Strategies for Gaining a Competitive Advantage in the Modern Business World

In today's competitive business world, getting a competitive advantage requires effective leadership and management. The provided content highlights the importance of developing leadership and management skills to drive organizational success. It emphasizes the need for leaders to be aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of their team members, in order to make informed decisions that benefit the organization. The articles also stress the significance of transformational leadership, emotional intelligence, and knowledge management processes in achieving a competitive edge.

MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS
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Executive Summary
Leadership and Management are inseparable. There is a basic difference between a leader and a
manager in an organisation but a manager needs all leadership qualities to maintain integrity in
an organisation. A manager with his influencing quality can achieve desired result in an
enterprise. In this study how can a manager manage the entire department and give a productive
result to the organisation that is highlighted in respect to M & S Ltd. Techniques of increasing
quality with leadership traits, different business environmental factors are discussed here.
Business operational activities can be improved by integrity among numerous resources
available in the enterprise.Strategies must be taken correctly by the company otherwise; M & S
Ltd. cannot improve their performance. Implementing effectiveness is not an easy task.
Enterprise resource planning is needed for that. It can be considered as a part of strategical
decision making. A company’s operational task focuses on the decision-making process of a
company. A manager must take this decision accurately because it is very crucial part of any
organisation. If a manager cannot act as a leader, then he can never perform well. Company
performance can be continued by proper leadership style. There are so many types of leadership.
As per condition leadership styles are adopted. As a leader manager will justify all the
environmental elements to operate business activities efficiently.
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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................4
LO1. Differentiating between role of a leader and the objectives of a manager.............................4
LO2. Implementing the role of a leader and the function of a manager:.........................................5
LO3: Determining an acknowledgement of the role leaders and managers playing in the active
function of an organization..............................................................................................................8
LO4. Demonstrating the understanding of relationship between leadership and management in a
contemporary business environment.............................................................................................11
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................12
Reference List:...............................................................................................................................14
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Introduction:
Leadership can be expressed as a quality of a person to influence other. He will instruct and
integrates the subordinates in such a way so that they follow their leader. Sometimes leadership
and management are treated in same way but there is a theoretical difference between a leader
and a manager. Leaders are having some people follow them. Practically a manager in an
organisation acts as a leader to completedesired task of department successfully. In order to
highlight transparent picture of leadership role of a manager, herelearner has taken the company
M & S Ltd. which is a multi-national retail company of UK.
Figure 1: M & S Ltd. Logo
(Source: Marksandspencer.com.,2017)
LO1.Differentiatingbetweenrole of a leader and the objectives of a manager
P1. Description and comparisonbetween different roles and features of a leader and
manager
There are various basic differences between the leadership and the management. The
management does focus on the resources that are available for the business organization and the
leadership does have the focus on the employee and the people who are to lead for certain role to
perform for the business organization. Management is the sense of data usage, usage of tools,
procedures, communication ideas, materials, making decisions, making business strategies,
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direction as well as make expectations with proper planning, coordination, organizations as well
as with perfect activity controls. Whereas the leadership is the management of the team member
who are involved in some activities of the job roles. The leaders are for the managing the
responsibilities of the respective member who are within the team of any leader.
According to Arnold, Fletcher and Anderson, (2015, p.285), the role of a manager in an
organization plays an important role to focus on managing the entire team of employees and their
activities. Performances can differ by the techniques they use in their projects and processes as
per they are assigned to. Companies like M & S Ltd have managers who were given their power
by the nature of their role. The responsibility of a manager is to ensure that the work assigned to
individual employees gets done, to keep track on day to day tasks, and manage the activities
performed by other team members (Marksandspencer.com.,2017). A manager focuses on
strategic activities which are greatly needed in fast paced business environment. Most of the time
they have to handle a directive and governing approach. In order to be successful by organizing
employees to achieve tasks will lead to a great accomplishment. Managers in business profile
keep up to date with e-commerce developments and possess knowledge of the latest technology
which helps them to stay a step ahead in the competition.
Business leaders in M & S Ltd. carry out their nature of being self-aware in understanding the
strengths and weakness of the employees (Marksandspencer.com.,2017). A leader treats their
subordinates equally and makes fast decisions related to the workplace. It is his/her responsibility
to motivate the entire team maintaining a positive attitude. The leaders always keep track of the
facts and figures of the organization, earn the respect of the team and come out with a variety of
innovative ideas for a better progress.
As stated by Edwards, et al. (2015, p.328), learning good leadership skills is not easy because they
contain more behavioral aspects than those traits required for management. A manager receives
their authority on the basis of their role, while a leader’s power is ingrained in their way of
approaching. Any change in the style of working or in the procedures of management gets
focused by the leaders. In order to recognize that for an advanced success, the continual
improvement achieved in their employees and their activities can be the reason of the great
progressing step. It is an infinite reward to be able to lead the entire teams irrespective of change
management, which can acquire by the leaders only. This is one of the major reasons that
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constructing leadership qualities can be so challenging for new managers. Without having
management skills, demonstrating good leadership skills will leave with a disability to function
the visions. Likewise, without good leadership skills, a manager will lead to face continual
challenges to motivate the team and producing outcomes which he tried to manage to.
LO2. Implementing the role of a leader and the function of a manager:
P2. The importance of Leader and Manager in different situations:
According to Bolman and Deal, (2014, p.245), leadership is a vital part which is implemented in
different levels of management. Management is always involved in integration of different
activities. If a leader cannot influence his followers properly then it is too difficult to coordinate
the activities of subordinate people. A manager is the main person of a specific group or a
department. He allocates the activities among different employees. If the manager cannot
distribute the work correctly then a department cannot run efficient and effective manner. M & S
Ltd is having three levels of management i.e. higher, middle and lower level. Each department is
divided into different teams. Each team is having team leader who manages the total team. The
allocation of task is from manager to team leader and team leader to team members. A leader
always organises and plans and a manager's work is similar to that. So, He will always try to
inspire the subordinate members. A manager can act as good leader when he can negotiate
effectively. As stated by Renz, (2016, p.5), a manager must have the quality to negotiate with
employees, contractors, creditors etc. besides a manager must be a good communicator. If he has
not properly communicated then work cannot be done accurately. The last vital thing is to cope
with the sudden changes in an organisation. M & S Ltd. has faced critical situations regarding
communication, settlement with environmental changes etc. If the company can follow
guidelines mentioned above, then they can easily eradicate the problems. A manager is having
some specific functions on the basis of which leadership quality of a manager can be identified
i.e. planning, communicating, integrating etc. M & S Ltd can improve their quality of
management if managers of the company can integrate the total departmental tasks.
P3. Different theories of Leadership:
There are so many theories of leadership given by different experts out of which eight main
theories are highlighted here.
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Great man theory: this theory is based on the belief and this state that the leaders are the
exceptional people who are born with extraordinary qualities and have the destination to lead.
The term “man” has the use since the later portion of the twentieth century and the leadership has
thought to be the concept with primarily male, western and military. This does lead to next stage
of trait theories of leadership.
Transactional leadership Theories: this has the approach of important relationship between the
followers and the leaders that have the focus on benefit for both the leaders as well as for the
followers (Nahavandi, 2016, p.11). The leadership states that the followers would be provided with
the rewards for the better work and in return the leaders do desire to get the commitments and
loyalty from the followers.
Transformational Leadership Theories: the major concept of this kind of leadership theory is
the change and the leadership roles within the envision as well as implementing the
transformation for the performances of the business organization.
Inherent Leadership: According to this approach leadership is the inborn capacity of a person.
Leaders are not made; skills are normal capability of a leader. This capability makes a person
great man. Simply, this theory reveals leadership is inherent quality.
Trait Theories of Leadership: In this theory, it is said that Leadership is inherent capability and
quality to implement the capability makes a person good leader. It is slightly similar to the
Inherent theory. A leader must have the effectiveness. As per Nahavandi, (2016, p.11), the only
efficiency cannot make a perfect leader; both efficiency and effectiveness are jointly responsible
for being a good leader.
The approach of Contingency: It is the most vital approach. Goetsch and Davis, (2014, p.25)
opined that, this theory reveals that particular environmental factors determine the leadership
style. So, there are different types of leadership which are the outcome of a specific environment.
There is no theory which universal theory. Leadership style varies from situation to situation.
Strategies for positive situation will be separate from strategies for negative situation. M & S
LTD. needs to adopt contingency approach to increase the quality level of management. If the
company faces the loss situation then the first thing is to identify the weak areas for which the
organisation is incurring losses. If the company is having in higher profitability position then
strategic planning must be made to continue the consistency of the performance.
Situational Approach: Asmentioned byArmstrong, (2016, p.19), this approach says that a
leader will select the best action among numerous courses of actions. This is worldwide accepted
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leadership approach because every organisation is taken their decision on situation basis. The
situation is always changing. So, M & S Ltd. may improve their quality adopting this theory. The
situation may be positive, average or negative. A company must eliminate the negativity and for
this formulates different course of activities. The best one will be selected to solve a problem.
System Theory of Leadership: Under this approach, an enterprise is treated as a system. As
stated by Solomon, Costea and Nita (2016, p.143), every system is having two aspects i.e. open
ended and close ended. So, if the organisation is a system then it is having two sides. An open
system is affected by environmental factors but close system is not affected by environmental
elements. Generally, an organisation is definitely an open ended system because it is having
influenced by different environmental issues. In decision-making process, treatment of
organisation as open system helps to consider all factors. So, decision-making technique
becomes easy. M & S Ltd. can easily identify all the issues regarding decision making if they
follow system theory.
Behavioral Approach: In this theory, it is told that great leaders are not born, they are made by
continuous process. Behavior is the main factor of a leader. It is also acceptable in some cases.
Theory of Management: In this theory, focus is made on group performance and supervision. In
modern world, normally this theory is followed. Simply this approach can be expressed as the
definition of management.
Relationship Approach of Leadership: As stated byHallinger and Wang (2015, p.26), this
approach shows that direct and good relation among leader and followers helps to enhance the
leadership quality. This is often called transformational theories. Transformational leaders
always try to maintain the group performance.
LO3: Determining an acknowledgementof therole leaders and managers
playing in theactive function of an organization
P4. Describing the main approaches to activities of the management and the role played by
the leaders and the managers
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A manager must consider the elements of specific interest. Different factors of business
environment which can influence the decision-making power and operational management of M
& S Ltd. are explained below.
Competitors: Company must identify its competitors in the market. If they properly find out the
competitors strong and weak points, then based on weak points company can make their unique
strategy which is most vital part of any organisation in perfectly competitive market. Every
enterprise can grow their business by unique decision. So, M & S Ltd. must follow the rules to
maintain uniqueness and competitors must be considered very carefully to flourish the activity of
an organisation. The strategy will be always customer based. Ultimately customers' requirement
fulfillment can increase the growth of a business.
Supplier Dealings: Supplier dealing is very important part of a business organisation. M & S
Ltd. must deal with the suppliers carefully so that materials can get in right time. The company
must increase good relationship with suppliers in order to ensure consistent supply of materials.
This will enhance to provide best services to the consumers. Inappropriate dealings with
suppliers will deteriorate the performance of the enterprise. Due to lack of supply operational
activities cannot be continued.
Organisational Values and Culture: ‘Culture' and ‘Values' are two key factors of success in an
organisation. These refer to the behavior of employees, ethical norms of company, relationship
with different levels of management etc. On the basis of culture and values, a company performs,
so these are important to continue operational performance of the company. Culture is essential
to make a manager's behavior. As the internal factor, values and cultures are having pivot role on
management.
Relationship with Workforce: According toBoyatzis (2014, p.300), workforce is the key part
of every organization. A manager must maintain the mutual understanding with subordinates so
that desired outcome can be achieved very easily. M & S Ltd. must follow the rule of
optimisation with available resources. If human resources cannot be utilised correctly then it is
not possible to run the business operation properly.
Proprietor of the Company: Company owners invest capital to the company in running the
organisation in efficient and effective manner. As per Ljungholm, (2014, p.76), they are having
full rights to change enterprise policy at any time. They are the part of stakeholders. Based on
their invested amount a company is going on, so they are primary members of the company. If
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proprietor does not get good rate of return, he can withdraw his investment amount. M & S Ltd.
must calculate the cost of capital to continue operational activities effective way. Return on
investment must equal to its cost, otherwise, business cannot be run in profit.
Regulatory Body: Regulatory body is belonging to task environment. It is having power to
make emphasis on the policy formulation of an organisation. The government is the main part of
this environment. M & S Ltd. must follow government framework in order to maintain
operations of the business organisation. Complying with government regulations, M & S Ltd can
carry on their business properly.
Corporate social responsibility:
Corporate social responsibility or CSR may refer to an initiative of assessing and taking
responsibilities of the effect of the operation of the companies on the social and environmental
wellbeing. In other words, corporate social responsibility may refer to the involvement of the
companies in incurring short-term cost, which does not essentially yield immediate financial
benefit to the respective organization. However, it instead promotes positive social and
environmental change. In the context of CSR, M & S Ltd took the initiative to contribute 2% -
4% of its profit in CSR, where the company aims to sponsor scholarships to both the national
students and foreign students, keeping in the need and importance of education. The company
not only involves in sponsoring scholarship, but also trying to create a pool of job for the freshers
and as well as experienced, so that they will not wander jobless.
P5. Significance and values of the management procedures to achieve
According to Kayden, et al. (2014, p.4), the management team and leadership follow different
paths to improve in overall operations of the organization. Leadership and management
development is important in order to train leaders for a better engagement with the employees, to
gain ideas and knowledge of the client’s needs, and to put effort to set an example for others. The
managers and leaders who look for improving their own performance always try to motivate
their employees to do the same.
As mentioned by Hallinger and Bryant, (2013, p.307), the strategic business objectives are the
aims which are vital to the present and future health of a business. In order to improve the
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management procedures and leadership skills to meet the business objectives with respect to M
& S Ltd. certain strategies are followed:
Clear vision: Mertkan, (2014, p.226), opined that, a manager, in order to improve his
performance, share his vision, mission and his goals with the entire team to make them
understand its value for further proceedings. In order to meet the objectives of the business, the
managers make the employees acknowledged that by following its strategies will not only
develop the business but will also cause benefits to them.
Utilizing strengths and gifts: The skill to realize and utilize in-born gifted leadership qualities
which every individual possess will assist to be a formidable leader. It will help to meet the
objectives that the company maintains to build its brand image among the customers by offering
discounts and offers on products and services.
Definite goals and concrete action plans: As commented by Riazand Khalili, (2014,
p.335),before mapping out a plan, a manager needs to acknowledge the destination to set his
goal. In order to improve leadership and management skills, specific goals need to be set with
appropriate timelines and designs. Then, formulation of this action plan needs to be done to
commit to the business objectives that the company had proposed for the best outcomes in future.
Communication skills: In order to improve leadership skills, a manager requires to focus on his
ability to communicate clearly and specifically his vision, mission, goals, motives, and
anticipation to the employees and the customers. Improving management skills also requires
improving verbal, nonverbal, and listening skills which help to become a great communicator
taking the business across the globe.
Admitting and learning from failures and weakness: As stated by Tobin, (2014, p.2), all the
great leaders establish productive leadership skills, but most importantly, continuation is needed
for further improvement. Accepting mistakes and being receptive to others perception is always
rewarded and helps to meet the objective of the company to reach out to more segments.
Morals and Values: In order to improve management skills, a manager needs to make choices
and take actions aligned with respective morals and values which will help to success in
fulfilling all objectives of the company to meet the wants of the customers.
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O4. Demonstrating the understanding of relationship between leadership and
management in a contemporary business environment
P6. Elements of business environment to influence the decision-making power of
management.
As mentioned by Pihlainen, Kivinen and Lammintakanen, (2016, p.95), some external business
factors faced by the organization create a great impact upon operational management and in the
decisions making process. The management team and the leaders of the company need to have
active participation to avoid the crisis which includes certain factors and functions:
Economic factors:
The financial bodies can sometimes affect the ability to run the business. The external factors
that create an impact on the well-being of the company are mainly interest rates, consumer loans
and availability of credit which needs to control the management system of the company.
Market fluctuations based on political affairs, terrorism attacks and depreciation in currency will
lead to run out to most commercial enterprises. The management team and the leaders of M & S
Ltd. in this crisis situation change their strategic planning to maintain profit which will make
them unique from the competitors. This will make the working environment stable and peaceful
(Marksandspencer.com., 2017).
Political factors:
As mentioned by Tourish, (2013, p.11), political factors are one of the main factors of business
performance which varies from country to country. In U.K, Brexit union is newly elected which
focuses on labour priority. In order to fulfill the demands of the employees, the management and
the leaders of the company should act accordingly to the new policy to run for long-term growth
rate. Taxation policy has a huge impact in affecting business costs by increasing corporation tax
on business profits. This results in the pass off the tax on to consumers by the business at a
higher to avoid corruption. Change in government will lead to change in spending policy which
will eventually affect business. The managers of the company here will have to be more concern
to maintain these changes stable in order to not to affect the employees’ wages
Laws:
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According to Siegling, Nielsenand and Petrides, (2014, p.65), any changes of state, local or
federal in the laws have a great impact on the business if the service or merchandise becomes
highly standardized or prohibited. Government regulations such as those that affect the means of
communication and environment are beyond the control leading to a direct impact on the
business. In this situation of crisis, the management and the leaders of the organization will
provide better amenities and deals to the employees, so that they do not think to opt for an
alternative job.
Patron Base:
As stated by Johnstonand Marshall, (2016, p.23), the changing of target customer in the
prospects of the organization can affect the business. Cultural connotations of a changing
neighborhood may affect the business negatively or positively depending on how the
management meets the needs of newly changed demographics. In the respect of this problematic
situation, the management of M & S Ltd. provides the existing customers better deals in order to
maintain their development and finding new potential customers to fulfill their needs at their
level best.
Changes in Trend:
A growth in customer’s technology use is built into organisation’s strategic planning, but a
planned extensive use of social media is not noted which leads to affect the business.
Organisation is going on the track of wrong sided trend can seriously affect its business
practices. Therefore, the management team here needs to focus on the changes that occurred and
its source to blemish away the flaws and create a new strategy to meet the expectations of the
employees.
Lean production:
Lean production may refer to the optimum manufacturing performance, where it is aimed to
elimi9nate waste from the production unit. However, it is very difficult for the all the companies
especially small companies to install the giant and costly technologies to reduce waste, but
different strategies are employed to reduce such waste, like employing skilled labors, purchasing
just required quantities and using equipmentsystematically. In case of M & S Ltd, it has been
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found that the company has installed advanced technologies, which helped in reducing waste by
60% approximately in its manufacturing unit.
Just-in-time (JIT):
Just-in-time one of the inventory strategy that every manufacturing companies implants to bring
optimum an efficient outcome of from its raw materials used in the production unit. It simply
decreases the waste by receiving the just required goods during production and this approach
reduces the inventory cost. However, in case of M & S Ltd, it has been found that the company
simply uses JIT method to reduce its inventory cost and due to this, it need to spend less money
on the raw materials.
Conclusion:
The role of leaders and managers are quite distinctive from each other. For improvement of
operational activities of M & S Ltd., leadership qualities of a manager have been explained in
this report. In order to integrate different managerial activities, a manager needs to be smart and
dynamic. For continuous up gradation of an enterprise, tactical planning must be adopted and the
processes are discussed in the study. This explanation may be helpful not only for givencompany
but also for each and every organisation. Thus, good leadership quality of top level management
can help an enterprise to get competitive advantage in modern business world.
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