Leadership Roles and Responsibilities in ASDA

The report provides a detailed analysis of leadership roles, responsibilities, and styles within ASDA company. It highlights the significance of operation management in achieving organizational goals and discusses various factors that affect decision-making processes. The report draws on multiple sources, including academic journals, books, and online resources to provide a comprehensive understanding of leadership practices within ASDA.

Management and operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................1
P1 Roles and characteristics of manager and leadership............................................................1
LO 2 ................................................................................................................................................2
P2 Role and function of leader and manager in different situation............................................2
P3 Approaches and models for situational, system leadership and contingency........................4
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................5
P4 Explain the responsibilities of leaders and managers in an organization and key approaches
connected to operation management...........................................................................................5
P5 Explain the importance and value of operation management with its objectives. ................6
LO 4.................................................................................................................................................7
P6 Determine the factors in business environment that influence leaders and mangers in
decision making on operational management. ...........................................................................7
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Operation management is a process in which managers create high level efficiency to
achieve organisation goals (Heizer, Render and Munson, 2017). It refers to the process of
converting raw materials into finished product by maximum utilization of resources to increase
profitability. Present report is based on ASDA which is a supermarket retailer. Its operating
income is £ 791.7 million. Report will contain the roles and responsibilities of a leader and
manager in different situation, importance of operation management in achieving organisational
objectives. Further report will apply various models and approaches. Report will also tell various
factors of business environment that impact on operational management and decision-making of
leaders and managers.
LO 1
P1 Roles and characteristics of manager and leadership
Manager: Manager is in-charge of doing certain task by using its managerial skills. A
manager is responsible for all the activities performed in the organisation. They are in-charge of
every department and employees working in department (Reid and Sanders, 2015). Manager
performs all the managerial function such as planning, organising, controlling, directing and
staffing.
Leader: A leader is an influencer who influences group of individuals in achieving
organisations goal. A leader is a motivator who motivates employee to perform better. Leader
follows various leadership style to coordinate employees and focus on organisation objective. A
leader can be manager but manager cannot be a leader. Leader convinces other individuals to
accept decisions.
There are different roles and characteristics of a leader and manager of ASDA:
BASIS ROLE OF MANAGER ROLE OF LEADER
Objectives Leader creates vision for the
employees of ASDA. Leaders create
a picture of what they feel is possible
and inspire employees to change
vision into actual objectives. They
motivate employees to think
Manager make goals. Manager of
ASDA set goals and measure
performance of employees in
achieving organisation objectives.
Manager handle the situation when
there is difficulty in reaching
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something bigger (SA and Rica,
2016).
objectives.
Communication Leaders communicate with the
employees of ASDA and motivate
them in increasing their efficiency so
that perform better.
Manager of ASDA communicate
with the employees and make
different strategies for different
department in achieving goals.
Decision making Leaders of ASDA helps manager in
making decision by providing
information and possibility of change
in the environment. Leaders grasps
change and understand it to use in the
decision making process. Leaders
think in a unique way and bring
innovation in the organisation.
Manager of ASDA implements the
decision of leader. Manager divides
the work according to the skills of
employees. Managers do not make
decisions but stick to the decision of
leader and refine the structure and
process to achieve goals
(Schönsleben, 2018).
Focus Leaders of ASDA focuses on
motivating employees and gives them
a vision so that employees can turn it
into reality.
Manager of ASDA has main focus on
performance of employees of all
department and motivating them by
giving rewards to achieve goal as fast
as possible.
Risk Leaders of ASDA want to try and
implement new things. Leaders want
to take risk and do not fear from
failure.
Managers of ASDA wants to
minimize risk and fear from failure.
They control or avoid problems rather
then facing them.
Time As a leaders creates a vision for the
ASDA company, it requires long
time. Leaders are always motivated to
do something bid which needs more
time. Thus leaders think for long term
which benefit the company in
Managers of ASDA work for short
term goals. They think and make short
term strategies which is used in
fulfilling short term goals.
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growing (Ravindran, 2016).
LO 2
P2 Role and function of leader and manager in different situation
The role of manager is very different from the role of leader. Role of manager is to make
strategies to achieve organisation goal. Managers guide and measure the performance of
employees and give reward to motivate them. Manager also manages problems and solve them.
While a leader is an influencer and creates a vision for employees so that employees of ASDA
company can turn it in reality (Grant, Trautrims and Wong, 2017). There are various situation in
which leaders and managers plays an important role:
Technological change: Change in technology affects the working of every organisation.
ASDA also faced many technological issues. There was a change in the customer expectation so
company need to cope up with new technologies. Online shopping is a new way to make
purchase without wasting time. Due to this change there was decrease in visit of customer in the
stores. Employees find difficult to adapt changes.
 Role of leader: Technology changes very rapidly, leaders of ASDA company need to
adopt the technologies or techniques to be precise in their approach. Leaders main role is
to motivate employees to adopt technologies and list out the benefits of new techniques.
They also create awareness about new techniques and how it is beneficial in achieving
company goals (Kapadia, Dong and Yang, Cisco Technology Inc, 2018).
 Function of manager: Manager of ASDA first understand the problems faced by old
technologies and then try to interpret problems faced by employees. Managers conduct
meeting and explain employees about the change in consumer perception. They organise
training sessions so that new techniques can be taught to employee and make them
perform better.
Employee turnover: Employee turnover is a condition where employee leave the
organisation rapidly. This situation arises when employees lost interest in the organisation or
when they are not satisfied with their job or has salary issues.
 Role of leader: As a leader is closed to employees, they can help in reducing employee
turnover. Leaders of ASDA helps in resolving conflicts in the organisation and help them
in upcoming problems. This is beneficial for company to make employees comfortable
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and make them retain in the organisation for longer period (Kato and et.al., Hitachi Ltd,
2015).
 Function of manager: Manager of ASDA also plays a major role in retaining employees.
Manager function is to create a healthy and happy environment in the company so that
employees perform better in reaching goals. Managers provide feedback and training
session which boost the confidence of employees. This will send a message to employees
that they are valued in the organisation. This makes employee in generating interest in
organisation work (Shevchenko and et.al., 2018).
P3 Approaches and models for situational, system leadership and contingency
Leaders are there to motivate employees in the organisation. They evaluate the change in
external environment and make decision by keeping in mind those changes. These decisions are
beneficial for the company to adopt change as early as possible. There are various leadership
styles chosen by the ASDA company:
Situational leadership:
In this type of leadership, leader of ASDA company allot the work as per the talent and
skills of employee. This theory is used to find out best solutions by analysing the condition of
market and make decision for the organisation. Leaders make decision on the basis of current
situation (Hill and Hill, 2017). It has various theories under it from which one is explained
below:
 Goleman theory: This author has defined various style of leadership such as coaching
leaders who work in developing individual person to enhance skills. These people are
open to accept change. Democratic leaders supports the decision of the group and builds
flexibility and trust among the group members. It is time consuming. Coercive leaders
tell all the employees what to do, this type of leader know what is the goal and how it can
be reached.
System leadership:
In this type of leadership, leaders focus on the end results rather than the procedure. It is
also called result oriented theory (Mijumbi and et.al., 2016). Leaders of ASDA create a situation
where all the levels of employees work together to increase productivity. Leaders create
organisational strategies and social process and system design. Company change its system in
such a way that it encourages productive behaviour among employees.
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Contingency leadership:
This theory says that there is no leadership styles. Company make decision on the basis
of internal and external situation. This theory is helpful in finding various paths to achieve
organisational objectives. There are various theory under this: Path goal theory: In this theory clear route is defined by the leader for achieving goals.
Leaders of ASDA uses different motivation techniques and leadership styles to guide
employees. Different styles used are as follows: supportive leadership is a kind of
leadership where leader support employees by fulfilling their needs as early as possible.
Directive leadership are leaders who direct employee by giving new ideas and strategies
to achieve organisation goals (Heizer, Render and Munson, 2017).
 Fielders contingency theory: This theory explains that leader need to be flexible to adopt
different leadership styles according to the change in the situation. There is a relationship
between favourable conditions and different leadership styles.
LO 3
P4 Explain the responsibilities of leaders and managers in an organization and key approaches
connected to operation management.
Through operation management company reduces the gap to achieve its objective. In
ASDA company, the responsibilities of managers and leaders plays an important role in
formation of the motivated work force. Mangers in company assigns daily operations to the
employee of the company, HRM roles to recruit, take interview, hire etc., to define objective of
the company. to work as an administrator and manage operations of company, to share its
responsibilities to its lower authority, motivate the employee to work efficiently, provide training
to employee and make policies of company these operations are performed by a manager in
company (Reid and Sanders, 2015). Role of leader in company is to communicate with its team
members to guide them towards achievement of ASDA company, to provide the resource that
are needed in achievement of objective of the company (Leadership responsibilities, 2015).
leader is helping team members to grow and build self confidence in employees towards their
work and making them accountable for the work they have done. Regularly checking the
performance of the employees, these are key roles of leader in company. Mainly three key
approaches are followed in operation management on ASDA company.
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Just in Time: this approach focuses on the work of employee task which is done on time
with the quality of work done. The manger supports its employee in doing task with motivation
and giving guidance to do work (SA and Rica, 2016). The manger are also responsible for
making employees to work towards the achievement of the company goal. Leaders help the
employee to do the work in better way and increases their performance. Leader tries to influence
the employee in giving quality of work for company to achieve personal goal with organizational
goal. Just in time is has four principles which is to be followed are Heijunka, Kanban,task time
and elimination of waste.
Lean Six Sigma: this approach focuses on the waste reduction in the company and
increase the productivity by less wastage of resources of the company. The approach make
employee to reduces the waste that unnecessarily increases the expenses of company. Optimum
use of resources increases the efficiency with production which increases the productivity with
less expenses occurred for operations (Schönsleben, 2018). The manager role in ASDA company
is to make worker to work with effectively and efficiently. The leaders give vision to complete
the task to achieve the goal with effectiveness and gain personal goals.
Total Quality Management: the approach puts light on the quality of the production that
is provided by the company. It can only be ascertained with the help of the feedback given by the
consumer of the product. The company focuses on the satisfaction of consumers that increases
the sales of company and helps to create new consumers with split of information of product
quality in market. In company, manager looks on the different units like production unit, that is
providing of raw materials, Material availability in stock and many more . As a leader the main
role is to take feedback from customers and improve the quality of product with making
modification in the product. Total quality management is important to increases the revenue of
the company and produce standard quality product (Ravindran, 2016).
P5 Explain the importance and value of operation management with its objectives.
In ASDA Company operation management plays an important role for achievement of its
objectives with efficiently and on time for performing operation. With the help of operation
management ASDA is able to handle different operations like its employee, customers,
technology, information and many more which help in strong management and coordination in
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ASDA company. It makes important to study operation management's key areas to know
working of ASDA company.
Quality of Product: ASDA manages its product quality which makes company to
produce best of ability to provide quality in their product and services (Grant, Trautrims and
Wong, 2017). Quality of product can be split in two ways that is durability and its reliability
which shows consumers level to get satisfied from the product quality. Product quality meets
standard designed for protection of consumers for it quality control is done in company which
helps to create more and more new consumers. Company is able to stay in market and compete
with its rival companies.
Customer Satisfaction: Customer is the king in market no one can ignore customer as
success of company depends on the customer satisfaction. The company with more customer
make ASDA to stand in competition. with maintenance of quality of product ASDA takes care of
customer satisfaction from their product and services being provided to its customers. The most
important aspect in operation management of ASDA is to get satisfaction from its customers.
When consumer gets satisfied brings more new consumer and helps to increases the sales and
production of ASDA (Kapadia, Dong and Yang, Cisco Technology Inc, 2018).
Revenue Increase: Growth of the company depends upon its earning. To meet expenses
with profit and able to stand in market revenue is important in operation management of a
company. In ASDA increase in quality of product and more satisfied customers increases the
revenue of company which further increases the image of company in market of U.K with higher
market share. Revenue increase in ASDA attracts more investors and consumer to invest and
trust company. Increase in revenue increases the confidence in company and can increase its
credibility.
Waste Reduction: In operation management optimum utilization of resources with less
waste plays key role in growth of ASDA (Kato and et.al., Hitachi Ltd, 2015). By reducing waste
company saves it valuable resources which are required in future for further production and
saving energy for creating new resources in the company. Reuse of waste material puts positive
impact on finance management in company. The Waste generated from manufacturing unit
managed in stock it is reusable. Work done with efficiently will help to decreases unwanted
expenses by ASDA which will improve the operations in ASDA company. Waste reduction
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factor is important factor as it reduces the time to produce unit when waste are properly managed
by the company.
LO 4
P6 Determine the factors in business environment that influence leaders and mangers in decision
making on operational management.
Business Environment: it refers to all the forces in environment that influence the
operation activity of business, weather it is internal or external to the business. Mainly the
external environment affects most to the business as it cannot be controlled by the company. In
internal environment the company can make changes within its management system, change the
way of production or modification in the product etc (Shevchenko and et.al., 2018). External
environment deals with the factors that cannot be controlled by the company. Some of the factors
are cultural factor, legal and political factor, demographic factor,government policy,
technological changes and market trends.
Cultural factor : In this factor the decision of leaders and managers are influence by
culture of people practice follow that culture, beliefs, ideologies of people. Managers and leaders
takes decisions regarding design of product according to the culture of people which show
reflection of culture in product.
Social factors: In this factor social responsibilities towards the society are shown.
Manager and leaders takes decision to work towards the achievement of goal with the help of
fulfilling the social ethics towards the society and people, like product made with Eco-friendly
packaging with the slogan of conservation of trees (Hill and Hill, 2017).
Legal and Political Environment: In this factor the decisions of leaders and mangers
are influenced by the legal and political structure of U.K as the decisions are taken keeping in
mind policies of the company. Leader predict the future changes that can be happen in political
and legal environment and mangers makes sure the availability of the resources to employees of
company.
Demographic factor : factor deals with the population, gender, birth rate, death rate,etc
which reflects decision of mangers to make production according to the demographic factors,
like the production of a product is done according to the population in U.K. Leader collect
information and communicate to employees (Mijumbi and et.al., 2016).
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Technological Factors: technological changes takes place very fast and manger in
company takes decision regarding the training and development of the employee in the company.
Leaders works towards boosting the self confidence in employees to deal with the changes made
in technology and to handle them easily.
Market Trend: This factor influence the changes that happens due to the changes in
trend. In market the trend changes very quickly that is within seconds new trends are followed by
the consumers. This factor mostly influence the decision of managers and leaders in operation
management in ASDA company (Reid and Sanders, 2015). Managers takes decision regarding
changes that may take place in market and leaders help employees to deals with the changes
guide them to work on trend that are being followed in market with updated trends.
CONCLUSION
After going through this report it can be concluded that leaders and manager play
different roles and responsibilities in the organisation to achieve organisation goals. There are
various approaches and models used in the ASDA company to increase the productivity and
improve the performance of the employees. Company also uses various leadership styles
according to the change in the environment and situation. Operation management is very
important in every business to make it run effectively and efficiently and important in achieving
organisational goals. Further report concludes that there are various factors such as culture,
technological, political, legal, social and environmental etc. which affect the decision making
process of leaders and managers.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Grant, D. B., Trautrims, A. and Wong, C. Y., 2017. Sustainable logistics and supply chain
management: principles and practices for sustainable operations and management. Kogan
Page Publishers.
Heizer, J., Render, B. and Munson, C., 2017. Operations management. Pearson Education
Limited.
Hill, A. and Hill, T., 2017. Essential operations management. Macmillan International Higher
Education.
Kapadia, S., Dong, L. and Yang, Y., Cisco Technology Inc, 2018. Operations, administration
and management (oam) in overlay data center environments. U.S. Patent Application
15/711,812.
Kato, T. and et.al., Hitachi Ltd, 2015. Operations management methods and devices thereof in
information-processing systems. U.S. Patent 9,128,704.
Mijumbi, R. and et.al., 2016. Management and orchestration challenges in network functions
virtualization. IEEE Communications Magazine.54(1).pp.98-105.
Ravindran, A. R., 2016. Operations research and management science handbook. Crc Press.
Reid, R. D. and Sanders, N. R., 2015. Operations Management, Binder Ready Version: An
Integrated Approach. John Wiley & Sons.
SA, P. W. P. and Rica, C., 2016. Forest management.
Schönsleben, P., 2018. Integral logistics management: operations and supply chain management
within and across companies. CRC Press.
Shevchenko, A. and et.al., 2018. Joint management systems for operations and safety: A routine-
based perspective. Journal of cleaner production.194.pp.635-644.
Song, D. W. and Parola, F., 2015. Strategising port logistics management and operations for
value creation in global supply chains.
Online
Leadership responsibilities.2015. [online]. available through<https://www.tlnt.com/6-essential-
leadership-responsibilities-that-build-effective-teams/>
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