MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS AT MARKS & SPENCER

MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 2
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................ 3
P1 COMPARISON OF ROLES AND FEATURES OF LEADER AND MANAGER.................................3
P2 EXPLANATION WITH EXAMPLES THE APPLICATION OF ROLE OF LEADER AND MANAGER IN
DIFFERENT SITUATIONS............................................................................................................. 6
P3 THEORIES AND MODELS OF APPROACH IN LEADERSHIP......................................................8
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................ 9
P4 CHIEF APPROACHES TO OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT..........................................................9
P5 SIGNIFICANCE AND VALUE OF OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT.............................................11
P6 ASSESSMENT OF FACTORS IN BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT THAT HAVE INFLUENCE ON
OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT................................................................................................ 12
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 13
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................14
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INTRODUCTION
The concept of management and operations in business is concerned with formulating and
implementing the strategies for effective working of an organisation. It involves the
management of best practices in business to reach uppermost levels of efficiency possible to
increase the level of profits attained. In the assignment, the global retailer business, Marks and
Spencer or abbreviated as M&S is taken into account to understand the ideas related to
leadership and management. According to the given scenario, the management consultant of
M&S is allotted the task to examine the impact that leaders and managers of M&S have on the
operations of the firm. The investigation will include a description of understanding and
compare the role of leaders and managers of M&S and the application of their roles and
responsibilities. Further, another report will describe the preeminent practices and methods in
operations management of M&S. It will include the effectiveness of leadership team and
management in improving the operations of the company and the external factors will be
examined that influence the operations management in the business.
Figure 1: Marks & Spencer
Source: [https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/new-n-east-food-store-to-
launch-next-month1/]
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TASK 1
P1 COMPARISON OF ROLES AND FEATURES OF LEADER AND MANAGER
The company Mark and Spencer is a private limited company established 134 years ago in
Leeds, the UK operating in the retail sector serving around the world with clothing and home
products and also food products through retail stores, around 1433 stores and website across
Middle East, Asia and Europe which counts for total 55 international territories. The
organisation is focussed towards establishing joint ventures and contract partnerships along
with operating in self-owned markets (Grayson, 2011). It is a leading brand in the United
Kingdom having its headquarters in London, UK and has acquired the food and clothing market
on a large scale.
The management structure of M&S till 2016 was the hierarchical structure but with the
appointment of new Chief Executive of M&S, Steve Rowe changed the organisational structure
to a flat structure having eleven people operating committee. The delayering process resulted
in the elimination of many layers of authority and this led to more responsibilities on the
shoulder of employees. The change in structure was the need of the hour for recovery of the
underperforming business of the company. The flat structure facilitates quick decision making
by a more focused team and simplification of the complexities of operations to understand the
needs of customers closely (Varley, 2014).
Figure 2: Management structure of M&S
Source: [http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/marks-and-spencer/the-role-of-training-and-
development-in-career-progression/organisational-structure-and-careers.html]
Leader- A leader is an individual who guides, gives direction and influences performance and
work of others for the achievement of a specific goal (Răducan and Răducan, 2014). The
characteristics of a leader or leadership in context to M&S are-
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