. Manager basically do the task of monitoring at functional
areas while leaders make crucial decision relating to reduction of operation cost in long run.
P5 Significance and value of operations management in attaining business objectives
For a company like Ford, focusing on their production process is very important for
getting some extra edge over their competitors. Reducing cost of manufacturing is a general aim
for any auto-mobile company. Adopting approachers like Six sigma in operational management
helped Ford in saving around $2.19 billion since 2001. This money provide great financial
strength to the organisation. It is also significant for giving better customer satisfaction to the
buyer. Most of the consumer who wanted to buy a car had issues relating to the value of the
money which they are paying to the seller. They think that they are not getting product according
to their desire. Operational management helped in continuously improving the quality of cars. It
also played crucial role in attracting various investors who had second thoughts while investing
in this company.
Adopting six sigma was difficult at initial stage but gradually it help employees of the
organisation in improving their productivity. This is one of the unpopular advantage of this
operational management approach. It has various benefits to a company like better quality of
product and reduction in wastage but besides this it also assist in developing quality work force.
Ford motor wanted to hold their position as a table leader, in that time, six sigma helped them in
attaining this objective. Most of the companies were not aware about this approach around 1990,
mentioned enterprise used it for increasing the level of customer satisfaction and improving their
financial position (Vogel and Güttel, 2013). Cited corporation was very serious about achieving
technical excellence. They knew that technology and business environment is changing rapidly
and tools of operational management like six sigma can help them in moving forward towards
their aggressive goals. If product of an organisation is not good then they cannot do anything in
order to make and retain their customers. This significant task is completely dependent on the
effectiveness of the operational management. Other function like marketing, sales promotion
cannot help an enterprise in enhancing their sale if quality of commodity is poor.
P6 Factors which made a significant impact on the operational management of Ford
Covered in PPT.
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CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that leaders are significant for an organisation
but they also seek assistance from managers that are present in a company. Their roles various
according to the situation but they are responsible for showing the right path to an enterprise.
Different theories of leadership can be used according to the circumstances. Approaches like Six
sigma is necessary for improving effectiveness of operational management.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Barratt, M., Choi, T.Y. and Li, M., 2011. Qualitative case studies in operations management:
Trends, research outcomes, and future research implications. Journal of Operations
Management. 29(4). pp.329-342.
Burke, R., 2013. Project management: planning and control techniques. New Jersey, USA.
Haddad, O.B. and Mariño, M.A., 2011, March. Optimum operation of wells in coastal aquifers.
In Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers-Water Management (Vol. 164, No.
3, pp. 135-146). Thomas Telford Ltd.
Hong, T. and et. al., 2015. A review on sustainable construction management strategies for
monitoring, diagnosing, and retrofitting the building’s dynamic energy performance:
Focused on the operation and maintenance phase. Applied Energy. 155. pp.671-707.
Luna, M. and Bott, R., Seven Networks, Inc., 2012. Operation modes for mobile traffic
optimization and concurrent management of optimized and non-optimized traffic. U.S.
Patent Application 13/715,900.
McNeil, A.J., Frey, R. and Embrechts, P., 2015. Quantitative risk management: Concepts,
techniques and tools. Princeton university press.
Morschett, D., Schramm-Klein, H. and Zentes, J., 2015. Strategic international management.
Springer.
Niknam, T., Meymand, H.Z. and Mojarrad, H.D., 2011. An efficient algorithm for multi-
objective optimal operation management of distribution network considering fuel cell
power plants. Energy. 36(1). pp.119-132.
Peppard, J. and Ward, J., 2016. The strategic management of information systems: Building a
digital strategy. John Wiley & Sons.
Priem, R.L., Li, S. and Carr, J.C., 2012. Insights and new directions from demand-side
approaches to technology innovation, entrepreneurship, and strategic management
research. Journal of management. 38(1). pp.346-374.
Swayne, L.E., Duncan, W.J. and Ginter, P.M., 2012. Strategic management of health care
organizations. John Wiley & Sons.
Travis, W.D. and Rekhtman, N., 2011, February. Pathological diagnosis and classification of
lung cancer in small biopsies and cytology: strategic management of tissue for
molecular testing. In Seminars in respiratory and critical care medicine (Vol. 32, No.
01. pp. 022-031). © Thieme Medical Publishers.
Vogel, R. and Güttel, W.H., 2013. The dynamic capability view in strategic management: A
bibliometric review. International Journal of Management Reviews. 15(4). pp.426-446.
Zhang, C. and et. al., 2015. Thermal management of hybrid silicon ring lasers for high
temperature operation. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics. 21(6).
pp.385-391.
Online
Operations and Project Management (OPM). 2017. [Online] Available through:
<https://www.beds.ac.uk/research-ref/bmri/centres/bisc/okm>. [Accessed on 22nd
October 2017].
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