Operations Management: Leadership, Management, and Business Environment

This report explores the crucial roles of leadership and management in achieving business objectives through effective operations management. It delves into the differences between leaders and managers, examining their respective roles and responsibilities within an organization. The report also analyzes various leadership theories and models, including situational leadership and contingency leadership, and their application in real-world scenarios. Furthermore, it examines key approaches to operations management, such as continuous improvement, Six Sigma, Total Quality Management, and Just-in-Time, highlighting their importance in optimizing organizational processes and achieving efficiency. The report concludes by discussing the impact of the business environment, including internal and external factors, on operational decision-making, emphasizing the significance of corporate social responsibility, organizational culture, values, ethics, and stakeholder relationships in shaping successful operations.

MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS

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INTRODUCTION
The core functions for the survival of any business organisation are the business operations
and business management. They are interconnected and interdependent on each other as
such the management of the company is responsible for formulating strategies and policies
for the future actions and operations of the business unit. The operations management is
just one part of the overall organisational management and like other functional
management, it also plays a significant role in the accomplishment of overall business
objectives of the organisation (Krajewski, et al., 2015).This assignment report will help in
providing a better understanding of the leadership and management and their importance
and roles & responsibilities in the operations management of the business organisation. This
report will help in assessing the functions and roles of leaders and managers in the business
organisation and the different concepts and approaches of operational management and
leadership for growth and development of the business organisation.
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TASK 1
INTRODUCTION-
The management and leadership are the major parts of the business organisation. The
success, survival and growth of the company are dependent upon efficient management
and leadership. If the management or leadership fails it will result in the failure of the
organisation(Schein, 2010). The leaders and managers play a significant role in shaping the
organisation and both are different from each other in terms of their roles, responsibilities
and functions. The H&M Company should adopt relevant approaches and concepts of
leadership for achieving the overall organisational objectives and goals.
P1 DEFINITION AND COMPARISON OF THE ROLES AND CHARACTERISTICS
OF A LEADER AND MANAGER
The management and leadership are like the two sides of one coin. The leadership is a skill
and ability of an individual whereas; management is a discipline according to which
individual acts. The leaders and managers play an essential role in the development of the
company. A leader and a manager are defined below:
LEADERS
A leader is the one who influences other towards the attainment of specific goals and
objectives of the company. A leader has a clear vision and objectives and he motivates and
inspires his subordinates in such a way that his vision becomes their common vision
(Bolden, 2016). The H&M Company requires leaders at several levels and departments of
the organisation for successfully accomplishing the organisational tasks and operations.
MANAGERS
The manager is an individual responsible for managing several activities of the organisation
with proper planning and decision-making to ensure the achievement of the organisational
objectives. The managers should get the work done by the employees and staff of the
organisation with the help of the several tactics and ways (Bolden, 2016). In H&M various
types of managers at different levels are presented such as top-level managers, project
managers, functional managers and general managers. The top-level managers are
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responsible for formulating vision, mission and strategies of the organisation. The functional
managers are accountable for the accomplishing the functional objectives such as
marketing, finance, human resource, sales etc. the project managers are responsible for
successful completion of the particular project and the general manager performs several
activities for managing the business.
COMPARISON BETWEEN THE ROLES OF LEADERS AND MANAGERS
BASIS LEADER MANAGER
Approach The leaders set directions for the
plans.
The manager plans the details.
Attribute The leaders are required to have
foresightedness to ensure the
success of the plan.
The managers are required to
have a proper mindset to
perform the plan.
Subordinate The leaders have followers. The managers have employees.
Style The leaders follow a
transformational style of
leadership.
The managers follow
transactional style.
Conflict The leaders can use conflicts as
an asset and tool for
improvisation (Surbhi, 2014).
The manager tries for avoiding
conflicts as more as possible.
Decision The leader facilitates the
decisions.
The managers formulate
decisions.
Aim The leaders aim towards the
growth and development of the
organisation.
The managers aim towards the
attainment of the pre-
determined goals and required
results.
Focus The leaders focus on the people. The manager focuses on the
procedure and process (Surbhi,
2014).
Risk Leaders tend to minimize risks. Managers tend to take risks.
Change The leaders promote changes. The managers react to the
changes.
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The different characteristics traits and qualities of leaders and managers of H&M are stated
below:
CHARACTERISTICS OF A LEADER
 Vision
 Positive attitude
 Open –minded
 Ability to inspire
 Self-assurance
 Social boldness
 Enthusiasm
 Emotional stability
 Conscientiousness
 Dominance (Giltinane, 2013)
CHARACTERISTICS OF A MANAGER
 Patience
 Accountability
 Competence and warmth
 Positive attitude
 Cultural affinity
 Etiquette
 Discipline
 Work commitment
 Decision-making
 Flexibility
The leaders play a positive role in figuring out the hidden talent of his followers and provide
proper guidance to them (Lunenburg, 2011). On the other hand, managers play a little
negative role where he has to criticize employees to bring best out of them without
demoralizing the employees.
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P2 APPLICATION OF THE ROLES OF LEADERS AND FUNCTIONS OF
MANAGERS IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS WITHIN THE ORGANISATION
The roles of leaders and the function of manager shape the overall activities and operations
of the organisation. The roles of leaders and the functions of managers are discussed below:
ROLES OF LEADERS:
 Inspire people: the successful leaders are credible for inspiring the followers and
other people with a character and competence.
 Create a vision: the main role of leaders is to clearly define where the team or a
group is going and how they can reach there.
 Execute the strategy: the leaders are required to continuously and consistently
achieve the results through the process (Lunenburg, 2011).
 Potential coaching and guidance: the leaders are required to provide guidance to
the followers and unleash their abilities for improving the performance of the overall
group.
FUNCTIONS OF MANAGERS:
According to Henri Fayol the five major functions of managers are:
Figure 1 Functions of Manager
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[Source: https://expertprogrammanagement.com/2017/11/five-functions-of-management/
 Planning: The managers are required to draw an action plan with respect to the
implementation and time for future activities of the organisation. The managers
must assess the required and available resources for effective planning.
 Organising: The managers should organise the required resources such as capital,
employees and raw material for initiating and implementing the plan into action. The
organising function requires a good division of tasks and activities.
 Commanding: This function involves giving clear working instructions and orders to
the employees so that the employees could exactly know their responsibilities
(Fayol, 2016). This involves the clear communication and regular audits of the
employee performance.
 Coordinating: This function is related with the establishment of the harmony and
coordination among the overall organisational structure and functions. This helps in
stimulating positive environment within the organisation.
 Controlling:this involves proper monitoring and controlling of the activities and
performance of the employees for ensuring the successful attainment of the planned
objectives and goals.
In order to clearly understand the role or leaders and functions of managers in the H&M
Company, the following examples could provide a proper answer:
Example 1 when H&M wants to inspire and motivates its employees for efficient working
during the season of sale
Here, in this situation, the leaders of the organisation are required to efficiently perform
their roles as it is the major role of leaders to inspire and motivate their subordinates in
achieving the common goal of the organisation (Giltinane, C.L., 2013). During the season of
sale, the leaders of H&M are required to use several tactics to encourage the employees
and giving their best in the organisation.
Example 2 when H&M wants to formulate strategic decisions for managing and performing
the operations of the organisation during peak seasons
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In the aforementioned situation, the managers are required to perform the function of
planning, coordinating and controlling within the organisation (Giltinane, 2013). The
managers of H&M are required to plan efficient decisions and strategies for maintaining the
flow of work and managing the several activities of the organisation. And managers are also
required to coordinate and control the operations for ensuring the effectiveness of overall
organisational performance.
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P3 APPLICATION OF DIFFERENT THEORIES AND MODELS OF APPROACH OF
LEADERSHIP IN THE ORGANISATION
SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP
The situational leadership model IS proposed by Kenneth Blanchard and Paul Hershey. It is a
leadership style through which the managers and leaders of the organisation try to fit with
the level of the followers by adjusting their leadership approach and style in order to
influence and motivate them towards to achievement of the common organisational goal
(McCleskey, 2014).The leaders in the situational leadership have the full authority to change
the leadership style as and when needed. The leaders may continuously change the style to
meet the needs and demands of the situation.
Figure 2 Situational Leadership Model
[Source: http://situational.com/the-cls-difference/situational-leadership-what-we-do/]
This model of leadership serves as the framework for analysing different situations and is
totally based on the relationship between the readiness of the followers and leadership
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style of the leaders (McCleskey, 2014). The analysis of each situation is based on the
following points:
 The amount of task behaviour (guidance and direction)
 The amount of relationship behaviour (socio-emotional support)
 The maturity level of the followers
Through the model of situational leadership the leaders of H&M will learn to demonstrate
critical and common leadership competencies:
1. Diagnose: Trying to understand the situation for influencing others (McCleskey,
2014).
2. Adapt: Adopt the behaviour to response the contingency of the situation within the
organisation.
3. Communicate:Efficiently interact with other people so that they can accept and
understand.
4. Advance:It is related with the management of movement by the leaders.
CONTINGENCY LEADERSHIP
The contingency theory of leadership is developed by Fred E. Fiedler. It is based on the study
of the group effectiveness and it focuses on the relationship between organisational
performance and leadership (Juneja, 2018). According to the theory, for achieving the group
effectiveness through leadership it is needed to assess the situation confronted by the
leaders and also assess the leaders according to their traits for constructing the proper
relationship between these two factors.
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Figure 3 Contingency Leadership Model
[Source: https://businessjargons.com/fiedlers-contingency-model.html]
This theory states that the behaviour of the leaders is dependent upon the favourability of
the leadership situation. The favourability of the leadership situation could be determined
by the three factors:
 Task structure:The favourability of the task structure could be described as
structured or unstructured and the extent to which the situation can handle by
detailed instructions (Juneja, 2018).
 Leader-member relations: The favourability is described by the degree of trust and
willingness to work among the leaders and members.
 Position power: It could be described as the degree of authority which a leader can
exercise on the group members.
Under this theory, the effectiveness of the leaders of the H&M could be determined by the
interaction between the favourableness of the situation and the leadership behavioural
style of the leaders (Fiedler, 2015). When the relationship between the leaders and
members and leaders will be good and the task is well structured then the position-power of
the leaders will also become strong.
CONCLUSION-
The aforementioned report will help the H&M to clearly understand differences between
the leaders of the organisation with respect to the roles and responsibilities played by them.
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The two major theories discussed above will enable the leaders and majors to establish an
effective leadership within the organisation for increase the profitability of the company by
influencing and motivating the employees.
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TASK 2
ARTICLE-
P4 THE KEY APPROACHES TO OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT AND THE ROLES
THAT LEADERS AND MANAGERS PLAY
The term operations management refers
to the administration of the business
activities for creating a highest possible
level of efficiency within the organisation.
The operations management of Amazon is
directly responsible for determining and
optimizing the efficiency of the
organisation. Amazon uses technology to
increase the efficiency of its operations
management. The organisation could also
follow some of the below discussed
approaches for continuous improvement
of its operations.
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
The continuous improvement approach
refers to the constant and on-going
improvement of the organisational
system, process and products & services.
This continuous improvement could be
done through the incremental and
breakthrough approach. The incremental
improvement can be done over time and
the breakthrough improvement can all be
done at once (Lindsayand Evans, 2010).
Some of the most widely used methods of
continuous improvement are:
SIX-SIGMA
The six-sigma is the methodology used for
improvising the quality of operations
management by removing the defects and
errors and reducing the time and cost of
the operations in the organisation.The
major concept of this approach is to
reduce variations in a particular process
which leads towards the consistent and
desired results (Pyzdekand Keller, 2014).
Therefore, the key goal behind the six-
sigma approach is to continuous
improvement of the systems and
processes with the minimization of the
errors and defects for efficiently achieving
the organisational goals and objectives.
The top managers are requisite to
significantly analyse the requirements for
introducing six-sigma approach in the
organisations as this method requires
higher strategic planning and the leaders
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are required to encourage and train the
employees for the adoption of the
approach.
TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
The total quality management approach
could be effectively used for improving
the overall organisational management
and operations. This process focuses on
the improvement of the quality of the
organisational system, process and
products & services through continuous
improvement of activities and operations
within the company (Goetsch and Davis,
2014). Under this approach, some quality
standards have been set by the company
that reflects the current industry
standards and integral priorities of the
company. The major aim of TQM
approach is to establish a high level of
customer satisfaction in the market. The
Amazon could use this approach for
marinating and managing the quality of
the overall organisational process and
products for increasing the productivity of
the organisation to gain higher customer
value and satisfaction (Lindsay and Evans,
2010).
The managers are needed to act as a
facilitator at the workplace for appointing
right employees for implementation of
the approach and the leaders are
responsible to provide proper guidance
and encouragement to them.
JUST IN TIME
Just-in-time is the inventory focused
approach. It can be used as a strategy to
order and receive the resources at the
time of the requirement during the
production process within the
organisation. The major aim of this
approach is to minimize the wastage of
the material for reducing the cost of the
production and overhead inventory
expenses (Laiand Cheng, 2016).The key
requirement of this approach is to have an
accurate ability to forecast the demands
and requirements of the operations.
The managers are required to
appropriately forecast the demands on
time to avoid hindrances to the
production process and the leaders are
responsible for ensuring proper
operations of the production without any
wastage and errors.
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P5 THE IMPORTANCE AND VALUE OF OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN
ACHIEVING BUSINESS OBJECTIVES
The managers and leaders of the Amazon
are responsible for ensuring effective
operations management for achieving the
ultimate business objectives of the
organisation (Heizer, 2016). The
operations function of the company helps
and support the manager and leaders in
following objectives:
 Reduction of the development and
manufacturing time newly
introduced products and services.
 Achievement of the sustainable
and high-quality products and
services with minimizing the cost
of production.
 Integration of new technologies
and control system into the
existing system and process of the
organisation.
 Collaboratively and effectively
working with other functions.
In order to effectively achieve the above
business objectives, the managers and
leaders are essentially needed to perform
their respective roles and responsibilities
by applying several strategies and tactics
in operations management (Heizer, 2016).
In Amazon, the importance and value of
operations management for achieving the
ultimate business objectives are discussed
below:
1. Design of goods and services:the
managers of Amazon have
formulated a strategic decision of
using advanced communication
and information technology to
ensure efficient operations of its
online retail services (Ferguson,
2017).
2. Layout design and strategy:The
managers and leaders optimize the
movement of the organisational
resources through the alignment
of effective layout and design with
effective operations management.
3. Quality management: For
improving the quality of the
operational output and satisfying
the customer’s expectations,
Amazon involves the approach of
continuous improvement and total
quality management in its business
(Ferguson, 2017).
4. Location strategy: It also ensures
the ease for accessibility of
resources and market for ensuring
the proper flow of operations.
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5. Inventory management: It
facilitates in maintain the optimum
holding and ordering of the
inventories in the company.
6. Supply chain management:The
operational management also
helps in improvising the supply
chain by using several techniques
such as automation use of
information technology (Ferguson,
2017).
7. Process and capacity design: The
efficient operations management
also helps in optimizing the
production capacity and process of
the company.
8. Maintenance:The effective
operational decision enhances the
stability and reliability of the
processes of operations and
maintains all the technological
assets of the organisation.
9. Scheduling: The managers and
leaders consider the scheduling of
the organisational activities into
the intermediate and short-term
periods for ensuring availability of
resources and effectiveness of the
performance (Ferguson, 2017).
10. Job design and human resources:
The effective strategic operations
decision of the managers also
helps in ensuring the maintenance
of the human resource in the
organisation by using a
combination of employment
processes.

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P6THE FACTORS WITHIN THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT THAT has AN
IMPACT UPON THE OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT AND DECISION-MAKING
BY LEADERS AND MANAGERS
The business environment of Amazon is
consisting of several internal and external
factors that have a direct or indirect
influence on the operations and decision-
making of the organisation. The managers
and leaders of the organisation must
assess these factors to take advantage of
the opportunities and to avoid the threats
caused due to the factors of the business
environment. The external factors of
business environment are divided into
two i.e. macro-environmental and micro-
environmental (Trkman, 2010). The
macro-environmental factors are
economic, technological, socio-cultural,
political-legal and international and the
micro-environmental factors are
suppliers, competitors, customers and
regulators. The major internal factors of
business environment are employees,
owners, a board of directors and overall
organisational culture.
In order to confront with such factors, the
managers and leaders of Amazon are
required to evaluate and assess these
environmental factors to gain a proper
understanding of the business
environment for making efficient and
appropriate decisions and maintain the
flow of operations for organisational
growth and development.
The leaders and managers of Amazon
should also consider the establishment of
the CSR policy within the organisation to
ensure the fulfilment of its social
responsibility and contribute in the overall
development of the society and
environment (Trkman, 2010).
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
The CSR is an approach used by the
business organisations to contribute to
the sustainable growth and development
of the environment, community and
society by delivering environment-friendly
and quality products and services in the
market. The CSR enables Amazon to
produce an overall positive impact on the
society and the environment (Schwartz,
2017). It encourages the managers and
leaders to adopt sustainable, ethical and
right business operations to add value to
the overall business environment.
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CULTURE
The culture of the organisation can be
defined as the collective values,
assumptions, beliefs and way of
interaction among the members of the
organisation that contributes to the
creation of unique psychological and
social environment within an
organisation. The culture governs how an
individual behaves within the
organisation. The culture has a wide
impact on the decision making of the
leaders and managers as it influences
thinking and the ability of the managers
and leaders in the organisation (Schwartz,
2017). In operations management, the
work culture establishes a basis for
further operations and establishes a
synchronisation among the employees.
VALUES
Values are the set principal or standards
of the behaviour of an individual within an
organisation.In Amazon, the managers
and leaders are required to consider the
values of its customers and employees
before formulating the strategies and
decisions (Trkman, 2010). The products
and services of the organisation must by
develop after the proper analysis of the
values of the customers and the
operations of the business must be plan
according to the values of the employees.
ETHICS
The Amazon needed to practice the
ethical business operations for following
its corporate social responsibilities (Ojo,
2010).The adoption of ethical business
policies helps in benefitting all the
stakeholders of the organisation and also
the successful operations and well-being
of the company.
RELATIONSHIP WITH STAKEHOLDERS
The stakeholders of the company have a
direct impact on the decisions and
operations of the business organisation.
The stakeholders are all those individuals
and entities which have a direct impact
and influence on the functioning of the
business such as, customers, employees,
shareholders, distributors, suppliers,
government and creditors etc. thus,
managers and leaders should consider the
needs and demands of all the other
stakeholders to ensure the successful
operations management within the
company.
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CONCLUSION
This assignment report has facilitated in clearly understanding the difference between the
leaders and managers of the business organisation by providing an appropriate comparison
of the role and functions of the leaders and managers in the context of the large business
organisation "H&M". The several concepts and theories of the leadership and management
will help in making effective decisions regarding the production and operations of the
business process and system. The different approaches of operations management that
could be used by the leaders and managers have been clearly explained in an article. It has
also assessed the impact of business environment on the operations and decisions of the
business organisation.
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