Factors Influencing Operations Management

The provided document is an assignment that requires students to analyze the factors influencing operations management. It includes a list of references to articles and books on operations research and management science, which provides context for the topic. The internal and external factors are discussed in relation to logistics, supply chain management, and business operations. A meta title, meta description, and summary have been generated based on the assignment content.

Management
and
Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 The roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager........................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P2. Role of a leader and the function of a manager applying different situational contexts.......6
P3 Several approaches of leadership...........................................................................................7
TASK 3 ...........................................................................................................................................9
P4 Key methods related to operations management and the role played by manager or leaders
.....................................................................................................................................................9
P5 Value and importance of operational management in achieving business objectives.........10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P6 Different factors that impact on decision making and operational management ................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
A firm is an amalgamation of various functions each of which are responsible for
managing some or the other aspects of a business . Operational management is one of the most
vital function that is responsible for managing most important process of converting raw
materials into a products and creation of services so that a firm can cater the need of its
customers by providing them with required quality and quantity of goods and services with
highest efficiency level possible (Business management and operations. 2018).
Aldi is one the leading chain of discount supermarket established in 1913 with its base in
Germany. It currently runs in operations in 18 countries with a team of more than 100,000
employees at over 9,000 stores worldwide.
The assignment undertaken will discuss and compare different characteristics and roles
that are performed by both leader and mangers in different situational contexts. It will also give a
brief about various theories and approaches that are applied by a manager for efficiently
managing it business operations.
TASK 1
P1 The roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager
Management and leadership both are the backbone of core capabilities of a firm whose
partnership is what leads to success and failure of an enterprise. The scope, role and
importance of these distinctive and complementary managerial functional are equally critical for
a high performance of a company in complex and volatile business environment.
By contrasting and analysing their differences, a company can create better balance between
roles and responsibilities of these two making it easy to mange things and lead people (Ashutosh
and et. al., 2016) .
Manager :- Manager is responsible for formulating, managing & execution of various
functions of management by making its people to work in one direction giving their best efforts
for achieving pre determined objectives of a firm efficiently within specific time period. The

role of manger includes a variety of activities such as recruitment and selection ,evaluation of
employees performance, terminating any employee and so on.
Functions of Manager
 Planning: Planning been the first and core function of a business is given utmost
importance by the managers of Aldi. It involves a variety of activities to be
undertaken by manger starting from preparing a plan, setting objectives, policies and
procedures of a firm and then selecting the most appropriate course of action that
will lead to an increase in its sales and productions. All the strategies before been
implemented are carefully analysed and evaluated on the basis of changes occurring
in both external and internal environment for predicting and making organization
ready to deal with future uncertainties (Chowdary and George, 2011).
 Organizing: Organizing is related with identifying job related goals, combining and
dividing similar activities and then assigning those tasks to employees according to
their skills ,roles and responsibilities. The managers of Aldi, efficiently carries out
the task of organizing and allocating resources to its various departments in order to
get best outcomes.
 Staffing:- This function of Manager involves appointing most proficient person,
placing it at right job place at right point of time. Aldi mangers give special
emphasis on hiring its employees by carefully evaluating their skills and knowledge
to make sure they have the most suitable employee at each job profile, so that all the
tasks are carried out effectively with minimum errors.
 Controlling:- This is most critical function to be carried out by mangers of Aldi. It is
so because efficiency of this function directly impact the productivity and
performance of a firm (Ashby, Leat. and Hudson-Smith, 2012). It included
formulating standards, comparing actual performance with desired performance
given by employees, finding out lacking and deviations and then taking corrective
actions to overcome those lacking so that it doest affects company's profitability
(Cochran, Cox and Kharoufeh, 2011).

Leader:- A leadership is an ability of an individual to influence and guide its subordinates by
motivating them to work together to achieve organizational goals and objectives. A Leader has to
apply various theorises , approaches along with its interpersonal and communication skills to
encourage people to work with zeal and perform at their best to enhance the performance,
productivity and profitability of an enterprise.
Functions of leader
 Setting Goals: Aldi leaders work in close coordination with the managers to form targets
and then assigning task to each of its employees as per their capabilities so that pre set
targets becomes easy and achievable for them. Besides this leader ensures that the
personal goals of an employee are in perfect alignment with enterprise objectives
inducing an employee to work with enthusiasm and with best of its efforts to accomplish
them.
 Vision: - Another significant function of a Aldi leader is to be visionary who can that
can determine a future opportunity and posses ability to mould it into reality. They
encourages and influences people to be proactive by building up their confidence to take
up bigger challenges and responsibilities by working in a team (Crevier, Cordeau, and
Savard, 2012).
 Co-ordination: Other responsibility of an Aldi leader is to coordinate and combine
efforts of all its team members to work with one motive of achieving set targets.
 Link between Management and Workers: A leader is a bridge between management
and employees, it is because as a representatives of its team members a leader conveys
all the issues and problems to management ensuring that they are addressed. On the
other hand acting as a representative of management he acts as an agent to implement all
the changes, policies and procedures that are been formulated by top management and
checks that they are been followed by each employee.
Difference between a manager and leader
MANAGER LEADER
Responsibility of a manager is to set
objectives, missions and goals.
A leader is responsible for a influencing
people to work as a team to achieve those set

objectives effectively.
Managers role is to communicate the policies
and procedures formulated by top management
to leaders.
Leaders as management agents enforces these
procedures, policies and strategies and
monitors that employees are strictly working as
per them.
Managers plan out various activities and
functions concerning the firm
Leader's task is to encourage its subordinates
to increase their performance level by working
with best of their abilities to complete their
assigned task.
TASK 2
P2. Role of a leader and the function of a manager applying different situational contexts
Management and leadership are inseparable aspects of a nature complementing each other side
by side for growth and survival of a firm (De Roover, 2017). Aldi being one of the most leading
supermarket chains having operations worldwide needs to manage a huge workforce which helps
in rendering services to its customers to fulfil their needs and requirements to attain customer
satisfaction. Thus, both its manager and leader plays an essential role in effectively
implementing policies and strategies that could be beneficial for a firm to achieve its vision and
missions. Different functions of mangers and leaders in different situation context are mentioned
below:-
Delegation of Authority:- In every firm one of the critical duty performed by both
leader and manager is to identify and delegate role and responsibilities to each of its employees
according to his areas of expertise and capabilities .Aldi follows a decentralized organizational
structure which involves its managers and leaders to work together in cooperation in finding out
the skills and knowledge of employees and then assigning them task best suited with their
abilities.
Decision making process :- Decision making involves judging a scenario and then
choosing best course of action to deal with it. Aldi managers follows a systematic approach in
formulating and implementing policies and procedures with the help of leaders who assists in

enforcing them by encouraging employees to be proactive in accepting them without been
resistant so that targets could be achieved on time.
Training and development :- In Aldi, mangers give special focus in providing training
to its employees both new and existing to enhance their skills and knowledge to improve their
productivity and work efficiency. All employees are giving in depth practical training for each
new area of responsibility that they undertake (Ellis and et. al., 2016). Thus , managers and
leaders by ensuring that all employees have the necessary skills and competencies that are
required for them to perform their current and future job related responsibilities plays vital role
in training process.
Role of leadership and management: Some duties of managers and leaders in various situation
or conditions which are described as below:
Management role theory: This theory defines difference between the perceived and
actual roles that a manger and leaders should undertake by dividing it into three categories :
informational, decisional and interpersonal. Thus, in hard time situations, manger has to fulfil
informational role by tracking down any market environment changes and disseminating
information about it with its team, decisional role by taking quick and accurate decision on
various issues concerning human, financial and other resources. Interpersonal role by acting as a
liaison both within and outside firm for maintaining proper functionality of a company
(Glasstone and Sesonske, 2012).
Evaluate of MBO: Management by objective is the model which involves manger,
leader sitting together with employees for setting targets that help him to achieve its personal as
well as organisational objectives. It involves planning, monitoring and evaluating the
performance of an employee to find out any lacking so that it can be rectified then and their
without hampering future work efficiency of an individual.
Handling employees:- Another important role of leadership and management is to
handle the issues concerning employees. This involves looking into problems faced by
employees related to their working environment, work performance , role and responsibilities
assigned to them and providing them viable solutions by prospering analysing their concerns.
P3 Several approaches of leadership
There are various models and leadership theories that can be applied by leader in
accordance with the circumstances faced by organization. Before applying any particular style it

is of vital importance for leader to analyse its both negative and positive aspects so that the best
and most appropriate leadership model could be selected which can help in getting the desired
results (Golicic and Smith, 2013). Some of leadership approaches which may implemented by
Aldi are given below:
Contingency Theory :- This theory implies that there is best style of leadership that
could be taken as idol one to apply in every situation and the effectiveness of leadership style
depends upon the capability of a leader and environment and people he is dealing with. This
theory style outlines following attributes that effect a leadership style :-
 Task motivated:- It involves various types of job structures which helps in providing
task clarification leading to task accomplishment.
 Leader or member relations:- It refers to components like loyalty, trust and
dependability that helps in cordial relationship of leader with its employees.
 Positioning power:- It generally related to power or authority received by manager over
the group to give them reward or punishment on the basis of their performance level.
Situational theory:- This theory proposed that there is no single best leadership style
and most effective and efficient leaders are those who adapt their leadership style according to
the abilities and willingness of individual or group with which they are dealing (Greene and et.
al., 2014). This theory categories leadership on the basis of following behavioural types:-
 Directing – In this leader defines roles and responsibilities of an individual giving them
instructions about best possible way to complete their tasks.
 Coaching:- Along with providing direction a leader maintains two way communication
with its employees and encourage them to be participate in giving inputs to build up their
confidence, self esteem leading to making them more efficient in their work.
 Supporting:- In this style, leader passes on some more responsibilities to employees,
evaluate their performance and provide necessarily feedback for the task undertaken by
them. This further motivates them to give their best efforts to achieve objectives.
 Delegating :- It involves delegating roles and responsibilities to employees according to
their capabilities and allow them to choose course of actions to complete those tasks that
are assigned to them.
System Theory :- This approach of leadership defines a particular system having
various sub-systems. It will It will perform to enhance efficiencies of internal business

environment as well as certain small divisions of an enterprise to complete more successfully
(Hill, 2012).

TASK 3
P4 Key methods related to operations management and the role played by manager or leaders
Operational Management: It is process of administration of business practices to create
highest level of efficiency possible in organisation. It is related with converting material and
labour into goods and services which help in maximise the profit of an organisation. There are
many method which help in improving business performance, these are discuss below:
Just in time:-It is process of inventory action company able to increase employ to
increase efficiency and help in decrease waste of receiving goods only when they are needed in
production process. This help in reducing inventory cost. This method require proper forecasting
of demand to meet the results on time. In this it is roles and responsibilities of manager to make
long relationship with customers (Hoyos, Morales and Akhavan-Tabatabaei, 2015).
Total quality management:It is continuous process which help in reducing eliminating
errors in manufacturing, and supply chain management which help in improving customer
experience and help the employees in increasing their speed of training. This is structured
approach which help in overall performance of management. The main aim of this is to focus on
process of improving the quality of improvement of internal practices. It is management study
that help to connect all organisational function which is related with finance, marketing,
engineering etc.
Lean production:Every company want to achieve better turnover so that they adopt this
method to increase their productivity. This method helps in business to maintain services and
product quality in better manner. It is also known as assembly line methodology which is
originally developed by Toyota and manufacturing of auto mobiles. It is also known as Toyoto
production system. In this method it is responsibilities of leaders and manger to maintain their
service quality in better way (Jørgensen and Zaccour, 2012)
Six Sigma: It is quality program which help in improving customers experience, lower
cost and help in building better leaders. This help in measure quality that gives better perfections.
It is disciplined data driven approach and method which help in eliminating the defects in any
process. This is developed by Motorola which help in reducing the manufacturing defects. This
help in focusing the customer requirements, improving customer retention and improving and

sustaining business product ans services (Mitsuo, and et. al., 2014). For example this is
applicable to all industries or number of vendors.
P5 Value and importance of operational management in achieving business objectives
Mentioned below are importance of operations and management
 Optimum utilisation of resources- By monitoring and allocating resources as per
requirements of department operation management ensures that all the limited resources
are utilized to utmost level to produce maximum output with minimum wastage.
 Cooperation among departments- Operational management by helps manger in
building proper coordination and cooperation among employees by encouraging them to
work in a team for effectively and efficiently accomplishing the set targets (Olhager and
Johansson, 2012).
 Good employer employee relationship- It is important that there must b e good relation
among employer and employee. This has positive impact on operations of company. If
there is good relations in company, communication among departments is proper and
there is no confusion in activities .
 Customer satisfaction and profit motive- Operational management ensures customers a
satisfaction by providing them with the required quality and quantity of goods and
services as and when they demand.
TASK 4
P6 Different factors that impact on decision making and operational management
There are various factors which effects the decision making activity and operational
management. These are some factors which are related with external and internal environment.
These are discussed below:-
Organisations have an external and internal factors .External factors are those which are affecting
by various components it include economic, technological, socio-cultural, political and legal.
These organization have no control on these factors. This factors include PEST analysis which
are determine as below:
Economic :- It is related with overall economic system in which organisation operates.
This include inflation, interest rates and unemployment (Schwarz, Hall and Shibli, 2015). These

factors affects the demand for products. During inflation company pay more for its resources to
cover higher cost.
Technological:-It is related with method which are available for converting resources
into products and services. Managers and organisation must be careful for technological factors.
Due to this investment decision must be accurate in new technologies.
Socio-cultural:-In this factors related with customs, values, and demographic
characteristic of society and believes are included. These factors must be adopted by manager
which indicates the product, services and standards which help to appreciate customer's
value .Adi gives different services to business which is important for the organisation to attain
gaols.
Political-legal:- It is related with government law of business, government relationship
and overall situation of country. Business laws of country help in setting the dos and dont's of an
organisation.
Illustration 1: Internal and external factors
(Source: Factor effects on decision and operational management)
Internal factors:It is related with internal factors of business which effects the performance and
effectiveness of organisation . There are various factors included in this which are discussed
below:
Competitors:-Policies of organisation are influenced by the competitors in the market. A
competitive marketplace companies are always trying to stay and go ahead of competitors. Due
to this customers have options to improve overall quality of product goes high.
Customer's:-Every organisation have primary goal is to satisfied the need of consumers.
The customer's is one who pay money for getting services. Due to them company are able to

make more profits. In order to satisfied their needs and requirement organisation are able to
achieve long term goals and objectives.
Suppliers:- These are the persons who are providers of production or service materials
Dealing with them is important task for every organisation. It organisation are able to maintain
good relationship with them they are able to achieve their quality of input materials. f they
maintain long lasting relationship with suppliers they can maintain proper decisions.
Employees:- In every organisation employees are important part to achieve long term
goals and target in given time and period. This is part of internal factor that affects the business
productivity and operational management. These are responsible for decision making process so
that they can take effective judgement in achievement of long term goals.
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned report, it can be concluded that, operation management is essential
and main term for the company. With the help of this tool, company can easily maintain their
functions and activities in an appropriate manner. There are different tools and techniques which
are used by the company to keep their all production process easily. Operation management is
important for the organisation to accomplish long term goals and objectives in given time period.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ashby, A., Leat, M. and Hudson-Smith, M., 2012. Making connections: a review of supply chain
management and sustainability literature. Supply Chain Management: An International
Journal. 17(5). pp.497-516.
Ashutosh, A., and et. al., 2016. System and method for performing a plurality of prescribed data
management functions in a manner that reduces redundant access operations to primary
storage. U.S. Patent 9,372,758.
Chowdary, B. V. and George, D., 2011. Improvement of manufacturing operations at a
pharmaceutical company: a lean manufacturing approach. Journal of Manufacturing
Technology Management. 23(1). pp.56-75.