Operations Management Theories and Practices

This assignment examines fundamental operations management concepts, exploring various theories like TQM, lean manufacturing, supply chain management, and risk management. It analyzes relevant research studies and publications, highlighting practical applications of these theories across diverse sectors. The focus is on understanding the impact of technological advancements and environmental considerations on contemporary operations management practices.

Management & Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
P1 Define and compare different characteristics of a leader and manager................................1
P2 Examples of role of a leader and function of a manager .....................................................2
P3 Theories and approaches of leadership..................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
Introduction......................................................................................................................................5
P4. Key approaches to operations management and the roles that leader and managers play....5
P5. Importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives ...........6
P6. Factors within the business environment that impact upon operational management and
decision-making by leaders and managers..................................................................................7
Conclusions......................................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Management and operations are the key aspects of business , its an area concerned with
the designing and production of goods and services (Talk, 2016). With this the role of leaders
and managers are very important for managing the operations of the business, as these are the
person who are accountable for the operations of business like they have to check the quality,
design, capacity. In this report role of leaders and managers of Marks and Spencer has been
assessed thoroughly for evaluating their impact on operations. The present report revolves
around the approaches used by them in managing marks and Spencer and they key approaches
that they use along with the leadership styles. Its been depicted here that how the characteristics
of the leaders and managers has influenced the employees to achieve the targets and be dedicated
toward the company (Hill and Hill, 2012). It provides an insight to the concept of leaders and
mangers, how much they are similar in their goals, yet different in approach.
TASK 1
Introduction
Marks & Spencer have created a organisation structure which has delegated authority to
everyone and has removed the number of layers through a process of delayering. This gives the
power to every employee to make quick decisions on their part. With greater authority comes
greater responsibility (Krajewski, Ritzman and Malhotra, 2013). They are now more accountable
than before. The employees has been allotted with specialist role like buyers of stock, staff
working in marketing and stocks.
P1 Define and compare different characteristics of a leader and manager.
Manager-Manager is a person who is responsible for controlling the activities of an organization
and thus he is responsible for managing different activities on an organization (Baldwin Allen
and Ridgway, 2010).
Leader- Leader is a person who has followers and he leads and commands a group,organization
or country and thus influences group of people towards achievement of goals.
Characteristics of a leader and manager.
LEADER MANAGER
Leaders are straight forward and they drive
their employees to achieve a particular task and
Managers are process oriented and they always
think about the process how the organization
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focus on the key areas to achieve the goals and
objectives.
Leaders are in the art of emotional intelligence
to drive people to achieve a particular task.
Leaders are very focused on change
management so that organization objectives
can be achieved rather on working on the same
management system(Tang and Musa, 2011).
Leaders motivates the group members to work
efficiently and to achieve the goals of the
organization.
Leaders are vision oriented and think about
future(Akkerman, Farahani and Grunow,
2010). Leaders always deals with conflict and
help to resolve them .
Leaders keep their eye on the external
environment. Leader has short range of
prospective.
The leader does the things right and he accepts
the challenges which are coming through his
way and try to identify the solutions.
Leaders aim at growth and development of the
organization.
work in efficient manner(Wang and et. al.,
2010).
Managers always protect himself and he never
indulges himself in the conflict.
Managers always think about his carrier that
how he can grow up in the organization.
Manager is unclear about trust he never trust
his employees in any field
Managers always listen to his employees and
he indulge employees in the decision making
process.
Managers always keep his eye on the internal
environment.
Managers seeks external data for review and
analysis
Manager follows transactional style to
complete his work in the organization.
Managers strive for efficiency to complete his
task.
Manager aim at attainment of the desired
result. Managers have employees they are
dependent on them for decisions.
Managers are optimistic by nature and they
help in building morale in their employees
P2 Examples of role of a leader and function of a manager
Supervisor-The common leadership role in an organization is of supervisory(Alderton and
Saieva, 2013). Manager have subordinates over whom they can have supervisory responsibility
like assignment of task and duties, communicating the information to the subordinates,
monitoring work performance delegation of authority and responsibility.
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Example- Leader assigning duties to employees according to their skills and abilities and their
areas of interest for effective result.
Coaching- Leaders takes the responsibility of coaching and mentoring of employees they act as
a guide to make them familiar with the work place training and guiding them(Yang, Hong and
Modi, 2011). It also includes selecting right type of people for the right job for the effective
results and effective level of work performance and working with employees to set goals
helping employees to find opportunity for employees to set their carrier objectives.
Example- Leader guiding the employee about the nature and type of the work they have perform
at the workplace .
Decision Maker- Leaders play the role of decision maker in the company and thus implement
and establish the direction of the company(Barratt, Choi and Li, 2011). Employees relay on top
management and direct supervision for decision making that impact the overall success of the
employees and their impact on the job. The ability is not to make sound decisions but to have
effective work environment under which different activities can operate effectively and
sometime under pressure all depends on the leadership roles.
Example- Leaders takes decisions if some conflict arises in the organization and thus he is the
sole person in take the decisions and his decisions have to be followed by everyone in the
organization.
Visionary-Employees in an organization are often driven by their own ambitions and thus the
primary role of a leader in the company is to make the employees following the vision of the
organization and motivating them to achieve the visions and goals for the organization.
Employees can achieve their best if there is proper flow of communication and coordination
between their work and group people and thus the ultimate success for the
organization(Kuruppuarachchi and Perera, 2010). Leaders must decide the right path for the
success and thus find ways to achieve it and than communicate it effectively that it creates a
positive work culture in tP4. Key approaches to operations management and the roles that
leader and managers playhe organization with committed employees at all level.
Example- Leaders motivating employees to achieve vision for the organization and create value.
P3 Theories and approaches of leadership
Situational Leadership Theory- This theory implies different situation needs different set of
leadership and to be effective in leadership one requires the ability to adapt or adjust to ones
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style to the circumstances of the particular situation(Slack, 2015). The primary factor which
determines how to adapt are the assessment of the competency and commitment of the words by
the leader to the follower and thus the assessment of these factors define that a leader should use
directive or supportive style of leadership.
Contingency Theory-Leaders effectiveness is contingent on how well a leader style matches a
specific situation and how fast he react to the situation to get the desired result(Stadtler, 2015).
The difference between the situational and contingent theory is that in situational theory leaders
adapt themselves according to the situation but in contingent theory depends on the degree of fit
between leaders quality and style and that to of a specific or particular situation or context.
System Leadership Theory – This theory aims at following a particular system which begins
with clear aim of the organization the work culture and the system to enable appropriate
leadership so that effective work culture can be created. The organization has to be made clear
about the need for the leadership programmes and how these programmes can be implemented
in the organization and thus leadership is a key approach that needs to be manage and managing
this leadership requires pulling a wide range of levels of organization that influences the work
culture
An organization is a system which needs to be understood effective to have a appropriate
system in the 0rganization. It includes three phases individual managers, managerial teams and
the organization (Subramanian and Ramanathan, 2012). These phases tells how an individual
handle himself in the situation where effective leadership is not implemented , how different
members of the team have to be managed so that there arises no conflict and a creative and
friendly work environment is maintained in the organization and when the members of the
organization will cooperate and coordinate with each other than the organization effectiveness
will be maintained and the activities of the organization will be balanced because a particular
work system is followed in the organization .
Conclusion
Leaders and mangers have a great impact on the employees of Marks & Spencer. As with
various theories and approaches they master on their tasks and guide the employees and lead
them to the path of success. They modify their methods with every situation they face.
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TASK 2
Introduction
in this task , key operations of Marks & Spencer are elaborated. How the leaders and
mangers impact in the operations of the cited entity is commendable(Jacobs, Chase and Chase,
2010). They have played a crucial role in managing the operations including HR, marketing,
finance, logistics etc. This lal have been done by using the management approaches.
P4. Key approaches to operations management and the roles that leader and managers play
According to Henry Mintzberg, there are three contrasting approaches operations
management: the entrepreneurial, the adaptive and the planning approach.
In the entrepreneurial approach, a leader who is bold and strong takes the planning action
on the behalf of the operations function (Hill and Hill, 2012).
In the adaptive approach, a manager has the plan already formulated in a series of small,
disjointed steps in reaction to an environment that is disjointed.
The planning model approach, uses planning essentials that is to be combined with with
the logical analysis of management science.
There are many approaches to operations management. The key point is that operations
strategies should be consistent with the overall strategies of the organization. Operations
typically utilize the all-round corporate approach to strategic planning, with modification that are
special and operations issues and opportunities are basically focused upon.
Assembly lines are another approach amongst many to the operations and production
management (Baldwin, Allen and Ridgway, 2010). It is an approach that impacts in mass
production, achieving high volumes of standardized products. With the shift from craft
production to assembly lines, producers will be able to successfully employ large number of
unskilled workers. By achieving assembly lines, they can achieve tremendous gains in industrial
productivity, produced affordable products and greatly increased the standard of living of people
in industrial nations. Assembly lines also play an important role in a newer approach to
operations called lean production or, more generally, lean operations.
A leader or manager of the operations department in an organization have a very
significant role in the firm because he is tasked with ensuring that operations are both efficient
and effective, and he is the one responsible for the goals and objectives to be met within the
deadline.
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A strong operations leader must understand that the employees are valuable resource and
the operations staff can be effectively communicated with (Wu, Olson and Birge, 2011).
Delivering the hard facts abd providing thoughtful and constructive feedback are not only the
means, but empowered employees can be listened to, who are the part of the same team.
An effective operation manager can be defined as the master and commander of
managing the resources of the input and output. The processes to decrease the cost of goods per
unit are optimized by these professionals, and making it possible to sell at a lower cost and
leaving a high enough margin in remaining agile in the competitive business environments.
The focus on quality in today's marketplace has progressed for the value being ensured at
the source (Wong and et. al., 2012). Rather than using a supplier that has a rejection rate of 5%
with parts provided, an operations leader who is effective might go with a supplier who may
charge slightly more then other suppliers, but has a lower rejection rate to ensure the product's
lifespan and costumer satisfaction.
P5. Importance and value of operations management in achieving business
objectives
It is believed that the operations management was only important for
the manufacturing industry. It was supported with the fact that the
manufacturing industry had to take care of more number of processes and
operations starting from the obtaining of raw materials till the goods are
sold.
So many operations management involves management tasks similar
to other industries and businesses. It involves the same steps in the
procedure: planning staffing, controlling, directing, motivating and
organizing (Peng and Lai, 2012). Irrespective of business , the operations
management ranges across the organization as apart of tactical and
strategic operations.
The nature of how the management of the strategic objectives is
organized is highly dependent on the type of organization, like government
authority,a manufacturer or a wholesale business. Operations management
assists senior level management in strategic level decision making (Krajewski,
Ritzman and Malhotra, 2013). Such decisions consider the constraints that are
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already existing as well as the current conditions to efficient system
formulation and processes to achieve competitive advantage company-wide.
Operations management enables management to efficiently schedule
the available resources and the staff are managed under the legal
regulations and the defined constraints by the strategic plan of the
organization. Operations management also assists in planning, controlling
and monitoring decisions regarding operations under the constraints
defined by the tactical decisions (O'Fallon and Rutherford, 2011). These decisions
are focussed narrowly on separate departmental targets individually.
No business can hope success without operation management. It uses
the proper resources in appropriate ways to create products that are
defined to fulfil the market requirement. Operations management also
deals with the product and its development function to maintain speed,
quality, cost and flexibility of the product (Jacobs, Chase and Chase, 2010). The
responsibilities of the operation management to keep strong relationship
with supplier to ensure process that the raw materials are supplied in a
timely manner. Relations with customers are managed by providing the
best quality services to the customers in order to satisfy their demand.
P6. Factors within the business environment that impact upon operational
management and decision-making by leaders and managers
There are three major factors that affects the decision making by leaders and managers
that are perception issue, organizational issue and environmental issue.
Perception issue: Perception is a way by which an individual interpret its work
environment. An individual perception can influence the decision making process in the
organization. Example-In an organization a conflict arises the information about the problem
needs to be collected and thus the individual perception will result in where the information is
sought and what is the outcome of that information (Gunasekaran and Ngai, 2012). Perception
can be influenced by the perceiver,the object and the situation.
Perceiver is the person who will be perceived by the information and it will be heavily
influenced by the personal characteristics of that person and thus include background and
enterprise,personal values,personal expectations and personal interest.
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The object which refers to any person or event can have the way it is referred to the way
it affect the perception of the perceiver.
The situation include the time, date, location and other situational factor which can affect
the perception of an object.
Organisational Issues: There are many organisational issues within the organisation that
includes policies and procedure of the organisation,Organisational hierarchy and organisational
policies.
Organisational policies and programmes are the rules and regulations that have been
developed to resolve the problems which are faced by the organisation and help the mangers in
the decision-making process as to many organisation have a documented structure which guides
mangers to handle the situations at bad times or when the situations are uncontrollable.
Organisational Hierarchy: It refers to the management structure which is followed by
different organisation (Galindo and Batta, 2013). Each organisation follows a different
organisation hierarchy with different levels of authority and responsibility and the degree of
responsibility directly affect the level of decision making in the organisation .
Organisational Politics: It refers to the behaviour reflected by the individual and group
which is made to influence the decision of others in the organisation and thus includes advancing
the ideas and interest of the individual, advance in the carrier planning of the individual goal and
target defined and increasing their rewards.
Environmental issues: Environment issues relates to the external
factors that affects the organisation in the decision making process and thus
the external factors include the market area in which the organisation
operates, the economic trends in the organisation,level of gross domestic
factor in the economy, rules and regulations of the government which affect
the decision making process and customer reaction to the organisation
product and services, the level of inflation in the economy, balance of
payment and the growth rates of the organisation which are affects and
thus in turn affects the whole economy (Jacobs, Chase and Chase, 2010).
Conclusions
To conclude the above task it has been observed that both leaders and mangers have played a
crucial role and improves the efficiency of the organisation. certain steps must be taken by the
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leaders for future improvements, and these are: he should delegate more responsibilities to the
workers and must change its leadership style according to the situation and to the type of worker
he is dealing with.
CONCLUSION
After the thorough study of management and operations of Marks & Spencer, it has been
conclude that they have the leaders and mangers that are so impactful that they make their
employees work for the betterment of the company by complying with the policies of the
company and they have used various leadership styles like autocratic, participative and
management theories like contingency, chaos, and the effect of contemporary theories to support
growth and sustainable development. Altough there is some scope of improvement like they
should modify their styles according to the worker and the current need of the situation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Akkerman, R., Farahani, P. and Grunow, M., 2010. Quality, safety and sustainability in food
distribution: a review of quantitative operations management approaches and
challenges. Or Spectrum. 32(4). pp.863-904.
Alderton, P. and Saieva, G., 2013. Port management and operations. Taylor & Francis.
Baldwin, J.S., Allen, P.M and Ridgway, K., 2010. An evolutionary complex systems decision-
support tool for the management of operations. International Journal of Operations &
Production Management. 30(7). pp.700-720.
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.
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.
Gunasekaran, A. and Ngai, E.W., 2012. The future of operations management: an outlook and
analysis. International Journal of Production Economics. 135(2). pp.687-701.
Hill, A and Hill, T., 2012. Operations management. Palgrave Macmillan.
Jacobs, F.R., Chase, R.B and Chase, R., 2010. Operations and supply chain management.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Krajewski, L.J., Ritzman, L. and Malhotra, M.K., 2013. Operations management: Processes and
supply chains (Vol. 1). New York: Pearson.
Kuruppuarachchi, D and Perera, H.S.C., 2010. Impact of TQM and technology management on
operations performance. IUP Journal of Operations Management. 9(3). p.23.
O'Fallon, M.J. and Rutherford, D.G., 2011. Hotel management and operations. John Wiley &
Sons.
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.
Slack, N., 2015. Operations strategy. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Stadtler, H., 2015. Supply chain management: An overview. In Supply chain management and
advanced planning (pp. 3-28). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
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.
Talk, O.M., 2016. Operations management.
Tang, O. and Musa, S. N., 2011. Identifying risk issues and research advancements in supply
chain risk management. International journal of production economics. 133(1). pp.25-
34.
Wang, X. and et. al., 2010. A production planning model to reduce risk and improve operations
management. International Journal of Production Economics. 124(2). pp.463-474.
Wong, C.W. and et. al., 2012. Green operations and the moderating role of environmental
management capability of suppliers on manufacturing firm performance. International
Journal of Production Economics. 140(1). pp.283-294.
Wu, D.D., Olson, D.L. and Birge, J.R., 2011. Introduction to special issue on “Enterprise risk
management in operations”.
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Yang, M. G. M., Hong, P. and Modi, S. B., 2011. Impact of lean manufacturing and
environmental management on business performance: An empirical study of
manufacturing firms. International Journal of Production Economics. 129(2). pp.251-
261.
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