Comparison of Roles and Characteristics of Managers and Leaders

This report discusses the roles and characteristics of managers and leaders in an organization. It also analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to leadership and management. The impacts made by leaders and managers on the organization are identified and suitable recommendations are provided.

OPERATIONS
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
ACTIVITY 1...................................................................................................................................3
P1: Comparison between the different roles and characteristics of a manager and a leader.......3
LO2..................................................................................................................................................5
P2: Role of a leader and function of a manager when faced with different scenarios.................5
P3 Theories and models of situational leadership, system leadership and contingency.............6
ACTIVITY 2...................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14
Books and Journals....................................................................................................................14
Online........................................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Operations management is defined as a management practice concerned with the efficient
conversion of labour and materials into goods and services by an organization (Operations
Management, 2019). In this report the management structure of Rolls Royce is discussed. R.R
follows a matrix organizational structure providing high management levels in between the front-
line employees and administration. This structure allows the company to encourage its
employees to work effectively. In this report the roles of both managers and leaders in a
company is discussed. Also, the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to leadership
and management are analysed and suitable conclusion are drawn. The impacts made my leaders
and managers on the organization are identified and suitable recommendations regarding the
same are provided.
ACTIVITY 1
P1: Comparison between the different roles and characteristics of a manager and a leader.
Leadership is simply defined as an art of motivating or influencing a group of people to
act towards achieving a predetermined common objective. However, a leader is an individual
that holds a dominating and superior position amongst a group of people, having the power to
influence and control that particular group. Leader is also defined as an individual that embodies
the methods and techniques of leadership in order to achieve common future goals. The term
management can be defined as a process by which the objectives of an organization are
accomplished with the help of efficient utilization of present resources whereas, a manager is an
individual to which management task is assigned. It is the function of the manager to plan,
organize, control or direct possible ways on order to achieve the desired goals of an organization.
The different roles of leaders and managers in an organization are explained as below.
Basis of Comparison Manager Leader
Purpose in organization Managers are concerned with
achievement of organizational
objectives in R.R., and are
further responsible for planing,
organizing, direction and
Leaders are concerned with
influencing their subordinates
in order to achieve a
predetermined goal in R.R.

control of the same.
Aim To provide growth and
development to R.R.
To achieve the given goals in
time for R.R.
Motivation and training Managers are required to
correctly measure the
employee performance and
provide suitable training and
guidance to underperforming
employees in order to assure
eased achievement of
organizational objectives
(Shastri, Hoda and Amor,
2017).
Leaders are required to
motivate their subordinates and
provide them with suitable tips
and tricks to accomplish the
predetermined goals (Huang,
Huang and Chang, 2019).
People They are required to organize
people into suitable groups
and subgroups in accordance
with their possessed skills and
talents.
They are required to align
people to complete provided
tasks.
Goals Managers set goals for the
employees in accordance with
the fulfilment of the objectives
of the organization.
Leaders provide their
subordinates with necessary
vision and motivation in order
to successfully accomplish the
goals.
Risk taking Managers allow the
implementation of controlled
risks providing a suitable
growth to the organization.
Leaders encourage their ream
members to take risks in order
to learn from their mistakes.
Characteristic of Manager
 Experience- It is must for a manager to have a professional experience so that it may be

possible for him/her to lead the operations of an organization.
 Knowledge- A manager should be knowledgeable enough about the methods by which an
organization can be positively managed.
 Reliability- It is a compulsion for a good manager to be reliable enough to the employees.
He/She must be available in time of need by the employees and in turn should provide
them with all the necessary support.
 Delegation- Delegation of work is to be facilitated by a resourceful manager, so that all
the required targets can be achieved in time (Naomi, and Huiyu, 2018).
Characteristic of Leaders
 Courage- A good leader must be courageous enough to handle criticism and ridicule.
 Confidence- A leader must be confident enough to lead a group of individuals by himself.
 Optimism- Being optimistic about ant situation helps a leader to maintain positive work
environment within his/her team (Friedrich, Griffith, and Mumford, 2016).
LO2
P2: Role of a leader and function of a manager when faced with different scenarios.
A leader is defined as any individual who can influence a group of people altogether in
order to achieve a predetermined goal. Mostly, the role of a leader in an organization is
concerned with leading a team of people in order to achieve given goals in time. However, a
manager is defined as any individual that works to achieve the objectives of the organization. It
is the job of a manager to set goals for the employees. The role of a leader and a manager can be
better understood with the help of examples given below.
Situation I (Launching a new product): Consider the case of Rolls Royce, where the company
has decided to launch a new product in electric car segment. In this particular scenario, it is the
role of a manager to develop required sales strategies and set goals for the leaders regarding the
same. It is then the leader to communicate the necessary information regarding the working of
design and description of new electric car to team members. It is also the role of the leader to
suitably mentor and motivate its team members to ensure their positive performance in the initial
sales. It is the role of the manager to increase the customer value of the new brand with the help
of educating the public regarding various properties and features of the car in general. A good

leader should advise its subordinates to capture initial customer feedback regarding the overall
quality of the electric car and communicate the same to the manger. The manger must learn from
the shortcomings based on the feedback received and must plan new and improved strategies to
accomplish the goals in time.
Situation II (Conflict management): In order to develop a new electric car segment like Rolls
Royce, have recruited new employees in the workplace and there arose a rivalry between new
and old employees which resited in the conflict between them. Here, it is the role of a leader to
function as a negotiator between the employees. In this situation a leader must work to present
the situation of employees in front of the management. The manager must abide by the rules of
the company and come up with necessary solutions. It is the responsibility of a manager to take
suitable decisions to settle the conflict. Finally, a leader should facilitate easy communication
between both the parties to successfully counter the problems until situation gets normal.
Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the manager to develop new strategies to avoid such type
of conflict in the future (Rahim, 2017). Hence, the team leader must provide a clear vision to the
employees to positively work for the organization.
P3 Theories and models of situational leadership, system leadership and contingency
Leader is a person who is responsible for motivating and influencing team member for
effective performance to achieve organisational goals. Leadership theories explains the various
traits and skills required by leader for influencing employees to enhance their performance.
Contingency theory: In this theory leader match its leadership style with situation so it does not
adapt to the situation. This theory emphasis that leader should choose appropriate leadership
style by matching it with the situation (González-Cruz, Botella-Carrubi and Martínez-Fuentes,
2019). Good leader should have ability to evaluate needs of employees and situation in order to
effectively influence people in the organisation.
Advantages: Contingency theory is dynamic in nature thus leader can use different leadership
styles for different individual and situation.
Disadvantages: In practical contingency theory is complex so become difficult for manager to
handle the situation.
Fiedler's contingency Theory: This model matches style of leadership with situation with the
help of LPC to get best result out of it.

High LPC Score: It includes such leader that focus on people oriented which means they try to
influence people by building strong relationship with them.
Low LPC score: Such leader are task oriented thus influence people by considering task and
positional power.
Situational: This theory explains that no single leadership style is applied to all situation so a
leader should use various leadership style in order to motivate different individuals (Maurer and
London, 2018). Leader should effectively evaluate the task, working environment and other
factors for increasing performance of employee for attainment of organisational goals.
Advantages: Enhance employees performance by providing good and flexible working
condition.
Disadvantages: Ineffective result in case of task oriented environment.
Hersey and Blanchland's Leadership Styles:
Telling: In this leader inform and explains people about their work.
Selling: In this leader influence people to use of new and innovative idea for achievement of
company goals.
Participating: In this style leader encourage ideas and opinion of employees to create feeling of
belongingness and part of organization for effective achievement of company goals.
Delegating: In this leader delegate authority and responsibility to employees thus leader
involvement is less.
System leadership: This theory is based on sound principle of human behaviour that helps
leaders to pursue such leadership that is suitable for every individual thus it helps in enhancing
performance of employees (Roe, 2017). Leader by providing good working condition is able to
influence employees to work together and coordinate their efforts for achievement of company
goals.
Key elements as per situational context
Major product and service launch: For launching new product in case of contingency it can
leader can use task oriented leadership style. In case of situational it has to inform about the
product, influence them to adapt to new idea, encouraging their view and opinion and providing
certain authority for effectively launching of new product. System leadership it has to provide
good working environment to pursue employees.

Conflict management: In case of contingency, situational and system leadership leader has to
build strong relationship with employees thus has to follow people oriented style. It has top
provide good working condition and strong inter relationship in order to reduce conflicts
between employees. Thus, by using such leadership leader is able to effectively motivate and
influence employees to enhance its skills and knowledge for attainment of organization goals.
ACTIVITY 2

CONCLUSION
It is concluded that there is a large difference in the roles and characteristics of managers and
leaders in an organization. It is further concluded that different models of approach in operations
management can largely increase the efficiency by which overall business goals are achieved.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
González-Cruz, T .F., Botella-Carrubi, D. and Martínez-Fuentes, C. M., 2019. Supervisor
leadership style, employee regulatory focus, and leadership performance: A
perspectivism approach. Journal of Business Research. 101. pp.660-667.
Maurer, T. J. and London, M., 2018. From individual contributor to leader: A role identity shift
framework for leader development within innovative organizations. Journal of
Management. 44(4). pp.1426-1452.
Roe, K., 2017. Leadership: practice and perspectives. Oxford University Press.
Shastri, Y., Hoda, R. and Amor, R., 2017, February. Understanding the roles of the manager in
agile project management. In Proceedings of the 10th Innovations in Software
Engineering Conference (pp. 45-55).
Huang, C.Y., Huang, J.C. and Chang, Y., 2019. Team goal orientation composition, team
efficacy, and team performance: The separate roles of team leader and members. Journal
of Management & Organization, 25(6), pp.825-843.
Friedrich, T.L., Griffith, J.A. and Mumford, M.D., 2016. Collective leadership behaviors:
Evaluating the leader, team network, and problem situation characteristics that influence
their use. The Leadership Quarterly, 27(2), pp.312-333.
Naomi, K.O.D.A.M.A. and Huiyu, L.I., 2018. Manager Characteristics and Firm
Performance (No. 18060).
Rahim, M.A., 2017. Managing conflict in organizations. Routledge.
Online
Operations Management. 2019. Available Through:
<https://www.kbmanage.com/concept/operations-management>