Management and Operations - Marks and Spencer Assignment

Management and operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1. Introduction to the organisation you have chosen and its management structure..............1
2 Manager and leader and compare their roles and characteristics........................................1
3 Managerial functions and leadership roles by effectively applying a range of management
theories and concepts..............................................................................................................3
4 Roles of a leader and functions of a manager apply in those situations.............................3
5 Different management and leadership theories to support growth and sustainable
performance............................................................................................................................4
6 Strengths and weaknesses of different theories and approaches.........................................5
7 Conclude on how managers and leaders make impacts on the organisation and make
recommendations for future improvements............................................................................7
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
1 Introduce operation management of your organization and explain the key approaches
adopted by the organisation....................................................................................................7
2 Identify the roles and responsibilities of managers and leaders in successful management of
the operation of your organization.........................................................................................8
3 Explain the importance and value of the key approaches to operations management in
achieving organizational objectives successfully...................................................................9
4 Evaluate how managers and leaders could be effective in improving operational efficiencies
to successfully meet business objectives................................................................................9
5 impact of external business environment factors on operational management decisions by
leaders and managers............................................................................................................10
6 Include critical evaluation of the application of operations management to manage the
factors that impact on the wider business environment........................................................10
7 Conclude and suggest recommendations for future improvements to be taken by the
organisation..........................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Management and operation are the essential factors of organisation which aim is proper
utilisation of resources and increase profitability. Effective operation team earn large revenue
for the organisation by satisfying customer needs through producing good quality products and
services ( Salnikova and Schaffrath, 2016). Marks and Spencer is a world wide known for
providing clothing and home product. It is a public limited company of London , united states,
formed by two persons whose name is Michael marks and Thomas Spencer. The company aim is
always providing qualitative product to the customers. The organisation at present 84939
employees approx from its starting year 1884. This report is conducted to find out role of
manager and leader in different situations. It also put light on various models and theories which
manager and leader use in order to deal with various circumstances. There are many factors in
the environment which affect business decision and routine activities. Moreover, also discuss the
importance of operation management in the organisation smooth working.
TASK 1
1. Introduction to the organisation you have chosen and its management structure
Marks and Spencer is a public limited company who is listed in London stock exchange
and it deals in clothing and home product. They qualitative product to the customer at a high
price as compared to its competitive firm. Marks and Spencer follow flat organisational
structure. In this there is less control of authority on the employees. Due to this employees are
more responsible of their work.
2 Manager and leader and compare their roles and characteristics
Manager:
A manager is someone who plans, organise , direct and control people and their activities
so that business can achieve its targets (Bakalar, Baggini and et. al., 2017). Every department of
organisation have different managers who guide the people of their part how to work for
achieving their personal and professional goal.
Role of manager in the arrangement are as follows :
 Resource allocator : There are two main resources in every organisation is time and
money. The duty of manager is to properly allocate the fund to the members and project.

Manger distribute time properly for the fulfilment of different task. M&S manager should
provide the resources according to the requirement of various department of organisation.
Characteristic which manager contain in this personality are described briefly below:
 Critical thinking : Manager before implementing any project firstly analyse it and
understand how that task helps business to enhance their effectiveness. They should
know how to convert this understanding in the objectives for the team member. Manager
of M&S always make a complete analysis of new idea and technology before
implementing in the business to get maximum benefit.
Leader:
A leader is a person who guides subordinates for the contribution towards organisation
goal. They are present at both formal and informal group. An individual hold the post of the
leader because of his qualities and behaviour. Several activities are performed by them in a
business which are developing team on the basis of individual qualities and knowledge and
cooperation between employees and so on.
Role of leader in the arrangement are as follows :
 Representative of the organisation : They are the person who represent the company in
front of outside people. M&S leader communicate important information to the public
and the employees through board meeting and journals.
 Support in achieving goal : A leader by their skills merge individual goal with
organisation goal. The purpose of leader is that followers effort's are directed towards
common goal. M&S leader directed followers to joint goal by fulfilling their basic
requirements.
Characteristic which leader contain in this personality are as follows:
 Patience : Leader should how to control their anger and behave with individual so that
they can direct employees of the organisation (Haddad and Mariño,2011). M&S leader
always deal patiently with their followers which help them in fulfilling their organisation
goal.
 Passionate : Passion is very necessary for achieving success in any field. M&S leader is
very passionate about their work which they present through new ideas and techniques.
Comparison between manager and leader
Basis Manager Leader

Concept Manger are process oriented
and only think about current
state.
Leaders are vision oriented
and they always think about
upcoming future.
Decision making Manager use directive
leadership style while taking
decision means they guide
their individual about their
working (Singh and et. al.,
2011).
Leaders use participative
leadership style at the time of
taking decision means that they
discuss and take views of their
followers before applying
something in the business.
Focus Manager always focus on the
system and the end result.
Leader always focus on their
people.
3 Managerial functions and leadership roles by effectively applying a range of management
theories and concepts
Differentiate between function of manager and roles of leader
Basis Functions of manager Roles of leader
Planning Manager do the planning for
the whole organisation
working.
Leader plan the activities for
their team only.
Staffing Manager assigned the work to
employees randomly without
knowing their skills and
knowledge.
Leader assigned the work to
only their team member on the
basis of their knowledge and
skills.
4 Roles of a leader and functions of a manager apply in those situations.
Manager and leader face various situation in their organisational working which they
solve on the basis of the their capabilities and skills. M&S also faces different circumstance due
to performing their work in the external and internal environment. Solutions to the problem is

given by both according to their post in the organisation. Treating things may be different but the
ultimate goal is same.
Decision making : Decision making is the process of making choices from collected
information and assessing various factors. In M&S manger takes decision at various levels for
achieving business target or goals. They makes decision at various levels after analysing all the
factors of the external environment (Bahmani-Firouzi and Azizipanah-Abarghooee, 2014). While
leader of M&S implement decision of manager in the organisation through the help of his
followers. Leader guide the employees regarding the activities of the organisation so that they
can support in achieving desired goal.
Risk taking : Every business take risk in there working life span whether on small scale
or large scale. Manager of M&S always avoid risk because they have lot of work in the
organisation which get suffer through invention .While leader of M&S always ready to take risk
because they know that by taking risk they can increase the revenue and sales of the
organisation. Leader adopt new things or do innovation without thing about its failure and
success.
Conflict resolution : Disagreement and argument between two people or group is
conflict. People always try to avoid conflict as it create negative environment but in organisation
it is taken place to achieve desired target (Bahn,2013). Managers of M&S always avoid conflict
in their organisation because they believe that business can achieve its desired target when all
staff work together with mutual cooperation. Leader of M&S also make effort to resolve the
dispute among the employees, by creating it as competition among the staff to increase their
productivity.
5 Different management and leadership theories to support growth and sustainable performance.
Organisation should adopt different leadership style on the basis of their situation. Mostly
leaders adopt one or two leadership style in their working. But successful individual have variety
of style in their kit which they uses according to the circumstance. There are three different
leadership styles are determine below as-
Situational leadership:
It is a model or approach developed by the Paul Hershey and ken Blanchard. According
to this style there is no single leadership style followed in the organisation. Organisation should
fit their leadership style according to the characteristic and skill of their followers (Lind,2013). It

is not based on the skill of leader but they have to modify their style of leadership to cope with
the requirements of the enterprise.
 Future growth- M&S is successful because there leaders know when they have to make
changes in their leadership style and strategies to fit into new scenario. By adopting this
theory M&S able to earn long term profit because they grab the opportunity when it was
avail in the external environment. Organisation use new method in their working than it
will benefit them in upcoming future.
System leadership:
System leadership indicate about the rules and regulation set by the top management
which have to followed in the similar way by the leader without any kind of breach. Leader
should make changes in their leadership style according to the organisation system.
 Future growth- It create positive environment in the organisation that motivate
employees to adopt new schemes and policies. When employees resist from changes than
organisation not able to grow but when support it organisation able to achieve its desired
objective.
Contingency leadership:
There are some situation in the human life and organisation working life which occur
suddenly. At that time it is necessary to make changes in the management style to cope with such
type of events. These are the leadership which was adopted in the organisation when some
unusual event happen (Mohammadi and et. al., 2013). Under this leader effectiveness depends
upon the how leader's style fit the circumstance. Contingency theories say that there is no one
best way of leading the style which is effective in some situation may be not successful for other.
 Future growth by this approach- There are various events which occurred suddenly,
for getting benefit from them it is necessary it was adopted immediately when it
happened. For example changes in technology should be adopted at the same time when
it was present in the market otherwise the company will left behind from their
competitive firm. This help them to grow and sustain for a longer period in the society.
6 Strengths and weaknesses of different theories and approaches.
Situational leadership:
Strength :

 It is flexible in nature because it was adopted according to the need and existing work
environment of the enterprise.
 Leader have the authority to change their management style according to the situation
which help them to grab opportunity on time.
 In this leaders does not behave like bosses they are friendly with their followers so that
they can achieve business goal without any difficulty.
Weakness :
 Due to this situation policies attention from long- term strategies and polices are deviated
to short term goals.
 In this leaders behaviour is so casual towards their followers, that due to that their team
members are failed to achieve their personal and organisational goal.
System leadership :
Strength :
 It provides effective plan of action through which organisation able to achieve their goal
and individual goal.
 Due to this problem of one department system remain limited to that and doesn't affect
the overall working of organisation.
Weakness :
 This method is against the changes in the system, they always adopt new methods and
technologies which fit in their process. But sometimes situation occur where for business
modification in process is essential for achieving growth and success in the external
environment.
 Under this there is so much rules and regulations which restrict organisation from
expansion.
Contingency leadership :
Strength :
 It provide freedom to leader to analyse the external environment and according to it adopt
most suitable management principle.
Weakness :
 It does not describe what to do when there is a mismatch between leader and the situation
at work place.

 It lacks a theoretical framework.
7 Conclude on how managers and leaders make impacts on the organisation and make
recommendations for future improvements.
Impact of leader and manager on organisation : When organisation use effective
leadership style by the help of manager and leader than employees performance get improved,
productivity increase ,risk factor decreases.
Leader can make changes in their leadership style in the future so that it can achieve
organisation objectives. They make plans and policies in the business after analysing the proper
situation which increase profitability percentage.
TASK 2
1 Introduce operation management of your organization and explain the key approaches adopted
by the organisation.
Operation management is the process which organisation undertake to improve its overall
productivity and performance. This kind of method is not implemented in the business without
the help of manager and leader (Nakayama and Bucks, 2012). There are various approaches
include for operation management which business organisation use in order to remove their
defect in product and for achieving desired target :
Six sigma methodology : Six sigma is a innovative methodology which aim is
improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the process. It has its own set of rules and
guidelines which improves business process by the use of statistical tool and data collection.
Basically six sigma is based on two methodologies which is DMAIC and DMADV. DMAIC
indicates a data driven quality strategy for improving corporate process. DMADV indicates
about a data driven strategy for designing product and process. This method aim is to create new
design or process in a way which provide better performance. It was started by Motorola
corporation in 1986 to improve their business strategies and to reduce number of defects in
manufacturing goods. In today's time there are many companies around the world who adopted
six sigma as a way of performing work.
Just in time methodology : It is a method under which raw material is transferred to
manufacturing department whenever there is a need of producing commodity. Due to present of

this method there is a reduction in duplication of efforts and in production (Ghetti, Vittuari and
et. al.,2017). Basically, just in time is a manufacturing policy which aim is creating the product
at required time.
Total quality management methodology : It is consist of organisation efforts to
continuously improve the quality of product and services so that it fulfil customer demands and
create value for them (Wang and Cullinane, 2015). TQM manage complete organisation in order
to best in the features of product and services which are essential for the client.
2 Identify the roles and responsibilities of managers and leaders in successful management of the
operation of your organization.
In an organisation, manager and leader play a most important role in the effective
implementation operational approaches.
Six sigma
Fundamentally, six sigma is a statistical, data driven approach taken place for continuous
improvement and for eliminating defects. It fulfilled it with the help of team who find errors and
provide best solution for increasing organisation profit. M&S manager develop the strategies and
policies for the effective utilisation of resources. M&S leader by the help of effective team apply
six sigma in the organisation for achieving high productivity with quality. By the help of this
approach M&S able to provide the qualitative product to their customer as compare to their
customer.
Just in Time
Manager of M&S keep a control on production and operation department so that they
make necessary changes into it for the betterment of the enterprise. Leader of M&S analyse the
performance of individual to estimate the time required to generate a commodity in the
organisation. By adopting this theory M&S organisation manufacture a product which is required
to them and save the money and time for maintaining it. The money saved is invested in further
growth related activities to survive for a longer period.
Total Quality Management
Manager of M&S adopt such kind of strategies which can make big positive changes in
the product and services. The leader of M&S ensures that team decision and working is in
harmony with the quality documents of the organisation. By adopting this theory M&S can
increase their sales and market reputation.

3 Explain the importance and value of the key approaches to operations management in
achieving organizational objectives successfully
Operation management is the process which includes all activities related to conversion
of input into output and timely delivery of products and services to the customer. Operation
management is also responsible for the development of whole firm like any other department of
the business. There are number of elements which show importance of operation management in
the organisation are described below :
Optimum utilisation of resources : Operation management should look after their
employees that they properly use the raw material at the conversion into goods and services.
M&S manager promote optimum utilisation of resources so that business can earn high amount
of profit (White, 2016). Manufacturing department should allocate the resources with proper care
so that business can expand and grow at global level.
Improves productivity : Organisation improves their productivity when the resources
are used in a best way to achieve goals. Resources are land and building, labour, machine, capital
and so on. The whole business is depend upon the qualitative product and service. M&S should
focus on the raw material to get desired finished good for enhancing market presence.
4 Evaluate how managers and leaders could be effective in improving operational efficiencies to
successfully meet business objectives
Manager and leader organisation able to achieve their objectives because they allocate
resources to various department,assigned the work on individual knowledge and skills, they
manage whole organisation, keep a check on raw material requirement and quality of finished
good.
Roles and responsibilities of leader of M&S in successful management of operation are as
follows :
 Leader should look that employees are assigned work on the basis of their knowledge and
skills so that there is no mistake in the working.
 Leader check the quality of the product so that it can increase sales of the organisation.

5 impact of external business environment factors on operational management decisions by
leaders and managers.
Organisation work basically in two environment which is internal and external. Both the
environment have a great impact on the arrangement working and profitability. Internal
environment include those factors which business can control but external factors can't be
controlled by any organisation. These external factor create positive and negative impact on the
business (Brandon-Lai and et. al.,2016).
Competitors : Business plans and policies generally affected and influenced by their
competitors. Sometimes business managers and leaders make changes in their decision and
activity because their competitor is adopting new method and technology. If manager or leader
does not make modification according to their rival firm than it can make huge loss to the
enterprise. The changes which they adopted is generally for reducing the cost of product and
when price is less if quality than customers are attracted to them and M&S lose their loyal
customers. Manager and leader of M&S have to adopt alteration in their routine working whether
it create positive or negative impact.
Regulators : Regulators are the person who have the authority to control mange or
influence organisation policies and practices. Government agencies or authorities make several
changes in the environment in the form of new laws and policies for the betterment of the society
people. Manager and leader should adopt these polices immediately when implemented by the
higher authority of the nation by making changes in their system. ( Pihlainen, Santtila and et. al.,
2016). These policies should be followed in the company in a same way it was implemented by
the authority otherwise have to face adverse consequences. Manager and leader of M&S should
keep a check on regulators policies so that they don't have to suffer later on.
6 Include critical evaluation of the application of operations management to manage the factors
that impact on the wider business environment
Internal factors -
 Customer's : Customers is the king of the society therefore satisfaction of him is the
primary goal of every organisation. They are the persons who is paying money for the
business product and services. Customers help company in earning their target profit.
Manager and leader of M&S should take care that they produce a commodity on the basis
of needs and wants of customer. If the organisation create a product on the ground of

their choices not on client demand than they will not able to achieve sales and higher
revenue. Manager should pay close attention on the customer purchases to know them.
Impact of external environment on the operation management are as follow :
 If government make any law regarding employee protection than mangers make their
decision in the similar way otherwise it will damage company's reputation.
 When customer taste and preference changed than organisation have to make large
modification in their working structure.
7 Conclude and suggest recommendations for future improvements to be taken by the
organisation.
Organisation should hire high skilled employees so that business activities can be
performed effectively. They should organise proper training programs so that worker get the
adequate knowledge of their work. On the basis of these practices they can enhance business
performance and profitability easily. Firm also needs to pay their maximum attention towards
new challenges so that they can grab maximum opportunities from target market. For future
improvement, company needs to manage all the external factor so that they can easily reduce the
negative impact on operational activities of the company at market place. Along with this, Marks
and Spencer should implement effective operational management theories to manage products by
reducing the wastage within the production activities. This will contribute in arising the chances
of attaining future opportunities in market place. With the help of this company easily capture
larger market share from its rivals.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that leader and manager are the important part of
organisation without them working can't be possible. They both undertake similar kind of work
but there is a difference on looking things because of difference in their responsibility and
activities. It discuss about various approaches of operation management such as six sigma
methodology, Just in time ,Total quality management to improve its productivity and reduce the
wastage of resources. The above discussed method and approaches support organisation in
increasing their customer satisfaction, profitability and earn competitive advantage. In addition
to this there are various external factors like competitors ,regulators,customers which create big
effect on company's working and decision.

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