Operations Management Research Papers Collection

This document provides a collection of research papers on operations management, covering various topics such as supply chain management, production and operations management systems, workforce flexibility, and more. The papers are from 2014 to 2018 and cover different aspects of operations management, including research approaches, methodologies, and applications in various industries.

Management and
Operations

INTRODUCTION
Management and operations is a major field in the management within the company
which deals with the designing and controlling the process of the production and also includes
the redesigning of operations of enterprise. TESCO is a multinational company based in United
Kingdom which deals in groceries retailer and general merchandise . This company was founded
by Jack Cohen as a group of market stalls in the year 1919. The report will outline the different
characteristics and roles of a leader and its comparison with the manager. Further with help of an
example it will be highlighted that in a given situation how the leaders deals and how the
manager deals. Adding on the report will give details about the different theories and models of
the leadership. Further it will outline the different approaches to the operation management.
After that it will discuss about the significance of operation management in achieving the
objective. At last the report will outline the different factors within the business environment
which affects the operational management.
TASK 1
P1 Roles and characteristics of the leader and the manager
A leader is an individual who has the ability to influence a group of people so that the
work in the direction towards the achievement of the organisational goals and the objectives.
Whereas a manager is a person who is just responsible to only manage the working of the
company (Castro, Rocha and Oliveira, 2014). They exercise only the managerial functions in the
company. There are certain specific roles which only the leader can play in the organisation.
TESCO is a multinational company dealing in general merchandise and groceries retailer.
Tesco was founded as a group of market stalls by Jack Cohen in the year 1919. The Tesco
follows the functional structure as its management structure. The functional structure is followed
because this type of structure focuses on the different departments due to the reason that the
company is large and have multiple layer within it.
Leadership refers to the process through which the leader guides and influences the
employees of the organisation in accomplishing the ultimate goals and objectives of the
organisation. The leader plays a very crucial role in leading the organisation to a higher position.
So the leader's role in the organisation is very important so the leader should have the required
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characteristic and skills. The roles which are to be followed by the leaders of TESCO is
discussed below -
Provides a vision - The first and the foremost role of the leader is to provide the vision to the
subordinates and the followers. Vision refers to what the company wants to achieve in the future.
It may be understood as a drive that energises the employees to work in direction to achieve the
organisational goals and objectives. When team members know the vision and the goal they are
more focussed towards their work. So it is the crucial role of the leader to make clear the vision
to the employees.
Representative of the organisation - a leader of TESCO is the one who represents the whole
organisation. Sometimes at the seminars, general meetings, conferences etc. all the members of
the board or the top management cannot go (Wiggins, 2014). So in such situation the company
sends the leader as the representative of the organisation. Here the role of the leader is to
communicate all the information relevant for the meeting and the result of the meetings to the
management.
Inspire and motivate the employees - the other important role of TESCO 's leader is to
influence, inspire, guide and motivate the employees and the team members. They use effective
motivational and communication techniques to improve their working ability and skills. The
leader motivates the team and because of which employees give their bast output in terms of
working. Because of proper motivation the employees also give their efficient, effective and
productive performance.
BASIS LEADERS MANAGERS
Meaning A person who affects and
influences the working of the
subordinates and the team
members.
It is a person who manages the
organisation and is allowed to
perform the management
function which are planning,
organising, staffing, directing
and controlling.
Approach The leader is a person who sets
the objectives and the goals
that is he sets the direction in
The manager is only allowed
to make a detailed plan
through which the goals can be
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which the goal can be reached. achieved.
Aim The aim and purpose of
working of the leaders is to
improve the overall growth of
the organisation and lead to the
development of the
organisation.
Here the aim of the manager is
just the fulfilment and
attainment of only the task so
that the assigned work of the
manager is finished.
Focus Here the focus is on the
development of the employees
and the team members so that
the employees grow at
individual level also and the
team level also (Cheremisinoff
and Davletshin, 2015).
Here the main focus is only on
the different types of methods,
procedures and processes
through which the work can be
accomplished.
Changes The leader promotes the team
members and employees to
accept the changes and react to
them positively
The manager resists to
accepting the changes and also
they discourages the
employees to accept the
changes. Managers resists to
the changes because they are
not ready to adopt to the new
changes because they have to
learn the change again.
Power The leaders derive the power
from their behaviour and
characteristics. They have a
charismatic personality which
influences the other to work
according to the leader.
The manager derives its power
with the position. Once the
position has gone the power
also goes.
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TASK 2
P2 Application of the role of the leader and the function of the manager
From the above description it is clear that the leader has a important role in the success of
the organisation. Also, from the above discussion it is clear that both the leader and the manager
are very different in their thinking and perception towards things and situations. They both react
to different situations in a different way. Also, both of them reacts to same situation in different
ways (Akindipe, 2014). They both differentiate in their thinking. It can be illustrated with help
of the following situations -
Stable situation- it is a situation wherein the company does not imply to any changes and every
thing in the organization is stable and steady. Here the company is not much prone to the
changes in the environment. This is a situation wherein there is no change in the external market
or the environment and because of this reason the situations are stable in the organization. If the
situations are stable then the leader do not have a specific role to play. It has to perform his
general duties.
Slow to moderate changing situation- it is a situation where the changes starts at a slow pace
and then takes speed. For example, the situation of the employee dissatisfaction. It is a situation
wherein the employees are unhappy or develops a negative feeling or perspective about the work
or the working ambience. This feeling starts slowly and then takes up speed. There are many
factors which may result in job dissatisfaction like overload of work, low pay, no scope of
promotions, poor working conditions etc. If the leader of the TESCO has to deals with such
situation then he will first try to find the reason for which the employee is dissatisfied whether
the reason is personal, mental, psychological, related to the organisation etc. After analysing the
reason of dissatisfaction the leader tries to find the solution to the problem of the dissatisfaction.
Also leader tries to provide some facilities and extra care to the dissatisfied employees so that
they do not leave the organisation.
In the similar situation the manager at Tesco might not ask the employee the reason for its
dissatisfaction rather may directly give a leave to the employee to solve the problem or might
terminate him for permanent.
Fast changing situation- it is a situation where in the change comes very fast and the company
needs to adapt to these changes very fast. For example, changes in the technology, these are the
changes which comes very fast in the environment and if the company does not adapt to these
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changes then it will be a loss for them. In such case the leader will first analyse the need of
change and if he feels the need of change then it will train the employees to adapt those changes.
On the other hand the manager will simply impose the change on the employees.
P3 Different models and theories of leadership
Leadership is defined as the process with the help of which the leader guides and
influences the employees of the organisation in achieving the ultimate goals and objectives of the
organisation. There are many different types of the leadership models and theories which can
assist and help the organisations in maintaining the proper discipline and decorum and proper
working in the organisation. TESCO uses the following different types of the leadership styles -
Situational leadership style - It is a model created by Ken Blanchard and Paul Hersey while
working on the management of the organisational behaviour. As the name suggest that no single
leadership style is best. The style of the leadership to be used always depends upon the situation
at the hand. According to this theory the most efficient and effective leader is one who is able to
adapt that leadership style which is suitable for that current situation. As it depends on the
situation it is a flexible type of leadership (Yabuki, NEC Corp, 2014). It is not based on the
specific skills of the leaders instead the leader has to modify its style of leadership to suit the
requirement and need of the organisation and the environment.
Contingency leadership – this type of theory of leadership is used when the leader needs to
focus on some specific variable relating to the environmental situation (Gupta and Starr, 2014).
This theory lays emphasis on the importance and significance of both the leaders' the situation
and personality in which the leader operates. It states that a leader's efficiency and effectiveness
is dependent on how the leader adopts and matches its leadership style with the present situation.
The theory is not concerned with only having a style rather the goal is to match the leader style
of the leadership with the situation. There are three situation defined by contingent theory which
are-
 Leader - member relation - It is a measure which shows the acceptance level of the
leadership between the organisational hierarchies.
 Task structure - this measure the clarity of the task or the project and the different types
of techniques used to accomplish the end products.
 Positional power - it is a measure of the amount of the authority and power that is held
by the leader to influence the efficiency and the productivity of the employees.
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System leadership – this type of leadership helps and enables the leaders within the company to
create such an atmosphere and different conditions where the employees at all the different levels
can work effectively and efficiently up to their maximum capacity. This type of leadership takes
help of principles dealing in the behaviour of human which helps in creating models of good
leadership. It provides the leaders with tools and techniques that helps the leader in predicting the
people behaviour in their organisation. It also helps in building an effective and efficient system
that drives the productive behaviour and leads to the more effective and productive realisation
and accomplishment of the organisational goals and purpose. This theory emphasizes on a
specific style of leadership and different qualities which are required to effectively work across
the restrictions of diverse people, culture, thinking, perception of employees and staff. The goal
of system theory is to systematically discover a system's conditions, dynamics, constraints and
elucidating principles which applies to the system at every level.
TASK 3
P4 Approaches to operation management
Management and Operations is defined as a part of management which is related and
works with the controlling and designing of the production process to manufacture the products
or for rendering the services. It also includes redesigning the operations and productions of the
business for the improvement of the production of the products and rendering of the services. It
includes the responsibility of the manager of TESCO to make sure that the business operations
and production process are effective and efficient in terms of the use of scarce resources as and
when needed to meet the consumers needs and preferences. There are many new and latest
approaches have been developed for increasing the competitiveness among the different
companies. In recent times the mass production is been replaced but yet there is no single
approach to manage the operations of the different companies. So for this there are many new
techniques and approaches have been developed (Redjem and Marcon, 2016). These different
types of approaches to operational management used by TESCO are as follows -1. Lean production- This approach aims to cut out or minimise the activities which do not
add any type of value or help in the process of the production such as, repairing faulty
products, avoiding unnecessary movements of product and people in the company,
holding of unnecessary stocks and inventories etc. The concept of lean production is an
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incredibly coercive and powerful approach any business who wants to become strong and
competitive. In lean production approach, the process followed by TESCO is that it
accomplishes things and works in simple ways, it involves doing things in better way,
involving all the employees and workers in the whole process of the improvement and as
a result of which the waste is avoided.2. Total quality management- it is a type of technique used in management and operation
which the company uses with intention to improve the internal process of the company
and ultimately to increase the customer satisfaction. It is the combined efforts of both the
employees and the management of the organization in order to maintain the customer
satisfaction and the loyalty of the customers towards TESCO.3. Just in time approach- it is a type of technique which is used by the company to reduce
or minimize the time required for the manufacturing and the time taken by the consumers
to respond to the manufactured goods (Omansky and Kanner, Autodesk Inc, 2014). It is a
strategy used to decrease the waste and to increase the efficiency by receiving the goods
only when they are required.4. Kaizen- it is a Japanese term which means change for the better or continuous
improvements. It is referred to as the continuous efforts which every employees take to
make sure that there is improvement in all the processes and the system used by the
company.5. Six sigma- it is a kind of technique which is used operation management in order to
improve the quality of the output produced by the company by analysing and removing
the problems due to which the process of production is delayed.
6. Queuing theory- also known as waiting line theory. This theory is applied to such
situations where the consumers come to the service or the product providers and they
have to wait for some time before they can have the product or the services and then
leave the place.
P5 Importance of operation management in achieving objective
Operations refers to a series of steps through which are to be followed in converting the
input into the outputs which adds the value to the company's product. The consumers have a
basic requirement that the product is of right quality and right quantity, must be available ate
appropriate price and place (Chatzoudes, Chatzoglou and Vraimaki, 2015). With these four
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requirements the company access the satisfaction of the customer that whether the consumer is
satisfied with the product or not. The operation management refers to the management of all the
resources that are used by the organisation to produce a product or the services. All these
resources are brought together by a series of steps because of which the resources are utilised and
converted into products which are delivered to the consumers.
Operation management is a multi – disciplinary field which aims at managing all the
aspects of the company. The job of operation management is to ensure that the quality of goods
and services in the production process is of the top most quality. It also focuses on the
development of different types of technologies and ideas with which the productivity of the
goods and services can be increased and the cost can be reduced.
This is a function which is responsible for organising, planning , controlling and
coordinating all the other types of materials and resources which are required to perform any
function of the company. The operation management is the fundamental part of any organisation.
And this also helps in achieving the business aims, goals and objectives. The importance of the
operation management for TESCO is discussed in the adjoining points -
 The function of operation management helps in achieving all the business goals and
objectives because it is the department which produces the products and because of this
only the company is run. All the other functions and departments run because of the
money earned from the selling of the product produced.
 Because of the operation department products are produced according to the requirement
and specification of the consumers and by consuming these products the customer is fully
satisfied. And because of this satisfaction the consumers promotes the product because of
which the reputation, goodwill and public image of TESCO increases (Russell and
Taylor, 2014). This in turn increases the sales and revenue for the company.
 With the help of good operation management system even the company can expand its
business by introducing a new product in the market. With help of research and
development department the company can develop a newer and better quality of products
and services. These new expanded or diversified products have a guaranteed success
because the earlier product was also successful.
 This department supports the other business functions and departments also. Because of
the production and the operation only all the other business departments run. For example
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if there is no product than there will be no promotion of the product and if there is no
promotion then there will be no marketing department. Similarly if there is no production
then there will be no existence of the company itself. So existence of all the other
department relies on the successful operation department.
 This function also helps TESCO in facing the cut throat competition in the business
environment and the market place. This is so because the operation and production
department of TESCO produces the products according to the specification and
requirements of the customers only (Schönsleben, 2016). There are four major
requirements of the consumers which are products must be of right quality and quantity
and also products must be available at right place and the right price.
 Operation management is also important to improve the overall productivity of the
company. The ratio of input to the output is referred to as the productivity. This
productivity helps TESCO in measuring the effectiveness, efficiency and the productivity
of the employees and the manager as well. This department also focuses on the optimum
utilisation of all the available resources which increases the overall productivity.
 The operation management and production activities creates many different types of the
opportunities for new jobs for the whole country either direct employment or indirect
employment. Direct employment means creating the job in the production and operation
department only. On the other hand, indirect job means creating the job opportunities and
options in the supporting departments of the operations like finance, marketing, sales,
customer support etc.
 With help of this department there is optimal and best usage of all the scarce resources
which leads to the enormous increase in the profits of TESCO. The efforts of the
employees and workers are optimally connected with the various available raw materials
and are effectively and efficiently utilized and converted into premium quality of the
product or the services (Qin, Nembhard and Barnes II, 2015).
 Operation management department and function is the heart and lifeline of the company
because it controls all the entire operations and functions of the whole organisation.
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TASK 4
P6 Factors affecting the operational management and decision making
Operation management refers to a process or a series of step through which the products
and services are created and delivered to the ultimate consumer and potential customers. It
includes designing, operation and improvement in the process of the production. This field that is
management and operation deals with the process of decision making relating to the production
process in order to make sure that consequent goods and services produced in accordance to the
customer specification and requirements, in the correct amount and schedule and also with
minimum cost. Decision making is an important function of the management. It includes
deciding from two or more alternatives from a variety of options and decision being available.
There are many factors which affects the TESCO 's operational management and the
decision making process. These factors and ways are discussed in the below mentioned points -
Objectives – every organisation works for fulfilling several ultimate objectives and goals
which the organization tries to accomplish and attain for sustaining the growth of the
organisation (Hübner, Holzapfel and Kuhn, 2015). In order to achieve the overall objectives each
department makes its own individual objectives, aims and goals, which if accomplished then
automatically the overall objectives are achieved. But some times this hampers the route of
achievement of the goals. To understand this let us take an example, suppose the objective of the
operation department is to increase the production capacity this can be achieved by employing
more latest technology, more efficient and productive employees and workers etc. On the
contrary, if the overall objective of the company is to lower down the per unit cost then both
these objectives work on contrary. This is so because the objective of operation department is to
employ more funds in the improvement and up gradation of the technology whereas the overall
objective promotes lowering down the cost which involves cutting down of costs of every
department.
Marketing changes – the success of every organisation depends on the success and
acceptance of the product manufactured or the services rendered by the company. So it is in the
case of TESCO as well. The success of the company always depends on the popularity of the
products present in the market (Reid and Sanders, 2015). The business environment and the
market place is not static and rather dynamic which means that the environment keeps on
changing. With these changing environment the standard of living of the consumers also changes
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in accordance with the changing environment. So the decision of the operational management is
also affected by the market changes also. This is because of the fact that the whole production
and operation depends on the preferences and specifications of the customers only. So the
operational management can not work or manufacture without keeping in mind the customers
preferences. If TESCO will not keep in account and follow the preference changes of the
customers then the company will definitely loose its customer base and start incurring losses.
Human resources – it is the blood of the organisation, without this the organisation can
not run its operations successfully and profitably. The operation and production is one such
department which needs the maximum number of the human resource capital majorly the worker
class. For this work the operation department needs workers who are tough, have good qualities
and traits, have high capacity of work and efficiency and productivity should be great. This
affects the decision making because if the employees and workers are not skilled and well
trained then the work will go on smoothly and profitably (Stevenson and Sum, 2014). If the
employees and workers are not well trained then either the company has to provide for the
training and development programmes and lectures to the existing employees or other option is
of to hire the new employees and workers.
Competitors – this is another major factor which affects the decision making related to
operational management or the production department. This factors majorly affects the business
and its performance and growth. This is so because now – a – days there is immense and tough
competition. It is not possible for every company to stand out in this though and huge cut throat
competition. For facing and standing the cut throat competition TESCO has to improve the
production and operation department of its company (Slack and Brandon-Jones, 2018). There
may be possibility that the competitors may have used new technology or might have gone for
product development and market penetration, or diversification or mergers and acquisition to
face the tough competition. So TESCO must study and critically analyse the strategies used by
their competitors so that it may also be able to face the competition.
Corporate social responsibility- this is referred to as the responsibility of the business
which it has to fulfil towards the society. The CSR covers the development of society, its
sustainability, ethics, impact of the business working on the society and many more things.
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Stakeholders- these are either individuals or group of individual who are related or are
affected by the working of the business. These stakeholders have some or the other interest in the
company because of which the stakeholders are attracted towards the company.
Intrapreneurship- this is a type of system whereby in the organization all the practices of
the entrepreneurship are followed and used. An intrapreneur is an individual who is responsible
to manage new ideas, innovate new products and manage new invention in the company.
All these factors affects the decision making very much. It is because of the reason that
all these factors have a great impact and influence on the working of the business.
CONCLUSION
After going thoroughly through the report it can be concluded that operation management
is the process of a series of steps which involves organising, planning , managing, directing,
supervising and controlling of the production processes and the manufacturing. This function
needs to be perfect because it improves the overall productivity of the business. The report
helped in learning about the various roles and characteristics performed by the leader within the
company and its comparison with the manager. Further with help of an example it depicted a
situation in which how the leaders deals and how the manager deals. Adding on it also infused
details about the different theories and models of the leadership. Further on it outlined the
different approaches to the operation management. After that it discussed about the implication
of operation management in achieving the objective. At last the report described the different
factors within the business environment which affects the operational management.
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REFERENCES
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