Operations Management Report

This report examines the roles of leaders and managers in business operations, using Amazon and Ford as case studies. It explores leadership theories, analyzes the impact of various factors like corporate social responsibility, culture, and ethics on business operations, and examines key elements of operations management systems like inventory management and quality control.

OPERATIONS
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Scenario 1.........................................................................................................................................3
A. Roles and characteristics of leaders and managers............................................................3
B. Different situations which can impact the leaders and managers......................................6
C. Theories of leadership........................................................................................................7
Scenario 2.........................................................................................................................................9
A. Role of Operations Managers............................................................................................9
B. Key elements and approaches of different operations management system...................10
C. Impact of various factors on business operations............................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Management in business refers to the higher authorities or decision makers who monitors
and manages the operations and employees of an organisation. Whereas Operations refers to the
activities and functions performed by the employees to achieve the organisational goals.
Management and operations both are essential for an organisation in order to ensure the smooth
running of business functions. Amazon is the taken firm for the scenario one which is an e-
commerce company Whereas Ford is the taken firm for scenario two which is an automobile
company. Both of the firm are based in US and operating at global level employing a large
number of people throughout their business operations. This report will discuss the roles and
characteristics of leaders and managers along with the impact of roles of manager and leader in
different situations. Further, this report will cover the theories to leadership for explaining the
ways through which leaders and managers deals with the discussed situations. This report will
also discuss the role of Operations Managers in improving their efficiency and decisions along
with the key elements and approaches of different operations management system. In the end,
this report will cover the impact of corporate social responsibility, culture, values, ethics and
sustainability on business operations.
Scenario 1
A. Roles and characteristics of leaders and managers
Managers are the people in an organisation who manages and monitors the activities
performed by the employees. Whereas leaders are the people who provides support and guidance
to their followers for achieving the organisational goals (Morelli, 2011). These both are essential
for the organisation for accomplishing the desired organisational goals as well as for achieving
high growth in the market (Beske and Seuring, 2014). The role of leaders and managers in
Amazon are discussed below:
Role of a leaders
Creative vision: Leader can perform the duty in which they lead their team with creative
vision. They define their team that how they can reach at different levels and how it is possible to
achieve the individual goals by co-ordinated them with company goals. Example- Amazon
started their business from selling of online books but the vision of Jeff Bezos had a wider vision

so this can help them to diversify their business from a online store to different sector like games,
apparel etc. now amazon is recognise as giant company in E-commerce platform (Simon, 2011).
Coach potential: Leader has to perform the role of a coach like it is the duty of a leader
that they increase the ability of their team members and solve the problems which have are
facing by their team so the career of their employees can achieve more growth. Example- in
amazon, employees have overall control on their project which provide more space to them and
results in execution of work effectively.
Role of manager
Resource allocator: Manager of a organisation has the responsibility to properly assign
the resources to employees and business functions so that the business operations can be
performed properly. For example: In Amazon, managers provide the resources such as
manpower, funds etc. to the departments for ensuring their smooth running.
Assigning roles and responsibilities: Managers are also responsible for providing the
roles and responsibilities to the employees based on their capabilities and knowledge. This is an
essential role of managers so that the assigned work can be executed efficiently (Cook and Billig,
2017). For example: Managers at Amazon assign the roles to people based on their skills for
ensuring that the work can be finished on the deadlines.
Comparison of leaders and managers
Basis Leaders Managers
Loyalty and Honesty Leaders of Amazon are honest
and loyal towards their work
and team members. Through
this, they encourage the team
members to do the same with
other employees or co-
workers.
Managers of the Amazon are
also honest in conveying the
strategies to the workers and
other stakeholders even if the
risks and challenges are
involved in the taken decision
and strategy.
Leadership and management
style
Leaders of Amazon are
following effective leadership
style for leading their team
members and for enhancing
The managers of the Amazon
also follows different
management style for
managing the activities and

the morale of employees. performance of their
employees.
Adaptability The leaders of the Amazon are
flexible in their working due to
which they changes their
working style and leadership
style according to the
situations.
Managers of Amazon are
flexible in nature due to which
they can adapt to the changes
properly in the business and
make the strategies
accordingly (Ellitan, 2017).
Henry Fayol's model
This model was given by Henry Fayol for conveying the function of the managers to the
society so that different types of managers can perform their work effectively. This model is
beneficial for the Human Resource manager of Amazon for performing properly. This model has
5 functions which are discussed below:
Planning: The Human Resource managers of the Amazon are preparing plans for the
future situations and develop strategies accordingly in order to reduce their impact on the
business operations for achieving the sustainability.
Organizing:The Human Resource managers of Amazon are organising the workforce in
an efficient manner and structure and align the activities of the organisation. They also allot the
work to employees based on the capabilities.
Commanding: The Human resource managers of Amazon provides guidance and
supervision to the subordinates in their daily work in order to inspire them to achieve company
goals effectively. Through this, the managers can understand their issues for resolving the
conflict.
Coordinating: The Human Resource managers of the Amazon are coordinating with the
employees in other to properly perform the procedures and activities of the company.
Controlling: The Human Resource managers of Amazon are controlling the activities of
employees and determining whether the activities are performed according to the objectives or
not. This is essential in observing and report deviations from plans and objectives to make
initiatives for eliminating the gap.

B. Different situations which can impact the leaders and managers
Amazon is a global firm in the e-commerce market providing a wide range of products
and services to the customers from all over the world. The managers and leaders of this firm are
performing their roles and responsibilities in an proper manner so that any problem will not
arises in their working. These both are necessary for the organisation so that the organisational
goals of the firm can be fulfilled or met properly. Without these two, firm can't perform their
operations and functions in an proper manner which can lead to lower competitive edge in the
market. These both handles a variety of responsibilities in different situations so that organisation
can perform in an effective manner. These situations can leads to ineffective working of both
leaders and managers if not handled in a suitable manner. Some of these situations which are
faced by the managers and leaders while performing their work in Amazon are discussed below
along with their role.
Team-building activities: Team building is the process of forming a team of turning a
group of individuals in a united team for effectively performing their work by using the skills
and knowledge of the team members. It is mainly used by the organisations for motivating their
employees in order to coordinate with the team members for accomplishing the shared goals of
team or organisation. By using team building activities, managers can improve the bonding
between the management and employees for effective running of the business. The managers of
the Amazon has the responsibility to improve the communication skills of their employees so
that they can share their opinions and ideas with each other. Also the Amazon is providing the
work based on the group so that the workers can work in team rather individually. Leaders of the
Amazon are creative and innovative by nature which assist them in adapting to the change
continuously (Fredendall and Hill, 2016). The leaders of the Amazon are responsible for
maintaining trust and loyalty among their team members so that privacy and confidentiality of
the workers can be maintained at the workplace. Also the leaders support the employees as well
as provide their guidance to the team members for resolving their issues which arises in their
working. Team building is necessary for the Amazon in order to tackle the situation of
decreasing productivity and efficiency of employees due to the work pressure because of the
globalisation of company at such a huge level. This issue can impact the decision making of
managers as employees can feel dissatisfied with the company due to lost interest. The leaders
can also face issues in leading the employees due to the low morale among them.

While launching new products: When a new product is launched by the organisation
Amazon, managers and leaders needs to develop and implement new strategies and policies so
that new product can be developed and launched in the market in an effective manner. The
managers of the Amazon has the responsibility to develop new strategy and then takes
suggestions from the leaders regarding the implementation of this newly developed strategies.
The managers takes the decisions regarding the launching of new products and the leaders needs
to convey the developed or implemented strategies to the team members. The leader of Amazon
is responsible for properly conveying the strategies of the managers to the team members and if
any issue is faced by the team then leaders needs to convey the issue to managers. The leader
provides the guidance and support to the team members so that the new product can be launched
in effectively way in the market place. Amazon has launched the AI Alexa for satisfying the
growing needs of the customers in terms of using the Artificial Intelligence as well as to tackle
the challenges from the competitors. The competitors such as Google and Apple are launching
new products related to Artificial Intelligence due to which the company has to launched this
new product. The company saw the opportunity to stay ahead of their competitors in this new
growing sector (Chung, Park and Lee, 2017).
C. Theories of leadership
There are various theories of the leadership which are used by the managers and leaders
of the Amazon in different situations for ensuring that the situations are handled effectively.
These theories are discussed below along with the roles of leaders and managers in handling
them.
Situational leadership: This theory states that there is not any specific leadership style
which can be used by managers and leaders in every situation. Rather the managers and leaders
needs to modify their leadership style based on the situation so that these situations can be
handled accordingly. This theory is also called as the life cycle theory of outcome. The leaders
needs to adapt to the changing environment for getting the improved outcomes from their work.
This theory can be used by the leaders of the Amazon while performing the team building
activities so that they can provide their guidance to the team members. For this, leaders can
choose the supportive leadership style so that they can provide their support to employees when
they are facing issues in their working (Glukhov and Balashova, 2015). Whereas in this
situation, managers of the Amazon can choose the Democratic style so that employees can

determine the solutions of the issues faced by them. Whereas for launching the new products,
both leaders and managers of the Amazon can use the participative leadership style for including
the employees in the development or implementation of new strategies. Through this, workers
can perform their work in an effective manner for the development and launching of new product
as the strategies are developed based on their ideas and opinions.
System leadership theory: This theory states that the organisations needs to treat their
employees or functions as a whole or single entity. The managers and leaders can use this theory
for the team building activities for motivating their employees to enhance their efficiency.
Through this, the efficiency of the organisation can be maintained. The leaders when adopted
this style or theory can motivate their members for improving their performance so that the
organisational goals can be achieved before the time. Whereas manager can use this style to
motivate the workers by using the rewards and appreciation so that workers will try to improve
their efficiency by building friendly relations with their staff members. For the new product
launch, managers can use this style for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of employees
by working with the new strategies. Whereas leaders can provide their support to team members
so that employees can work with the new strategies without facing any issues.
Contingency leadership theory: This theory was developed by the Fred Edward Fiedler
in the year 1964. This theory emphasised on the personality of leaders and the ways through
which they adapts to the changing environment of the business. This theory has two leadership
styles i.e. People oriented and task oriented which can be used by the managers and leaders. This
theory states that leaders and managers needs to use one suitable leadership style from these two
in order to get the work done. For launching new product in the market, manager of the Amazon
can use the task oriented style through which they can obtain high performance by the workers in
executing the tasks for launching the product. Whereas leaders can sue the people oriented style
through which they can motivate the employees to work hard for the development of new
product (Ma and Sun, 2012). For the team building activity, managers and leaders can use the
people oriented style. Through this style, they can focus on their employees in improving their
skills for better coordinating with other co-workers. Through this, the employees can effectively
perform their team work and ideas can be gathered from other member in case any problem
arises.

Through these above discussed theories, managers and leaders of Amazon can effectively
handle the various discussed situations in order to perform their work in an appropriate manner.
Also the managers and leaders can accomplish their organisational as well as personal goals after
following these theories.
Scenario 2
A. Role of Operations Managers
Operations management refers to the process of managing the different types of
operations and activities in an organisation for improving the organisational efficiency and
performance. There are various tools which are used in the operations management such as JIT,
TQM, Kaizan etc. which are useful for the firms in order to improve the efficiency of different
operations.
 Just in Time approach is useful for the organisations like Amazon in utilising the
resources in optimal manner which indirectly leads organisation towards growth and
sustainability.
 Six Sigma approach is useful in identifying and eliminating the weakness of employees
by providing them training so that their efficiency and performance in production line can
be improved.
 Total quality management approach is useful for producing better quality based
products and services by eliminating the wastage and improving the quality.
Operational managers plays an important role in the organisation who have to overseeing
and monitored whole activities of production department so that efficient products and services
would be delivered in the market which ultimately leads the firm towards meeting with the
expectations and needs of customers (Meyer, Neck and Meeks, 2017). In addition to this, it is
management function in which operational managers have duty to manage human resources,
equipments, techniques in effective manner so that better quality of products would be produced
and delivered at right time in the market. In Ford, main function of operational managers are to
maintain the quality of products and delivers it on time to the respected customers. There are
some roles of operations managers which are given as below:
Satisfying Customer: For each firm, it is very essential to satisfy the desires the demands
of customers so that they would be loyal towards offerings of firm for a longer time-frame. It is

the main role of operations managers in which they have to take support from the marketing
department and conduct a market research so that specific needs or demands of customers from
organisation would be identified and fulfilled accordingly.
Oversight of financial information and Budgets: It is also an essential function of
operations managers in which they have to overseeing the creation and management of budget so
that required amount for performing functions will be received at the time of manufacturing
products (Qin and Nembhard, 2015). In the context of Ford, their operational managers monitors
expenses and spending of overall divisions of organisation so that unessential costs will be
minimised. They also provide supports to the management in decision making of prices so that
strong position would be gained in the marketplace.
Workflow and Staffing: Operations managers of organisation have also duty to handling
the staff requirements within the workplace. If there is requirement of human resources at
workplace so they have responsibility to take support from Human Resource department through
which hiring and training of new employees would be completed in easy manner. As they are
aware regarding the requirements of each division of organisation so they have to adjust the
workflow and reallots the tasks so that efficiencies of operations would be improved.
Enhancing overall productivity: Enhanced productivity is an important element of
growth and success of firm in which operations mangers have to play very vital role in the firm.
In Ford, Management believes in providing quality products to their customers so that growth
and sustainability of firm can be maintained in the marketplace. In it, operations managers have
to play very important role such as providing better training as per market trends to the
employees, create positive environment at workplace so that employees feels motivated during
the work, They have to provide better guidance and supports to their teammates so that new
things would be adopted in easy manner. By performing all these responsibilities, overall
productivity of organisation would be enhanced which will be beneficial for the organisation in
taking competitive advantage over their rivals.
B. Key elements and approaches of different operations management system
Operations management is an area of management which concerned with planing
designing controlling of production process. It also includes the monitoring of whole business
operations so that requirement of resources can be identified and utilise accordingly so that needs
of customers would be fulfilled in easy manner. In addition to this, it is also related with

administration and management of business functions so that highest efficiency would be gained
by the organisation in a limited period of time. In the context of Ford, operational functions
includes inventory management, quality management which are briefly explained as under:
Inventory Management: It is also an essential function which is done by operation
manager in Ford so that right inventory at right quantity in right place should be maintained
properly. In the context of Ford, their operational managers uses automation in the workplace so
that inventory should be controlled or monitored in easy manner. They also uses various
software like Zoho inventory, OnCloud ERP etc. For maintaining proper stock in the
organisation managers of Ford are also using Just in Time approach so that resources can be
utilised in optimal manner which indirectly leads organisation towards growth and sustainability.
It is the role and function of operation manager of Ford to increase the efficiencies of employees
along with reducing the unessential activities from production process so that better competitive
advantage would be gained in the marketplace by managing the inventory in proper manner.
Quality Management: This operational function is related with excellence level of
product. Main elements of this function are planning of quality standard, setting a proper
standard, controlling of quality etc. so that better quality products would be delivered in the
marketplace. Operational managers in Ford follows the principles of Total quality management
approach so that better quality of products and services would be maintained. With the help of
this approach they can easily retained their customers for a longer time-frame which would be
beneficial for sustainability of organisation (Wen-chao, Fan and Wen-wen, 2012). The operation
managers of Ford are responsible for performing the role of maintaining effective quality in the
vehicles. The operation managers of Ford uses debugging, iterative testing, electrification
systems so that unessential activities would be eliminated by the production process and
efficiency of employees would be enhanced. The operations managers also take the feedbacks
and suggestions from employees so that the decisions can be taken accordingly as well as to
develop the strategies in proper manner regarding the improvements in operations process.
Importance of the role of managers in the store and team leaders
Ford is a huge company having a large number of stores in which both managers and
leaders are performing their work for the effective functioning of the company. The managers of
the stores are developing the strategies and policies which are conveyed to the leaders and
employees. The team leaders take suggestions and opinions from employees and convey these to

managers for making the proper modifications. The managers also provides the rewards and
compensation to the employees based on the performance which is evaluated and reviewed by
the leaders. Both of these are very essential for smooth functioning and running of the stores.
C. Impact of various factors on business operations
Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Business Operations of Ford:
Corporate social responsibility is the combination of various activities and operations
performed by the organisation for maintaining their brand image in the external market
environment. The CSR Activities initiated by the company are impacting positively on the
business operations of the company. This can be possible in the case only when the company is
doing their social activities with due care. This will increase the brand awareness of the products
of the company. The company will get proper support and relaxations from the government and
the people such as subsidies from the government. It also helps in increasing the employees
satisfaction and dedication of employees to their job as the good brand image of the company
will also impact upon their own image outside the company.
Impact of Culture on Business Operations of Ford:
Culture is the internal and external environment of the organisation which can positively
or negatively impact its working. Some of the factors in this are controllable while some are
uncontrollable for the management of the organisation. Culture is the environment which the
company is providing to their employees. So the culture of the company also impact upon the
operations of the business (Wiggins, 2014). The company is encouraging their employees by
providing them with the opportunity to develop new ideas so that they could also contribute
towards the growth and development of the company. This is a positive culture adopted by the
company which will impact positively on its working.
Impact of Ethics and Sustainability on Business Operations of Ford:
These are the rules and regulations which every business organisation is required to
follow for effectively achieving the goals and objectives. Proper use of ethics by the organisation
will directly help in maintaining sustainability in the market. It is essential for every company
like Ford to conduct their operations in an ethical and moral way. It is done in order to ensure
sustainability and growth of the business. Doing the business ethically takes into account all the
factors which can impact upon the working of an organisation. Unethical working can provide

benefit to the company only in short tun but in the long run it only results in negative impacts on
the company such as spoiling the brand image of the company.
Impact of Values on Business Operations of Ford:
Values in context of business can be defined as the core principles and standards that
guide the companies in order to run their business. In other words, these values are the base of
business on which it is established (XIANG and et. al., 2013). It is important for the company to
have good business values so that it can create a good image of its in the outside world. As the
company needs to take everything from its outside so it is essential for the company to have good
relationship with people outside the company.
The several factors which affects the influence of business operations are discussed below-
Raw materials- If there is any shortage of raw materials in the organisation than
employees will not able to give their best outcome. This will lead to decrease in the productivity
and performance of the organisation. If the management is not successful in providing adequate
raw materials to its employees than resources of the organisation will be wasted. The
organisation will also not be able to take better decisions for the future course of action.
Lack of Training- If there is not proper training given to the employees than they will
not be able to handle complex task of the organisation in the effective manner. This because of
inadequate skills and knowledge of the employees. Due to this management of the organisation
will not be able to decide the future course of action. As employees might not be able to work as
per the decided plans and strategies.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above report that managers and leaders are integral part of
an organisation without whom organisations may not survive in this competitive market place.
These both have several roles and characteristics which are necessary for the smooth running of
business operations. There are several theories such as contingency theory, system theory etc.
which assist the managers and leaders in performing their work with the required efficiencies.
Through these theories, managers and leaders can effectively handles the various situations of
workplace which can negatively impact the employees and organisation. Also the management
of the organisations can use the several approaches such as six sigma, TQM, Just in time etc. for
improving the efficiencies and decisions taken by them. There are various factors such as culture,

values, ethics, CSR which can impact the business operations of the firm if not considered
properly while taking the decisions.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals