Management and Operations of M&S Ltd : Assignment

Management and
Operations

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
2. Defining manager and leader with comparing their roles and characteristics....................2
3. Differences of managerial functions and leadership roles.................................................2
4. Examples of different situations in your organization and examine how the roles of a leader
and functions of a manager.....................................................................................................3
5. Different management and leadership theories and approaches........................................4
6. Strengths and weaknesses of leadership theories...............................................................5
7. Managers and leaders impact on organization and future recommendations.....................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
1. Introduce operation management of your organization and explain the key approaches. .6
2. Roles and responsibilities of managers and leaders...........................................................7
3. Importance of Key approaches in organization..................................................................7
4. Managers and leaders could be effective in improving operational efficiencies..............8
5. External business environment factors on operational management................................8
6. Critical evaluation of the application of operations management to manage the factors...9
7. Recommendations for future improvements to be taken by the organization...................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Management and operations are important part of any organisation and it is concerned
with the services provided to customers. It can be defined as the set of functions involving
planning, controlling, staffing, directing and organising staff. It is very important in retail and
manufacturing sectors as there are number of processes and operations that aim at converting its
input into output (Rego, Júnior and e Cunha, 2015). In this report, M&S Ltd is taken into account
which is a retail company in the UK and is specialised in selling of luxury clothes and food
products and focus is given on the value of operation management in achieving its goals. It also
describes managerial functions, theories, leadership responsibilities and managerial roles of
M&S Ltd.
TASK 1
1. Introduction of organisation and its management structure
M&S Ltd. is a retail company of UK that deals in selling clothes and food items. It has
entered in long term relationship with British manufacturers and sold food and clothes that was
introduced in 1928. It has expanded the branches in Canada. It follows an organizational
structure which has restricted level of management in between front line and administrate
employees. Therefore, it has flat structure to empower employees in decision making process.
Its size depends on the channels of reporting, delegation and accountability. In order to get good
organizational structure, it is essential to modify effective structure where cut cost is the most
important so that it becomes competitive in the market.
Flat structure makes employees more knowledgeable and skilled as they are authorized to
take decisions. M&S reduces the layers of authority due to which every employee gets power of
putting his/her own opinions (Kolesár and et.al., 2016). Almost 3000 employees are working
and are perfectly specialised in their field. They are capable of making quick and result-oriented
decisions. Flat organizational structure in M&S has less middle management and permits entire
company to work with low resistance and ease. It also increases speed up the working of all
employees. Flat can also be defined as pyramid which has different departments that work
effectively.
1

2. Defining manager and leader with comparing their roles and characteristics
A person who takes complete responsibility of administrating and controlling group of
staff or an organisation is known as Manager. He/she has special managerial skills and charge of
controlling his/her subset. Staff of organisation basically reports to manager whenever required
for any decision making or project work (Dahlgaard-Park and et.al., 2018). On the other hand,
leaders hold a dominant position in the organisation and have high degree of controlling his/her
team leaders. Leader's influence is not so amicable as well as he/she is superior and can take
decision individually.
Comparison between roles and responsibilities of leaders and managers
Leader Manager
1. Leader of M&S Ltd is assigned to create
vision of the organisation.
1. Manager of L&S Ltd. Thinks above
individuals' perception and create goals.
2. They are referred as change agents of M&S
Ltd.
Also, they are arrogant disrupters.
2. But manager of M&S likes to maintain
status and always sticks with their work.
3. They are unique in their work and decision.
They actively participate and are self-aware in
order to build personal brand (Alenius, Lind
and Strömsten, 2015).
They are transparent and authentic.
3. On the other hand, manager copies and
mimics the behaviour and competencies they
learn from all around and adopt various
leadership styles and traits.
4. Leader likes to focus on stakeholders and
build relationships so that they can realize their
vision properly.
4. Manager of M&S Ltd. is more focussed on
the processes and systems. They aim on
ensuring analytical procedure of organisation
in order to achieve desired outcomes.
3. Differences of managerial functions and leadership roles
Managerial Functions Leadership roles
1. Managerial functions means hiring of
employees, organizing of staff, planning and
1. Leadership roles means managing day to day
functions and developing strategy for the team
2