Operations Management at M&S

This solved assignment examines the crucial role of operations management in achieving business objectives for Marks & Spencer (M&S). It delves into both internal and external factors influencing operational decisions made by M&S leaders and managers. The analysis highlights how these factors shape the business environment and wider community, emphasizing the importance of implementing strategies and policies to enhance employee and organizational efficiency.

MANAGEMENT &
OPERATIONS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1. Roles and characteristics of leaders and managers..........................................................3
P2. Applications of role of manager and leader in different situations..................................5
P3. Theories and model of approaches ..................................................................................6
M1: Differentiate between role of a leader and manager.......................................................7
M2 Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to situations ....................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P4 Key approaches to operation management and role of leader and manger in the
organisation............................................................................................................................9
M3. Ways of improving efficiencies of operational management.......................................10
P5 Importance of operational management in achieving the objective of the business.......10
P6 , M4 Factors that have impact over the operational management and decision making.11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Operations management is an important part of any organization. This management
practice is used in an organization in order to convert labour and materials into goods and
services. This type of management is used to decrease the cost of product and increase the
productivity of organization. The company used in this report is Marks and Spencer. This is a
multinational company which is mainly focused on providing cloths, luxury food and home
products. This is a British Multinational retail Company which has its headquarter in The city of
Westminster, London. In this report, role of leader and managers are discussed with the
difference between their functionality. Appreciation of the roles of leaders and managers in
operations functions within the context of M&S is also discussed. Also this report will further
discuss the strengths and weakness of different theories and the factors of business environment
that impact on operations management and decision making. Using various leadership theories,
the key approaches of managers and leaders has been also discussed in this report.
TASK 1
P1. Roles and characteristics of leaders and managers
M&S is a company who is operating in retail sector which specialises in clothing, home
products, luxurious goods, etc. The company was established in 1884 by Michael marks and
Thomas Spencer. Marks and Spencer has over 84,940 employees from their 980 stores from all
over the country. Organisational structure of Marks and Spencer is flatter because there are
comparatively less levels of authority between administrative and low level employees.
Roles of a leader in M&S are as follows:
Decision-making:
This is an important part of any leader in an organization which helps in making decision
of organisation to make it stable and competitive. The leader of M&S should have quality to take
appropriate decision which will be better for the company in future aspects.
Good thinker:
A leader is person who is responsible in making long term decision. To be a long thinker,
leader of M&S should think in a innovative manner so that new technology should be
implemented in order to meet the requirement of customers.
Image Builder:

A leader is responsible in making the image of a company. Since all the decision taking
power in long term is in the hands of leader. Therefore the image building of a company is in the
hands of a leader. The leader of M&S, should build good image of company in order to win the
faith of its customers.
Functions of manager
Following are the functions of a manager in an organization
Implementation of plan:
A manager is liable of implementing the plans prepared by a leader. So that M&S should
convert those plans from paper to reality. Before implementing the plans, a market research is
required which helps in implementing those plans.
Top to bottom level management
A manager is should be able to handle the information from the top level to its bottom
and vice versa in M&S. Basically it is the bridge by which different poilcies and roles assigned
to employees passes.
Managing Co-ordination:
A manager has responsibility of making coordination among the team members and the
employees. This will enhance their productivity and efficiency. In M&S, managers should also
define tasks allotted to each and every individual.
Characteristics of a leader & Managers
Following are the characteristics of a leader and manager in M&S.
Focus:
A leader of M&S should focus on its organizations goals and objectives so that they can
prepare achievable policies for their employees. A manager should focus on implementing the
tasks assigned to its employees which will make them efficient enough to achieve the goal of
organization.
Innovative thinking:
Thinking of leader and manager should be innovative, so that the new trends and policies
can be implemented within M&S. This will help the company in meeting the requirements of its
customers.
Self-confidence and will power

A leader of M&S should be bold and confident enough to take decision in favour of
company. It should be able to take calculative risk. A manager of M&S should also have this
power because it has the responsibility of implementing decisions made by a leader.
P2. Applications of role of manager and leader in different situations
A situation in which a leader and manager of M&S should take decision is uncertain.
There could be any situation where they can suffer to take decisions. Therefore, they should be
prepare themselves in order to handle any harsh situation. Sometimes, they can also be in a
situation where risk is there to deal with that situation. In that case a manager and leader should
be bold enough to take appropriate decision which has minimal risk. Before taking decision, they
should be aware of the situation of company in the context of their employees performance,
financial condition of company and effect of that situation on their company. There are different
situation in which role of leaders and managers are discussed:
Decision against competitors:
Competition is all about race among the companies which are dealing in a particular
sector. M&S has also its competitors such as, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Aldi and many more. The new
policy implemented by its competitors can suffer M&S to survive itself in this competitive
market. In order to manage this situation. A leader of M&S should focus on new thinking of
innovation by which they can be able to handle this situation. If M&S wants to stay in this
market then it also has to do something which can be helpful to its customers. To do that
manager of M&S should also implement these thinkings and ideas by which they can survive
their business. As a result both the manager and leader should be bold enough to take calculative
risk.
Backup of idea:
As discussed above about the decision taking of leader and manager that they have to
take risks. Sometimes, risks not work and fails to success. If this situation arises, there is
responsibility of manager and leader to find a backup of this. If backup is not ready than M&S
can not survive in the competitive market. Therefore, it is duty of manager and leader to have a
backup ideas in case of failing of a given situation which will result in less efforts to be given in
such case.
Adopting new technologies:

If M&S is not adopting new technologies according to the market needs due to old
thinking of their bosses. This could lead a tough situation for the employee of M&S. Therefore in
this situation leader and managers should be able to handle that situation by adopting these new
trends and technologies to meet the requirement of their employees and customers which will
lead to increase in productivity and performance of the company.
Lack of collaboration:
If employees of M&S are facing lack of collaboration, this will decrease the overall
productivity and efficiency of their and organization. Therefore it is the duty of manager and
leader to handle this situation. In order to handle, they have to understand the issues between the
employees and overcome that as soon as possible. This will lead to increase in job satisfaction of
employees which will enhance their performance.
P3. Theories and model of approaches
Three types of approaches and theories to leadership are as follows:
Situational Approach:
In this theory decision is taken according to the situation. Sometimes a leader and
manager have to take instant decision to handle a situation which is must for the company. The
decision taken should be on the basis of financial condition of company, employee behaviour
and risk assessed with it.
Situation
M&S is operating its business in UK where temperature often cold. People wears winter
cloths and that is main sector of clothing where company deals. Now a days, due to
environmental changes temperature has increases by which leader and managers of M&S has to
take decision to manufacture cloths which can be used by its customers (Laudon and Laudon,
2016).
System Leadership:
This approach is used by a company for increasing the performance of its employee in a
given complex situation. It helps the managers and leaders to develop themselves and their
organization quickly and accurately in a competitive environment for a given complex situation.
This theory is experimented in different harsh condition and it has given a good response at
every moment to help the managers and leaders.
Situation

In M&S, the production team has built more than required cloths and sales department
has given the responsibility of selling those extra products. Salesperson of M&S now has to sale
more than its efficiency (Mahadevan, 2015).
Contingency Theory:
This situation arises when there is uncertainty in happening of events. This situation
impact business to a very extent because the uncertainty can be of any level. The situation arises
can be Tsunami, recession etc. These are uncertain because there is no prediction of these
situation.
Situation
If flood arises in UK around M&S' headquarter then its warehouse where i9ts cloths have
kept also flooded. In this condition there is a huge loss to company. To overcome this situation
contingency theory helps the managers and leaders in taking quick decision.
M1: Differentiate between role of a leader and manager
Basis Leader Manager
Aim Main aim of a leader is the
growth and development of
company by modifying their
strategies and policies
according to the external
environment.
Manager aim is to achieve the
maximum utilisation of
resources which includes raw
materials, human resources etc
so that mission and vision of
company would attain.
Focus Leader focus is to enhance the
performance of employees by
making policies which assist
them.
Manager focus is to help the
employees to perform with
their best productivity so to
attain increase the overall
efficiency of team.
Skills Leader has soft skills which
includes charismatic style,
good orator, excellent
interpersonal skills etc.
Manager has hard skills which
can be learned by taking
classes or coaching from the
tutor. It includes knowledge of

work in their specific field.
Leadership style Transformational style is opt
by leader where they have to
participate in their work and
motivate them to achieve
mission and vision of
company.
Transactional style is opt by
manager where their work is to
supervise their employees and
guide them so that they can
excel in their work at
workplace which leads to
increase in productivity.
M2 Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to situations
Situational leadership theory: The strength and weakness of this approach on this given
situation are as follows:
Strength:
 This theory focuses on taking instant decision on a given situation. M&S can handle
above situation by this approach. It helps in adopting new technologies for the given context to manufacture summer cloths
(Hitt, Xu and Carnes, 2016).
Weakness:
 There is a great risk in taking quick decision-making which can effect overall
performance of company. Company has to calculate the need for its customers. If it not done, this will increase their
inventory cost.
System leadership theory: Now according to this situation the strength and weakness of a
salesperson arises as follows:
Strength
 By using above condition the sales person has to increase its performance by which it is
able to face pressure. This situation increase its proficiency (Kerzner and Kerzner, 2017).
Weakness

 According to this situation, pressure on sales person increase a lot. By this its efficiency
has decreased.
Contingency Situation:
Strength:
 This theory helps the manager and leader in taking quick decision. This theory also helps the employees in taking calculative risks. So that company can
overcome such situation.
Weakness:
 This theory emphasises only on contingency theories i.e. it only deals in condition of
uncertainty.
TASK 3
P4 Key approaches to operation management and role of leader and manger in the organisation
The key approaches followed by M&S in operational management is as follows.
Decision theory approach:
This theory helps M&S in making effective decision. With the help of this manager and
leader are able to take effective decision which are in favour of M&S. There are various tools
with the help of that a manager and leader are able to take decision. This theory deals in
improvement of actions of individual according to situation.
Social System Approach:
Each and every organization have individuals which have different thinking and thoughts.
Sometimes, this different thinking creates issues in the cooperation and collaboration among the
employees. This theory deals in such situation where the issues related to social aspects has been
resolved. This theory provides satisfaction to the society's demands (Choi, Cheng and Zhao,
2016).
Production Scheduling approach:
Production is the important part of operational management. This theory deals in
effective management of production that are required to complete the procedure of production
process. The factors which may affect the production process are considered in this theory and
the solution of such issues is also there.
Human Behaviour Approach:

This approach deals in the development of human behaviour of managers and leaders. If
they does not follow good culture with their followers then the followers were not willing to
work for M&S. Thus will decrease the over productivity and efficiency of the company.
Therefore to effectively manage each and every employee in M&S. The behaviour of leader and
manager should be ethical and down to earth.
M3. Ways of improving efficiencies of operational management
There are different ways by which leaders and managers improve efficiencies of
operational management in order to meet organizational goal (Walker and et al., 2015).
Know your operations:
Each and every employee of M&S should know about their task and abilities so that they
can do their work accordingly. The tasks assignation is done by leaders and managers to each
and every employee.
Training:
To effectively improve the efficiencies of operational management a manager and leader
should train their employees and themselves. This will help them in increasing their skills and
efficiencies by which overall goal and objectives of organization can be achieved.
Improve customer service:
Customers are the real person by which a company gets to know about their products and
services offered. They are end user of M&S' products. Improving their experience with M&S
help the company in improving the efficiencies of labour and organization simultaneously.
Remove barriers to success:
There are many barriers which are in front of M&S to enrich their productivity in this
competitive market. These barriers include recent trends, decrement in economic stability and
many more. To effectively handle such situations, a manager or leader should focus on removing
such barriers from the path of success.
Review Process
The product manufactured by M&S should be reviewed first before going to sell in
market. This process helps in debugging the problems and issues related with customers
experience. This process helps the company to enhance their business and increase their
productivity.

P5 Importance of operational management in achieving the objective of the business
Successful management techniques have been implemented by M&S which help the
company to achieve their task. To effectively manage organization operations management is
must. This provides efficiency to perform a task with full potential (Ivanov, Tsipoulanidis and
Schönberger, 2017). Following are the importance of operational management to achieve goals
and objectives successfully:
Improve Productivity:
Operations management helps the company in improving its productivity. This happens
by managing the productions house and decreasing the inventory cost. This provides better
solutions to issues faced by a company.
To meet customer's competitive priorities
Customers are the end user of a product manufactured by a company. In the context of
M&S, the feedback by customers should be treated seriously. M&S should meet the
requirements of a customer because it is the person which uses their product. This will help
company in producing the quality products.
Minimize level of risk:
Operational management helps other department of organization. It gives data about the
production of units so that it can be calculated to know about the requirement of number of units.
Therefore operational management helps M&S to increase their productivity in organization.
P6 , M4 Factors that have impact over the operational management and decision making
Two types of factors are there which effect the operational management of M&S.
Internal factors:
These are the factors which occurs within the organization. These factors are directly
related with the operation of M&S. In this factor, following can be included:
Owner:
These are the person who have proprietary of business. These person have full right to
influence the decision-making of M&S. They can be individual and group. The person who can
influence the decision-making have their shares in company. Therefore, they can affect the
operational management of a business.
Employees:

These are the back bone of a business which are often called human resource. The
demands of employees should be complete because they can affect the business by strike and
revolt. Therefore the business and operations of M&S can be affected to a great extent (Hill and
Hill, 2017).
Culture:
This is also an important part which can affect the business. In this organization's culture
which they follow is discussed. If M&S is not following a proper environment in their company
then this will affect the rights of their employees which in short also affects the working of
operations.
External Factors:
These are the factors which doe not have any relation with business but they affect their
working.
Political factor:
This is the factor related to the politics of a country. Each and every business wants to
stay in a country where there is stability in politics. Instability increase the risk of increasing
duties which affect the business very much. Therefore this factor can also affect the operational
management of M&S.
Economical factor:
This factor include economic stability of a country. A business cannot be performed well
instead the country in which it is operating have good economic condition. Economic conditions
include the purchasing power of customers and GDP growth rate.
Social Factor:
This factor includes the social factors in which customer's personnel opinions are
included. In the context of M&S, the personnel opinions are the type o0f food a person likes in
which taste or health issues are included. Therefore a company has to focus on including these
factors.
Technological:
This factor include the technological factors that a company should posses. In the context
of M&S, company should operate its business online so that it become easier to their customers.
If it is not done then it can affect the operation of M&S (Lewis and Slack, 2014).

CONCLUSION
It has been analysed that operations management plays a important role in the
development of M&S. The roles and responsibilities of managers and leaders are interlinked with
each other and inefficiency of one can affects the performance of other or of the organisation.
The roles, responsibilities and characteristics of managers and leaders are explained with context
of M&S. Various theories and models of leadership along with the importance and value of
operations management in achieving business objectives has been discussed in the report.
Further the internal and external factors that impacts upon the operational management and
decision-making by Leaders and managers of M&S has also been analysed. These factors greatly
affects the business environment and wider community which can be minimised by the
management of M&S by implementing required strategies and policies for improving the
efficiency of employees and as well as of the organisation.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
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challenges in the retail supply chain. Kogan page publishers.
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Education.
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pp.1182-1206.