Roles and Characteristics of Leaders and Managers in Management and Operations

This report discusses the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers in managing the operations of an organization. It focuses on Morrisons, a supermarket chain, and analyzes the different models and theories of leadership applicable to the company. The report also evaluates the key approaches of operations management and the impact of external factors on operations and decision-making.

Management and
Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Roles and characteristics of leaders and managers...........................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P2 Evaluation of how roles of leaders and functions of managers applicable to different
situational context...................................................................................................................3
P3 Application of different models and theories of leadership..............................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P4 Evaluation of key approaches of operations management and the role of manager and
leaders.....................................................................................................................................9
P5 Importance of operations management...........................................................................11
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................12
P6 Impacts external business have over operations management and decision-making of
leaders and managers............................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Management is a phenomena of administrating and controlling all the tasks and affairs of
organisation in order to gain effective and efficient results and increase profitability of the
company. There are several different operations in an organisation which are taking place and
managing them is the duty of leaders and managers. The leaders play various roles along with
managers, both are different from one another. Both the leaders and managers have unique
characteristics and play their individual roles while managing all operations of the entity. This
report is based on Morrisons, how the leaders and managers effectively manage all the
operations of company (Saucedo-Martínez and et. al., 2018). Morrisons is a supermarket chain
dealing in retail industry, the company was founded in 1899 by William Morrison. It mainly
serves in UK market and headquartered in Bradford, England, UK. The company's main
products which they manufacture are food and drinks, also, they sale clothes, books, magazines,
CD's and DVD's through their retail outlets. The different roles leaders and managers play for
managing the entity and making its operations effective. Moreover, a evaluation is conducted of
the different roles or managers and leaders applicable to situational context. Models and theories
of leadership are analysed context of Morrisons and the practices of their leaders. Key
approaches of operations management are analysed for enhancing productivity and efficiency of
entity. Operations management importance are highlighted in order to make the operations of
company more effective. Furthermore, impacts external environment have over the operations
and decisions of leaders are seen.
TASK 1
P1 Roles and characteristics of leaders and managers
Leadership is a phenomena by which a leader guides, directs and influence the
behaviour of individuals in order to make them work according to the given situation for
achieving ultimate goals.
Leaders are individuals who are involved in development of company and take crucial
decisions (Reid and Sanders, 2019). The leaders are also, referred as the top level management
whom are responsible for developing company's operational and functional strategies. The
leaders of the company set the vision and mission statement and guides the entity or staff
according to them for attaining all strategic objectives in potential manner.
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Roles of leaders: Develops strategies- The leaders of every company is related to the top management and
their role is to develop strategies for entity according to which employees work, for
attaining all strategic objectives.
 Motivates- Leaders also plays a role of motivator, they make plans and adopt strategies to
motivate staff including managers to perform their best for being effective. This favours
the company and assist in achieving organisational goals.
Characteristics of leaders: Risk seeker- Leaders are the once who guides the company and the people they have risk
seeking attitude. They are the one who take challenging situations and make plans for
completing them effectively (Slack and Brandon-Jones, 2018).
 Communication skills- The leaders has a role of motivating other and this is why it is
essential for them to have best communication skills by which they can encourage staff
and influence them for performing with their utmost potential.
Management is a technique by which can be defined as the procedure of administering
and controlling the affairs of organisation irrespective of their size, nature and functions.
Management function involves, planning, organising, directing and controlling and applying
these in company for harnessing all resources efficiently and effectively for attaining entities
objectives.
Managers are the individuals who are in charge of group of people for whom they are
responsible. They make plans of action according to the activities of company for attaining
organisational success and enhancing company's growth. The managers have different roles and
performs various functions such as planning, organizing, controlling and directing the actions of
their subordinates (Gibson and Parkman, 2018).
Roles of managers: Planning- Managers make plans for the effective functioning of operations, they conduct
planning for completion of tasks and effective running of the function of company.
 Supervision- Once plans are made by managers and conveyed to employees then
managers will play a role of supervisor. They overlook on activities which are being
performed by employees and guides them in order to make improvements and execution
of task in appropriate manner.
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Characteristic of managers: Risk avoider- The managers make plans but their attitude is more of avoiding risks and
making plans which are appropriate and ensures high profits.
 Confident- Managers have skills and holds experiences which develops a characteristic
in them that is confidence. Mainly managers are confident and knows what they are
doing as they have learned it form their past experiences.
Comparison between roles and characteristics of leaders and managers:
Basis Leaders Managers
Develops strategies/
Planning
Leaders and their roles are
explained in above section. The
leaders of Morrisons also are
responsible for developing
strategies for effective running of
company in present and in future
(Choi, Wallace and Wang, 2018).
The managers on the other hand
make plans to implement
strategies which are developed
by the leaders. Morrisons
managers will make plans to
enhance their operations in
accordance with the strategies
developed by their leaders.
Risk seeker/
Risk avoider
The attitude of leaders is risk
taking they work effectively
taking all risks and developing
plans to mitigate their effects.
Managers avoids all risks and
ignore any situation which are
risky in nature.
TASK 2
P2 Evaluation of how roles of leaders and functions of managers applicable to different
situational context
Leaders and managers works together for managing the employees, operations and
productivity for achieving all organisational goals. Leaders tasks are interrelated, making them
work with one another and helping them manage all activities. Both leaders and managers have
to perform various function for which they use techniques in order to conduct all managerial
actions effectively. Some theories can be used by them, applicable to roles of leaders and
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function of managers, for ensuring success and growth of company. These theories are as
follows:
Behavioural theory
This theory states and used by managers or leaders for identifying the behaviour of their
employees. Human resource is the key asset of every company, they basically make the company
most effective as employees are the individuals who execute all the strategies and plans made by
the top management and leaders (Fettermann and et. al., 2018) . Therefore, it is necessary for
them to analyse and evaluate behaviours of personnels in order to motivate them and accordingly
adopt their leadership techniques. For example, the workers of Morrisons enjoys power and this
is the factor which motivates them to work effectively. Therefore, once managers analysed this
they start delegating some authority to personnels for encouraging them and making them work
according to the companies expectations.
Contemporary theory
This theory states that managers and leaders are effective in their functions when they
analyse the complexity of work and make corrections, if required and possible according to tasks
or situations. They are required to take actions and make plans according to the current
environment of company supporting it and providing ease to employees for working in complex
environment. For example, Morrisons receives a bulk order from a regular client and company is
out of raw material and resources. In such situation leaders will adopt contemporary theory,
making sure that they make deliveries to client on time. They will search for resources in
marketplace for acquiring supplies which the company needs for productions. Also, they can
announce some rewards on the basis of performance of employees for motivating them and
encouraging them to work most efficiently.
SITUATION 1
Major product/service launch
This situation identifies the need for company to regularly introduce or launch new
innovative goods or services for complying with the changes taking place in external
environment. Morrisons, continuously make changes and bring new products for buyers, which
enables company to be most effective and sustain in marketplace, giving hue competition to
others.
Role of leaders:
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In such situation, the leaders role is to keep personnels motivated and encourage them for
which leaders can adopt Transformational leadership style. This theory is concerned with
employee encouragement, along with helping in shaping growth and future of company.
Therefore, leaders of Morrisonswill make effective use of transformational leadership for
improving staff efficiency, helping them in being creative and inspire them to work with their
full potential by searching new ways or methods of preforming their jobs.
Function of managers:
Main functions of manager planning, organising, directing and controlling of all activities
which are taking place in organisation for attaining ultimate goals. Managers of TESCO, will
also take initiatives for making plans for implementing changes in goods and develop strategies
to launch it in marketplace. Once plans are made mangers will organize all resources present
with them for optimal utilisation and acquiring desired objectives. Then managers function is to
direct employee's in appropriate manner for making revenue and increasing it. And at the end,
when everything is done plans are executed, product is being launched than managers will take
controlling actions.
SITUATIONAL 2
Conflict Management
This situation reflects that it is obvious that in every organisation conflicts are developed
because of many reasons but the main reason of it is disagreement amongst employees and their
thoughts.
Role of leaders:
In such situation, leaders of Morrisons will adopt Democratic leadership style, enabling
them to reduce and solve con flicts between individuals assocdiated in company and working
together. The leaders can involve personnels in decision-making process and ask for their
suggestions or new ideas for performing tasks.
Functions of managers:
Managers are the one who are in close contact with employees present at all levels in
Morrisons. They will make effective use of Collaborative style, thorough which they pair up
with personnels engaging them more in work and operations of company enhaning their abilties
and interest in company's operations.
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P3 Application of different models and theories of leadership
Leadership is the ability an individual have over others to influence and inspire them
and brings the best out of them making them work according to their expectations
Situational Leadership
This is a dynamic form of leadership in which leader develop leadership style according
to situations. This theory is proposed by Paul Heresy and Kenneth Blanchard therefore it is also
called Heresy-Blanchard theory (Slack, 2018). There are four styles of situational leadership,
telling, selling, participating and delegating.
Morrisons is a leading supermarket chain of UK. Company can implement situational
leadership theory by assessing the situation and than choosing the best leadership style for that
condition and according to the individual. Morrisons usually have to deal with customer on a
regular basis. In a customer centric work company can use coaching style of leadership where
leaders take into account individual employees potential. They have to train them in handling
customers with efficient persuasive tactics which help in closing of sale.
Advantages of situational leadership style is that it is a very flexible approach. It
improves the working of organisation dealing in dynamic environment. Disadvantage of
situational leadership is that it does now work in long run it only work in short run because it
focus on short term need instead of long term needs.
Elements of Heresy-Blanchard situational model:
This model has four components which are basically four leadership style, these are expalined
below: Telling- This leadership style refers to the high-task oriented way of leading staff, in
which leadersh do no maintaing any relationship with employees. The leaders give
directions and personnels have to do their job accordingly. Selling- This leadership style promotes the idea of developing good relations with
employees by which leaders try to sell their ideas to group and directing them their
duties. Delegating- This leadership style stated that the leaders are willing rendering
responsibilities to the group to take their decisions about their tasks.
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 Participative- Through this leadership, leaders emphasis the groups involvement in the
company. They motivate staff to take initiatives and participate in operations of
organisation.
(Source: The Right Leadership, at The Right Time, 2020)
System Leadership
This type of leadership enable leader to create an environment in which full potential of
followers can be extracted. System leadership is usually implemented on a large scale. System
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Illustration 1: The Right Leadership, at The Right Time, 2020

leaders has the ability to influence followers to a large extent. This leadership theory has been
proposed by Dr. Ian MacDonald. Its is a skill set and ability to lead across borders and used by
those firm who have many departments and serves in different geographical locations.
Morrisons limited can implement the system leadership theory to become a revolutionary
market leader in the world. Morrisons have to use concept related to human behaviour and
psychology. It would help to mind full potential of all individual which create a strong brand
equity thus result in profit (Qi and Shen, 2019). Advantage of system leadership theory is that it
increases brand equity to the highest level. Disadvantage of this theory is that is hard to
implement as many departments are involved which makes it a really difficult and crucial task.
Contingency Leadership
The theory states that there is no best style fixed to lead a company. Adoption of any
style should be on the basis of specific situation. According to this theory style of leadership is
contingent to the situation the behaviour of the staff and the relationship that developed amongst
the leadership style use in accordance with the employees.
Advantage of contingency leadership theory is that it help manager to examine its
leadership qualities. It allow managers to alter the policies according to situations. Disadvantage
of this kind of leadership is that is a very complicated form of leadership. Implementation of this
theory is very complex (Lee and Tang, 2018). This theory is not proactive in nature rather it is
reactive in nature, sometimes tackling with the situations become very difficult for manager.
Fiedler’s Contingency Theory:
This theory is same as other contingency theories which states that there is no one best
way to lead teams. The only best way to lead is by analysing the situation and adopting
leadership styles in accordance to it. It has three elements: Leadership style- The first element is determining the nature of leadership style which is
mostly used in company by the leaders. The situation- Next, stage is where the leaders will analyse the situation where they need
to perform their duties and lead staff in correct direction.
 Relationship between leadership style and situation- The third and final stage is where
leaders will build a balance between the situation they are facing and the leadership style
which is used by them.
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(Source:Fiedler’s Contingency Model, 2020)
From above discussed leadership theories the best suited leadership style which can be
adopted by Morrisons leaders is situational leadership approach. It renders flexibility to leaders
as they analyse the scenario and in accordance to it make their strategies. Situational leadership
is most effective technique which can be utilized by the leaders also, helps them to motivate staff
and provide job satisfaction.
TASK 3
P4 Evaluation of key approaches of operations management and the role of manager and leaders
Operations management is an administrative activity which leaders and managers
undertake in order to enhance the operations of company. Operations are basically the functions
which are by the company for changing raw materials into finished goods. These operations
needs to be managed by the leaders in order to make them most efficient and effective. Both
managers and leaders have separate roles and responsibilities which they perform for reducing
waste and enhancing the efficiency. For doing so various approached can be adopted by them
which are discussed as under in the next section.
Total Quality Management (TQM)
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llustration 2: Fiedler’s Contingency Model, 2020

Total Quality Management is procedure of detecting and eliminating the errors in
manufacturing, supply chain, customer experience and employee efficiency(Total Quality
Management (TQM), 2020). Basically TQM is a process of reducing chances of any errors from
the operations which are taking place in company. TQM approach is discovered by William
Deming, who was a management consultant. It is a continuous process which is look over by the
managers of Morrisons as they are the closest to the operations and employees. The managers
role is to supervise all the actions which are being performed by the employees of Morrisons and
effectively suggest some better ways to perform them in order to make them more efficient and
eliminating any kind of errors. The leaders role here comes before managers they develop
systems which are focused on improving the quality of the outputs which company is offering to
customers. TQM system can be used in supply chain function of Morrisons for reducing the time
of delivery and increasing the efficiency of the operation.
JUST-IN-TIME (JIT)
JUST-IN-TIME approach is a system which is introduced for managing the inventory and
raw materials according to the orders company receives. It is basically, a system which keeps
track of the raw material and align the orders with the production schedules. This is another
strategy which is used in order to increase the efficiency and reduction of waste. JIT inventory
system say that the company should produce their FOOD products when they receive orders and
acquire raw materials accordingly. This system is effective in those companies where steady
production is taking place and high-quality workmanship exist. The managers of Morrisons have
to keep track of all the orders and accordingly manage the inventory. Moreover, leaders role here
is to of supervision and development of the performance standards for the employees in order to
make them more efficient at the time of bulk orders.
KAIZEN
KAIZEN is a approach which promotes the idea of continuous improvements in the
operations. It is part of lean production which has five principles and one of them is KAIZEN.
This principle is basically strives upon the concept of regular improvement and reduction of the
main cause which is causing delays. The leaders of Morrisons will be monitoring all the
operations for identifying these root causes and convey them to the managers. Once the source of
wastage is recognized then manages will make plans and implement them in the operations and
train staff accordingly for removing it form system and making continuous improvement.
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KAIZEN approach is utilized in improving front office function of Morrisons and reducing
waiting time at the billing counter.
Through these operational management approaches and different leadership style used by
managers can enhance the effectiveness of the operations. These actions taken by management
reduces waste taking place in company, improves productivity and enables entity to make full
utilization of resources available to the entity. Also, the leadership styles which are being
adopted by leaders, increases the motivation level of workforce and encourage them to work
with willingly acquiring good results for the company.
P5 Importance of operations management
Operations refers to the systems and departments which exist in company and by which
all the activities takes place within organisation. The operations needs to be effective and
efficient as through these ultimate goals of company will be fulfilled. There are several
operations which are present in the Morrisons by which the company is operating its functions
and activities. Two main function of Morrisons are elaborated below: Front office- This front office operation of Morrisons is face of company, this
operational unit is in close contact of customers. Front office desk executives renders
services such as helping people at time of checkout, clear their querier and issues related
to the products offered by company.
 Supply chain- Another, important operations within Morrison is the supply chain
management. It starts from supply of raw material or supplies towards the company at the
very beginning for the production and one cycle ends by delivering them to ultimate
consumer. This is an important function and an ongoing process which takes place
regularly in an organisation.
Importance of Operations management, the role played by managers and leaders Product Quality- Operations management have various factors and holds huge
importance amongst those one of the most important factor is maintaining product
quality. The main motive of company is to serve the best quality goods to customers,
managers are responsible for managing and serving good quality food products to public
by their stores. The leaders will standards of quality which is necessary for workers to
attain. The TQM approach is helpful here the managers can make use of it for improving
delivery time of goods to customer and rending best services. TQM also, enables
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Morrisons managers to eliminate any errors or omission which are taking place in
production of food products company is offering to public.
 Customer Satisfaction- Operations management function ensures that satisfactory
products are delivered to customers. Effective operations eliminates waste, enhance the
efficiency and reduces cost of the goods which provides potential value top customers.
JUS-IN-TIME principle can be used to reduce the complaints of customers about any
product they bought form Morrisons, involving front office operation. Front office
executives can effectively clear all doubts and queries of individuals.
TASK 4
P6 Impacts external business have over operations management and decision-making of leaders
and managers
The company is affected by two major sectors internal and external environment of
business. The internal factors are known by the entity and managed by them but the external
environmental components are manageable, the impacts and influence they have over operation
can be monitored and improved. But some other factors are also present which influences the
companies operations and decision-making process of managers and leaders. These factors are as
follows: Culture refers to the values, ethics, religion and the manner in which an economy is
running and beliefs of population of specific economy. The culture encompasses
characteristic and knowledge of a group which affects their decision-making and buying
behaviours. This element will affect Morrisons as they are dealing in several different
geographical locations the leaders have to consider the culture of that particular location
and operations have to be performed accordingly. Managers will make their decisions in
relation according to beliefs of employees and their behaviour. This will help them in
maintaining good and healthy relations with the employees, influencing them in positive
manner.
 Stakeholder and stakeholder expectations- The stakeholders of company are the one
who are directly or indirectly associated with the firm and gets affected by the company's
results and performances. The stakeholders of company, government, employees,
customers and other parties. The company performs for attaining their goals, earning
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profits and providing maximum benefit. The objectives of company will be decided b y
leaders according to the expectations of stakeholders and perform actions to achieve
them. The managers needs to look into matching the expectations of customers and offer
best quality goods. On the other hand, leaders are responsible for increasing productivity
of company and enhancing the earning of shareholders. They are also responsible for
making financial accounts for paying all taxes and working according to the rules and
regulations of government.
CONCLUSION
The above discussion is about the management of operations and the role leaders and
managers play in making them more effective. Leaders and managers are two unique individuals
who have their separate functions which they perform for managing staff and smooth running of
company. The leadership styles which leaders use for motivating employees and making them
work willingly within the organisation. Also, the management tools and approached use such as
JIT, TQM and Kaizen which enables company to be more productive and reduce wastage from
the operations enhancing the ability of entity. The leadership styles are situational, system and
contingency, the best suitable one for organisation is situational and contingency. The leaders
take their decisions according to the situations and the behaviours individuals and make their
strategies to encourage employees and making them work according to the entities needs along
with full utilization of resources.
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REFERENCES
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management?. Journal of Industrial and Production Engineering. 35(4). pp.255-268.
Gibson, P. and Parkman, R., 2018. Cruise operations management: hospitality perspectives.
Routledge.
Hazen, B. T. and et. al., 2018. Back in business: Operations research in support of big data
analytics for operations and supply chain
Kapadia, S., Dong, L. and Yang, Y., Cisco Technology Inc, center environments. U.S. Patent
10,116,559.
Lee, C. K. H., 2018. A review of applications of genetic algorithms in
Lee, H. L. and Tang, C. S., 2018. Socially and environmentally responsible value chain
innovations: New operations management research opportunities. Management
Science. 64(3). pp.983-996.
Prajogo, D. and et. al., 2018. The relationships between information management, process
management and operational performance: Internal and pp.95-103.
Qi, W. and Shen, Z. J. M., 2019. A smart‐city scope of operations management. Production and
Operations Management. 28(2). pp.393-406.
Reid, R. D. and Sanders, N. R., 2019. Operations management: an integrated approach. John
Wiley & Sons.
Saucedo-Martínez, J. A. and et. al., 2018. Industry 4.0 framework for management and
operations: a review. Journal of ambient intelligence and humanized computing. 9(3).
pp.789-801.
Slack, N. and Brandon-Jones, A., 2018. Operations and process management: principles and
practice for strategic impact. Pearson UK.
Slack, N., 2018. Essentials of operations management. Pearson UK.
Online
Total Quality Management (TQM). 2020. [Online] Available through
<https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/total-quality-management-tqm.asp>./
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