Role of Leaders and Managers in Operations Management at Toyota

MANAGEMENT
AND OPERATIONS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 (LO 1 & LO 2)..................................................................................................................1
P1. Comparing different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager.............................1
M1. Application of different theories and concepts to differentiate between the role of a leader
and function of a manager...........................................................................................................3
P2. Application of the role of a leader and function of a manager in different situations...........4
P3. Application of different theories and models of approach....................................................4
M2. Evaluation of strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to situations....................5
TASK 2 (LO 3 & LO 4)..................................................................................................................6
P4. Key approaches to operations management and roles played by leaders and managers.......7
P5. Significance and value of operations management to attain business objectives.................8
M3. Assessing the way efficiency of operational management can be improved by leaders and
managers......................................................................................................................................9
P6. Evaluating the impact of factors within business environment on operational management
and decision making of leaders and managers..........................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Operations management is a process used by businesses to have systematic
administration of processes undertaken in a firm which require less efforts but provide high level
of outcomes where raw material and labour are gathered and processing of same is done in a way
that final products and services are gained at low cost with higher profits. In the present report,
Toyota is the selected organisation which is a Japanese multinational car manufacturer. With
reference to the firm, difference between role of a leader and function of a manager will be given
along with application of same in different situational contexts. Further, an appreciation of the
role that leaders and managers play operations management will be demonstrated along with
providing an understanding of the relationship between leadership and management in a
contemporary business environment.
TASK 1 (LO 1 & LO 2)
Toyota and its management structure
Toyota is the sixth largest automotive company across world in terms of revenue
generation having approximately 364, 445 employees working in it. Toyota is following tall
(hierarchical) structure of management with a rigid corporate structure where centralized power
was possessed earlier. However, presently, to effectually deal with external threats, some
changes have been brought like now, there is high degree of flexibility (Gregory, 2018).
P1. Comparing different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager
Leader – A leader in organisation is one who is responsible for making the team influenced and
convinced to follow his instructions and act as per his own directions, actions and guidance.
Manager – In an organisation, a manager is the person whose main role is to get the work done
by his team or department within stipulated period of time in his desired manner.
Difference between leadership and management
Leadership can be termed as an ability of an individual by which he influences his team
along with motivating them to make efforts willingly to attain the common goals of organisation
successfully by giving effective directions. Whereas, management is all about directing and
controlling a group of people working in an organisation so that proper coordination and
harmonisation can be maintained to accomplish the set goals of business efficiently (Monnappa,
2018).
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Comparing roles of a leader and a manager
Leader Manager
In Toyota, main role played by the leader is
to bring innovation or to invent something as
per the demand of target customers.
On the other hand, manager’s major role is to
organise the work by making proper
delegation of responsibilities to employees.
Leader’s role in Toyota is to inspire trust
among workers which pushes them to
perform better (Podsakoff and Podsakoff,
2018).
However, managers basically rely on
establishing control over employees to bring
the best out of them.
Questions mainly asked by leaders in Toyota
are related to ‘what’ and ‘why’ which
challenges the decisions of management
which might not be in favour of their team
(McCaffery, 2018).
On the contrary, questions on which
managers mainly lean are related to ‘how’
and ‘when’ which help them in ensuring that
the plans are effectually executed. They do
not make any attempt to bring any change
like that of leaders if not satisfied
(Monnappa, 2018).
Comparison in between characteristics of a leader and a manager
Leader Manager
Leaders in Toyota tend to involve the team to
walk on future direction as they are vision
oriented.
On the other hand, managers have ability to
execute the vision as they build strategies
based on vision of company and prepare a
roadmap for their team.
Another characteristic of them is honesty and
integrity which says that leaders in Toyota
have people who have high trust in them and
walk by their side.
Whereas, in Toyota, one of the main
characteristics possessed by managers is of
process management where they establish the
work rules, standards and processes.
Also, leader in Toyota possesses traits like
inspiration and effective communication
which help in convincing the team members
to follow his instructions (Podsakoff and
On the contrary, managers in company are
people focused who look after the needs of
employees by listening their issues and
concerns and making them participate in key
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