Difference between function of a manager and role of a leader

MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS
1

Table of contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................3
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11
2

Introduction
The "Marks and Spencer’s" (M&S) is a UK based multinational retailer, headquartered in
London. The company was founded in 1884 at Leeds and specializes in selling clothes, luxury
home, and food products. The company currently employs 85,000 personnel and operating
revenue of 10,622 million Euros in 2017. "M&S" operates in 978 stores throughout UK and 475
stores internationally (Bhat et al. 2014). There are various roles and functions of a manager and
leader in the organization which helps to run the business smoothly. In this assignment, the
organizational operation and various roles and functions of a leader and managers are going to be
discussed. "M&S" currently follows a flat organizational structure which has a pyramid shape
and fewer level of management between top and bottom of a pyramid. Further, the importance of
operation management in achieving the business objective and the factors that impact upon will
be discussed. Therefore, this report presents an overall analysis of management and operations
with the company.
Task 1
P1 Difference between function of a manager and role of a leader
Managers and leaders are one of the most important characters in an organization. Leaders are
responsible for innovating or inventing an idea upon which an organization sets its objective.
Managers are then responsible for planning, organizing, leading and controlling the operations
needed for achieving that organization's goals. A manager works on an organizational goal which
needs to be achieved and make strategies in order to meet the same (Rosemann, and Brocke,
2015). The manager organizes, motivates and communicates with the people within the operation
so as to ensure smooth flow of work in every department.
Leaders involved in major decision-making process and also guide through the work process.
Whereas, a manager is held responsible for all the business operations and dividing the work and
responsibilities of the selected people. A managerial individual first determines the most
effective way to achieve a goal and then decide the roles and responsibilities for each employee
in order to meet the goal. Generally, "M&S" develops a chain of command within the pyramid
3

organizational structure to ensure every level of structure is efficiently working. "M&S" have
fewer level of management within the pyramid which increases the decision making process and
responsibility in the lower level of management. Hence, distribution of operations are fairly
divided and enables the employer to work independently based on own decisions. Leaders role is
specifically designed to build the morale of their employees and serve as a source of inspiration.
In addition, leaders take the major decisions affecting the business and decide the output of an
operation. On the contrary, managers lead within the organization to ensure various activities are
operating together for the benefit of the company. It supervises all the operations and employees
performance and identifies the situation or problem which needs to be improved or taken into
consideration. "M&S" have successfully implemented the managerial and leadership role which
enables the operation of manufacturing, development and distribution simple.
The characteristics of leaders and managers also significantly influence an organization. Being a
leader, the person must be honest with every member of the business organization. Everyone in
the business idolizes a leader and look for motivation. Hence, a self-motivated person with
excellent communication skills has a good leadership quality (Aitken et al. 2014). A leader is
one who is confident, carries a positive attitude, owns creativity skills and is able to motivate
everyone in the organization. However, characteristics of a manager also need to meet the same
of that of leader. A good manager must also have a great leadership quality as the individual will
be responsible for supervising and effective functioning of the employees. Therefore, a positive
attitude with a good communication and accountability skills are the ideal managers for an
organization.
P2 Function of a manager and role of a leader in different situational contexts
The role of leaders and functions of managers make the business operation to flow in the desired
direction and work collectively towards the achievement of goals. There are various management
functions, different traits and leadership styles which help in smooth running of management.
"M&S", is recently facing a lot of competition in the market due to the establishment of its rival
companies (Davenport, 2014). In order to cope with this situation, a strategy needs to be
developed and implement the same which will increase the sales and revenue of the business.
"M&S" mainly sells cloth, food products, and luxury home product. This demands the customer
satisfaction of the selling products. Fashion plays a key role in deciding the sales of a certain
4