Roles and Characteristics of a Leader and Manager at Sainsbury

This report discusses the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers at Sainsbury, along with evidence and support from various theories. It explores the difference between leaders and managers, their roles in different organizational situations, and the use of systems, situational, and contingency theory.

MANAGEMENT AND
OPERATIONS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
Roles and Characteristics of a leader and manager.....................................................................3
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................5
Role of manager and leaders in different organizational situation..............................................5
The use of systems, situational and contingency theory..............................................................8
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.............................................................................10
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Sainsbury is an international chain of supermarkets and is second largest retail company
operating in UK. It was founded in the year 1869 by the founder John Sainsbury and today the
company has gross revenue of £518 million. In this report the roles and characteristics of leaders
and managers at Sainsbury will be discussed along with the evidence and support of various
theories.
MAIN BODY
LO 1
Roles and Characteristics of a leader and manager
Peter Drucker defines leader as someone who has followers and leadership can be
categorized as an art through which a team or group of individuals are motivated to achieve a
common or shared goal. A manager on the other hand is an entity that is usually found in
organizational contexts and can be defined as a person who is responsible for managing all the
subordinates and employees under them. Harold Koontz defined management as an art of
getting things done by other people who have been organized or assembled in a formal setting
(Reid and Sanders, 2015). In Sainsbury as well there is a differentiation in the roles and
responsibilities that have been assigned to the managers and leaders of the company and both are
expected to address different problems in an organization.
Difference between leaders and managers’ roles and responsibilities at Sainsbury:
Leaders Managers
Leaders are visionary i.e. they formulate a
vision toward a better future and motivate their
followers to work towards achieving that vision
and turning it into reality. At Sainsbury the
leaders have always presented innovative ideas
like creating digital labs etc. to keep up with the
changes
Managers on the other hand are goal oriented
i.e. their focus is on achieving in a certain
measured and desires goal that are not their
own and are usually set by a certain top
management or higher authority. Similarly,
Sainsbury’s managers are goal oriented as
well
Innovation is the key aspect behind leaders
getting motivated and they are generally
referred as change agents because they are
constantly trying to integrate change and
Managers on the other hand are concerned
with monitoring the work system
implemented in the organizations and focus
on regular improvement of the wok

innovation in the current i.e. regular practices
that have been adopted (Schermerhorn and
et.al., 2019). Innovation is the backbone at
Sainsbury as well.
processes or structures or systems asking
them better so that efficiency rather than
innovation can be incorporated in the
organization like at Sainsbury.
The major distinguishing factor of leaders is
that they are not imitating anyone and are
extremely self-aware working towards building
of their own identity which is unique. At
Sainsbury as well, they inculcate authenticity
and transparency in their behaviour and
characteristic that they have adopted
influencing others to become like them or to
follow their mantra.
Managers on the other hand work on those
principles that are learned or copied form
someone else. The behavioural or
management styles that they adopt are
usually influenced form the ones followed by
others and rather than crating their own
ideas, they try to implement the ideas of the
higher authority following their instructions.
Managers of Sainsbury are equally efficient
as leaders in managing employees and
getting work done.
When it comes to risk taking, leaders are
extremely sporty taking huge risks since they
are usually trying newer or innovative ideas that
can either succeed if even lead to an ultimate
failure. Therefore the amount of risk that they
are exposed is huge and is on a regular basis
like Sainsbury’s expansion into other product
lines under which some were extremely
successful and some were not.
Managers on the other hand take minimal to
no risk and furthermore, it can be said that
their job is to minimize the risks that an
organization might face (Slack and Brandon-
Jones, 2018). At Sainsbury too, managers
tend to control the problems around them
altogether rather than embracing the
challenges.
Leaders are well acknowledged with the fact
that the change they are intending to
incorporate is not short term and are dedicated
for a long time duration committed to the work
that they intend to do. Similarly leaders of
Sainsbury are also working with the objective
of learning something new every day and are
Managers on the other hand usually have
shorter and manageable goals and these goals
can be usually measured and their
performance tracked. The work needed to be
performed by managers in Sainsbury is
standardized i.e. the success factor is usually
associated with how perfectly they have

always curious. mastered the management skills required by
them.
Leaders with their creative methods and
innovative ideas create fans and followers who
want to follow the ideologies presented by such
leaders. Sainsbury also has a myriad of leaders
who have en extremely vast fan following.
Managers on the other hands have
subordinates and employees working under
them who have been assigned to them by the
top management and therefore they garner
subordinates. Managers of Sainsbury are
equally efficient in fulfilling the roles and
responsibilities that have been assigned to
them.
Therefore, the difference in the role if leaders and managers at Sainsbury can be easily
understood with the comparison hat has been made above.
LO 2
Role of manager and leaders in different organizational situation.
Situational context defines the causes behind occurrence of something. It also describes
the type of actions and behaviour that are appropriate with the situation. It influences
communication. It can be any circumstances, specific settings in which an event happens,
situation etc. The role of leader and manager of Sainsbury in different situations are as follows -
Managing conflicts:
Conflict arises due to difference in views, behaviour, opinion of the people that are
working in the organization. Conflict management refers to reducing the negative impact of
conflict and increasing positive outcomes of conflict (Thompson and Glasø, 2015).
Role of Leader-
Leader of Sainsbury plays an important role in resolving the conflicts that arises between
individuals or groups. Transformational leadership refers to the theory in which leader work in
collaboration with team members to determine change, developing vision etc. Leader of the firm
uses this style to involve employee’s in the process of decision-making. This helps to stimulate
creative thinking. In this way, Leader helps to manage conflicts in organization.
Role of Manager-
Manager of Sainsbury also plays a major role in managing conflicts in Sainsbury.
Manager conducts meetings for employee’s twice a week. So that, workers can communicate

their issues to management. This helps to improve transparency in communication. Manager also
uses strategies to resolve conflicts such as avoiding, accommodating, compromising and
collaborating etc.
Labour turnover:
It refers to the number of employee’s who leaves an organization and in place of this
company recruits new workers. Leader of Sainsbury helps to reduce the level of employee
turnover by adopting various leadership styles such as transactional leadership style.
Role of Leader-
Leader helps to develop a respectful workplace, promotes employee development etc. All
these helps to improve job satisfaction level of workers, motivation level. As a result they do not
leave the company.
Function of Manager-
Manager of Sainsbury also plays an important role in retaining loyal employee’s in the
organization. Manager of the firm offers competitive benefits and pay to workers. Further, they
provide an opportunity to workers for flexible work schedules. Manager also provides
opportunities to employee’s for career development. All these things helps to improve job
satisfaction level, morale and motivation level of workers. This helps to retain loyal employee’s
in the company.
Motivation Theories similar to leadership theories are also key influencers and can be
categorized in two divisions i.e. Content theories and Process theories:
Content Theories of Motivation are individual oriented i.e. what motivates people and addresses
their personal needs and goals. Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory is categorized as content theory
and it states that there are two major categories acting as motivators for individuals, i.e.
motivating factors and hygiene factors. Motivating factors such as monetary or non-monetary
incentives, benefits, appraisals, promotion etc. create satisfaction in the employees and motivate
them to work harder. Hygiene factors in the other hand like work environment, health and
sanitation, safety, security are those factors that can cause dissatisfaction in the employees
decreasing their motivation to work harder. This theory concluded that leaders and mangers need
to maintain both hygienic and unhygienic factors in order to increase the motivation level of
individuals and maintain it (Motivation Theories, 2016). At Sainsbury, the leaders and managers
collectively ensure that both the factors i.e. motivating factors and Hygiene factors are addressed

where mangers focus on providing a healthy and motivating environment, leaders provide
motivation and increase the performance of their employees.
Process Theories on the other hand are team oriented and tell us how individuals can be
motivated. (Motivation Theories, 2016). The Expectancy theories states that when the employees
put in great efforts in doing the work, they should be able to get adequate returns. At Sainsbury,
the managers and leaders ensure that the employees do not feel cheated or betrayed i.e. the inputs
and efforts put in by employees are always awarded and while the management tries to satisfy
their desire for monetary benefits, leaders of the company focus on satisfying their non-monetary
requirements like praising the good performers and giving rewards etc. collectively addressing
their multiple needs.
The use of systems, situational and contingency theory.
Systems leadership :
This type of leadership style supports the leader in the company to develop the conditions
in which people working at all the levels in the organization work in a productive manner
according to their potential and ability. It uses various principles in respect of human behaviour
to develop models of organizational strategy, good leadership, social process and systems design.
Leader of Sainsbury makes efforts towards bringing social change while using systems thinking
are element of a new culture of systems leadership. One of the important characteristic of system
leaders is their ability to give positive response to complexity. They are able to develop
momentum in most challenging situations (Chiu and Fogel, 2017). System leaders are pragmatic
and adaptable, but it does not extend to dilute core principles. They identify a sense of security
regarding doing things right as a source of confidence that they require performing tasks. One of
the major benefit of systems theory is that, it assists management to incorporate the changes that
are happening in macro as well as in micro environment. The weakness of systems leadership
theory is that, the approach may not be suitable for small scale organizations.
By adopting systems leadership, leader of the firm helps to bring together individual and
group to make efforts for a common challenge. The leader help to address the tensions of team
members by using systems leadership. They also possess intense commitment to promote
equality in business.
Situational leadership :

The model of situational leadership was developed by Ken Blanchard and Paul Hersey .
According to situational leadership theory, neither transformational nor transactional leadership
style is suitable for all the types of situations. There is a required of combination of leadership
styles to perform tasks in effective manner (Fiedler, 2015). There are various strengths and
weaknesses of situational leadership. Leader of Sainsbury should adjust style of leadership
according to level of skills and behaviour of employees. This leadership style is emotionally,
adaptive and influential, It is one of the preferred style of leadership by various leaders in
different industries. Systems leader helps to develop committed and loyal workforce that helps to
achieve success of the company. The theory also involves four styles of leadership that are
supporting, directing, delegating and coaching etc. All these styles are adaptive to the
development behaviour of employee’s of Sainsbury. Successful leaders have the ability to look at
different situations with various perspectives. There are various advantages of using situational
leadership approach such as it helps to promote collaboration among members of team, it also
helps to improve work productivity of the workers. Further, this style of leadership helps to
counter uncertainty, it helps to beat ambiguity etc. Further, this approach of leadership can also
be use practically in different situations of the organization. There are some limitations also
firstly, it requires more efforts and time of leader due to which sufficient time is not available to
the leader of company. For performing important activities. It focuses more on short term
requirements as compared with long term needs. Situational leadership style is based on level of
skills of leader of the firm. Leader of Sainsbury uses situational leadership style for motivating
workforce that helps to improve level of productivity. It also helps to build morale of workers
and develops a positive environment, Providing support to workers on the basis of requirement
helps to create motivating environment. As a result, it helps to promote growth and sustainability
of Sainsbury.
Contingency leadership :
The theory was developed by Fred Fiedler in year 1958. According to Fiedler, the
effectiveness of leader of the firm depends upon the type of situation. The theory not related with
the concept that, leader have to adapt to the situation rather the objectives should be match with
leadership style. It is very important to determine what type of style a leader possess. This is
performed through Least Preferred Scale (LPC) (Cashman, 2017).

As per contingency theory, the effectiveness of leader depends upon the style of
leadership that matches to the situation. It says that, there is no perfect leadership style that
matches to every type of situation. It contains various questions to determine what type of leader
would most like to perform work with. There are various benefits of this style such as it can be
used to develop leadership profile for company, it focuses on combining situation and leadership
style. Further, it is predictive in nature and it is a well-defined approach to evaluate situations
and LPC.
Leader uses contingency theory through different ways to address different problems that
also provides them significant discretion in taking decisions. For example- during the situation of
high turnover, leader will use the leadership style to reduce the level of turnover.
Transactional leadership-
It is the leadership style through which leaders promote the compliance of rules and
regulations by the followers through punishments as well as rewards. They are able ton keep
employee's motivated for short period of time.
Transformational leadership-
It is a style of lea that helps leader to inspire, encourage and bring a change in the
organisation that helps to improve growth and success of the business in the future. There are
various elements of the leadership style such as inspirational motivation, idealized influence,
intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration etc.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
The above Report has outlined that, Leader and manager both plays an important role in
attaining growth and success of the organization. The Report has described the role of manager
and leader in different types of situations such as labour turnover, conflict management etc.
Henry Mintberg theory has explained role of manager under three categories. Systems,
situational and contingency leadership theories all have own advantage and disadvantage.
Leadership theories help to promote growth and success of the organization. For future
improvement it is recommended that firm should provide various opportunities to employee’s for
development. Further, leader should adopt leadership style according to the situation.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Cashman, K., 2017. Leadership from the inside out: Becoming a leader for life. Berrett-Koehler
Publishers.
Chiu, H. and Fogel, J., 2017. The role of manager influence strategies and innovation attributes
in innovation implementation. Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration, 9(1),
pp.16-36.
Fiedler, F.R.E.D., 2015. Contingency theory of leadership. Organizational Behavior 1: Essential
Theories of Motivation and Leadership, 232, pp.01-2015.
Reid, R.D. and Sanders, N.R., 2015. Operations Management, Binder Ready Version: An
Integrated Approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Schermerhorn Jr, and et.al., 2019. Management. John Wiley & Sons.
Slack, N. and Brandon-Jones, A., 2018. Operations and process management: principles and
practice for strategic impact. Pearson UK.
Thompson, G. and Glasø, L., 2015. Situational leadership theory: a test from three perspectives.
Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 36(5), pp.527-544.
Online
Motivation Theories. 2016. [Online]. Available through: <
https://www.tankonyvtar.hu/hu/tartalom/tamop412A/2011-0023_Psychology/
030300.scorml>
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