Management and Operations Report

This report examines the roles of leaders and managers in Marks & Spencer, a multinational retailer. It explores different leadership theories and models, examines the key approaches to operations management, and discusses the impact of external business environment factors on operational decisions. The report also provides recommendations for improving operational efficiencies and managing external factors.

Management and
Operations

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................. 3
TASK 1....................................................................................................................................... 3
1. An introduction to the organisation................................................................................. 3
2. Compare roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager..........................................3
3. Analyse the differences of managerial functions and leadership roles.............................5
4. Role of a leader and the function of a manager in different situational contexts..............6
5. Different theories and models of approach .....................................................................7
6. Strengths and weakness of leadership approaches...........................................................7
7. Recommendations for future........................................................................................... 8
TASK 2....................................................................................................................................... 8
1. Operation management of Marks & Spencer and key approaches...................................8
2. Roles and responsibilities of managers and leaders.........................................................9
3. Importance and value of the key approaches to operations management.......................11
4. Effective in improving operational efficiencies.............................................................11
5. Impact of external business environment factors on operational management decisions12
6. Application of operations management to manage the factors.......................................12
7. Recommendations......................................................................................................... 13
CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................... 13
REFERENCES.......................................................................................................................... 14

Introduction
Management and operations is a backbone of any organisation. Every business is
performed by multiple activities and each activity is responsible for managing every prospect of
organisation (Mariño2011). It include all the activities which starts from production and ends at
supply. For example, production operations, IT service and marketing operations.
Mark and Spencer group is a multinational retailer in the City of Westminster, London. It
deals in clothing, home products and luxury items. The company has currently 979 stores across
the UK. M&S is founded by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer.
This report is about the different roles leader and manager performed in Mark and
Spencer. Along with this it also tells about how the behaviour of the leader and manager in
different situations. Report assist the organisation with different theories and approaches of
operation, it helps in achieving objectives. Also highlights the factors which effect business
environment and impact on operations.
TASK 1
1. An introduction to the organisation
The given report is based on company named as Mark and Spencer group which can be
consider as a multinational retailer in the City of Westminster, London. It deals in clothing,
home products and luxury items. The company has currently 979 stores across the UK. M&S is
founded by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer. Management structure of Marks & Spencer is
flat as they utilised the same for communication and other operational aspects to conduct
different procedures in more effective manner. Moreover, it will provide support to make correct
decision which facilitate to attain desired outcomes successfully. On the basis of these practices,
employees can ask their issues to senior employees and can get its better results. These kind of
working structure assist in providing facilitated environment to employees in which they can
share their own thoughts and ideas with other employees as well as with management staff too.
All these aspects assist in providing quality products and services to customers by working
together for effective management services.
2. Compare roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager
Mark and Spencer is a retail company which deals in the clothing business. It provide
qualitative product to the customer and which have multiple stores across the country. The
organisation is founded by the combined effort of Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer.

Leader: It is a person who give direction to followers for achieving goals in the
organisation. He or she has a vision on the basis of which activities are assigned to the followers
or employees (Brandon-Lai and et. al., 2016).
He is responsible for making strategy to achieve the goal for which they adopt many
activities like motivating the follower, innovation, creating teams and establishing relationship
between stakeholders. Leader is required at every level of the organisation to perform the
activities. He encourages and motivates whole team to work together and support and guide
them in accomplishing the task.
Role of leader in the organisation are as follow-
Direction- Marks and Spencer leader establish vision and make sure that it should properly
followed in the organisation. They direct different manager of different department one bases of
vision (BrandonLai and et. al., 2016).
Motivate-Marks and Spencer leader motivate staffs at all level of the organisation.
Motivation is done through rewards and by just simply recognition. They require every time in
the organisation in the form of hold the banner and wave.
Align people- Duty of leader of M&S is to fit the employees on the job according to
their capabilities. They should provide the way through which activities should be perform
(Pihlainen, Santtila and et. al., 2016).
Characteristic which leader contain in his personality
Vision-Leader have the vision which make them stand differently from other personnel
of the organisation. Vision provides the path which was followed in the organisation to achieve
future objectives.
Confidence-It is very necessary part of the leader personality which gave him power to
follow the policies and strategies. His confidence help followers to perform their activities
effectively (Li, Chen and Qiu, 2018).
Manager: He is a person who perform all the managerial functions of the organisation
which are planning, organising, directing and controlling. They are the ones who have the
authority to make work done by employees and also have the authority to hire or fire employees.
In an organisation there are various type of manager who handle different departments and are
known as top level managers, marketing managers, functional manager, project manager and
line manager. The role of manager depends on the post they are handling like top level managers
are responsible to look that activities are according to the vision or mission of the organisation,

marketing manager are responsible for the promotion of the product, functional managers are
responsible to perform work of marketing, sales and accounting, project manager have the
responsibility for completion of project (Pihlainen, Santtila and.et. al., 2016).
Role of manager in the organisation are as follow-
 Plan: M&S manager set the plans which is thinking beforehand to achieve goals for the
employees. They also make the plan for the allocation of the budget on the activity so
that work is perform within that limit.
 Organise: Under this manager establish proper structure, communicate and reinforce the
plans. They develop staff and provide responsibility according to the person capabilities.
 Control and coordinate: Manager is responsible to control the result against plan of the
organisation so that variation can be tackle in time by taking effective measures.
Characteristic which manager contain in his personality
Discipline is necessary in every organisation whether large scale or small scale business.
M&S stores manager maintain discipline in respect of attendant behaviour so it does not cause
any inconvenience for customer .
Effective decision making is adopted by the manager to perform the work for the
fulfilment of goal and objectives. M&S manager are so efficient that if there is any problem
arises in the store the quickly resolve by taking decision (Chen and Qiu, 2018).
3. Analyse the differences of managerial functions and leadership roles
The difference between managerial functions and leadership roles are given below –
Managerial functions
 Task oriented practices - These functions are carried out by manager and they focus on
things to conduct them in correct manner to complete task properly. They have role of
plan, organise, direct, control and follow rules in right way to carried operations
appropriately.
 Management style - Managerial functions are conducted with help of management
styles like directive, authoritative, affiliative, participative, pacesetting and coaching to
complete target properly.
Leadership roles -
 Focused - Leadership roles are fulfilled by leaders by focussing in employees and
conduct correct things for organisational welfare with benefits of people. They conduct

several duties such as inspiring workers, influence them to increase efficiency, motivate
and build them to completed target successfully.
 Different roles based on different situation - This can include several leadership styles
through which leaders perform their roles including democratic, autocratic, bureaucratic,
laissez-faire.
4. Role of a leader and the function of a manager in different situational contexts.
Leader and manager have the two different personalities in the business environment.
They both have different behaviour pattern according to which they react in every situation of
the business. One thing which is common in them is that they both want the success of the
organisation
Risk taking: Risk taking is very important for every organisation whether it is small,
medium or large enterprise. Risk is the thing which help the company to survive and grow in the
long run.
High risk provide big rewards which can be in the form of money or in kind. In M&S
manager always avoid risk involved in the new things and innovation whereas leader always try
new things without having the fear of failure (Ghetti, Vittuari and et. al., 2017).
Conflicts: It refer as the dispute between the parties. Some people in the organisation see
dispute as a opportunities. Conflicts always seen as an opportunity which provide growth to
business and professional growth to all people involved. Leaders of marks and Spencer believe
that proper functioning and relationship does not begin in the employees,client and external
person until they face some tension in working environment. Manager believe that conflict is not
good for organisation because all of them have to work as a team with mutual cooperation.
Manager of Mark and Spencer always try to avoid conflict in the organisation (Ghetti, Vittuari
and et. al., 2017).
Innovation: Innovation help the organisation to compete with other popular brands.
Innovation is the resultant which take organisation out of the decline or maturity stage and bring
back to growth stage. It help the business to survive for a longer period of time in this
competitive world. Leaders of Mark and Spencer are always self active,aware and willing to
build company image by performing innovation and showing creativity. But managers always
involve in the process of copying leadership policies (Salnikova and Schaffrath, 2016).
Authority: Authority is assigned to the people according to the responsibilities they
required to perform. Person who has authority should limit their actions so that it not makes

people to oppose them. Leaders are followed because of their charisma and personality traits
whereas manager is obeyed because of the authority assigned to her. Due to this people are
always ready to follow leader with their will as compare to managers.
Resource allocation: Leader arrange the resource for the different department of the
organisation. Resource is in form funds ,human resource,raw material, technique allocated to
various department of the organisation. Manager duty is to view proper implementation of the
resources in the organisation. If resources exceeds the limit than they have to control it (White,
2016).
5. Different theories and models of approach
In business there is always instability present as a result of internal or external factor or
both. The effective leader is the person who adopt different leadership styles at different level of
situation to make business grow. Great leaders are those who have various leadership style in
their kit to adopt in unfavourable situation. Efficient leader use correct leadership style at right
time (White, 2016).
Successful leaders are those who do not depend on one leading style and are expert in
various leadership style which they adopt when situation changes from one form to another.
There are many leadership styles which enterprise adopt in different condition but here only
three styles are explained below -
 Situational leadership: It is a style under which leader changes style according to the
situation for the development of organisation and employee. This is style under which
leader change his style for business and follower. Effectiveness of this style depends
upon the leader capability who is adopting this conduct in their organisation. The
operation team of Mark and Spencer can adopt this leadership style on different situation
in their business (Salnikova and Schaffrath, 2016).
 System leadership : It is a style which was adopted according to the system of the
business. New ideas and views are adopted in enterprise, in accordance to the business
system not the system is modified in respect of idea. This theory can be applied in Mark
and Spencer company so that leader can manage situation as per needs of the
organisation.
 Contingency leadership: This theory is adopted when situation is occurred suddenly and
to match that enterprise need to select another strategy which is contingency theory. This
help to handle uncertain situation which arise in day to day business. Managers of Mark

and Spencer should always have prepared for uncertain situation which arises due to the
external factors in which enterprise exist (Bakalar, Baggini and et. al., 2017).
6. Strengths and weakness of leadership approaches
Situational theory
Strength Weakness
The situational approach is helpful to deal
with different types of critical conditions as it
provide opportunity to set own criteria of
solving issues properly
This theory will not provide any systematic
criteria which do not give any assurance
about to solve required problems in proper
manner in organisation.
System theory
Strength Weakness
This approach provide proper guideline to
sort out problems in effective manner which
assure about positive outcomes of the same.
It has specific criteria to resolve issues which
is not applicable in every situation which can
occur in organisation.
Contingency theory
Strength Weakness
This theory will provide support to deal with
emergency problems which generate
suddenly by taking immediate action.
Sudden action towards contingency situation
is carried out with the help of this approach
but there is no assurance about outcomes of
the same.
7. Recommendations for future
There are various kinds of roles and functions of manager which are required to be
carried out in correct manner to achieve desired outcomes successfully. It has been
recommended to Marks & Spencer that, they should implement appropriate leadership theory as
per situation of company so that set goals can be attained in accurate way by gaining maximum
outcomes from minimum resources through optimum utilisation. For this manager and leader
needs to design a effective management structure in which they can distinguish roles and
responsibilities of each employees on the basis of their skills as well as working abilities.

Furthermore, manager needs to pay their maximum attention towards business analysis practices
that assist them to implementing new aspects for grabbing maximum opportunities from target
market. These activities aid in attaining higher competitive advantages for the betterment of
business image at worldwide.
TASK 2
1. Operation management of Marks & Spencer and key approaches
Operation management plays a vital role in managing a business firm. It assist in
managing and serving the different function which are required in M&S enterprise.
This section includes the approaches and roles of leaders and managers in developing
global business strategies (Wang and Cullinane, 2015). These are described in details as follows:
Approaches to operation management
There are different approaches used in operation management to improves production
processes and increase the efficiency among existing employees of Mark and Spencer. These
approaches are described in detailed as follows:
 Six Sigma: In this type of methodology, it is used to focus on team efforts in achieving a
tasks, as a result improved their performance in Mark and Spencer. The role of manager
developed global; strategies to focus on team efforts and bring minimum utilization of
resources in an effective manner (Bakalar, Baggini and et. al., 2017). Six sigma is used to
engross on eliminating defects and reducing process variability, this includes
measurement, improvement in different activities.
 Total Quality Management: It is a set of management practices, and ensures that each
and every employee is working towards improving work culture, services, process and so
on. Total quality management defines dynamic efforts by management to ensure long
term customer loyalty and their satisfaction. This measure M&S in terms of durability,
usage and so on (Hammill and Tanner, 2011). It helps in ensuring superior quality of
product and services, but not for single member responsibility.
 Just in Time: This is used in manufacturing and production department of M&S
business. Manager evaluates performance of employees in time gaps and keep track of
the inventory. Just in time refers to a systematic process in which sufficient material from
supplier are provided to managers in order to avoid the wastage of resources. This will

help in maintaining and bring improvement in budget and financial management (Wang
and Cullinane, 2015).
2. Roles and responsibilities of managers and leaders
Role of Leaders
There are various roles which are requisite in Mark and Spencer company, these are as
follows:
 Pervasive in nature: Role of leader needs each and every level of any business
organization. It helps in to sustain for long term and includes different styles to motivate
their employees and assist in learning more and more from their seniors and their co-
workers (Tian, Xiao and et. al., 2016).
 Integrates personal goals with a business objectives: By using role of leader in Mark
and Spencer company, it will bring a positive impact on growth of business as well as
effect country economy. On the other hand, by integrating personal goals with the
business firm target will bring effectiveness and also efficiency.
 Provides support: The role of leader contributes their supports to their employees by
assisting and engage them in their work (Hammill and Tanner, 2011). It can be done
through their past experience, maturity and intelligence, as a result this will provide
support to workers and bring willingness towards their work.
 As a friend and guide: A leader can be a friend and guide to their subordinates. As a
friend he can share feeling, opinion and individual desires of employees. He can be a
guide by supervising and able to communicate the plans and secure their co-operation in
achieving their goals.
 Motivate employees: By motivating employees about needs and wants of workers, will
assist in praise for doing job well. A good leader know how to deal with their employees
and use variety of strategy to focus on their job.
Role of Manager
The manager plays an important part in each and every organization to sustain for longer
duration and helps in managing different sources. These are discussed in briefly as:
 Management of resources: It is an essential part of Mark and Spencer company to
manage and provide resources. But at the same time making sure about that employees
do not waste resources (Higgins, patrick and Dancho, 2015).

 Financial management: It is a necessary part to arrange and manage the funds for Mark
and Spencer. Financial manager records all financial transaction of past years so that they
can develop future strategies and budget which can benefit the company with maximum
profits.
 Team development: This plays a major role in developing team by using various
strategies. As working in team, manger is responsible for development of high
performance. This will increase productivity and individual performance of employees
(Chen and Fu, 2012) .
 Improves quality: Manager is responsible for quality of their own work, and improves
the process and overall quality of Mark and Spencer. This will helps in making
adjustments and enhancement of their workers.
 Self development: Only managers are not responsible for development of their
employees but also requirement of their own role are needed, which support their
managers too. This improves employee's skills and their performance as a result, a
business firm handle changes more effectively.
3. Importance and value of the key approaches to operations management
As operation management is convergent on production of product and services in Mark
and Spencer company, it is important to overall business firm. When M&S operations are
properly managed and functions of all department are running smoothly it is easy to manage but
in reserve case, all department has to suffer. Operation managers uses effective approach which
bring cooperation between departments and supply chain management.
The importance and value of operations management in achieving Mark and Spencer
goals. are described in detail below:
 Capacity planning: It ensures the availability of resources context the demand of Mark
and Spencer company. This helps direct influence on the performance of production in
aspect to both delivery and customer need. Capacity planning decision can be short term
and for long term duration , it depends upon the needs and requirement of company
(Tian, Xiao and et. al.,2016).
 Production planning and control: It is a used for specific production to obtain wanted
outcomes such as standard of quality, optimum cost and also use corrective measures to
overcome from their issues. By using production planning it helps in to manage their

production according to their planned budget. This will increase the efficiency and
improves the current performance of workers (Kirezieva and et. al., 2013).
4. Effective in improving operational efficiencies
The Marks & Spencer is required to boost up their effectiveness of practices as well as
procedures in proper manner fir attaining better outcomes on regular basis. Managers and leaders
of given company should utilise certain techniques to operations for achieving business
objectives and some of them are given below:
 Quality assurance: Operation management helps in maintaining the standardization of
quality at minimum cost, that directly effect the production and increase the profitability
of Mark and Spencer. Managers in quality team should ensure that every employees
working in production department should meet all quality standards established by
company. As quality is utmost priority of company so it is necessary for everyone to
maintain quality in every products and serve they manufacture an render.
 Cost reduction and cost control: An effective operation management ensures minimum
cost of production, this includes cost reduction and control methods. This method
involves reducing the cost of product and services and this result in higher sale of Marks
& Spencer goods. As a result, company enjoys higher sales and profits. This method is
effective for company to implement in their planning so that they can fulfil customer's
demand at low cost (Haddad and Mariño, 2011).
5. Impact of external business environment factors on operational management decisions
Mark and Spencer basically pay their maximum attention towards analysing requirement
and needs of customers for providing effective and satisfying services them. There are numerous
factors are determine below that has major impact upon operation management and decision
making practices. These are as follows -
 Reality of global competition: These are the existing business organisation that affect
business practices at global level. Through this, manager as well as leader of M&S
company needs to focus on planning practices that are used to develop business in
competitive world. Retail sector is wide in nature and respective organisation is serving
worldwide. Thus, competition at global level gives impact on operations of business
(Chen, Wu and Fu, 2012).

 Quality and customer services: This part includes the quality assurance towards
consumer or customer satisfaction requisite is necessary. It helps in gaining a topmost
position in rivalry market to improve their efficiency. There fore, it is required for
manager and leader to pa y their maximum attention towards business growth
opportunities.
6. Application of operations management to manage the factors
There are various kinds of factors which impacts business environment and required to
be reduced for making that stable for achieving desired goals and objectives successfully. It
includes to focus on relevant issues and put efforts to solve them for avoiding its negative
impacts on business such as:
 Social responsibility issues: It get affected by the use of more production and not
focused towards society. This will bring negative impact on organization reputation, as a
result, duty of leaders and manager will increase their contribution (Singh and et. al.,
2011).
 Dynamic growth of service sector: Continuous changes can affect the leader and
manager responsibility as they have lack of knowledge about the latest technology which
will effect their work.
7. Recommendations
From the above report, it has been recommended that managers and leaders should
thoroughly analyse factors of business environment properly. They should apply more effective
practices or techniques to manager relevant elements while conducting business operations to
complete target on time with sufficient outputs. This is the responsibility of manager and leader
to analyse impact of internal and external environmental factors that has major influence on
decision making and business operational practices. For them, they needs to create strategic
planning practices that assist in managing impact and influence of external and internal factors.
All these practices assist in managing maximum opportunities for business growth.
CONCLUSION
The operation management is an important part of every organization in order to deal
with varieties of issues or problem of a business firm. This leads to improve quality in
production as well as increases sales and higher profitability, it is a process which involves
conversion of raw material into finished goods and services. This includes planning, organising,

directing and controlling by using corrective measures which can be adopted by a business
organization. It helps in ensuring a task both effective and efficiently, for establishing effective
operation that involves various strategy for development in achieving their objectives on the
basis of individually and overall goals of M&S company.