Leadership and Operations Management

The provided text appears to be a collection of academic articles and resources related to leadership and operations management. The content includes studies on situational leadership, transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and the role of empowering unit leadership in enhancing workplace well-being. Additionally, it covers business process reengineering, the importance of operations management, and organizational structure. It seems to be a comprehensive review of key concepts and practices in leadership and operations management.

Management & Operations

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................4
P1 The roles and characteristics of managers and leader in M&S Ltd..................................4
P2. The roles of a leader and the function of a manager in different situation......................6
P3. Different theories and models of approaches of leadership and management.................7
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................9
P4. The key approaches to operations management and the role managers and leaders play.9
P5. The importance and value of operational management in achieving business objectives of
M&S Ltd...............................................................................................................................10
P6. The factors of within business environment that impact the operational management of
M&S Ltd...............................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Operational management is an fundamental part of any organization as it handles issues
like design, operations, and maintenance of the system. Marks & Spencer Group plc is major
British multinational retailer company. M&S has founded in 1884, headquarter in Westminster,
London. The company is specialised in selling of clothes, home products and luxury food
products online and offline. It is a well-known brand in fashion industry that comes under retail
sector. The present report will discuss different roles played by operational manager and leaders
in operational management of Marks& Spencer Ltd. Further, report will also provide deeper
insight about different theories and models related to leadership. It will also highlight the manner
in which operation management contributes in the achievement of organizational goals and
objectives.
TASK 1
P1 Presenting the roles and characteristics of managers and leader in M&S Ltd.
Management Structure of M&S Ltd.

The image above shows the hierarchical structure is followed within Marks & Spencer Ltd
for managing operations effectually. There are 8 different departments which are governed under
the administration of Vice president and CEO of M&S Ltd. The HR department of the
organisation manages all the working of different departments with the rules and policies made
by the higher authority of M&S Ltd.
Managers and leaders both plays a significant role in managing planning and controlling
business operations and employees / workers of M&S Ltd.
Leader is the person who encourage, motivate and influence his employees and workers
to attain the objectives of organisation (Winston, Creamer and Miller, 2013). Where, a manager
is a person who manages the working of organisation with planning, controlling, directing their
employees.
The roles and characteristics possess by managers and leaders in M&S Ltd are:
BASIS OF COMPARISION LEADER MANAGER

Focus Leaders focuses on achieving
vision of the company
Managers focuses on the goals
and objectives of company.
working He sets direction of works to
be done by his employees
He sets plan of how the
working should be done by
employees.
Risk assessment Leaders are ready to accept the
challenges and taking risk
Managers avoid taking risk.
Working Leaders guides employees
towards success
Managers tells and direct the
employees about what to do.
Aim Development of company as
well as the employees.
Managers focuses on getting
the result and maintaining the
required results.
Roles Leaders are visionary for the
growth of company
Managers are day to day
thinker for attaining the
organization goals.
People They are one who are working
from top line of management.
They are one who is working
from bottom line of
organization.
Responsibility To enhance and motivate the
employees and subordinates
To manage, control, direct and
planning of business
operations of M&S.
P2. The roles of a leader and the function of a manager in different situation.
Leadership and management helps in controlling its followers or employees in different
situations depending upon their ability of performing and handling the situation. The situational
context can be applicable in both leadership and management and in both macro and micro level.
the roles and function of leader and manager can be identified with the changing complexity of
the jobs. The situational leadership model will defines the roles of leader and function of

manager on different stages of task performances in M&S Ltd (Cathcart, Greenspan and Quin,
2010). According to this model, each situation arises in a company requires a special leadership
and management style to take action on the situation at hand. In situational leadership, the style
may changes continually to meet the needs of others in M&S Ltd. Based on different situations.
The four leadership and management styles as per this model are as follow:
Telling and Directing:
A leader in a company will tell information about a decision, while manager will direct about
the decision taken. In both the case, leader or manager will provide the guidance and direction to
the employees about what to do and how to do the task. The leaders and top management will
closely supervise the work of employees. Company deals with manager who can distribute the
work to other employees.
Coaching and selling:
in coaching and selling phase, leaders and managers are engaged in communicating with the
employees regarding the task they are performing in given situation. In this phase, employees are
still supervised but it is more in selling or coaching manner, where there are close
communication of manager or leaders with their employees to motivate and encourage them.
These phase are for the employees who are inexperienced and still learning.
Participating and supporting:
In this phase, leaders and managers are engaged in making two way communication with the
employees but now they provide them less support then before. In this case, more responsibilities
are given to employees rather than leader and managers (CARLOS DO REGO FURTADO,
2011). The leader ill still provide some guidance but the ultimate task will need to be performed
by employers only. The leaders and manager will take the feedbacks to increase the motivation
and confidence and motivation with praise for the task completed by the employee.
Delegating to employees:
The management and leadership will start giving less support or direction to the employees
in this phase. The employees here are responsible for choosing the tasks and the direction of
work they will take. The leaders or managers will still contribute in giving direction or feedback
purpose, it will be less than other situational context styles. The top management will frequently
and randomly check the progress of the work they have allotted. Good leaders also delegate
duties as per the preferences or skills of the employees.

Managers and leaders plays an significant role in leadership and management of company
and its employees if any situation arises. For example, Marks &Spencer Ltd. Is going to
implement new technology in production department. The production manager will make a
strategy for the employees to train them according to the changed technology, where leader will
motivate them to adapt the technology and encourage them to put their efforts in increasing the
productivity.
P3. Different theories and models of approaches of leadership and management.
There are different theories and models of leadership and management which in turn
designed for the continuously changing business environment. Different leadership theories are
system leadership, contingency and situational leadership:
System leadership theory:
This leadership enables the leaders of M&S Ltd to create the condition where people at
all level can work productively. In system leadership, a leadership is a full understanding of
macro level patterns that also help the micro level pattern in M&S Ltd (McCleskey, 2014). It
uses the sound principles of basic human behaviour to create models of good leadership,
organisational strategy, system design and social process. It involves knowing what are the
issues of employees, their feelings in working at this level. The understanding of this changes
helps the system leadership to control the whole system of organisation rather than one particular
level. It will be necessary for the M&S Ltd. To solve the misunderstanding issues that creating
problems in the performance of a company as a whole. System leadership provides tools to that
help to predict the behaviour of employees within the organisation.
It is the responsibility of the manager or leader to analyse the macro- micro aspects of the
organisation to fully understand the system and work for the employees in order to lead the M&S
Ltd to attain its goals.
Contingency theories:
This theory centres on the belief that there is no best way for managers to lead. Different
situation in company creates different leadership style required by a manager (Laschinger,
Finegan and Wilk, 2011). The style that works in one situation might not be appropriate for
another. Leaders or manager adopts a style that is suitable for that particular task.

The contingency theories of leadership in concerned with two things, there is no better
style of leadership and a leader is effective when his style of leadership is fit in the particular
situation. The contingency theory is developed by Fielder which is based on three main factors:
 Task culture: this includes the task structure as the extent to which the job is clearly
described and the standard procedures required to complete the job on time.
 Leaders/ member relations: It applies to the amount of loyalty, dependability and
support a leaders get from his employees. If the relation of manager with employees are
good, the task culture will be highly structured and manager can reward or punish
employees without any problem (Dinh and et.al., 2014). But, if the relation between
manager and employees are not good, task culture will be poorly formed, and leaders or
manager don't have that much authority.
 Positioning power: it measures the power of leader or manager which is given by
organization according to which he can influence the employees for rewarding, punishing
and directing them.
Strength of Contingency theories:
◦ It leads to flexibility in management style. As it focuses that there are different ways
in leading other.
◦ It focuses on getting employees opinion also. A leader's effectiveness is depend on
their relationship with employees.
◦ The theories proposed that anyone can become leaders, based on how he behave in a
particular task.
Weakness of Contingency theories:
◦ There are inadequate literature which doest states various action which can be taken
under different situation.
◦ It is very complex to implement this theory.
Situational leadership:
This leadership is based on the amount of direction (task behaviour) and amount of
relationship behaviour a leader should provide given in a situation and as per the level of
maturity of the followers. Task behaviour is the extent to which the leaders gives the duties and
responsibilities to an individual or group. This includes telling employees what to do, how to do,

when to do. It is one way communication (Battilana and Casciaro, 2012). While relationship
behaviour is two way communication, where employees can communicate their problems and
get support from the leaders. Maturity of employees is the willingness and ability of the
employees to take the responsibility of doing task by himself.
Strength of Situational leadership:
 it has been in the marketplace for along time well known asnd used alot to train leaders in
an organization
 its practical, easy to understand, intuitively sensible and can be easily applied to different
contexts
Weaknesses of Situational Leadership:
 it has only a few related research studies conducted to justify assumptions and
propositions set forth by the approach raising questions about its theoretical basis
 it is hard to define how commitment is conceptualized according to this model
Management theories and models which M&S Ltd should implement in its organisation
are as follows:
Chaos Theory:
Chaos theory is the science of surprises and unpredictable. It is the theory which states to
predict the unpredictable. It can be expressed as a mixture of order and disorder behaviours that
can affect a wide range of behaviour (Mikes and Kaplan, 2013). It is the study of the systems
whose variables are nonlinear and can be changed within a short period of time. It is
management to bring all the unpredictable variable from the market together so that an effective
strategy and short term decisions can be made.
Management by Objectives:
It is the process of setting objectives in the organization to give appropriate direction to the
employees. It refers to setting goals for the employees so that they know what they are supposed
to do at the workplace. It helps in defining roles and responsibilities for the employees which
help them to know their task in the organisation (Williams, 2014). Management by objectives
guides the employees to deliver their best performance in their job to achieve the targeted with in
specified time period.

TASK 2
P4. The key approaches to operations management and the role managers and leaders play.
Operational management is a process of planning, organising, managing, controlling and
supervision production and manufacturing processes. The main objectives of operational
manager or leader in M&S Ltd is to make sure that delivery of products are done on time and
successfully turn the raw material into finished products. The smooth functioning of other
department in M&S Ltd is depends on the proper management of organisation's operations.
Operational management theory refers to the strategies used in structuring and
administrating business practices to create the efficiency in an organization (Azar and
Vaidyanathan, eds., 2016). M&S Ltd’s operations ability to convert the raw material and labours
into finished goods and services is the most efficient way to maximize the profitability of M&S
Ltd. The theories of operations management are: Total quality management: it is a management approach to long-term success through
customer satisfaction. All members of organisation participate in improving processes,
products, services, and the culture in which they work. It focuses on the improvement of
quality and performance in all functions, departments and process of all business
operations to provide the customer best quality services. M&S Ltd can train all the
employees in a professional manner and encouraged them to improve on themselves.
TQM helps let the companies to increase customer satisfaction, reduce costs and
encourage team work (VanStelle, and et.al., 2012). Total quality lead the company to
access global market, enhance customer loyalty, increasing goodwill of the brand etc.
successful implementation of TQM requires high efforts from employees, time,
motivation and patience.
 Six-Sigma: Six sigma is a method that provides managers and leaders of M&S Ltd the
tools that would improve the capability of their business processes. It is a statistical based
approach that leads to continuous improvement methodology for eliminating defects in a
product, process or services. It increase the performance and decrease the processes
variations that leads to defect reduction and enhance the overall profitability, employee's
motivation and quality of products or services (Girotra and Netessine, 2013). Six sigma
can be used to make business strategy, it helps in strategize its plan of action and help in
increasing revenue, decrease in cost and improve overall process of organisations.

Operational manager and leaders plays a significant role in making organisational
strategy in M&S Ltd. The important task that an operational manager and leaders have is to
plans, forecast and communicate. The role of manager and leaders of M&S Ltd in operational
management:
 Management of Resources: the operational manager and leaders in company is
responsible for managing both the resources and employees. Looking at inventory,
purchasing and supplying is the leading task played by them (Elliott, Swartz and
Herbane, 2010). Managers and leaders look after the determining the needs, hiring of
employees, forecast the production task and planning of development of employees in
company.
 Financial Management: It is the key responsibility of operational manager in making
production budget, controlling the cost spent and maintain the financial flow of the
organisation. The management of operational manager in supply chain and other
resources will help in minimising the production cost.
 Goal setting: Operational managers and leaders sets goals and objectives for various
department is M&S Ltd. Operational manager roles includes sales forecasting, planning
of sales volume and marketing plans (Organizational Structure of M&S Ltd, 2018). They
coordinate with other managers in company to establish a smooth process in attaining the
goals set by them.
 Communication: In order to work with other managers and leaders of several
departments in company, the operational manager needs to have good communication
and interpersonal skills. Operational managers cooperate in high level decision making
with higher authorities of organisation for decision making process.
P5. The importance and value of operational management in achieving business objectives of
M&S Ltd.
Operational management is the fundamental part of any organisation. It plays an
important role in success of M&S Ltd. OM is involved in creation of quality products or services
offered by M&S Ltd. It is important and challenging department for almost all type of
organisa5tion varying from manufacturing to retailer to services. Operational management can
be simply defines as a process which transform all inputs or resources through different

processes in finished goods and services (business process reengineering (BPR) ,2018). The
main objectives of operational departments is providing high quality effective operations which
will help in customer satisfaction and the increase the profitability of business. The importance
of operational management in achieving overall business objectives are as follows:
 Operational management involves the same roles in all type of industry. The elements of
OM includes planning, organising, staffing, monitoring controlling, and motivating its
employers. OM is required to manage the daily activities of production effectively. It
helps a company in making good use of all the available resources.
 Operational management is important to improve the overall productivity. The
relationship between inputs to output is called as productivity. It gives a measure of the
efficiency of manager and to all the employees in company. All the focuses of activities
are using the available resources in best possible manner to achieve the business
objective and overall productivity of the company.
 It helps in managing various business activities of business organisation that contributes
in making the products to deliver it to the ultimate customer according to their
requirement. Operational management plays a fundamental role in an M&S Ltd as it
control the entire operation in making products/ services as per the need of the customers
(The Role of an Operations Manager , 2018).
 The concept of effectiveness and efficiency revolve around the operational management
of M&S Ltd. Managing the operations is making the process to work effectively.
Operational processes involves integrating the organisational resources to get the product
in the right direction with cost effectiveness and reduction of wastage of company's
resources.
P6. The factors of within business environment that impact the operational management of M&S
Ltd.
Operational management and operational planning is the crucial part of a operational
manager and leader of M&S Ltd. Company's leaders and manager should set goals and develop a
plan for work activities, or operational activities which is desired to accomplish those goals. An
operational manager or leader will succeed only when he has an effective knowledge of all
factors which can have impact on the operational management of company. The factors which

operational manager and leaders face on daily basis and affect the operational management of
M&S Ltd are as follows:
Globalization: It is the interaction and integration among the companies from all over the world,
and government of different nations. It is operated by reducing the trade barriers, advancing the
information and transportation technology. Operational managers faces competition from all the
companies from all over the world. The operational managers with their creative skills make
effective plans to compete with the companies by improving the product quality with lower
pricing to make competitive advantage in industry.
Sustainability: Business operational sustainability is a method of determining effectiveness
practices of business without taking risk at future resources of business. Social, economic and
environmental sustainability is the pillars of business operations (Importance of operations
management ,2018). The operational manager must concern how the business practices are
affecting the three elements of sustainability.
Ethical Conduct: The operational manager should ensures that production function or
activities should not damage the consumer or the society. The operational manager should
implement all the ethical practices across all the business functions such as accounting, human
resource management, marketing, sales etc.
CONCLUSION
By summing up the above report, it can be concluded that operational management is
plays a significant role in all type of organisation. The above report addressed that roles and
responsibility of managers and leaders are crucial in managing and controlling all the business
practices in company. Study has included the role played by manager and leader in different
situation faced by Marks & Spencer Ltd. Different theories and models of leadership and
management are discussed in the report. The approaches of operational management like total
quality management and six sigma are addressed with the role played by managers and leaders in
OM. Further, the importance of manager and leaders in dealing with the wider impact of external
business environment are concluded in the report.

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Online
Organizational Structure of M&S Ltd. 2018 [Online] Available
Through:<https://apessay.com/order/?rid=cc49f4f3231bb03f>
business process reengineering (BPR) .2018 [Online] Available
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The Role of an Operations Manager . 2018 [Online] Available
Through:<https://smallbusiness.chron.com/role-operations-manager-14234.html>
Importance of operations management .2018 [Online] Available
Through:<https://www.mitsde.com/Blog/importance-of-operations-management/>