Aston Martin's Business Operations and Management

This assignment examines the various internal and external factors that impact Aston Martin's business operations and decision-making processes. It delves into areas such as management roles, strategic planning, PESTEL analysis, and the application of operations management principles in designing and optimizing production processes. The aim is to understand how Aston Martin can effectively manage these factors to achieve its goals.

Management
and
Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1. Role and characteristics of leaders and a managers.........................................................1
M1: Differentiate between roles and functions of a leader and manager...............................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
P2. Role of a leaders and the functions of a manager in different situational context...........4
P3. Apply various models and theories including situational leadership...............................5
M2 Strengths and weaknesses of various approaches............................................................6
D1: Analyse and evaluate various approaches and theories to leadership.............................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P4 Key approaches to operations management and roles of leaders and managers...............7
P5 Importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives........8
M3: Managers and leaders can improve efficiencies of operational management................8
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
P6 Business environmental factors that impact upon operational management....................9
M4: Factors which affect business operations and decision making process......................10
D2. Applications of operations management.......................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
In every organisation, managers and leaders are there who contributes their maximum
possible efforts to achieve desired goals and objectives. They both plays an important role in
improving efficiency and productivity of an organisation through formulating effective planning
and strategies which help an organisation to achieve sustainability (Akkerman, Farahani and
Grunow, 2010). Aston Martin company which is one of the leading auto mobile sector in UK is
taken for the purpose of preparing this report. In this report, the roles and characteristic of
manager and leader will be discussed. This report also covered the management theories and
various environmental factors which influences business activities.
TASK 1
P1. Role and characteristics of leaders and a managers
As managers and leaders plays an important role in achieving organisational goals and
objectives through performing their roles and responsibilities in their concerning areas. A person
is said to be a good leader when he has ability and skills to lead and direct the team in improving
performance level and a person is said to be a good manager when he has skills and abilities to
guide and motivate the employees to perform their allotted task better and further take effective
decisions in order to achieve desired goals and objectives. Therefore managers are responsible to
formulate policies and programs that to be followed by employees of an organisation in order to
get better result. They both contribute various efforts in their departments which help an
organisation in gaining competitive advantage. The managers are liable to provide healthy and
secure environment to their employees at workplace with the help of which the employees
contributes more in improving performance of an organisation. A leader also affect on the
performance of employees through providing training sessions and development programs to
their team members so as to achieve desired result in effective and efficient manner. In simple
words Manager create task or objectives and leader directs the team members to achieve the
desired task or objectives.
Role of Leader:
In order to manage work effectively the leaders plays an important roles and
responsibilities in an organisation through following ways:
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Motivation: An individual is called as a leader only when he has ability and skills to
motivate and direct their team members so as to achieve desired targets. Therefore it is important
for a leader to implement various techniques and methods which encourage their team mates to
contribute maximum efforts in achieving desired goals and targets. As per the Aston Martin
company, leader should focus on providing some rewards and benefits to the members on the
basis of their performance which directly helps in enhancing performance of members as well as
an organisation.
Team Building: A leader is responsible to motivate employees to work in a team rather
perform individually which helps in improving productivity (Binder and Edwards, 2010).
Working in a team helps employees to communicate each other and also helps them in knowing
strengths and weaknesses of each team mates through which a leader can able to take corrective
measures in order to convert their weaknesses into strengths.
Communication: Communication and coordination among team members and
organisation plays an important role in achieving desired objectives. A leader need to
communicate effectively to their team members regarding strategies and polices implemented by
top authority and accordingly direct them in performing their assigned task. He is also need to
coordinate with top authorities regarding providing informations related to performance of an
organisation and ensure them that they are performing in right direction to achieve desired
results.
Role of manager:
Implementing policies and plans: Managers plays an important role in implementing
effective plans and polices formulated by top authority. It is also essentially required for manager
to inform about such plans and policies to their employees so that they can perform according to
the direction given by managers.
Providing training: Managers are held responsible to evaluate the performance of their
employees at workplace and if any deviation found by the manger between actual and standard
skills of employees then the manager is liable to improve the skills and capabilities of employees
through conducting training sessions and development programs.
Monitoring and controlling: Manager is one who control and monitors business
operations in effective and efficient manner which directly helps in achieving desired goals and
objectives of an organisation.
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Characteristics of Manager and leader of Aston Martin:
Positive attitude: Bothy and managers of company plays an important role in achieving
desired goals and objectives through providing direction and guidance to employees. They are
responsible to deal with business clients in effective manner so that it will help business in
achieving future growth.
Creative: Both the manager and leader should be creative in order to generate new ideas
and polices which help Aston Martin to achieve success in future. They should contribute their
creative efforts in attracting targeted customers to purchase their products and services.
Confident: It is important for manager and leader to have confidence while implementing
pre-determined policies so that it will result better in future. Sometimes they are afraid of getting
negative result after implementing pre-determined polices which brings result in negative
manner so it is important for both individual to carry confidence level while performing business
activities.
Motivator: Manager and leader are held responsible to provide motivation and direction
to their employees in order to get better result. They both need to communicate the members of
company and collect any suggestions and opinions from them which help them in formulating
new plans and polices. Giving importance to employees maximises the motivation level of
employees which directly helps in improving their performance.
Comparison between leaders and managers:
Leader Manager
 An individual who influences other
subordinated to achieve desired goals is
known as leader.
 Leader should concentrate on
performance of each and every
individual performing in team.
 Leader need to provide direction and
motivation to their group members to
perform assigned task efficiently.
 Leader is responsible only to direct and
 An individual who manage business
operations through performing various
activities such as planning, direction,
coordination and control.
 Manager should concentrate on overall
performance of an organisation.
 Manager is liable to assign task to their
employees according to their skills and
knowledge.
 Managers is also responsible in
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motivate concerned teams.
 Leader makes possible efforts in
minimizing risks.
conducting hiring and recruiting
programs through which they can
recruit skilled candidates.
 Manager is one who has ability to take
risk to achieve desired targets.
M1: Differentiate between roles and functions of a leader and manager
The managers and leaders perform different functions and role with each other to achieve
same desired goals and objectives (Barratt, Choi and Li, 2011). The manager performs various
functions such as planning, controlling, directing and controlling of all business activities while
on the other side leaders focus on enhancing skills and knowledge of employees through
conducting various motivational programs.
TASK 2
P2. Role of a leaders and the functions of a manager in different situational context
Both leaders and managers perform various roles and functions in an organisation depend
on different situations. They both contribute their maximum efforts in achieving desired goals
and objectives of an organisation. In Aston martin company, the managers and leaders perform
different roles and responsibilities in achieving desired targets. As the different situations arise in
working environment and it is important for both of them to handle and manger such situation in
an effective and efficient manner. They both need to concentrate to convert opportunities into
strengths which helps an organisation to gain competitive advantage. Applications of role of a
leader and functions of a manger are describe as follows:
Customers: Customers are the lifeline of business and therefore it is important for both
manager and leader to provide quality products and services to them in order to maximise their
level of satisfaction. As the needs and demands of the customers keep changes rapidly therefore
it is important for Aston Martin to identify such needs and demands and accordingly implement
various unique features in their cars so as to attract the large number of customers. It is also
required for manager and leaders to conduct training sessions and development programs in
order to enhance skills and knowledge of their employees so that they are able to manufacture
quality products which later on selling to their targeted customers.
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Employees: Employee is an asset for company and therefore it is important for company
to treat them well. They both should need to focus on improving the skills and capabilities of
their employees through conducting training sessions and development programs. Manager is
one who tells what objectives to be achieve in future and a leader is one who tells how to achieve
such desired objectives. In Aston Martin company, both leaders and managers need to provide
motivation and direction to their employees in such an effective manner which helps in
improving the performance of their employees.
Suppliers: Supplier is one who supply raw materials which is required inn manufacturing
final product to company. Therefore suppliers also play an important role in achieving desired
goals and objectives of company. It is important for manager and leader to maintain a healthy
relation with them which help in getting raw material at right time. The managers should first
analyse all the suppliers and then need to choose best supplier so that they can procure raw
material and offers quality products to its customers.
Society: As it is important for company to perform various business activities which
cannot affect the society in both positive and negative way. It becomes the responsibility of
manager to put their maximum efforts in social development and execute business activities as
per the Norms and values of society. The decision taken by the manager should not harm the
society in any way. Leader also plays an important role in executing business operation as per
ethical and legal norms of society
P3. Apply various models and theories including situational leadership
There are different theories and approaches for leadership which are used in Aston
Martin. In order to achieve desired goals and objectives manager and leader needs to motivate
employees through following various theories of leadership . Such leadership theories are as
follows:
System leadership: In order to resolve all problems relating to business operations this
theory of leadership plays an important role towards achieving desired targets. For example If
any dispute or issue arises in Aston Martin then leader is the one who is responsible to solve that
issue or conflicts in a systematic manner (Chen and et. al., 2010). Therefore leader must need to
identify the main elements which affect the business operations and thereafter implement
corrective measures in order to eradicate such issues as soon as possible. This will Alsation help
in maintaining healthy environment at workplace in an organisation.
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Situational theory: As situation arises at workplace is flexible therefore this theory of
leadership says that leader need to adopt different style of leadership as per the situation exist in
enterprise. As per this, same style of leadership cannot be applicable in every kind of situations
so it is important for a leader to carry a flexible style of leadership.
Contingency leadership: As per this theory there is no single way to execute business
operations and it is based on the ideas and opinions of enterprise. In contingency theory of
leadership, the leaders needs to analyse various contingencies in the form of subordinate, task
and group variables. Under this theory, the leadership style can be either motivated relating to
the task or motivate towards building relationship. Task-motivated related to attain goals of an
organisation where as relationship motivated related to building interpersonal relationship.
M2 Strengths and weaknesses of various approaches
Contingency theory of leadership: Strengths: This theory of leadership helps in providing relevant information related with
business activities of an organisation.
 Weaknesses: Thus leadership style sometimes face challenges in current market place.
System theory of leadership: Strengths: It helps in providing systematic plan to resolve business issues and
controlling business operation in effective and efficient way (Cruz and Marques, 2011).
 Weakness: As this theory is not apply in all business situation due to its high complexity
therefore not useful.
Situational theory of leadership: Strengths: It helps in gathering all details regarding needs of employees related to
providing training programmes.
 Weakness: Lack of flexibility.
D1: Analyse and evaluate various approaches and theories to leadership
There are different types of leadership theories with their own benefits and
characteristics. Main theories of leadership are situational, contingency and system.
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TASK 3
P4 Key approaches to operations management and roles of leaders and managers
Generally business depends on external environment as well as it is a part of large system
such as any firm or industry it belongs to, economy system and society. Enterprises play
important role in converting input into output and export the environment. So this simple model
requires to expanded and developed that shows model of operation management. It replaced
various inputs through the managerial functions like planning, organising, staffing, directing and
controlling. Any organisation must be defined by an open system including interactions between
the enterprise and its external environment (Giegerich, 2010). There are some key approaches of
operation management and the roles and responsibilities of managers or leaders in different
functions such as:
Total quality management: This approach consider qualities of goods and services that
industry serve to the desired customers for satisfying their needs and wants. So generally
company focus on total quality management approach for producing qualitative goods and
services for meeting customer's requirements. Aston Martin company offers featured or antique
cars with best quality to the customers which helps to attract more person towards company's
products.
Just in time: It refers to inventory management in which company concentrate on
managing or controlling stock in production process. It support in increasing efficiency and
reducing costs or wastage. So just in time approach helps to an organisation as it produce the
goods when demand will be there an d also distribute as well as delivers to the end user. It also
supporting in reducing warehouses costs or chances of being damage will be reduced. Aston
Martin company control on their inventory management system through this approach.
Lean products: This approach use for minimise costs as well as wastage in
manufacturing department because it consider factor of production that support in getting best
outcomes from limited resources (Ivanov, Sokolov and Kaeschel, 2010). Aston Martin company
apply this approach for framing quality products in less wastage.
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P5 Importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives
A systematic approach always support in continuously improving of performance for the
organisation including capacity and outcomes. It concern various procedure and structures that
implement strategies and having the entire business in focus for improving performance and
results (Mendis, Muttaqi and Perera, 2014). The operations management focus on development
in designing and improving of the products.
Evaluations: In this consider benchmarking and monitoring that support in eliminating
inefficiencies such as shortage of raw material, excess of inventories and over staffing etc.
Cost minimisation: Operation management help in reducing cost while producing goods
and services as they utilise available resources and allocate these among several activities. Aston
Martin company have to be careful while manufacturing featured car or creating new model
because it can be occur more costs or expenses.
Financial and human resource management: Financial management is very necessary
for every businesses because without this resource, company cannot run. Same as with human
resource so managers have to consider equal management as well as money and manpower. It
can helps to get tangible or intangible benefits within organisation (Jacobs, Chase and Lummus,
2011). Aston Martin company can grasp market opportunity by adopting this strategy.
Enhance performance: It is the benefits for company and employees as operation
management support in boosting people moral as well as increasing work productivity by
motivating employees so organisation can improve its performance in effective manner.
Time management: It also a another positive factor of operation management which
support in managing time as it increase efficiency and productivity of work. Time management
helps in providing or offering goods and services to the customers in specific time period with
utilisation of resources.
M3: Managers and leaders can improve efficiencies of operational management
The managers and leaders of Aston Martin need to follow different approaches such as
total quality management, lean production and six sigma which helps in bringing efficiency in
products and services (Galindo and Batta, 2013). This will also help in achieving future growth
and sustainability.
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TASK 4
P6 Business environmental factors that impact upon operational management
The term environment is defined as the surrounding or conditions in which particular
activity is carried on and organisation consider the social entity that has hierarchical structure in
which all item are put together to obtain best outcomes or results. All businesses are being
affected from environmental factors which directly influenced on operations.
Internal environment:
In this, internal forces affect within boundary of an organisation and such kind of factors
are controllable so company's managers make decisions to control all internal forces.
Owner: The person who invested and have property rights of the business. Owner can be
individual or group of person who started the venture and share their profits among them. So
they have rights to take any decision and it can be affect internal environment within
organisation (Kang, 2010).
Board of directors: It is the governing body of the company who are elected by several
stakeholders and they give responsibility of business for overseeing a firm's top managers like
general managers.
Employees: The most important factor of an organisation that employees work hard to
get success as they perform task of the administration so labours as well as workers are important
parts of an organisation (Functions of Managers, 2017). Managers have to maintain relations
among people because conflicts can be arise in team members and results will be failure of the
business.
External environment:
It consider various external forces that can impact on business operations. These types of
factors cannot be control by managers but it can be manage by adopting best strategies or
approaches.
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Figure 1: PESTEL Analysis, 2017
Political Factors: It refers to rules and regulations which is implemented by government
of country to manager business operations. It is essentially required for an organisation to follow
such rules and standards in order to run the business more smoothly.
Economic factor: One of the most important factor is economic because business
depends on the economic system for operation. In this includes inflations, interest rates and
unemployment so it can affect on demand of particular products or services (Lind, 2013).
Social factors: According to changes of demands, taste and preferences of customers, it
can affect on business as well as on product's sell. Company's managers should study about
consumer behaviour and gather data about customer's demands in the market.
Technological factor: It also a big factor that depends on external environment due to
changes of technology, it can affect on Auto-mobile industry so Aston Martin company requires
to consider this forces.
Environmental factors: There are various environmental factors such as natural hazards,
climatic conditions etc. which affect the business operations either negatively or positivity.
Therefore it is required for manger and leader to manager such environmental factors in an
effective and efficient manner.
Legal factors: The company need to comply with laws and legislations implemented by
government on order to manager business activities. This will; affect the decisions taken by
manager and leaders at workplace.
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M4: Factors which affect business operations and decision making process
Aston Martin should operate their business activities effectively without facing any
problems relating to internal and external factors. It is required for company to follow all rules
and standards in order to perform efficiently.
D2. Applications of operations management
In order to ensure positive result of production process the operation management need to
focus on designing manufacturing process.
CONCLUSION
As per the above report it can be concluded that managers and leaders perform different
roles and functions to achieve same desired goals and objectives of an organisation. As per the
Aston Martin company manager need to formulate various strategic plans and polices which
guides the member opt perform better. There are various models and theories which need to be
followed by an organisation in order to achieve stability and profitability.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
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Online
PESTEL Analysis. 2017. [Online]. Available through: .
<https://blog.oxfordcollegeofmarketing.com/2016/06/30/pestel-analysis/>.
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