Role and Characteristics of Leaders and Managers in M&S

This report discusses the role and characteristics of leaders and managers in M&S, including their functions, similarities and differences. It also explores the application of situational, system, and contingency leadership in the company. Additionally, it covers organizational management approaches and the importance of operations management in Mark & Spencer.

Management and
Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Role and characteristics of leaders and mangers In M&S .........................................................3
Function of the Manger according to the Fayol and how manger of the M&S perform those
function.......................................................................................................................................4
Apply situational leadership, system leadership and contingency leadership on the Mark and
Spencer........................................................................................................................................6
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................7
Organizational management Approaches...................................................................................7
Role and functions of the manger in operational management...................................................9
Impotence of the operational management in the Mark & Spencer company..........................10
Pestle Analysis of Marks and Spencer......................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Operations management is the administration of business practices to create the highest
level of efficiency possible within an organization. It is concerned with converting materials and
labo into goods and services as efficiently as possible to maximize the profit of an organization.
Marks & Spencer Group plc is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in
Westminster, London that specializes in selling high quality clothing, home products and food
products. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index
This report covers questions such as difference and similarities between leaders and managers
with the focus on their roles and characteristics, functions of a manager according to Fayol and
how they perform their role, types of theories such as situational leadership, systems leadership
and contingency leadership, different approaches in operations management, role and functions
of store manager in relation with operation management, importance of operation management
and Pestle analysis of the company. This study highlights the aspects of Marks and Spencer with
the competition they are facing from their competitors. (Chiu and Lo, Western Digital
Technologies Inc, 2016.)
TASK 1
Role and characteristics of leaders and mangers In M&S
Role of leader and manger
Leaders create vision ,managers create Goals
Leaders of the company has the vision so that company can achieve the long term
growth.(Reid and Sanders, 2019). Leaders constantly achieve good result with the team members
by using the well-disciplined process. Mangers play various functions in the M&S such as
staffing, planning, organizing, controlling and directing. This all function of the mangers are
necessary to run company smoothly. For instance if leaders don't provide the strategies then
company won't be able to tackle the external forces.
Leaders Build relationship, managers Build Systems and process
Leaders Of the Mark & Spencer play key role in the company. One of the major role of
the leaders to motivate employees to achieve organizational goals and objective. A good leader
has skill to motivate other and inspire them with their abilities. They provide direction to the
other to do their task with their full potential. Managers have formal authority and functional
authority who provides greater potential and power to exercise and get the things done. They

monitor the work of the employees and record their performance, if they are not performing well
in their task then they provide training to them.
Leaders Coach, managers
Leaders also give chance to the employees to take part in the decision-making process because
this can motivate them to take future responsibility in the Mark & Spencer company. Planning is
required in the company for setting goals and implementing strategies for the coordination of the
activities(Sanders, 2016). They also play leadership role with the leaders. They are in charge of
the whole organization and whole depart of the M&S. Manger helps to coordinate the employees
work and leaders their subordinates. They not only plan and control functions of the company,
their role also include motivating, hiring and provide proper training to the employees, so they
can perform their task effectively.
Characteristics of the Leaders and mangers
leaders are unique , mangers copy
leaders are unique because they make their own vision and develop their own skills. They
have to motivate themselves for work, and they are also inspiration for the others. Some people
have leadership qualities from their childhood and some people adopt those skills (Sanders,
2016). Mangers copy behavior of the others, and they also copy others leadership style to direct
others in the company. They are leaders.
Leaders take Risk, mangers control risk Leaders are willing to try new things even if they may
fail miserably. They know that failure is often a step on the path to success. Managers work to
minimize risk. They seek to avoid or control problems rather than embracing them.
Motivation
Leader always motivate others and show their ability to work. A good leader also
motivate other with their work, employees also inspires from them to become a successful in
their life. Manger mage other work and this quality of the mangers motivate other staff members,
they not only direct staff members and other, they also make strategies, planing, controlling.
Function of the Manger according to the Fayol and how manger of the M&S perform those
function
Henry Fayol is one of the classic management theorist. People called Henry, father of the
management and operations. In this theory Author provide proper function of the mangers in the
company and this theory will help mangers of the mark & Spencer company to perform those

task effectively (Galpin, Whitttington and Bell, 2015). In this theory Fayol explained 5 functions
of the manger – planning, organizing, coordination, commanding ,control monitoring.
Planning
Planing is one of the most important and first function of the meager, according to the
anther. Every organization need good plan of the action. Critical thing of the planing is to
involve the entire company. Mangers of the Mark & spacer should focus on the planning of the
company to they can take action related to the resources and production. A plan of the action will
help mangers to ready for the upcoming challenges during the task. It is important for them to
cover every criterion of the company. They have to find the resources for the company, so they
can provide good quality product to the customers. Mangers also should take review of the
planning from the other staff members of the M&S company. This function will help meager of
the M&S to achieve objective of the company.
Organization
This is also a key function for the survival of the company. Without properly
organization, company cannot survive so it is necessary for the mangers of the M&S to organize
their company properly. It is also created coordination between the different channels and
department of the company. However, a proper structure is still essential irrespective of the
company’s size (Hübner, Holzapfel and Kuhn, 2015). If the resources are organized properly,
they can be utilized efficiently. Organizations with a proper structure find themselves in a better
position to utilize their resources. If the mangers of the Mark & Spencer will organize properly
then it will increase profit of the company, and they can achieve more success in the market and
also will gain competitive advantages.
Coordination
This another function of the mangers which can have an impact on the productivity is
coordination. Mangers should focus on the coordination between employees to ensure better
workflow, they should motivate employees for the high productivity (Hill and Hill, 2017).
Mangers should run communication in the organization to run company smoothly, mangers of
the M&S should use communication practices, so they can create better relation among
employees.
Commanding

mangers of the company should give clear and proper command to their employees so
employees can produce desire output. If workers of the M&S company will get proper and clear
command from their manger then trey will don their task in proper way. This will affect the
profitability of the company (Ivanov, Tsipoulanidis and Schönberger, 2017). Mangers should
respect every employee and staff members working in company, so they can create relation with
the subordinates. Clear cut intimation also motivate employees.
Controlling/monitoring
Mangers have to monitor the performance of the employees, so they can replay workers
who are not performing their task properly, and they can recruit new skillful employees for M&S
company. They should also monster the task given to the employees and see they are following
instruction or not.
Apply situational leadership, system leadership and contingency leadership on the Mark and
Spencer
In a situational leadership theory leaders adopt different readership style according to the
development level of the worker and different situations of the company. This is one of the
important and effective way of leadership which helps to set beatifically balance for the company
(Slack, 2018).
Telling and Directing
In the telling and directing, the leader of the M&S is one who make decisions for the
company, and they have to inform other about decisions. This leadership also involved and
closely supervise the employees and working in the M&S. This is a top down approach and
employees do exactly what their leaders told to do.
Selling and Coaching
In the selling and coaching leadership style, leaders of the company will involve with the
day by day activities of the M&S. Leaders supervised their employees in a coaching manner
more than the management manner (Harrauer and Schnedlitz, 2016). It is same like a sports team
coach, they just make common goals and all team members have to follow instructions of the
leader.
System Leadership
System leadership approach is systematic approach which is well-suited to the complex
challenges that need to be collective actions, where there is no control on the entity. This

approach is challenging because this approach involves long time framework, transnational cost
and ambiguous outcome. It will be best for the leaders of M&S during complex issue occur in
the organization.
Convene and Commit
key stakeholders of the company engage in the moderated dialogue to address a big issue
with the common concern. They defined as a shared goals and interest, and commit to them for
working together in the proper ways to create a systemic change.
Look and Learn
`with the help of the systematic mapping, stakeholders of the Mark & Spencer company
build a mutual understanding of the components, dynamics and actors that create a system and
their current outcomes, creating ideas and insights.
Contingency Leadership Style
this leadership theory is slimier to the situational leadership style(Swink and et.al., 2017).
It is emphasized the importance of the leader's personality and situation which is operated by the
leaders. Situation can be defined by the contingency theory for M&S company's leaders are:
Leaders members relation
It is important for M&S company's leaders to create trust and relation with their
subordinates because it will encourage them to work with their full potential, and they will give
their best to achieve organizational goals.
Task Structure
It is measure of the clarity of authority of the clarity of the project or any task. Their
methods to achieve the final product. Clears guideline should be followed and progress of the
task should be tracked by company leaders,
Positional power
It is measures of amount of authority the leader of the M&S have to influence the
productivity of the followers, for the better productivity leaders can give employees reward, or
they can also push them for better productivity.
TASK 2
Organizational management Approaches

To reach the highest level of efficiency businesses need to practice the administration of
operations management. This process emphasizes on converting the labor and raw materials to
goods and services in an efficient way so that company can maximize the profit.
There are 4 organizational approaches which can help Mark & Spencer company to improve
their quality of the product and provide better quality product in affordable price range. The
company has competitive advantage and that has gain them brand recognition in the market.
Business process re engineering (BPR)
Business process re engineering is the proper technique in which company compliantly change
their business process and company's main Aim become to be a more modern and more
effectiveness(Heizer, Render and Munson, 2016). BPR is a part of the CI efforts as teams look
for ways to improve the business process of the all over Ci scope, For example- IF the
customers complains and refund request are rising in the M&S, then fiorst of all they will find
the product which is return by the customer and try to take review of the product from the
customers, so they can identify where they are facing problem, after the finding of the product
they develop their product and deduct problems from the product and which can satisfy the
demand of the customers.
Six sigma approach
Six sigma approach is tool for the improvement in manufacturing process. In this process
superiors of the M&S focus to eliminate defect from the product and also reduce process
variability (Reid and Sanders, 2019). The six sigma tool also include improvement measurement
and increase value of the product. This approach is costly and need knowledge about this but this
can help M&S to achieve objective of the business, and they can also gain customers
satisfaction. This will improve quality of the product and service for the company.
Lean manufacturing
This is most famous approach among the organizations and this tool helps to improve
manufacturing and minimize waste from the product and make good quality product in
affordable price.
Improve quality- Lean manufacturing will improve the quality of product. This will affect the
M&S company's profitability, and they will give better competition to their competitors in the
market.

Improve effectiveness- Another benefit will get to the M&S in the management of the company.
Because lean manufacturing leads to the greeter understanding of the daily issue and areas that
need to improve.
Re-configurable manufacturing system
RMS is specially designed at the outset for the rapid change in their structure, as well as
software and hardware component, in the order to adjust quickly Their production capacity and
functionally withing the part family in response to the sudden intrinsic system change or market
changes (Choi, Cheng and Zhao, 2016). This approach will help mark & Spencer to gain
competitive advantage during the market change, and they because in this approach or tool
company make varieties of the product which can be suitable for every culture and market.
Role and functions of the manager in operational management
Operational meager have very important role in the M&S company because they are
responsible to take strategic decision for the company, they not only take decision, they also in
charge of the department and implement organizational procedure and polices. Manger will
assist HRM department of the company with the recruiting, when nit is necessary, and also helps
to promote culture of the company that encourage performance and morale of the employees
(Matthias and et.al., 2017). They direct the employees in the company for the tasks and guide
them in the proper ways, all the management work done by the operational management, if any
factor is affecting profitability of the M&S then they have to make proper strategies to overcome
from those situations. They have to record performance of the worker and if any work is not
doing their task properly and performance is not good then they have to provide proper training
to those workers, so they can do their task effectively and it helps to achieve objectives of the
company.
There are some major responsibilities of the operational meager in the M&S:
 Manger helps company to provide inspired leadership.
 They are responsible to make planing, policies and important strategies of the company.
 Mangers implement, develop and provide proper review to the operational procedure
band polices.
 They also help in recruiting with the Human resource manger when it is required. They
take interview of the candidates, and they know how to find proper candidates for the
required job because they are mange all the activity of the Mark & Spencer company.

 Mangers of the company helps to promote organizational culture which encourage high
moral and top performance of the company.
 Mangers monitor every activity within the organization, and they have to give proper
direction to the employees of Mark & Spencer.
 They make budget for implementing any planning or any new technology in the company
(Choi, Wallace and Wang, 2018)
 Most of the time they have to work with the senior stakeholders.
 Ensure all legal and regulatory documents are filed and monitor compliance with laws
and regulations.
 They also work with the board of directors to determine the mission, value and plan for
the long term and short them goals.
 Mangers of the company identifies the market opportunities for the M&S and address all
the issue and proper faced by the employees.
 They provide task related training to the new workers, so they can understand what they
have to do and how they will do.
 Operational mangers of the company also practice communication within the
organization, so they can create relation with employees and staff members, it can also
help to create trust between superiority and mangers of the company.
Importance of the operational management in the Mark & Spencer company
Organizational management is the process of planning, directing and organizing day by
day activities and task within the organization. Organizational management helps to achieve
daily goals and also responsible to management and maintenance of the company. This helps
M&S to achieve their business objective and make them a brand name ion the UK (Ivanov,
Tsipoulanidis and Schönberger, 2017). Without operation management they cannot properly
mange all the operational activities of the company so it is important for every organization to
make their operational management effective and better, so they can achieve long term goals and
success in the competitive market. Operational management of the Mark & Spencer helps their
employees productivity in the company and employees focus on the better and quality product
for the customers so customers can get satisfaction by using product and services of the M&S. It
also helps company to make their goodwill better, and they can also show their presence in the
domestic and global market. It effect the work efficiency of the company's mangers, and they

become more able to utilize reprocess of the company with they help of Operational
management, this affect. It also helps to improve motivation in the employees.
Job description of Operation Manager-
Marks & Spencer is looking for hiring an Operations Manager.
Title- Operation Manager
Department- Retail department
Responsibilities- Give direction and leadership to the organization.
Assist HR and coordinate with the department whenever it is necessary.
Have to overlook budget, report and plan accordingly.
Education- Job applicant must have a degree in management and have a experience in
this field.
Functions of the Organizational Management
 Finance department in the organization plays important role tin the operational
management, and they operational manger use this finance to run daily activities of the
M&S company.
 Basic function of the operational management is to concern with the directing and
planing of the regular goals so mangers of the company should make sure the effective
work in the workplace (Ferratt, Hall and Kanet, 2016).
 Making strategies for the market change is also a main function of the operational
management. So it is important for the company manager to pre-plane their task and, they
should make backup plains for the market change.
 Operational mangers of the mark & Spenser to ensure the design of the product and that
would be a trend in the market and according to the demand of the customers so company
can Fulfill the needs of the customers.
 Quality in the product is important for the customers Mark & Spencer can gain
competitive advantage in the market if the quality of the product is good. Operational
management of the company should ensure the product quality. It is important for the
operation manger to do not compromise with the quality of the product.
 Every area of the company comes under the company comes under the operational
management so it responsibility to monitor every activity of the company, and they

should record performance of the employees and how they are improving their task in the
company.
Pestle Analysis of Marks and Spencer
Political Factors-
Free Trade- Marks and Spencer operate in UK and many countries. They have to keep in mind
the factors imposed by government. Most beneficial for them is free flow of trade as it helps
them to import products from other countries at fewer rates so that they can earn a high amount
of profit. This aspect in UK was for long time but the company is concerned that the exit of
European Union may bring a downfall in to the business.
Brexit- The company is concerned with the decision of the country because of the exit from
European Union may affect the flow of business. Marks and Spencer is concerned that this will
change the rates of tariffs and change the regulations. This will increase the cost of products and
consumers will shift their preference. (DiFazio and Chitrapu, InterDigital Patent Holdings Inc,
2016)
Economic Factors-
Competition in the clothing industry is very high and this makes the company change their
strategy of pricing. If they don't then other companies who are offering their products at low
prices. Many kinds of shifts have already been in the market such as change from budget
clothing stores to supermarkets. These new competitors in the market are affecting the business
of the companies who are operating in a large scale. (Nakamura and et.al., 2015.)
Social Factors-
Marks and Spencer have been in the market for long which makes the customer feel that they are
old and trusted but also they feel that they are not coping up with the trends that are new in the
market. People think this because with time the culture is changing and people are moving
towards new companies. To follow the culture and work according to the needs of the
environment company has invested in these factors. They have invested in the meals which are
ready to eat. This also created the opportunity for the company to open a food store which they
opened by the name Food Hall. In that store they have kept every type of food which is domestic
or imported. They have turned out to be the top ten distributors in UK. (White, 2016)

Technological Factors-
To be updated in the market company has introduced the service of self checkout so that they
don't have to stand up in queue and saves the time of the customers which will help in repeated
sales from the customers. Making the experience good of the customers will also help to increase
the customer base of the company. That is why Marks and Spencer takes this aspect seriously.
Another benefit of this aspect is that they have made their presence on the online platform. They
have offered their every product on the platform with the availability of delivery which is going
to help the company to increase their sales. But it does not apply in the case of food products
they don't deliver it. (Kato, NEC Corp, 2015)
Legal Factors-
Marks and Spencer is operating their business in many countries which is successful because
they are following the laws, rules and regulations of those countries and if they don't follow it
and perform any kind of malpractice then they won't be allowed to perform their operations in
that country.
Environmental Factors-
Company has promised to take their measures in a more sustainable and preservative way. At the
time of manufacturing of clothes a huge amount of CO 2 is emitted into the environment which
is very hazardous and on top of that they are involved in the factors of deforestation. The
company and many other retailers have pledged that they are going to take this measure
seriously. On the other hand businesses who operate on a small scale trades fairly that is why
Marks and Spencer is also trading fairly so that they can get more benefits. (Ichinose and et.al.,
2015)
CONCLUSION
From the above studies it has been concluded that their and leaders and managers need to
work in coordination so that they can think about the growth of the company. Leaders must not
think managers as a junior in the company. They must treat them with equal respect and consider
their suggestions as they handle the internal aspects of the company and their suggestions will be
beneficial for the company. This study helps to analyze the roles and characteristics of the

leaders and managers of Marks and Spencer with a emphasis on where they need improvement
and where they need to analyze their operations. This study highlights the external forces of
Marks and Spencer which affects the business of the company which shows where the business
can grow and where they are facing issues and problems so that they can change their way of
working. There are some measures which were discussed in this report that is needed to be
implemented in the process of the company so that they can maintain the flow of operations
easily. Apart from this the company has also announced that they will focus on the aspects to
preserve the environment and their resources so that they can reduce the interference from the
government and does not let them affect their image in the market.

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