Roles and Characteristics of Leader and Manager in ASDA

This study focuses on the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers in ASDA, a British supermarket retailer. It compares the different roles and characteristics of leaders and managers, discusses their functions in different situational contexts, and explores the application of various theories and models in ASDA's operations management. The study also emphasizes the importance and value of operational management in achieving organizational objectives and improving productivity.

MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO1..................................................................................................................................................1
P1 Comparing different roles and characteristics of leader and manager...................................1
LO2..................................................................................................................................................2
P2 The role of leader and function of manager in different situational context.........................2
P3 Application of different theories and models of approach in ASDA.....................................3
LO3..................................................................................................................................................5
P4 Key approaches to operation management and the roles which are played by leader and
managers.....................................................................................................................................5
P5 Importance and value of operational management. ..............................................................6
LO4..................................................................................................................................................7
P6 Assessing the internal factors which impact the operational management and decision
making by leaders and managers................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
A leader is an person who is responsible for setting goals of the organisation. It is the duty
of the leader to clearly communicate the objectives of the organisation to employee. Manger is
the person responsible for controlling and administering the activities in the organisation. ASDA
is an British supermarket retailer, which has its headquarter in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The
company was started in 1949 and it is expanded into the south England during 1970's and 1980's.
The study will highlight different role and characteristics of leaders and manager. The roles
which are played by leaders and managers in different situations. Moreover the report will
highlight different theories and models of approach. Lastly the study summarised key approaches
to operational engagement and types of roles played by leader and manager (Al Shobaki and
Naser, 2017).
LO1
P1 Comparing different roles and characteristics of leader and manager.
There are different roles which are been played by leaders and managers. As without
effective leader and manager the operations of ASDA can be carried out in and desired manner.
Roles of leader-
Clear vision- This is the main role of leader to set clear vision of the organisation for its
employees. Leader makes practices so that the vision of the organisation can be very well
understood by the employees and assist them in performing their job role.
Goal setting- Leaders set an goal for the organisation which they want to achieve in future. The
leader makes practices so that the goal set can be smoothly achieved by ASDA organisation.
Leader explains to the employees what are the business goals and their role in achieving the goal
(Al Shobaki and Naser, 2017).
Motivates employees- Leader used to motivate the workers in organisation. As different types of
rewards are provided by leader of ASDA so that the workers get motivated and this this assist
them in performing their job role in an desired manner.
Characteristics of leader-
Communication- Leaders must have good communication skill through which they communicate
the plans of the business to the staff. Its is important to have good oral and verbal skill so that
they can better explain the task to the staff.
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Commitment- Leader must be committed to the work so the opeartions of ASDA can be carried
out without any delay. As without strong commitment of leader ASDA can not lead to
productivity.
Creativity- Leader must have creative ideas so that they can make better plans for business.
Through creative ideas competition can be faced by ASDA in an effective manner (Alshatti,
2015).
Roles of manager-
Planning- Manager makes plans for the organisation and through that plan business operations
of ASDA are carried out. Manager makes plans for different activities and assist the employees
to follow that and perform their roles.
Organising- It is the duty of manager to arrange the task of the organisation in an organised way.
Manager makes new policies and frameworks so that operations are carried out in an organised
form.
Characteristics of manager-
Time management- Manager must have good time management skills so that all the business
operations are carried out on proper time without any delay. It is very important for leader to
have good time management skill so that task are carried out within desired time limit. Thu
assisting ASDA in raising their productivity (Alshatti, 2015).
Experience- Manager must have good past experience so that they can perform their job role in
an desired way. Experience assist the manager in taking best decisions for ASDA.
LO2
P2 The role of leader and function of manager in different situational context.
There are different roles which are been played by leaders and managers. As current
situation in ASDA is that the employee turnover is high ie, workers are leaving their job. And
another situation is that the sales of the firm is decreasing.
Role of leader and function of manager in reducing employee turnover-
The employees od ASDA are leaving their job so it is obvious that there must be an
reason behind that, so first thing the leader do is that they will look for the reason and
communicate with the workers that why they are leaving their job. Leaders manipulates the
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workers by showing future opportunities them. If they are not satisfied with their salary packages
they tries to offer higher salaries to them (Baumgartner and Rauter, 2017). Different types of
rewards are provided to employees so that they feel motivated and retain in the organisation for
longer time.
Manager makes different strategies for overcoming the problem of employee turnover. If
workers are not satisfied with their job role manager makes arrangement for training and
development programs. If workers are not satisfied with their timings of manager makes flexible
timing for them so that they may feel comfortable and retain in the business. Manager creates
different new opportunities for growth and development of the employees. AS employees
turnover in ASDA is high so manager includes them in decision making so that they feel valued
and may change the idea of leaving the organisation (Behrangrad, 2015).
Role of leader and function of manager in solving sales issues-
The sales of ASDA are declining so it is obvious that there must be an reason behind that
so firstly leaders makes practices for analysing the reasons ie why sales are been declining. After
that when they get the reason behind that they start making practices for increasing the sales of
the firm. Different types of practices are done as leaders make new policies of doing business
operation, They make changes in their pricing strategy so that the competition can be faced in an
effective manner. They try to offer high quality products at reasonable prices so that they can
attract maximum consumers. Thus assisting ASDA in increasing their sales.
Managers makes new marketing policies so that the product can attract new consumers.
Changes in marketing plan and financial policies are done so that the marketing can be done in
an effective way (Behrangrad, 2015). Manager makes changes in their products and tries to
manufacture the goods according to the needs of consumers. There is high competition in the
market so manager makes different practices so that the competition can be faced, thus they tries
to offer discount oto consumers. Thus all these activities done by administrator assist ASDA in
increasing their sales.
P3 Application of different theories and models of approach in ASDA.
There are different types of theories and models which can be apllied in the organisation
and they are as follows-
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Situational leadership- Situational leadership is an leadership style in which the leader and
manager of the organisation change their style according to current situation. The benefit of this
approach is that the decisions are taken which are best according to the current situation. As
when this approach is been applied in ASDA best decisions can be taken by the leaders. ASDA is
facing an issue of sales reduction so leaders change their stykle and makes practices so that the
sales of the organisation can be raised (Chatzoudes, Chatzoglou and Vraimaki, 2015). ASDA is
facing an issue of employee turnover so according to this theory leaders will make practices
which are best in reducing employee turnover rate. The decision making is done in such a way
that both the organisation and employee are benefited.
System leadership- System leadership is an set of skills and abilities which any individual of
companies can use to enable and support the practices of system. When this approach is applied
in ASDA it can give many advantages as this assist in increasing their productivity. According to
this approach the leaders can determines the strength and weakness of employees and thus assist
them in delegating the work accordingly. By applying this approach ASDA can increase their
adaptability to environmental change. AS the firm is studied as an whole and not in different
parts and helps in getting holistic view for dealing with organisational issues (Chatzoudes,
Chatzoglou and Vraimaki, 2015).
Contingency theory of leadership- The theory states that effectiveness of leader in contingent
upon, how their leadership style matches the situation. One of the main advantage of this
approach is that managers change their policies and frameworks according to the situation in
organisation. By applying contingency approach in ASDA more productivity can be generated.
As this approach assist the managers in enhancing their leadership style and decision making
skills. This approach gives options to the workers, and assist them in growing and share their
ideas to business. This results in this way that gfood results are taken by ASDA and thus, assist in
increasing the productivity (Chenhall and Moers, 2015). As the firm is facing an sales reduction
issue so leaders will make new policies or changes in old policies so that the issue can be
minimised. This can have some negative impact also as this is reactive in nature so sometimes it
becomes hard for manager to handle the situation and make effective decision making.
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LO3
P4 Key approaches to operation management and the roles which are played by leader and
managers.
Operational management is the administration of organisational practices for creating the
highest level of efficiency possible within the business. In this practice raw material and labours
are converted into goods and services as fast as possible so that the organisation can maximize its
profit. According to this approach the business operations of the organisation are monitored and
controlled so that the productivity can be increased (Zhou and Wen, 2019) . There are various
key approaches to operation management and are as follows-
Total quality management- Total quality management is an structural approach to overall
management of organisation. The main focus in this approach is on improving the quality of
organisation's output, this includes goods and services. Main is that the quality is maintained by
ASDA (Grayson and Hodges, 2017). There are different role which are played by leaders and
managers so that the quality of the goods can be maintained. Leaders makes practices that the
raw materials by which the products are been made are opf higher quality or not. They make
practices for ensuring that the materials used in the manufacturing process are satisfactory or not.
If ASDA is facing any quality issues so it is the role of leader to analyse that and make practices
for improving.
The role manager in ASDA is to act as an facilitator. It is the dusty to assist the workers in
implementing total quality management (TQM). As when the approach is successfully
implemented in the business then only the desired outcomes can be attained. Mangers select right
candidates who are hard working and smart so that they can work as a line manager and take
charge of whole project (Hübner, Holzapfel and Kuhn, 2015).
Lean production- Lean production is the approach to management which focuses on cutting out
waste, with ensuring quality, ensuring quality. This approach is applicable to all types of
business. As from designing trough production to distribution. The aim of lean production is to
cut cost by making ASDA more efficient and responsive to the needs of market. The role of
leader in this approach is to ensure that workers job's makes contribution to customer's value.
The leader makes practices for ensuring that at the time of manufacturing their should be very
less wastage arises. Leaders arrange training session for employees so that they understand their
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job role and assist in making the approach of lean production successful (Hübner, Holzapfel and
Kuhn, 2015).
Administrator set proper lean management system and makes different policies and
guidelines and thus by following that the products are manufactured in such away that there are
less waste residues left. The manager's job is to optimise the process of production or services.
They create state value map which contains all the value streams in the production process.
Manger create and implement plan for turning the current state map to short, mid and long term
state map. Manager mobilize stakeholders includes workers of the various departments,
consumers and suppliers. Manger reward the employees when good job is done making lean
production successful (Lindholm, Laine and Suomala, 2017).
P5 Importance and value of operational management.
Helps in Achieving the Objective: Operation Management is the source of achieving
operational target. It include all the process through which a company conduct its manufacturing
operations or its service. Smooth operation process always reduces cost as well as time.
Operation management is the only key to achieve all the targets during the production on time or
sometimes before the expected time as well. ASDA Ltd. should focus on its operation
management to improve the efficiency which can leads to achieving all the working objectives of
ASDA Ltd (Piercy and Rich, 2015).
Improve Productivity: A keen Operational Management always helps in creating a friendly and
suitable working environment for the employee's. Positive working environment always motivate
employee for doing some effective work. Positive working condition always put an positive
impact on the company's productivity. A good operation management always create faith
between the work force and the organisation. For an effective and favourable results it is
mandatory to have a faith of all your work force. Operation management works as a path at
which ASDL Ltd can earn the faith of all its employee's and enhance their productivity (Piercy
and Rich, 2015).
Improve Goodwill: Operation Management always create a positive impact on company's
goodwill. Operation Management involve manufacture and depart product to customer location.
Goodwill has a direct link with customer's satisfaction. Operation Management always focus on
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productivity of the company and it conduct its operation process based on customer's need ,
demand ans satisfaction (Sahebjamnia, Torabi and Mansouri, 2015).
Utilization of Resources: For the optimum utilization of the resources a company should have
the affectivity in its operation management. Operation management is all about utilizing
company's resources with the help of employee's , equipment and technology. For the optimum
utilization of company's all resources a proper operation management policy ASDA company
needs to possess. Profitability is the prime objective for any organization to conduct its business
and to make company's business profitable all the resources of the company required to use in
optimum manner. Resources are minimum so it is mandatory to use all the resources in the best
manner . ASDA Ltd should focus on its utilization of the resources so it can create an positive
impact in the market (Sahebjamnia, Torabi and Mansouri, 2015).
Presence of the Organization: A proper operation management always keep company's product
presentable in the market. Market presence of the company's product reflect the brand image of
the product. ASDA Ltd works in retail sector a proper operation management will help the
organization in keeping company's presence appropriate in the market.
Improve the Motivation of Employee: Operation management always keep the work force as a
prime object of the organization. Production is totally based on the work force. A company's
policy of operation management always take care of all the employee's requirements which also
helps in keeling their motivation high. ASDA Ltd being a retail organization always needs its
employee support to work in such a competitive sector so the operation management will support
the company in keeping their work force positive and motivated (Schaltegger and Burritt, 2018).
LO4
P6 Assessing the internal factors which impact the operational management and decision making
by leaders and managers.
There are various internal factors which has major impact on the operations of business, The
internal factors are as follows-
Finance- Finance is an most important source as without it the business task can not carried out.
When ASDA don't have proper financial resources they can not carry out business task in an
desired way. Without proper availability of finance ASDA can not conduct manufacturing
process. It impacts the decision making as leaders are not in condition to take best decision.
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Leaders have to make changes in their financial policies so that proper management can be done.
Manager gets impacted in this way that they have make arrangement from where the finance can
be generated (Singh, 2018). They have to search for the areas from where more finance can be
generated so that day to day operations of ASDA can be carried out in an smooth way without
any delay.
Cost of production- Cost of production impacts the business in this way that if the production
cost is high ASDA has to spend more amount on production. This impacts the profitability of the
organisation. This impacts the decision making of the leader as they have to make new strategies
for minimizing the cost of production. When the cost of production is high ASDA can not less
their products in less prices. It impacts day to day operations as organisation has to pay higher
prices for manufacturing the product. This has impact on leaders that they have have to make
new plans for minimizing the cost of production (Touboulic and Walker, 2015). They have to
adopt new measures of working so that more products can be manufactured at less prices.
Manger finds out reasons for why the production cost is high and tries to minimize this issue.
Several policies and strategies are made for dealing with this issue.
Technology- As we all know that this is the world of technology. Almost all the organisation
used advance technology to make business faster. By the use of advanced machines more
products can be produced by ASDA in lesser time. Technologys assist the organisation in facing
market As when the technology used in the organisation becomes outdated so leaders have to
make plans for buying new and advance machines, for this they have to do market research and
adopt those machines through which they can improve their production process (vom Brocke,
Zelt and Schmiedel, 2016). Mangers gives training to the employees so that they can operate the
machines in correct way. Thus, when they have knowledge about the machines they don't have to
take help of others and perform the role on their own. Thus by the use of advance technology
operations of ASDA are carries out in fastly and thus, this assist in increasing the organisation's
productivity.
CONCLUSION
From the above study it is concluded that leaders play an important role in the smooth
functioning of the business. It is the duty of the leader to make goals for the organisation and
motivates the employees so that goals can be achieved. Further the study concludes that there
leaders must have good communication skill so that they can well communicate with the staff
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and this assist in making healthy relations in organisations. Moreover, the study concludes about
different leadership style as in situational leadership the leadership style of leader changes
according to the current situation in the organisation.
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