Operations Management Research and Applications

This assignment requires a thorough literature review on operations management, analyzing key research themes and trends. It specifically focuses on areas like performance measurement, supply chain risk management, globalization of operations, and green supply chain management. The review should demonstrate an understanding of various methodologies used in operations management research, such as partial least squares and bibliometric mapping. Students are expected to synthesize the reviewed literature and present a comprehensive overview of the current state of operations management research.

Management and
Operations

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1. Different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager..........................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P2. Way in which the role of a leader and function of a manager is applied in different
situational contexts.................................................................................................................3
P3. Theories and approaches of leadership............................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P4. Key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and managers play7
P5. Importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives.......9
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P6. Factors within the business environment that impact upon operational management and
decision making by leaders and managers...........................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Management and operations is an important process of every business organization to
manage its overall activities in an effective manner. It is defined by the manager of company
who ensures about proper utilization of available resources and achieve effective targets. This
concept of management and operation assists in increasing the overall quality of business in
marketplace. It is an effective process to determine that how to manage operation of business and
also, evaluate efficiency in it which assist in increasing their profitability by providing lower cost
of products to customers (Taticchi, Tonelli and Cagnazzo, 2010). It is an essential area in
business in order to manage the whole process of firm. It show higher level of efficiency in
organization to maximize the profits and returns in firm. Present report is based on 4COM PLC
which is a small business organization that provides phone and network services to their
customers. In this assignment, various roles and characteristics of manager and leaders are
mentioned. It also refers to the style of leadership which affect worker’s activities in different
ways. Along with that, different approaches and theories of leaders are also mentioned in this
report.
TASK 1
P1. Different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager
Leader is a person who leads the whole group and organization. He/she perform various
roles in organization in order to achieve goals and targets in appropriate manner. There are some
points of leader’s roles which are given below Team builder: Leader give relevant information to their workers in order to ensure team
building and increase the efficiency in business. Effective team assist towards success of
company as it contributes in firm’s objectives and also, enhances the productivity. Leader
of 4COM PLC also gives effective information to develop the morale of team which help
in achieving goals in an appropriate manner. Decision maker: Leader takes effective and best decision in organization and also team
members. It undertakes research for analysing the effect of stakeholder and other people
who contribute in business organisation (Tummala and Schoenherr, 2011). It is an
important responsibility of leader to define alternatives of the process and its impact over
the organizational objectives and its goals.
1

 Communicator: Leader can be communicator because he collects all the relevant
information and provide to their workers and customers to increase awareness about
company’s products and services in an effective manner. They develop their
communication style in order to maintain the overall quality of information.
Characteristics of leaders Flexible: The main trait which should be in leaders is to achieve success in business.
Flexibility is more important in today's changing business environment. The successful
leader having ability to accept all changes in firms activities and also find out the best
way to achieve organizational goals and objectives effectively (Van Eck and Waltman,
2010). Spirit, patience: It is an important characteristic of the manager which assist in executing
best practice for business. Spirit and patience helps a person to become a successful team
leader (Management & Operations, 2017).
Manager is a person or an individual who responsible for all the task which is perform in
organization and also manage and control a business process to get positive results. There are
different roles of manager which are define in a system as follows: Monitor role: It is more important part of manager in the business to collect relevant
information from internal and external customers. All this information as well as data
assist to manager to monitor all the business performance. The main role of manager is to
monitor whole activities of workers in order to implement the business plan in their
business organization. Entrepreneurial role of a manager: 4COM manager play an important role in business
activities to improve the quality of products which assist in increasing productivity of the
business. They define and set best quality of process to day to day activities in order to
improve whole performance of the company at marketplace. Resource allocator: The manager of the company does not evaluate the business
activities but also allocate effective resources to perform their responsibilities at
workplace (Van Eck and Waltman, 2010). For improve the quality of the operation the
manager conduct feedback to motivate their employees so that they perform best and
provide positive results. This will helps in understanding all the hurdle and obstacles
which face by workers.
2

 Manager as a spokesperson: The main role of manager is to represent their business
activities so that he/she undertake research to collect all relevant information to take best
decision about the development of products. All these are assist in improving the overall
quality of the products and also manage their quality process at marketplace.
Characteristics of manager Transparent: If a person fails to manage all the things so that they cannot able to be a
successful manger in the organization. Manager should be transparent about all the
activities which is done by him. It is important characteristic of a manager to evaluate and
manage or managerial activities in business process in order to get positive results.
 Develop talent: It is an important characteristic of a manager to develop talent in
organization so that all the activities done in an effective manner (Zhu, Sarkis and Lai,
2012). It is also a main responsibility of a great manner is motivate their employees and
boost up their morale to that they can able to done all the task in effective manner. Best
knowledge and talent helps in achieving organizational goals and objectives easily.
All these characteristics and role are more important in managers and leaders so that they
all are able to motivate their workers and also encourage them to achieve higher success in
effective way.
TASK 2
P2. Way in which the role of a leader and function of a manager is applied in different situational
contexts
Managers and leaders are important part of organization because both are control and
manage the business activities in effective manner (Ageron, Gunasekaran and Spalanzani, 2012).
Both are the backbones of organisation because they contribute a lot in success of the firm. There
are some points of applications of leaders role are as follows: Motivate workers: the main role of the leader is to motivate their workers in effective
manner so that they easily done their task and get better results. Leader give various
monetary and non-monetary gifts as well as rewards to their employees. Leader also set
interesting and challenging working environment in order to improve the overall
productivity of the workers and get positive outcomes by them.
3

 Establish vision: Setting vision is more important for the leader so that he undertake
research and analysis skills and knowledge of the workers. This process is also done by
the 4COM manager to decide future activities and also evaluate that what the actual want
of the firm in upcoming time period.
 Gives best directions: Provide better guidelines to their workers is more important for
leader. Because leader not only set the vision but also provide best direction to employee
to achieve its vision in effective way and also increase their productivity at marketplace.
All these are important role of the leader which can be define a effective purpose of the
business organization and also evaluate the overall performance of the company in marketplace.
On other hand manager is also an important part of the business because he manage all
the activities which perform in business in order to achieve positive results in effective way.
There are some application of manager function are as follows: Planning: The important and main task of manager is planning of future activities which
will be performing in business organization (Ahi and Searcy, 2013). It is manager
responsibility to allocate the funds and make effective plan for effective utilization of
available resources in the firm. In this function the manager define written business plan
which involve the future activities and action of the business so that they attain end
results in effective manner. Effective planning involves goals and objectives and also
determine that how to achieve it effectively. Organizing: In this function, it helps in controlling whole structure of the business in
appropriate manner. According to this the manager give attention to every department to
evaluating the whole process that define proper resources for completing the task in best
way. It involve designing the task and responsibilities of employees in order to complete
task and also develop the business structure to get best results. Staffing: This function of manager helps in controlling all recruitment and personal
process of the company which assist in develop its objectives. The main function of
manager is to select right person for the right job so that they easily achieve its targets
and goals. The function of staffing involve recruitment, selection, training and
development and many more process which assist in managing all the process effectively.
Without this activities business fails in achieving its goals.
4

 Directing: In this function manager give best direction to its employees for achieving
organization goals and objectives. The manager of the company communicate with
workers and provide knowledge to improve their skills so that employees are able to done
all the task in effective manner and get positive results. Leading: Manager not only manages the organization but also leads people to motivate
their employees to achieve their set targets (Alderton and Saieva, 2013). Coordinating: The main function of manager as well as leader is to coordinate all the
activities like planning, organizing which assist in defining effective process of
organization. It helps in taking best place in meeting organization objectives. Effective
coordination involve communication with employee and management direction to get
desirable goals.
 Controlling: It define overall performance of the company. Controlling process assist in
identifying all the problems and obstacles which arise in business which need to define
by new and effective process to develop overall productivity of the firm (Barney, 2012).
Higher level of performance affect success of the business in positive manner.
All these functions of managers help in achieving business targets and objectives because
these apply in different situational process of the firm so that manager can evaluate their
performance and also implement effective activities to get higher success at marketplace.
P3. Theories and approaches of leadership
Best leader set organizational vision and also provide effective direction to their
employees in order to achieve it effectively. There are some theories which define by various
authors are as follows: Great man theory of leadership: This theory define in 19th century and expect that
leadership traits are inbuilt in organization. So that it specify that best leader are born not
made in future. Under this theory there are main and important attribute which should be
there in great leaders because the quality of lead the people is internal which can be
taught to everyone. Trait theory: This theory define the qualities of a person which assist in becoming a great
leader. It focus on these qualities like creativity, sense of responsibility and intelligence
which should be there in person to become a best leader. All these qualities can be there
in born and some taught by other process like seminars and presentations (Barratt, Choi
5

and Li, 2011). Basically this theory focus on mental and physical in order to gain more
knowledge about the leader. Behavioural theory: Under this theory, it focus on behaviour of leader at the time of
leading with their subordinates. This is totally differ from great man theory because this
theory define that leaders are mode by experience not born. Contingency theory of leadership: In this theory, it define that there is no single
leadership style because the leader change their process according to the situation which
arise in organization. This theory helps in influencing followers and also make effective
organization to adopt all the changes which happen in business process (Dekker,
Bloemhof and Mallidis, 2012). Great leader have ability to change their style which is
used by the leader to lead their employees which assist in achieving best opportunities in
its organizational environment. Situational theory: This theory is related to the contingency theory because in today's
environment is change rapidly so that the leader is advisable and adopt any changes in
their working. The great leader have best ability to modify the process in complex
business environment.
 System theory: According to this theory it involve Input, process and output. This
approach define systematic process in order to fulfil all organizational goals and
objectives. Under this leader define and take the input and employees undertake some
modification with the help of leader direction and give best output to get positive results
in appropriate manner. For attain better results leader should be execute effective process.
From all these leadership approach manager of 4COM PLC use contingency style
because today's time business environment is very complex and many changes are happen in
short time period (Galindo and Batta, 2013). In this process of theory leaders have capability to
influence and encourage their workers to achieve maximum output in appropriate manner.
Hence, all these theories are very useful for leaders to attain higher success in business process
as well as marketplace.
6

TASK 3
P4. Key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and managers play
Operation management is more important for organization because it helps in controlling
overall process of production of services. The main task of operation management is to define
effective use of available resources in effective manner so that organization achieve better
results. Basically operation is more important in business because it is related to the marketing,
human and supply chain that define best quality of management in order to achieve higher
success at marketplace. There are some important key approaches of operation management
which followed by the 4COM PLC: Decision theory approach: This theory is helps in taking effective decision in
organization. Manager is one of the important part of the business who take better
decision and also having best skills to resolve all the obstacles in an effective way
(Gimenez, Sierra and Rodon, 2012). In organization the top level of member take better
decision for their subordinates. They use various types of tools and techniques for making
better decision. This approach deals with perception of resulting in order to improvement
of group as well as individuals reaction. It does not undertake overview of management. Social system approach: Organization have many groups of different type of individuals
and they also differ from each other. So that it is more important for firm to set strong
relationship among them. It is also important to maintain better relationship between
internal and external environmental factors. For attain organizational goals and objectives
cooperation among different type of society and other sectors. The main aim and function
of this approach is to provide better services to get higher satisfaction by society. Production scheduling approach: This is important approach is based on production
process to achieve positive end results. It consider all the steps which involve in
production process of the products. According to this approach it estimated that all the
task is completed in required time period. It include three elements of time like beginning
time of production, closing time and also include idle time of production process which
consider in manufacturing of products. The main function of production scheduling
approach is to ensure about proper use of available resources. Human behaviour approach: It define the behaviour of manager and leaders with their
subordinates and workers like they give reward system to motivate them and also give
7

punishment to the mistake of the employees. Human behaviour approach is more
effective because it impact on company performance so that it define the humanity nature
towards their employees. For better improve the quality of the business so that it is more
important to eliminate discrimination on the basis of colour, caste and many more reasons
(Golicic and Smith, 2013). They should treat equal to their workers so that they achieve
higher success at marketplace and increase their productivity level in appropriate manner.
Role of manager and leaders that play in organization: Management of resources: Manager and leader both are responsible for management of
available resources in business organization and also evaluate that all available resources
are better to achieve its targets in effective manner. They also ensure about production of
products are also define by resources so that they easily attain positive results. Financial management: In every company effective management of finance is more
important because it is main duty of financial manager to provide proper fund to
company requirements (Grunig, 2013). So that it is more essential task for business
organization in order to give more liquidity to the firm which assist in getting better
success. Communicate information: It is important responsibility of manager and leader to
communicate all information to their employees and subordinates. It is because; lower
and middle level employees cannot communicate directly with top level so that higher
level of management give information to manager and leader and then they passes to their
employees. Decision maker: Both leader and manager have authority to take decision for their
subordinates. So that it is more important fir then to consider their opinion at the time of
taking decision.
 Goal setting: Manager set best goals and objectives for organization and also define the
effective plan to achieve it easily. On other hand the leader determine business objectives
for the team to get its target in effective manner.
In all these approaches and role of manager and leader the best approach is total quality
management which assist in improvement of overall business process. All the approaches helps
in managing effective quality of products and service which deliver to customers in order to
increase revenue of the company.
8

P5. Importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives
Operation management is more important for business to achieve its goals and objectives
in appropriate time period. 4COM PLC use effective operational techniques which aid in
completing the task with more effective manner. It provide better management to perform all the
task and work and get positive results (Heizer, 2016). It include various steps like overseeing and
checking, controlling and designing which helps in improving management efficiency and
effectiveness. There are some importance of operational management are as follows: Improve productivity: The main and important benefit of operational management is to
improve the productivity of the firm in order to achieve effective targets. It helps in
resolving all the obstacles which arise in business process and faced by the employees as
well as company so that company easily achieve the growth at marketplace (Houy, Fettke
and Loos, 2010). For get better results productivity is more important that improve by the
operation management in effective manner. Meet customers aggressive priorities: Customers are very important because they
contribute in organization success. Every business wants to meet customers’ needs and
demands to provide quality service in order to get higher satisfaction by them. When the
company do not understand their needs then they cannot able to satisfy customers’ needs
and also fails in running business and grow in upcoming time. Operational management
helps in defining customers priorities and meet their needs in best way. Minimize risk factors in business: In business organization operational management
provide best and effective factors to reduce risk. It include various techniques and steps
in their business process to complete all the task with effective planning, organizing,
directing and controlling. With the help of these steps, firm reduces overall risk in their
process and get positive outcomes. Completion of task on time: The main and important function of operational
management is to complete all task on time. This function provide various measures to
finish all the given task in appropriate manner. Proper resources also aid in done the work
as well as task with higher efficiency (Karlsson, 2010).
 Achieve goals and objectives: One of the best advantage of operational management is to
assist in achieving organizational goals and objectives. Because it provide better
9

resources to completing all the task and work in appropriate manner so that it is easy for
company to get success at marketplace.
TASK 4
P6. Factors within the business environment that impact upon operational management and
decision making by leaders and managers
In organizational function there are two type of business environment that impact on
operational management and decision making process of the firm: Internal environmental factors: These factors are related to the organization and which
are within the organization and also controllable by the management.
 External environmental factors: These factors are related to outside of the business and
affect the function of business (Moutinho, 2011). These factors are divided into two parts
like general environment and task environment which is uncontrollable by the business.
There are some internal elements that impact on the operational management and
decision making process: Owner: They are those individuals who have rights to control all the business. Owner can
be a single person or also a group of people those purchase the share to secure the
ownership. They have all the rights and authority to take any kind of decision and change
in the business into company. Employees: They are who complete all the task inn business organization and also
contribute in overall success of the firm. Employees are backbone of the company
without these firm cannot able to achieve any kind of results. All the employees can
affect the business performance in positive and negative manner. Board of directors: They are those person who take major decision for the business and
its issues. If they cannot perform well then members are remove of the company with the
help of passing resolution.
 Culture: It is related to behaviours of the person which is different from others. So that it
is more important for the company as well as manager to manage all the employees those
are different cultures in order to reduce conflicts among them (Naor, Linderman and
Schroeder, 2010).
10

On the other hand, external factors are also define in below mentioned that also impact on
operational management and decision making:
General environment factors: Political legal dimension: These factors are easily affect the business and also influence
the firm’s activities. Political factors include change in policies, tax rates, and many more
elements which affect the decision making process of the company. On other hand legal
factors define legal guidelines, change in rules and regulations etc. Technological dimension: Effective and innovative technology affect performance of the
business. It is more important for the company to opt updated technologies in their
production process so that they can attract a large number of people toward their business
(Subramanian and Ramanathan, 2012).
 International dimension: It affects the business process as well as performance of
company. Globalization helps in business to bring all the nations together. It covers all
the parts of world.
Task environment factors: Competitor: It is more important for every business it assist in introducing new and better
quality of products and service from their competitors. It make competitive environment
in order to boost up organizational power and get higher success at marketplace. Regulators: It is more effective because it control process of the company which easily
influence by the government plans and policies which affect the business in adverse
situation (Peng and Lai, 2012).
 Customers: They are important part of the business because influence performance of the
business. So that it is main duty of organization to satisfy their needs and wants and get
higher satisfaction by them which contribute in business success at marketplace.
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned report, it can be concluded that operations management is
important for every business organization to manage all the activities being performed in the firm
in order to achieve organizational goals and objectives. It also assists organization to make
proper use of available resources which aids in getting positive outcomes. In this process of
management and operations, managers and leaders also play an important role in the firm for
11

managing and leading its employees so that they can easily perform their tasks. On the other
hand, it has also been assessed that business environment affects the overall business
performance. It put a huge impact on the decision making process which is done by both
manager and leaders in an enterprise.
12

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ageron, B., Gunasekaran, A. and Spalanzani, A., 2012. Sustainable supply management: An
empirical study. International Journal of Production Economics. 140(1). pp.168-182.
Ahi, P. and Searcy, C., 2013. A comparative literature analysis of definitions for green and
sustainable supply chain management. Journal of Cleaner Production. 52. pp.329-341.
Alderton, P. and Saieva, G., 2013. Port management and operations. Taylor & Francis.
Barney, J. B., 2012. Purchasing, supply chain management and sustained competitive advantage:
The relevance of resource‐based theory. Journal of supply chain management. 48(2).
pp.3-6.
Barratt, M., Choi, T. Y. and Li, M., 2011. Qualitative case studies in operations management:
Trends, research outcomes, and future research implications. Journal of Operations
Management. 29(4). pp.329-342.
Dekker, R., Bloemhof, J. and Mallidis, I., 2012. Operations Research for green logistics–An
overview of aspects, issues, contributions and challenges. European Journal of
Operational Research. 219(3). pp.671-679.
Galindo, G. and Batta, R., 2013. Review of recent developments in OR/MS research in disaster
operations management. European Journal of Operational Research. 230(2). pp.201-211.
Gimenez, C., Sierra, V. and Rodon, J., 2012. Sustainable operations: Their impact on the triple
bottom line. International Journal of Production Economics. 140(1). pp.149-159.
Golicic, S. L. and Smith, C. D., 2013. A meta‐analysis of environmentally sustainable supply
chain management practices and firm performance. Journal of supply chain management.
49(2). pp.78-95.
Grunig, J. E. ed., 2013. Excellence in public relations and communication management.
Routledge.
Heizer, J., 2016. Operations Management, 11/e. Pearson Education India.
Houy, C., Fettke, P. and Loos, P., 2010. Empirical research in business process management–
analysis of an emerging field of research. Business Process Management Journal. 16(4).
pp.619-661.
Karlsson, C. ed., 2010. Researching operations management. Routledge.
Moutinho, L. ed., 2011. Strategic management in tourism. Cabi.
Naor, M., Linderman, K. and Schroeder, R., 2010. The globalization of operations in Eastern and
Western countries: Unpacking the relationship between national and organizational
13

culture and its impact on manufacturing performance. Journal of operations
management. 28(3). pp.194-205.
Peng, D. X. and Lai, F., 2012. Using partial least squares in operations management research: A
practical guideline and summary of past research. Journal of Operations Management.
30(6). pp.467-480.
Subramanian, N. and Ramanathan, R., 2012. A review of applications of Analytic Hierarchy
Process in operations management. International Journal of Production Economics.
138(2). pp.215-241.
Taticchi, P., Tonelli, F. and Cagnazzo, L., 2010. Performance measurement and management: a
literature review and a research agenda. Measuring business excellence. 14(1). pp.4-18.
Tummala, R. and Schoenherr, T., 2011. Assessing and managing risks using the supply chain
risk management process (SCRMP). Supply Chain Management: An International
Journal. 16(6). pp.474-483.
Van Eck, N. J. and Waltman, L., 2010. Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for
bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics. 84(2). pp.523-538.
Zhu, Q., Sarkis, J. and Lai, K. H., 2012. Examining the effects of green supply chain
management practices and their mediations on performance improvements. International
journal of production research. 50(5). pp.1377-1394.
Online
Management & Operations. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.geogroup.com/Management_and_Operations>. [Accessed on 14th
September 2017].
14