Operations Management: Challenges and Approaches

This assignment delves into the complexities of operations management, examining how managers address challenges such as conflicts and rapid changes in business environments. It introduces various leadership theories and practical approaches like Six Sigma, Total Quality Management, and Just-in-Time to enhance production quality. The importance of operational management in transforming raw materials into finished goods and minimizing costs is also highlighted. External factors influencing effective decision-making within operational management are discussed.

Management and
Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1.Explain and compare the various roles and characteristics of manager and leader..........1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P2. Role of leaders and function of manager in several situation..........................................3
P3. Various theories and models............................................................................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
P4. Key approaches to operations management as well as role of leaders and manager.......5
P5. Value and significance of operation management...........................................................6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
P6. Factors in business environment that effect on operational management........................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Management as well as operation is considered as the administration of whole enterprise
practices to improve advance productivity and efficiency level in firm. This involves preparing,
arranging and directing production procedures of products (Reid and Sanders, 2015). For this
report the chosen company is ASOS.com which is leading multinational online cosmetic and
fashion retailer. Its headquarters is in London, UK. The purpose of this report is to describe and
compare the roles of leaders and manager. Function of manager and leaders in various situations
as well as application of different models and theories. Key approaches to operation management
as well as the value and significance of operations. Apart from this factors are assess into
business environment which effects the operation management are also mentioned in this report.
TASK 1
P1.Explain and compare the various roles and characteristics of manager and leader.
ASOS.com is considered as the fastest growing online fashion as well as cosmetic online
retailer. Its lie under clothing and online shopping industry having headquarters is in London,
England, UK. It was founded is year 2000 and currently having 18.4 million active consumers. It
has flat and decentralised management structure. This structure perform well as are result they
approx 6000 new items each week (About company. 2019).
Manager are considered as the individuals who handles and control the administration as
well as performance of the firm for attaining the organisational objectives. Therefore the roles
and characteristics of ASOS.com managers are explained below:
Role of manager:
 To allocate the roles and responsibilities of the employees so that they can perform
accordingly.
 To manage as well as guide the its staff in order to make effective decision for attaining
goals in all situation.
Characteristics of manager:
 They are the imaginative thinker due to which it can make efficacious policies and
decision by benefiting both management and workers.
 They are committed towards the success of firm due to which they control the operations
of the respective company (Stevenson and Sum, 2014).
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Leaders are the persons who perform activities like guiding, observing and many more
for inspiring its members to accomplish the goals of the business. They set targets which
encourage and examine their performance efficaciously. So the roles and characteristics of
ASOS.com leaders are mentioned below:
Role of leaders:
 To examine the performance of their subordinates and team members as well as provide
them rewards consequently or punish them.
 To set targets as per the skills and roles of the staff and lead them towards to achieve that.
Characteristics of leaders:
 Capability to lead the team members to accomplish goals of the firm.
 They have characteristics to resolve problems due to that it can develop strong bonds
with their followers in order to tackle the complex situation.
Comparison between role and characteristic of leaders and manager
Basis Manager Leader
Characteristics It develop procedures
and system for firm.
It improve skills and traits of the
individuals.
Roles The role of manager is
to manage the work
and solve the problem.
The role of the leaders is to direct
and guide their team towards
rights direction.
Difference between management and leadership:
Basis Management Leadership
Meaning It is an art to systematically organise
and coordinate things in effective way
(Hajmohammad and et.al., 2013).
It is the skills to guide others by
facilitating several example.
Focus It focuses on guiding and leading the
people within firm.
It focuses on managing the work of the
organisation.
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TASK 2
P2. Role of leaders and function of manager in several situation
Within firm, leaders and manager act differently in various situation. They develop plans
as well as strategies as per the situation so that staff performs effectually. So, the roles of
ASOS.com leaders and functions of respective company managers in different situation are
examined below with the help of some examples:
Example:1- Rapid changing situation: This is considered as the changes within
situation regularly at ASOS.com, this impact their operational activities as well as performance.
Thus, their leader and manager have to create new plans and strategies consequently. Manager
can apply situational theories in order to deal with the situation of rapid changing. Herein,
functions of ASOS.com manager is to make strategies and plans as per the circumstances as well
as facilitates training to their staff so that they can accomplish the objectives efficaciously. Also,
to manage this kinds of circumstances manager implies the utilisation of system management
approach that set structure to handle the changes within organisation. Herein, the role of
ASOS.com leaders in this particular is to imply uses of situational leadership that supports rapid
changes according to enterprise situation. In this leaders concentrates upon motivating workers
so that they can attain the task appropriately that aids in accomplishing their business objectives.
Example-2: Conflict Situation: It has been examined that in ASOS.com is conflicts is
arising day by day. This particular situation is occurred due to discrimination in respect of caste,
gender and many more. In order to solve this problem, managers and leaders both have to play
multiple roles so that its employees can perform efficiently (Gao and You, 2015). For dealing
with this situation, contingency is used by the manager as this support the staff to perform as per
their business ethics. Herein, the functions of manager sis to solve the disputes through
developing strategies and regulations in context of discrimination at work area. Also, they share
problems with employees thereafter formulate decisions. Role of leaders is to identify the root
cause of the issues which encourage employees to solve conflicts so that they can perform
effectually. Moreover, leaders can use system leadership theory because this aids them to
provides fair solution for the conflicts and advise them as per the task.
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P3. Various theories and models
Management as well as leadership is considered as a significant for whole company. Both
assists the firm to accomplish the targeted objectives. It have several approaches like situational,
contingency, classical, behavioural and so on. Hence, some of them that are applied by
ASOS.com are mentioned below with their strengths and weaknesses:
Situational theories: This is the theories that is introduced through Paul Hersey as well
as Ken Blanchand in the year 1970. This states that there is not any leadership style which is
effective. As per this theory, the most appropriate leader are the one who are capable to adopt its
style to situation that they are dealing as well as kinds of work are to be performed. ASOS.com
utilise this particular approach in resolving disputes into firm. Manager as well as leader can
easily find out the root cause of the conflicts as this facilitates effective understanding among
leaders and staff. Through utilising autocratic style in this situation issues can be examined as
well as needed modification can be executed. Strength: This theory is easy to understand and applied into different situation of the
respective firm.
 Weaknesses: This is quite complex for few manager as it has to identify the leadership
style. This is not give clear results which style is useful for the staff development.
Contingency theory: This leadership theory believes that style of leadership is based on
the situational contingencies (Walker and et.al., 2015). This explains that leaders efficiencies is
contingent on which leadership style will effective for the particular situation. It claims that there
is not any appropriate manner to arrange the organisational objectives effectually. ASOS.com
can utilise this particular theory for assessing the efficaciousness of people in specific roles as
well as find out the reasons for both effectualness and ineffectualness. This directs to identify the
staff roles in accomplishing the objectives of the firm. This is advantageous for organisation to
facilitate the work clarity. Strengths: This is generally flexible so this assists ASOS.com to deal with several
unforeseen circumstances efficaciously.
 Weaknesses: This is reactive in nature as well as tough to understand that is not effectual
for firm.
System Leadership: This leadership theory depends upon the approaches which firm is
develop of various portion as well as whole firm section plays essential role. It is considered as
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the interdisciplinary analysis of company's system. This believes that whole portion of firm are
interlinked as well as interrelated with one another. ASOS.com utilise this particular approach to
deal with rapid changing situation as this theory enables leaders to set the framework and lead
them accordingly. This allow them to deal with the changed situation effectively. Strengths: This aids leaders of the ASOS.com to formulate various appropriate strategies
in different circumstances. Leaders can facilitate efficacious roles as well as duties to
workers for increasing its productivity.
 Weaknesses: This is too much time consuming theories.
TASK 3
P4. Key approaches to operations management as well as role of leaders and manager
Operation management is refers as the preparing, organising, managing, coordinating ad
directing the production methods. The main purpose of this is to perform all activities of business
to accomplish its goals. Operational approach is refers to bring knowledge of the administration
together that is affiliated to the management function. There some approach that are used by
ASOS.com are mentioned below:
 Just in time: It is refers as an essential approach of operation management which are
used through ASOS.com in its manufacturing procedure. Their objective is to produce
efficacious product as well as meet the consumers requirements. Respective company
ensures that overall products are of standard quality and simple to buy. For example:
ASOS.com manager and leader applied this particular approach for minimising the
wastages of inventory, transportation and so on which decreased the manufacturing cost.
 Total quality management (TQM): This is also known as the consumer focused method
that emphasis on maximising product quality for acquiring good feedback from clients
(Merigó and Yang, 2017). Therefore, this particular approach assists firm to maximise
their operations. In respect of ASOS.com, it is significant for firm to develop and
standardise their quality of goods for grabbing the attention of more clients. Herein, both
leaders and managers plays crucial role such as setting the standards for their products
quality, provide efficacious direction to their staff members for maintaining the the
expected quality of goods.
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 Lean manufacturing: This is considered as the TPS whose primary objective is to
minimise or obviate without scarifying productivity. This operational management
approach aids ASOS.com to reduce wastage at the time of production as well as save
time and enhance profitability. There are various kinds of wastes that incurs within
company such as useless inventory, defects, over production and many more. Herein, role
of leaders and manager to formulate strategy to decrease wastage for developing the
production and quality. This leads them towards sales enhancement.
P5. Value and significance of operation management
Operation management plays essential role in managing the operational activities of the
firm as well as do the efficaciously within the competitive market. The most basic value of it to
ensure that overall operation are to be performed in effective manner by using optimal
resources, accomplishing the consumers requirements and many more (Kulkarni, Apte and
Evangelopoulos, 2014). Hence, few of the significance as well as values of operation
management that help them to attain objectives of ASOS.com are explained below: Transmutation of raw material into final goods: Into operation management, raw
material are transformed into final goods. This is important for optimal usage of
resources that will leads towards the profit of firm. With the aids of operational
management raw material are effectually usage and convert into finished goods which are
needed by ASOS.com. By it, respective company can be deliver timely in marketplace
so that they can achieve goals of business.
 Control and distribution system: Operational management plays significant role within
the controlling an distribution system of company (Lim, Alpan and Penz, 2014). This
section control and coordinate large range of activities at ASOS.com for ensuring the
business goals are meet consequently. Distribution channel is crucial for specific
department. With the aids of whole operations are conducted efficaciously in stipulated
time for attaining the goals of the company.
Value of operation management:
Few value of operational management of ASOS.com that aids them to attain their goals
are explained below: Low product and services cost: In case there is effective operation management within
ASOS.com then it can easily decrease goods and services cost. It is the manager
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responsibilities to utilise operative management appropriately to obtain profitable results.
Therefore, if cost of goods are low then more people attract towards their products as
most of the people like to buy good quality at low cost.
 Effective product and services quality: The client mostly consider the standards quality
of products, this can be only possible in case ASOS.com has good team of operational
management in order to carry out its activities. With the aids of operative management,
manager of the respective company can measure the whole activities for appropriate work
performance. Therefore, group will do better as well as improve the performance then its
goals of the company can be achieve efficaciously.
TASK 4
P6. Factors in business environment that effect on operational management
Both leaders as well as manager are accountable for making several decision in context of
ASOS.com to operate their business operation effectively. These decisions are impacted through
various factors and manager consider all the below mentioned factor before making any
decisions. Political factor: This factor impact the operation management is several manner. It
involves economic policies, foreign trade regulations, employment law and many more
(Swink and et.al, 2017). Manager and leaders of ASOS.com are accountable to comply
whole regulation set through government in respect of business. This firm deals in online
retail industry and has to trade their product to several places. So, manager make decision
as per the political regulation. For exporting respective firm product, manager and leaders
has to formulate strategies as per the trade policy an export policy of the government. CSR Factors: ASOS.com has to comply several CSR for developing optimistic
relationship with society. They are involve into various Corporate Social Responsibilities
programmes as its their accountability to accomplish social responsibilities. These
accountabilities are for its consumers as they are the essential aspects which influence
decision taking of the firm. Manager and leader have to develop decision that act as
general interest of people. Moreover, cultural and social problems are to be measured
effectively through leaders and after proper examination of all factors, manager develop
decision that outcome into company's and societal benefits.
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 Ethical factor: These factors impacting business as it includes whole procedures as well
as action that influence leaders and managers decision making. In has direct effect upon
ASOS.com workers, competitors, consumers behaviours. Ethical factors deals with the
moral problems within enterprises. Leaders have to treat their effective staff and clients in
appropriate manner as well as obey moral accountabilities. Manager have to make
decision that protect workers and consumer rights.
 Competition: Competitor business activities impact the decision-making of ASOS.com.
Manager and leader formulate decision as per their rivals to gain large market share in
comparison to competitors. This factors influence firm's business strategies (Hugos,
2018). Manager should develop effective decision that aids in providing better product to
consumers in comparison to rivals so that they can grab the attention of more clients.
Leaders has to perform with advance technology as well as techniques utilise in
competition. Competitor strategies are to be examined appropriately before making any
decision regarding marketing within firm.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it have been concluded that operations and management play
crucial role in company. In organisation, both leaders and manager plays different role and
characteristics which all together perform to accomplish the objectives. Also, roles of leaders and
functions of manager are identified into several situation such as conflict, rapid changing etc.
Various leadership approaches and theories like contingency, situational and many more that
helps leaders to deal with situation. Six sigma, total quality management , just in time are few
approaches etc. are some approaches that are helpful to develop in the production quality.
Moreover, importance and values of operational management are transformation of raw material
into finished goods, process design, low cost of product and services and so on. Some external
factors which impact the operational management for making effective decision of the company.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Reid, R. D. and Sanders, N. R., 2015. Operations Management, Binder Ready Version: An
Integrated Approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Stevenson, W. J. and Sum, C. C., 2014. Operations management. McGraw-Hill Education.
Hajmohammad, S. and et.al., 2013. Reprint of Lean management and supply management: their
role in green practices and performance. Journal of Cleaner Production.56. pp.86-93.
Gao, J. and You, F., 2015. Optimal design and operations of supply chain networks for water
management in shale gas production: MILFP model and algorithms for the water‐
energy nexus. AIChE Journal. 61(4). pp.1184-1208.
Walker, H., and et.al., 2015. Theoretical perspectives in operations management: an analysis of
the literature. International Journal of Operations & Production Management. 35(8).
pp.1182-1206.
Merigó, J. M. and Yang, J. B., 2017. A bibliometric analysis of operations research and
management science. Omega. 73. pp.37-48.
Kulkarni, S. S., Apte, U. M. and Evangelopoulos, N. E., 2014. The use of latent semantic
analysis in operations management research. Decision Sciences. 45(5). pp.971-994.
Swink, M.. and et.al, 2017. Managing operations across the supply chain. New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill Education.
Hugos, M. H., 2018. Essentials of supply chain management. John Wiley & Sons.
Lim, L. L., Alpan, G. and Penz, B., 2014. Reconciling sales and operations management with
distant suppliers in the automotive industry: a simulation approach. International
Journal of Production Economics. 151. pp.20-36.
Online
About company. 2019. [Online]. Available
through:<https://en.calameo.com/read/0055009540cf2539919c7>
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