Roles and Characteristics of a Leader and a Manager in Management and Operations

This document discusses the roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager in the context of management and operations. It explores different theories and models of leadership, including situational leadership, systems leadership, and contingency. The document also provides examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in different situational contexts.

Management and
Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1: Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager........3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts........................................................................................................5
P3: Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency..........................................................................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
Covered in PPT............................................................................................................................8
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
Covered in PPT............................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Management and operations is the essential business practice that is associated with the
better administration of activities by carrying out effective conversion process. The process is
used to maximise the chances of profitability as well as productivity. It ensure better
management of resources, personnel as well as equipment that are used in the adequate
conversion of input into output to perform desirable day to day activities (Alderton and Saieva,
2013). To better define the objective of report, Aston Martin company has been selected which is
an Automotive manufacturing company of UK that deals in manufacturing luxury sports car.
The company cover worldwide area and always remain updated in terms to satisfy the changing
need as well as preferences of customer. This report cover topics like explanation of the role of
leaders as well as function of manager. Determine the role of leader and manager's functions in
diverse situation of business within the particular working environment.
P1: Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager
Aston martin is the public limited company which was founded by Lionel Martin as well
as Robert Bamford in the year 1913. It is the automotive manufacturing company that has
launched various luxury sports cars for its premium customers. As the company carry out its
operations in all around the world due to which its has adopted participative leadership style. As
in order to be competitive in national and international market it needs to be competitive enough
in terms of launch innovative attribute as well as design. Collective functioning has helped the
top management to leverage the advantage to build supreme position in the market.
Stakeholder brochure analysis: Within an organisation whosoever individual directly
or indirectly involved in the business operation are considered as stakeholders. The objective of
analysis is to group the people together on the basis of their participation as well as interest in the
operations of the project. This analysis comprises of four categories defined below:
High power, high interest: It comprises of the stakeholders like managers that
progressively participate in the functioning of an organisation due top which they play immense
role in contributing success.
High power, low interest: It comprises of the role of government that have high power in
terms to interfere the business activity. So it is essential for Aston Martin company to abide by
the norms and regulation of company effectively.

Low power, high interest: It involve the role of investor as well as supplier that can not
make the internal decision of the firm. But their interest as well as presence highly affect the
operations of respected company.
Low power, low interest: It is the responsibility of the internal manager to inform these
stakeholder like customer periodically so that they significantly manage their relation with the
operations of company.
Leadership concept reflect the capacity of an organisation's leader to set the challenging
task and accordingly makes innovative decision in order to attain organisational goals. It
basically involves the qualitative activities that track the individual performance in order to
establish adequate culture and collectively attain the task. For instance, within Aston Martin
Leadership does not comes with seniority or hierarchical position but, it automatically derives in
order to participate in the evolving operations as well as production activities.
Leader are basically the social influencers who does not have any primary authority but
their team members and other staff trust them due to their foresight vision (Burns, 2014). Such as
within Aston Martin the leader encourages employee to participate in change management policy
for the overall growth and development of firm.
Management is basically the backbone of an organisation that involve vital function like
planning, organising, staffing as well as controlling that help to manage the internal affair or
operations. The top managers of Aston Margin company delegate the responsibility to enrich the
individual contribution.
Manager basically supervise as well as guide the activities of staff in order to bring
specialisation by better division of activities. This contribute to retain the interest of potential
staff because they get the opportunity to perform suitable activities based on their interest area
(Gillen, Jacquillat and Odoni, 2016). Manager have the power formal authority due to which all
actions of company are takes place under their guidance.
Comparison between leader and manager
Basis of
difference
Manager Leader
Define Manager's role is to effectively perform Leader influences the behaviour of staff

administration activities that comprises
of systematic planning which goes till
monitoring and control.
through extrinsic motivation which is
used to acquire specific goal or
objective.
Characteristi
cs
There are certain influential qualities of
manager that assist the business to
modify its production activities. Like,
they always remain organised in terms
to mange the time by prioritize
necessary task in sequential order.
The main characteristics of the good
leader is that they maintain the
desirable communication with the staff
which guide them the pattern to enrich
their performance. (Brown and Bessant,
2013).
Role The primary role of the manager is to
make suitable decision that is useful for
the internal enterprises to achieve the
require result.
Leader's role is to facilitate the decision
incorporated by manager with the
systematic efforts of their team
member.
Position and
Purpose
Being the part of higher hierarchical
order, manager positively respond
towards the changes because their
purpose is to overcome the existence of
rivalry (Stevenson and Sum, 2014).
Their is basically no confined position
of the leader as their presence is
required in diverse levels. The primary
purpose of the leader is to exhibit the
positive response of employee towards
changes.
Leadership
style
Manager of the Aston Martin company
are more prone to acquire Transactional
style as it enrich the capacity of the
manpower via positive or negative
reinforcement that include methods like
reward or punishment. This motivate
the member to remain involved in carry
out better production as well as
profitability activities.
Leaders of the respective company are
more likely to follow the
transformational leadership style that
encourages the behaviour of staff to
adopt the changes and collectively
participate in shaping up the production
activities.

Analysis: From the above table it has been analysed that the delegation responsibilities of
manager based on skill set and knowledge assist the workforce to bring out significant result.
Further, their experience is used to upgrade the routine activities by acquire the innovative way
to perform the activities. Similarly, the role of leaders in terms of strong commitment and
passion is used in gaining the loyalty from overall manpower.
TASK 2
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts
To handle the dynamic situation of an organisation, both leader as well as manager plays
prominent role due to which they are considered as an essential foundations of the entity. So to
overcome the chances of turbulence within management and operations functions area, the
supportive role of the leader and functions of mangers help to firmly attain the overall goal.
Leader and their role
Leaders are liable to command, guide as well as direct the individual, team member as
well as entire organisation in an affirmative direction. They posses the role to motivate the
confined group in order to gain excellence by expanding the potential of doing tasks (Jones and
Robinson, 2012). Within Aston Margin, the leader mainly conduct the activities like disturbance
handling as well as mentoring in order to overcome the chances of human error. Along with that,
they maintain the systematic communication with employee which motivate them to acquire the
chances and handle grievances.
Leader's role in different situational context
Major launch of the product/services: Aston Margin is specialised in mainly launching
the luxury sport cars due to which to remain competitive the operation manager are responsible
to launch the product based on advance technology, attribute as well as design. At this situation
the role of leader is to motivate the staff to initiate the possible changes and carry out their task
wisely. Along with that the other role at this situation is to align the team based on their skill set
and capability which leads to better specialisation. By significantly focusing to prepare the
competitive team enhances the chances of the innovation because rather than following same
technology the automotive company will acquire the changes and bring significant reform in
terms of developing new product in the market.

Conflict management: It is natural that due to the diversity, cultural differences and
distinct opinions, Aston Martin has to face internal chaos that disturb the environment of an
organisation. So to control the unfavourable environment, leader too perform the responsibility
of disturbance handler to manage the conflict amongst workforce and mitigate the negative effect
on the overall efficiency of firm (Siryani, Mazzuchi and Sarkani, 2015). The leader of selected
company needs to work as a liaison in terms to strengthen the interpersonal relation where their
contribute to focus to attain shared target rather than indulging into the chaos and conflict.
Manager and their function
Manager have the formal authority to mould the existing operations of firm by making
effective decision in terms to accommodate the changing requirement of personnel. Within the
diverse situational context, they mainly perform the role such as organising the internal
operations of automotive company and conduct formal communication. This interaction process
assist the employees to resolve their grievances and remain updated about changing strategies.
Functions of manager
Major launch of the product/services: In situation when Aston Margin launches new car
in the market based on upgraded technique or bring new variation in terms of colour of the
existing vehicle then in both the cases, function of manger is highly essential in terms of
organising the internal procedure or process. This leads in formulating the highly structured work
in favour of company. As manager analyse the external market to to avoid the competitive it
needs to focus to understand the changing preferences of customer and accordingly alter the
product. This continuous development stage assist to portrait the unique position of company in
terms of the customer.
Conflict management: To systematically maintain the interpersonal relation between the
management as well as personnel, the manager of Aston Martin is responsible to manage the
conflicting situation. This role is performed with the help of adequate communication that can
take place either in oral or written form. This firmly strengthen the relationship of employees
with manager due to which the personnel remain focused to contribute in organisational success.
Thus, to manage the conflict manager give preference to both positive and negative
reinforcement techniques so either with the motive to earn reward or with escape punishment the
personnel will be bound to perform its responsibility.

P3: Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency
The role of the leadership approaches as well as theories like situational or contingency
theory is to effective address certain issue of an organisation. This promote the systematic
operations of an organisation and enhance the morale of the manpower to coordinate their efforts
and attain the shared task within specific tenure (Battini and et. al., 2016). Explantation of the
key element associated with the leadership theories in context to the Aston Martin are articulated
below:
Fiedler's contingency theory: Fiedler's theory demonstrate the characteristic of effective
leaders that motivate the individual in order to interact with the changing circumstances or
situation that exist within the organisation. It involve three elements such as task structure,
positioning power and maintaining leader/member relation in order to cater the changing
requirement of the manager. Within, Aston Martin, this leadership theory helps to effectively
dealt with the changing requirement of personnel. For instance, while launching new product
into the market the leader need to more likely maintain the balance between task and relationship
structure. Here, focus is given to maintain interpersonal relationship, where employees are
responsible to focus on their individual performance which leads to specialisation (Galloway,
Rowbotham and Azhashemi, 2012). Similarly, to deal with other situation such as internal
conflict, priority is given to the leader and member relations. This generate the feeling of
dependability, loyalty as well as collaboration which enhances the focus of employee and
develop strong vision to attain the target systematically.
Hersey and Blanchard situational model: According to this model, there is no specific
leadership style that can effectively function for the progress to handle the extreme condition and
function for the progress of an organisation. So the company rather than giving preference to the
single leadership style needs to adjust or mould its according to the external circumstances. Thus,
the successful company needs to focus on the flexible style in order to encourage the individual
as well team to function effectively at diverse situation of the firm. The role of leader is to
acquire the best possible leadership style that well suites with the existence of certain situation or
circumstances. Herein, Aston Martin's leader needs to remain flexible and are responsible to
modify their behaviour as well as technique based on the demand of situation. In case, if
respective company is taking the action to launch major product within the particular

geographical region. Then leader can follow participative or democratic leadership style which
enhances the contribution of personnel in terms put forward their valuable suggestion. Similarly,
autocratic leadership style helps to manage out unnecessary conflict where based on the close
supervision misunderstandings can be resolve effectively.
System leadership: Based on system leadership style, the leaders are responsible to
effectively allocate the task for diverse working staff and maintain desirable coordination. This
suitably creates the situation where the manpower of different levels creates synergy in terms to
enhance their potential and maximizes the overall productivity (Singhal and Singhal, 2012). The
use of such driving tool helps to engage the employees in terms to stimulate their performance on
the basis of external changes. The leader of Aston Martin can follow System leadership while
launching new product into the market because it is the large scale initiative which is taken by
the organisation in order to collectively perform the actions which enhances the initiative to
perform the desirable task. Further, this method also assist to address the situation of conflict
management as to bring transition, the leaders empower their staff. Therefore, extrinsic
motivation helps employee to acquire new working pattern and suitably participate by taking
change initiatives.
Therefore, each theory is desirable enough to meet the business objective by effectively
overcoming the negative implication of the extreme situation that can affect the operations of
firm. So adequate application of the theories help the organisation to take valuable initiative for
the smooth functioning of the business entity.
TASK 3
Covered in PPT
TASK 4
Covered in PPT
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been determined that the role of operation manager is to
optimise as well as improve the quality of output by reducing the chances of defects and generate
sustainable revenue. Leader's role and manager's function inclusively helps to maintain the
systematic management activities by effectively dealing with the diverse situation. Amongst

diverse leadership system, the company need to effectively acquire the suitable leadership style
that is used to maintain liaison with staff member.

REFERENCES
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Online
Sustainability report of Aston Martin. 2016. [Online]. Available
through:<file:///home/user/Downloads/ASTON%20MARTIN%20CSR%20Report
%202016.pdf>