Importance of Operations Management in Achieving Business Objectives

This article discusses the importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives. It explores key approaches such as lean production, six sigma, total quality management, just-in-time inventory, and kaizen. It also highlights the role of leaders and managers in implementing these approaches. The case study focuses on Asda, a British multinational company.

Management & Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................3
LO2..............................................................................................................................................................3
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in different
situational contexts.................................................................................................................................3
P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency.....................................................................................................................5
LO3..............................................................................................................................................................6
P4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and managers
play..........................................................................................................................................................6
P5 Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives.......7
LO4..............................................................................................................................................................8
P6 Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational management
and decision making by leaders and managers.......................................................................................8
CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Management and operation are the two important in the aspects of business entity as both
of these terms plays their respective role in attaining the goals of a company. It is the process
which includes detail planning of every work which are to be performed in a business on a daily
basis. Business organization performing their activity within the market should have the
knowledge regarding their competitors and in accordance to that business decisions should be
taken for better result. There are number of other reasons due to which effective management
and operations is required because organization have qualitative team can handle any of the
typical situation which may have an adverse effect. The whole project report will have its
connection with Asda which a British Multinational company and has been performing quite
effectively. The headquarter is in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The company has shown its presence
in the market since 1949. The parent company of Asda is Walmart. The different relatable topics
to management and operation in the respective project that will be listed are connected to the role
and a function of a manager in crucial stages. Theories and models will be applied including
number of important approaches and also some of environmental factors to be discussed in the
file.
LO2
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts.
Companies are facing tough competition in the market because of the rivalry firm present
in the market and it is essential for manager and leader to come up with new plan and policies for
sustaining the market. Not only leader and manager but, employees working in the entity needs
to contribute equally to the management so that they can meet out the demands of a customers.
In addition, situations are different and on the basis of requirement of situation, management
needs to take their decision that how bring out the best from their working team (Stein, 2016). In
the same manner, Asda is also having some of the problem in certain condition and in that
particular circumstances, management and leaders has to contribute with effective plans and
policies. Similar, some of the condition has been categorized on which manager and leader has to
react:

Condition 1: Changes in working style in new project: There are number of
competitors in the market which increases the problem for the organization. It is because there is
higher probability that customers get distributed in this particular scenario. For the purpose of
sustaining the customers, changes must be made to working style. In context of Asda, the
manager has the crucial duty which he must be able to form proper plans and policies which can
be effective in nature. At the same time, leader also has an important role because they are the
one who needs to decided that how to provide training to the employees. This will certainly
benefit the management in attaining the goals and targets. In short, whenever any of the entity
tries to bring changes to the working style, there are lots of things which they should be able to
consider such as proper planning should be done, formation of appropriate team is needed and
finally training should be provided to the employees.
Condition 2: Increasing employees’ turnover ratio: Companies performing in the
market needs to understand that there are number of circumstances where they need to change
their employees. In particular phase, they should be aware that employee turnover ration should
not exceed. If in case this happens that overall expenses for the company can be increases. In
context of Asda, same problem has been creating problem their employee turnover ratio is
increasing day by day and it can further create problem for the organisation. In this particular
scenario, role of management increases significantly because they are the one who needs to form
proper plans and policies for existing employees’ benefits. It means that if company is able to
sustain existing employees by providing proper benefits then it can be easy for management to
maintain turnover ratio because their will not be any additional requirement of hiring the
employees (Ellickson, 2016). On the same time, leader of Asda will also have a crucial role
within the company. It is because mostly it has been found that company suffers as their leader
are not able to provide proper training to their employee and in the circumstances new
employees needs to be hired. If leaders of Asda will be successful in delivering proper training to
the employees that how they are needed to perform then their goals can be accomplished. Even
motivation will play the essential role because there will not be any sort of requirement to change
the employees and when employees are not required to be changed then turnover ratio do not
exceeds.

Above mentioned two different condition are the perfect examples which shows that in
any of the entity, there is a huge role of manager and leader. It is essential that they must judge
the situation before taking any sort of decision.
P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency.
Business entity should have proper system and regulations that how any of the work
should be performed. Talking in detail, it is said that organization can attain their goals in only
that respective condition where they use different theories by identifying the requirement of an
organization. These theories are effective in maintaining the balance in working style due to
which company has to not suffer. In the same manner, there are some of the leadership styles that
has been discussed below:
Situation leadership theory: It is the theory which was proposed by Paul Hersey & Ken
Blanchard in 1970. According to this theory, it is the leader of an organisation who needs to
judge the situation and according to that any of the decision should be made. It means that leader
should influence to other as per the requirement of situation (Adebiyi, Oyatoye and Amole,
2016). In context of Asda, it is the responsibility of the leader that they should identify that
situation before taking any sort of decision and according to that any of the decision should be
made. Here, behaviour of employees also plays the supportive role in taking decision as leader
must consider their skills and capabilities before taking any sort of decisions. If company will be
able to adjust in the situation then their goals can be achieved easily.
Contingency leadership theory: It is among the leadership style which was introduced
by Fiedler in the year 1958. According to this theory, each and every decision should be taken by
analysing the situation in detail. It means that entity should not fail in performing their task in a
systematic manner and if in case they fails to do so then huge problem can be created. According
to contingency theory, the success of leader is related with some of the other important factors
such as working environment company culture, motivation to the employees and many more.
Organisation like Asda can use contingency leadership theory for managing their business
activity in an specified manner for the purpose of achieving goals from different task allocated to
different employees (Hitt, Xu and Carnes, 2016).

System leadership theory: It is the theory which explains that any of the business
organisation can perform their task and work in a specified manner if each of the employees are
placed in a systematic manner to the specified position. It means that there is a huge role of
manager and leader while conducting any of the work in accordance to the system leadership
theory. As there are number of typical situations arises and, in that condition, working style of
system leadership theory can be effective in dealing with situation with the help of skills and
capabilities of employees.
In context Asda they are performing their business organisation at global level and it is
necessary for them to ensure that company is able to adjust in different situation if they want to
attain their goals (Radnor and Bateman, 2016). It means that if an organisation wants to attain
their goals, they should be able to focus towards situational leadership theory which is quite
effective and goals oriented in nature. In addition, this particular style of performing any of the
task will allow Asda to enhance their performance through which sales and profit of the
company can be improved.
LO3
P4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and managers
play.
In respect to the entity, manager and leaders are the key persons for the entity because
their role is in each of the place for attaining the goals and target. It is said that of company will
be able to perform effectively, if they are able to catch the opportunities which comes across
them. In aspects to Asda, there are some of the key approaches to which company majorly focus
is mentioned below:
Lean production- The key area which company always focuses is that how they can
reduce the percentage of waste material from their organisation while performing any of the task.
If an entity is able to do so then there is higher probability that profitability ratio can be increased
significantly (Reich, 2018). Here, company like Asda is constantly focusing that how they can
reduce the use of plastic products so that unnecessary cost can be removed. As company is
focusing constantly which means option is available for the company to achieve their goals and
target at higher level.

Six sigma- It is the approach of management which they mainly use for the purpose of
determining the errors done at the time of conducting business activity. It is among one of those
process which is conducted by most of the organisation because it certainly provides the way that
how an organisation can accomplish their goals and target. Although, it is effective in nature but
still it is among the time-consuming process in recent time period. Company like Asda uses for
determining that whether resources are being used properly or not and if not what are the main
reasons behind it.
Principles of Total Quality management- Company has to always focus towards their
production or manufacturing section as it is the area where most of the errors are found. In order
to determine the errors, company can easily use TQM approach which is quite effective in it. Not
only it helps to determine the mistake but it also gives the way that how company can enhance
their performance by improving the quality of management (Zurich and Documentation, 2018).
In this leader has the crucial role as they are the one who needs to motivate each of the
employees performing within the entity and manager needs to define the plans and policies
which must be followed by conducting those activity.
Just in Time Inventory- It is the key approach for any of the organisation because it is
one of the approaches which is used by organisation for managing the inventories. It means that
any of the organisation which is performing their business activity should be aware that they
should be able to manage their resource and in addition, resources must not affect the working
style of a company. With the help of this key approach, company like Asda can be highly
benefitted.
Kaizen: It is also among the approach which can be used by the organisation for attaining
the targets. Here, company conducts the continuous improvement activity which can allow them
to accomplish the goals. It is among one of the important key area which explains that
continuous improvement activity should be conducted in each of the department of a company
through which goals can be accomplished easily by obtaining the support from each of the
departments.
P5 Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives.
Any of the organization has to face different types of situation and the important thing is
that how they are able to deal with those situations. If an entity wants to attain their goals and

target, there is a huge role of operations and management as it is guides that how any of the
objectives of the company can be attained (Wolff-Petersen, 2019). Operation management key
role because it always gives importance to the area in which company is struggling to perform
better so that favourable results can be obtained. Some of the benefits that an organisation can
obtained with the help of operation and management can obtain are listed below:
 Enhance the goodwill: It is essential to understand that any of the entity can perform
better if they are able to use the process of management and operations in a effective
manner. It is means that organisation needs to ensure that they are able to use their
strategies in desire manner so that company do not faces any of the problem. Discussing
it in detail, company like Asda can focus more towards innovative ideas for the market
through which they can ensure that each of the business activity are being performed as
per the requirement. If in case company is able to do so then, goodwill of the organisation
can be enhanced easily with the support of management and operations (Reid and
Sanders, 2019).
 Ability to increase productivity: It is essential for the organisation that they should be
able to enhance their productivity and in order to enhance, there is a huge role of
management and operations. It is because leader and managers are the one who needs to
guide each of the employees regarding the way of performing any of the task. But for that
Asda must have well experienced team which is able to handle each of the situation that
how any of the employee needs to perform their duty for attaining the goals and target.
 Waste Reduction: The most important thing which any of the organisation should focus
is that how they can reduce the overall waste production because it is the main area due
to which unnecessary expenses get increased. In addition, organisation has to also suffer
as well because expected results are not attained in this particular process. Here,
management and operation can play the vital role by providing proper training to each of
the employees and latest machinery should be introduced which can allow to perform
effectively. If this can be done then goals can be accomplished easily by the organisation
(Aggarwal, 2020).

LO4
P6 Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational management
and decision making by leaders and managers.
Any of the company has the capability to perform better but at the same time, they also
face number of problem if they are not able to meet out the requirement of law and policies.
Talking in detail, it is said that there are factors related to business environment internally as well
as externally which has an impact on business entity. Theses impact has been further categorized
below in detail:
Internal factors: Any of the business factors which affect positively or negatively to the
company through internal working style is known as internal factors. Some of the internal factors
are:
Organisational structure: It is connected to management and operation as well as the
process which is involved in taking any of the effective decisions. If in case organisation like
Asda have a flexible working structure then there is a huge possibility that company will be
benefitted but if in case it depends upon read structure then company will have to face different
types of problem.
Human resources: The most important department for the organisation because they are
the one who hires the employees and provide them the training that how any of the work is
needed to be done. It means that if company like Asda will be able to hire right candidate then
company will be highly benefitted because employee will put their efforts to attain the targets
(Petriglieri, 2020). But at the same time if employees are not skilled and capable to perform their
task then company will have to suffer from different problems.
External factors: It is the business factors which is affected from external sources and
looking at this, it is the responsibility of organisation that they should be able to make effective
decision for attaining their goals and target (Kozlov, 2020). There are different types of external
factors such as political, social and many more which forces the entity to change their working
style if company wants to attain their goals.

CONCLUSION
The discussion conducted in the assignment shows that company like Asda has a huge
importance of management and operation where role of leader and manger is crucial. The
different types of leadership style on the basis of requirement of situation is allowing the
company to tackle tough condition and to give higher competition to the rivalry firm.
Approaches such as TQM, KPI and Six Sigma is providing the suitable ground to management
of Asda that they can deliver the best quality of services to the customer for attaining the targets
for long time period. Different environmental factors are there which can be problematic for the
company but still efforts from management and leader is providing them the way that how to
achieve their goals.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
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decision management using operations research approach. EMAJ: Emerging Markets
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Zurich, B.L.L. and Documentation, X., 2018. Service operations and management. Master of
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Wolff-Petersen, 2019.Device for managing operations of accessories. U.S. Patent 10,391,391.
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Wiley & Sons.
Aggarwal, 2020.Managing operations of a mobile drive unit within a workspace based on a fire-
based policy. U.S. Patent 10,591,931.
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pp.10-15.