Role of Leader and Manager in H&M: A Comparative Analysis

This report analyzes and evaluates the role of leaders and managers in H&M, a clothing retail organization. It explores the differences between leadership and management, examines the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to situations within the work environment, and critically analyzes various theories and approaches to leadership in given contexts.

Management and Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1............................................................................................................................................3
M1 Analyse and differentiate between the role of a leader and function of a manager by
effectively applying a range of theories and concepts............................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P2............................................................................................................................................6
P3............................................................................................................................................7
M2 Assess the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to situations within the work
environment............................................................................................................................8
D1 Critically analyse and evaluate the different theories and approaches to leadership in given
contexts...................................................................................................................................9
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P4............................................................................................................................................9
P5..........................................................................................................................................11
M3 Evaluate how leaders and managers can improve efficiencies of operational management
to successfully meet business objectives..............................................................................13
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................13
P6..........................................................................................................................................13
M4 Analyse how these different factors affect the business environment and wider community
..............................................................................................................................................14
D2: Critically evaluate application of operations management and factors that impact on the
wider business environment.................................................................................................15
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16
How Ethical Is H&M?, 2021.........................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Management is a process of directing and controlling the people of the organisation to
achieve the goals. In simple words, it means the person who manages the functions and operation
of the company. The basic operations of the managers are setting objectives, organising,
motivating the team, developing people and devising system of management. Operation is a
business activity that converts materials into finished goods and sells them to customers and
earns profit. They have the general purpose of increasing the value to the customers. Every
organisation has different business operations. The report is based on development of a min
investigation by an interview between the leader and manager as part of research requirement.
The manager and the leader are the greatest assets of H&M. It is a clothing retail organisation
which deals with varieties of clothes. The firm was established in 1947 by Erling Persson. It has
grown into one of the most recognisable brands in the industry of fashion.
TASK 1
P1
H&M is a clothing retail firm known for its fashion clothing for women, children, men
and teenagers. The organisation is second largest clothing retailer, it also have a online presence
available in various countries.
A manager is a person who supervises both the activities and individuals within a given
company. In other words, it is an individual’s who is in charge of overseeing things that to get
done. They have the responsibility of getting things done by others, they have a plan to organise,
execute and control the activities that have been delegated with by using all the available
resources. A Leader in H&M replied for some of the issues that have been part of the
organisation. Individual who look out the things that can be improved and also guide the
employees to move towards their vision (Bens, 2017). They help others to do right things and set
direction, build an inspiration view and create something innovative.
Role of Leader
 Leader creates a vision-
A Leader of H&M is a person who frames a picture of what they look as possible or inspires the
employees to turn the vision into reality. The leader thinks beyond and activate individual to be a
part of some bigger thing.

 Provides direction-
The Leaders provides a direction to their employees and develop the strategies to make
attainment possible. They guide the people so that they can achieve the organisational goals and
individuals goals too.
 Motivate-
Leaders encourage and motivate the employees as motivated employees are far better than
unmotivated employees. Motivate employees can increase to productivity and helps the
organisation to achieve higher levels of output.
Role of Manager
Planning: Managers are working towards creation of goals that is focussed on setting and
achieving the aims. The manager only set the long and short term goals to ensure longevity of the
organisation
Organising: In this function performed by managers in H&M have to ensure that right employee
is placed at right position. The manager also plays a role to ensure the daily activities and the
functions of the department and also handle the daily queries of employees.
Staffing- The manager also plays the role of staffing; they hire the employees for the vacant job
position and also train their employees to achieve their goals and also the organisation goals
(Ahn, Lee and Yun, 2018).
Controlling: In this function managers have to set up the required controlling standards of
performance to measure the actual contribution made by employees. In H&M there is use of
techniques of 360 degree feedback.
Directing: In this function there is right direction provided to employees by mangers in case
their performance level is not matching the specific requirements.
Characteristics of Manager
 The manager focuses on the employee strengths.
 They build a work culture of mutual trust and confidence among the employees.
 The manager develops the careers of employees.
 They communicate honestly.
 The managers are open to new ideas.

 They recognise and reward the good work.
 The manager communicates the employee appreciation.
Characteristics of Leader
 They are the great communicators.
 They have strong convictions.
 The leaders guide the employees and also show them path to achieve their goals.
 They have the abilities to influence others.
 The leader builds trust and transparency (McKee, Waples, and Tullis, 2017).
Leadership roles: there are some of the leadership roles are mentioned below:
Planning: In this function there is sharing of information and defining of roles by the leaders
according to the set vision and mission of the organisation.
Initiating: after there has been planning the leader is further allocating the task briefing and
setting of the standards.
Controlling: in this function leader has to maintain the standards and ensure progress towards
ongoing decision making process.
Supporting: this is a function where individual contribution is a self according to the team spirit.
So, that all the team members are encouraged to raise their moral according to the late team
objectives.
Informing: in this function there is classification of plan and task by updating of the secondary
information. There is also interpretation of information and receiving of feedback.
Evaluating: at this stage there is enabling of self assessment development of feasibility of ideas
and working towards motivating employees to contribute to the highest level.
M1 Analyse and differentiate between the role of a leader and function of a manager by
effectively applying a range of theories and concepts
Some of the leadership roles in organisation include creation of vision and mission for the
organisation. On the other hand managers are working towards implementing the ways through
which such mission and vision functions can be achieved. According to adairs model there is
focus on some of the specific leadership styles. It is used for the purpose of analysing the three
major concepts that includes task team and individual.

Difference between Leadership and Management
Leadership Management
Leaders set the overall direction to the
employees and give the vision.
Managers set a day to day direction to the
employees and the organisation as per
circumstances.
They focus on the output. They focus on the process and find out how to
get the maximum output by utilising minimum
resources through reducing in processes of the
company.
Generally, the leaders have followers. Managers have subordinates.
They keep close eyes on the external
environment.
They keep close eyes on Internal Environment.
TASK 2
P2
Every organisation has some of the situational context that is to be managed in order to
ensure smooth functioning of the organisation. So in case of H&M there are some of such
instances that have to be examined according to the role of leaders and managers in such
changing situations as mentioned below:
New launches: In H&M there is focus on transformation of fashion industry as the management
is working towards its transformation (Sherf, Tangirala and Venkataramani, 2019). In 2017,
they have started their transparency layer according to the exclusive collections. In such
situations there is need to share details of each garments that is being more transparent and open
for their products. The specific role played by leaders and managers is mentioned below:
Role of leaders: Leaders in such instances are working towards launching new products with
help of creating teams who can work on individual aspect of new launches. In H&M for a
successful product launch teams must possess clear goals and make decisions related to
delivering of product timely so that each activity is properly synchronized.

Role of managers: In H&M managers are performing functions such as working with product
management for defining releases, themes, goals ensuring that internal department is understand
the roles, facilitation of communication release, managing of product life cycle (Hersona and
Sidharta, 2017).
Crisis Management: It is defined as a situation where transnational is facing a difficulty to
manage their functions and operation's because of associated external or internal factors, in
H&M this type of situation took place when they faced a online backlash with accusations of
“casual racism” as they used a black child model with slogan “coolest monkey in jungle”. There
were huge protest that lead to closure of some of their stores (Guest Post: Lessons from H&M’s
“Coolest Monkey” Fiasco, 2018).
Role of leaders: in situations of Crisis leaders have to think in a strategic manner so that further
decision can be made according to overall response for management. There is need to Coordinate
on various multiple areas of H&M as crisis requires detailed preparation. The leader is providing
management and direction to the team according to response.
Role of managers: In H&M managers have to make quick decisions so that all the employees
are able to be informed about this changing situation. Managers here are identifying the systems
and process that is important for smooth functioning of organisation. Further it can motivate the
workforce in believing themselves as they can handle such adverse situations.
P3
Situational leadership: It is regarded as adaptive style of leadership, the leader in H&M are
encouraged to take stock of team members and weigh variables at workplace according to their
goals.
Role of leaders: In H&M leaders are working towards managing people & work-groups using of
a common leadership style across all their units that may be national & international (Graves,
and Sarkis, 2018). There are different types of leaders such as coaching leaders, democratic
leaders, pacesetting leaders and affiliation leaders. In H&M there is generally presence of
democratic leaders.
Role of managers: in H&M managers have to communicate the way employees have to perform
their job duties. Managers are using situation leadership to asses the needs of employees before
selection of a particular management style according to the demand of situation.

System leadership: It is regarded as set of capacities and skills of any organisation or individual.
In H&M this leadership is use to enable, support and catalyse the process of system level change.
Role of leaders: in H&M leaders are working towards use of a collaborative leadership style that
can lead towards building up of a system insight to mobilize the innovation and action across
different level of the organisation (Hoque and Naicker, 2017).
Role of managers: In relation to H&M managers have to oversee the department and employee
group across each sector to analyse their contribution towards each sector of the organisation
functioning.
Contingency leadership: It is based on effectiveness of a leader according to a particular
situation. In H&M this theory works in a way as a particular leader can be effective in one
situation and ineffective in another.
Role of leaders: in Contingency leadership style leaders are working towards enhancing the
leadership style suitability in a particular situation. In H&M in situation where there is need to
involves employees across all levels there is use of participate leadership style and in those
circumstances when the decision has to be solely taken by the top management then autocratic
leadership style is adopted by the leaders.
Role of managers: In H&M contingency theory is providing managers with a range of ways to
reach to different problems so that they can be provided with discretion of decision making.
Managers can bend policy and override it according to the demanding situation.
From the above mentioned different leadership situations it can be said that there is use of
appropriate leadership style according to the different types of situations that are taking place in
an organisation. The role of managers and leaders is highly dynamic in all such situation
depending upon the requirements.
M2 Assess the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to situations within the work
environment
Contingency leadership: it is based on the overall effectiveness of a leader according to the
prevailing situation in the organisation. In H&M this theory is helping in development of a
predictive behaviour for leaders that is its major strength. Weakness: this theory leads to
focusing on high amount of uncertainty that sometimes leads to production of employee
effectiveness in long run.

System theory: in H&M it enables the study of interrelationship between different types of
hypothesis that is part of an organisation. System theory has its strength as it leads to the
development of a complex system that is one of the weaknesses as it is made up of individual
and others sub smaller systems.
Situation leadership: situational leadership has its strength in a way as it is very effective for
providing leaders the required training and practical approach for understanding different
aspects.
Weakness: situation leadership is associated with very fast changing situation that sometimes
lead to lead is not being able to focus on each individual issues or problems. It leads to back on
long-term functioning of H&M.
D1 critically analyse and evaluate the different theories and approaches to leadership in given
contexts.
There are different theories and approaches that are used by leaders and managers according
to particular prevailing situation. In H&M leaders have made an analysis that there has been use
of crisis management in situations of casual racism faced by H&M. Apart from this as per the
view of leaders there is application of Adairs model for the purpose of making a detailed
evaluation of the different roles that are to be performed by leaders in H&M. Employees in
H&M believe that it assists in the managing of various business functions such as launching a
new product, starting of a new project.
TASK 3
P4
To recognise the operational management in a superior way, approaches are been used.
These approaches help the organisation to analyse the current situation and take the appropriate
actions accordingly. The approaches are outlined as-
Just In time-
Just in time is a manufacturing management process, is main focus is to identify and correct the
problems in the production system. The production process must be accomplished on time with
the set goals. Just in Time method helps H&M to prevent from using excessive inventory and

also smoothes the production operations. The objectives of Just in time are to enhance the stock
turnover and decrease the costs. A proper knowledge of the suppliers and manufacturer are
required in terms of quality and material delivery.
Total Quality Management-
It is an ongoing procedure of detecting or reducing the errors, improves the customers experience
and ensures that employees are well trained. The focus of total quality management is to improve
the quality and helps in designing for a long period of time to get successful. The company
success results for a long period of time and helps to earn huge revenue. Total quality
management helps to maintain the quality along with the price of products or services provided
through H&M.
Lean production-
Lean production determines about one of the best methods that can be used to get the outcome or
output. This approach helps the management to focus on the waste materials to cut down and
ensures the quality. The approach can be related to any aspect of company from designing to
distribution. The mangers and the leaders create awareness among the employees to use the
resources efficiently and reduce the wastage (Nicholas, 2018.). Lean production helps to improve
the productivity and skills of the employees.
Role of Manager-
 Manager recruits the talented employees for the vacant job position, they have to put the
right person so that they get the better result.
 They have to oversee the resources of the organisation.
 They have to maintain the quality of the products or services.
 The manager has to make sure that customers experience get improved.
 The manager trained the employees of the organisation.
 The role of manager is to order goods to supplier at right time (Kouzes and Posner,
2019).
Role of Leader-
 They inspect the needs and desire of the staff.
 The leader encourages and motivates the individuals to achieve their goals.
 They work to enhance the productivity and efficiency of employees.

 Leader shows the vision to individuals so that they can go through according to it and
achieve the desired outcomes.
 They create a friendly environment for the employees and guide them to follow the path.
P5
Operation management is the procedure that plans and supervises the production and
manufacturing process. It is important in an organisation because it helps to helps to manage,
control and supervise the goods and services. Operation management in a firm like H&M is
effective to support in accomplishing the objective of the firm. The leaders and mangers of H&M
also play a role for managing the functions and operations of the organisation. It is as follows-
 Continuous improvement-
Operation management plays a vital role in overall performance of the company. The
improvement only happens when the company have the right people in the right roles. The other
ways of improvement can be, feedback taken by the customers about the products or services to
identify the problems they are facing. This analysis is possible using tools of operation
management making a company high performing and more responsive to consumers.
 Planning-
The managers of different department collaborate with each other and execute to decide how
operational planning can contribute to the strategy of a company. The operation manager ensures
that the entire department works to achieve the aim of the organisation, it helps in the proper
functioning of a business.
 Direction-
Operation management professionals provides a direction to the managers regarding the goals of
the company, they ensures that the planning is executed in the right manner (Barnes, 2018).
Operations manager looks out that all the departments complete their necessary functions which
results with the organisational goals and budgetary guidelines. They also have to modify the
goals if they are not met or carried out such that they are accordant with company policies.
 Achieving customer satisfaction-
With the proper operational management H&M can offer the best quality of product or services
to its customers and it also increases the satisfaction level. This increases the brand image and
also creates a strong base of customers.
 Inventory management-

Inventory is one of the most difficult operations in the business. H&M implements a different
technical resources and tools for delivering a product or services to the consumers for enhancing
the sale and profit of the firm. The organisation needs a proper strategies to manage the
inventory or improve the service quality and also creates a balance between demand and supply
of products.
Operations management functions:
Control and distribution system: it is a control system of process and plant that is
associated and dealing with various control loops. The main objective of managers in this system
is to distribute effectiveness by having a proper supply chain procedure. Managers are working
towards supply chain strategy to continuous to ensure cost efficiency and reduction in the lead
time for retail products.
Transformation of raw materials to finish goods: in this there is conversion of raw
material into final goods. Leaders are working towards analysing the production capacity
according to which further production is planned. Managers in H&M are working towards
managing the overall efficiency in the production process to ensure that set production goals are
met.
Process design: process design is a concept where the product is broken into smaller
parts so that it can help in the manufacturing process. In H&M managers are working towards
ensuring that process design has to be in such a way that maximum supply is achieve in the
productive season. Leaders are working towards development of a specific procedure that has to
be followed in different functional units.
Capacity management: capacity management in H&M is related to the white area of
planning actions to ensure that the business infrastructure. It is a process required the sources for
maximising the potential activities and output. Managers are working to manage a procedure
according to the requirements of customers. Leaders in H&M are handling the different
processing requirements across the entire capacity management lifecycle.
Global competition: H&M has to deal with various competitions from brands like Zara
and Uniqlo. It leads to impact on the overall operations of organisations as there is requirement
of large amount of research and development. It leads to providing of an advantage to business in
comparison with other competitors.

New technology: the development of new technologies leads to complete impact on the
present operations management process. In H&M there is no requirement of focus on digital
marketing as a tool for the purpose of promoting the brand. For this purpose there has been a
complete shift of internal marketing functions from traditional mediums to digital marketing
scenario. There is a payment of employees who possess skills of handling digital media
solutions.
Contribution to society: H&M is working towards developing of some measures that can
lead to words contributing positively to the society. There is an H&M foundation that has been
initiated by the leaders. The purpose of initiating this organisation is to create fund for sharing
solutions to the world to deal the urgent challenges.
M3 Evaluate how leaders and managers can improve efficiencies of operational management to
successfully meet business objectives
Sector of H&M is to work towards making fashion accessibility to everyone and
democratic sing it according to the requirement. The main business principles and objectives of
this brand lie in commitment to comply with all the rules and regulations in the country where
they are operating.
Line managers across different functional units are working towards implementing this
level of commitment through code of ethics that have been started since 2003. It states the
policies on corruption and demand compliance with different relevant laws and business
principles. Apart from the store managers are working towards offering of high quality products
to their customers. Store managers are also working towards solving all the issues that are arising
in the course of matching the level of customer satisfaction.
TASK 4
P6
The business environment is influence by various external factors that affects the
operation management of the organisation and also the decision making of leaders and managers.
For H&M it is very important to determine the impacts of external factors on the firm so that
they can adopt the strategies and make policies to decrease the consequences of external

environment. The factors within the business environment that affects operation management are
as follows-
Corporate social responsibility-
CSR is a framework that helps the organisation to be socially accountable. The leadership and
management of a company play a role for implementation of corporate social responsibility.
H&M must acquire the short term and long term aims for the beneficial of the company. The
company must make sure that the large part of the CSR is dedicated towards the improvement of
local community (Jeong and et. al., 2018). H&M must use the natural resources stated to the
demand and production process that has to be to prevent excess production.
Culture-
Culture also influences the business environment in a direct manner as the organisation
recognises the culture of the place and designs their products just as to the place. It plays part in
decision making of the company as decisions are made for the product they have to keep in mind
the cultural background of the place so that people are able to accept the product.
Values-
Values are the principles or standards of the individual's behaviour (Van Dun, Hicks and
Wilderom, 2017). In decision making process, values plays a crucial part in organisation plans
and the overall decision making related to company welfare.
Ethics-
Ethics deals with the actions based on the right and wrong. The ethical issues in the organisations
are complex and pervasive (Schwartz, 2017). The ethical issues in operations are negligence,
breach of confidence and fraud. The company needs to decide on a certain ethical issues.
M4 Analyse how these different factors affect the business environment and wider community
There is always a relationship between the present ethical practices of organisation and its
impact on external stakeholders. In context of H&M the organisation is working towards
reducing the greenhouse gas emission by the coming time period that is 2030. They are also
working towards emphasizing on sustainability that is major target. H&M has made several
progresses as they have joined the Bangladesh fire safety accord. The main positive impact on
the external stakeholders that is customers is in way of delivering the best fashion and quality at
sustainable measures.

D2: Critically evaluate application of operations management and factors that impact on the
wider business environment
Operations management is one of the most crucial aspects of every organisation. It is
related with the internal functioning that is affected by the factors that are part of wider external
environment. In H&M the changing preferences of society has lead to a more sustainable
approach that has resulted into a complete transformation in the way of functioning of this
organisation. Such as, there is development of a framework where there is focus on reducing the
greenhouse gas emissions and a more emphasis on sustainability. Internally the managers and
leaders have worked towards development of commitment through implementing a code of
ethics since 2003. This code of ethics has been adopted across organisation for a zero tolerance
policy on corruption. It also demands complaints on various relevant associated business
principles.
CONCLUSION
It can be summarized from the above discussed information that role of leaders &
functions of managers are varying according to the changing situation of organizational. There
are various theorems and models such as situational leadership. Contingency theories which are
used by leaders in order to manager and lead teams in organisations. Operations management is a
functions that holds lot of importance for achievement of the laid objectives. There is
requirement to make detailed assesses of factors that includes business ethics, values, suitability
to analyse its impact on operational management and the decision making procedure of manager
and leaders.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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managers, consultants, and trainers. John Wiley & Sons.
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management. Journal of Contemporary Management. 14(1). pp.291-329.
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Kouzes, T. K. and Posner, B. Z., 2019. Influence of managers’ mindset on leadership
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individual personality characteristics and their desire for adverse characteristics in
leaders. Organization Management Journal. 14(2). pp.104-115.
Nicholas, J., 2018. Lean production for competitive advantage: a comprehensive guide to lean
methodologies and management practices. Crc press.
Schwartz, M. S., 2017. Business ethics: An ethical decision-making approach. John Wiley &
Sons.
Sherf, E. N., Tangirala, S. and Venkataramani, V., 2019. Why managers do not seek voice from
employees: The importance of managers’ personal control and long-term
orientation. Organization Science. 30(3). pp.447-466.
Van Dun, D. H., Hicks, J. N. and Wilderom, C. P., 2017. Values and behaviors of effective lean
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How Ethical Is H&M?,
2021
https://goodonyou.eco/how-ethical-is-hm/