Roles and Characteristics of a Leader and a Manager

This report defines and compares the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager. It also examines examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in different situational contexts.

Unit 04– Management and
Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager....3
TASK 2 ...................................................................................................................................5
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts..................................................................................................5
P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, system
leadership and contingency....................................................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
Covered in ppt........................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Management and operations are the most crucial step for an organisation that assist
business and its practices towards accomplishment of goals and objectives. The main motive of
management and leadership is to convert raw- materials and labour into goods and services that
enhances organisational profits and productivity. Management is known as the set of activity that
leads company to perform their work with in organised manner. This report is composed from
point view of ASDA which is a well known retail organisation of UK. Moreover,this report
highlights on theories of leadership and management and the role of leader as well as functions
of manager which are performed by them in various situations. Along with this approaches
related with operations will also be included in upcoming report (Stevenson and Sum, 2014). In
the last, importance and value of operations management to achieve business objectives and
factors that impact on decision-making will also be focused in this report.
TASK 1
P1 Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager
Leader plays an essential role as they leads the workforce and company from the front by
directing and motivating towards accomplishment of goals and objectives. Along with an
effective leader or individual demonstrate big picture and long term goals to all employees and
workers who are engage in organisational operations and functions.
On the other side, managers are responsible for performing all work within organised and
appropriate manner as the main role of manager is to convert ideas into reality. This refers to
perform work by dividing it into different priorities due to which essential task and project are
completed with in specified time period. Moreover, managers are also responsible for arranging
and providing raw-materials and resources to workforce so they complete and perform their
operations effectively (Davidson. and Olsen III, , , 2013).
Difference between roles and characteristic of leader and manager
Managers and leaders both are crucial part for organisation as they manage and control
all major task and operations of a company by performing them in decided time period.
Sometimes it is major confusion that their roles are interchangeable but there is difference
between function and responsibilities of leader through which top authorities perform their role
with support of employees. Example- Leader play the role to formulate and represent

organisational goals and objectives. Similarly- managers set the task and leads organisational
efforts towards visions and goals of company.
Manager Leader
Manager communicate policy, strategy and
rules between leader and workforce.
Leader decided the policy and then influence
employees to perform work as per decided
policy.
Manager provides direction to groups and team
to achieve company objectives.
Leaders decides direction according to which
employees perform work.
Manager create ideas for betterment of
organisation.
Top authority such as leader and CEO
generates new ideas to perform work
effectively.
Manager focuses on resources and materials to
perform work.
Leaders focuses on people to motivate them
towards company goals.
The major role of manager is to plan work as
per organisation.
Within the roles of leaders is to inspire and
motivate employees as per work.
Manager direct work to perform as per
employees.
Leaders encourage workers to complete task in
effective manner.
Functions of manager and role of leaders
Planning- In context of ASDA, the most important function of manager is to plan action
and activities as per goals of organisation. Similarly leaders contributes to perform work as per
efficiency of product (Rajan, S. N. and et. al., 2014).
Organizing- Managers of each organisation focuses to perform work by utilising
minimum resources and producing maximum outputs. Whereas leaders allocate resources as per
skills and abilities of employees.
Directing- Leaders perform the work such as to create team and manager direct them to
perform work to accomplish organisational goals by encouraging employees to perform all task
effectively.

Staffing- Recruiting or staffing is the function of manager and in this leader perform the
role to generate and get best positive results from recruited workforce. So both manager and
leader of ASDA motivate staff by solving their grievances in operations.
Controlling- All the decided policy, strategy, rules and regulations which are decided by
leader must be performed under guidance of managers. So it is easy for management to generate
effective results which leads organisation to perform work as per benchmark of ASDA.
TASK 2
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts
ASDA is performing their work at global level it determines that there are various task
are performed by management that leads organisation to earn more revenue from their operations
(Rose and et. al, 2013). Along with this it is also essential for management of ASDA to perform
task appropriately due to which organisation will retain at top position in global market. From
the point view of this report there are two different situation is included in this report which is
Crisis management and other is product launch.
First situation globalisation increases the number of operations due to which requirement
of workforce is also increased. Due to this some challenges and issue are faced by management
such as less coordination between employees due to less communication, ineffective delivery of
products and many more. So to deal with leaders and managers perform several roles which is
mention as follow:
 ASDA leaders perform their work by implementing democratic leadership style in all
its functions due to which all operations are performed with strong and flexible ideas. It
governs this is essential for management to prepare contingency plans and implement
them with democratic style for accomplishing long term organisational goals.
 Managers gather information to complete task and projects with motive of utilising
accurate and right data in complex situations. This results it is easy for management to
complete task by gaining accurate results because of utilising and implementing right
information.
Second situation relates with launch of product at a huge level that helps to complete all
work and operations with motive of earning huge profits. It also helps to manage and perform

task as per priority of work for ensuring long term benefits from the regular operations and
functions of ASDA (Prahlad. and Pawar, 2016). Leader and manager both perform work with
motive of launching products at global level by representing them to achieve long term goals and
objectives.
 To provide and research activities to perform work as per goals and objectives due to
which long term goals and objectives that leads management to complete work as per
lines of community. This results management is working their task that delegates all task
and represent them as a big picture to enter into new markets by encouraging workers to
perform their work within positive manner (Chappelll. and Petrov, 2014).
 Managers are the face of a company at the time of launching product or services. This
refers all details and information related with product such as price, quantity, quality.
Edition and many more are disclose by managers to public for attracting more number of
customers through transferring essential information.
P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, system
leadership and contingency.
Situational Leadership: Situational leadership styles is accepted by the leaders who
wants to follow different style of leadership for different situations. Since it varies from situation
to situation this approach of leadership is very effective and flexible, situational leadership style
evaluates requirements of the team and establishes a equilibrium between organisation and team.
In the context of ASDA, the organisation is using situational leadership style which creates a
comfortable atmosphere for employees and enhance employee's productivity.
Situational leadership has four styles which are mentioned as follows: Telling: In this approach leader decides that what his employees are required to do, this is
a administrative and regulative approach. Selling: In this approach leader takes continuous feedback from employees and collects
recommendations so that any transformation can be made. Participating: In this approach leader make decision by working with team members by
this leader becomes autocratic and appreciate participation of team member, this boosts
the confidence of employees (Davidson and Olsen, 2017). Delegating: In this approach leader responsibility of decision making to members of their

team and supervise it, this will motivate employees and they can work freely.
Blanchard and Hersey model of situational leadership:
This approach explains the relation between situational leadership styles and type of admirer of
leadership styles. The explanation under this model are under under:
▪ If a Leader follows telling style then their admirers are lacking experience.
▪ If a Leader follows selling style then their admirers are enthusiastic and confident
but lacking confidence.
▪ If a Leader is following participating style then their followers are motivated.
▪ If a leader follows delegating style then followers are confident as well as
experienced.
Systems Leadership: Systems leadership refers to a style in which rule and principles are
pre decided by higher authorities, and leader is required to stay adhere to that rules and principles
only in any circumstances. As organisation such as ASDA is bifurcated in so many departments
and a leader is required to manage and direct all those department so that discipline can be
maintained and harmony can be created between all departments (Spandre and et. al., 2016).
Contingency Model Of Leadership: Contingency model of leadership states that
achievement of a leader is not only defined from his skills and personality traits but also it is
dependent on some other factors like working condition, behaviour of employees towards leader
etc. As in ASDA the leader is just not dependent on their capabilities rather they are supposed to
show tremendous efforts when any unexpected situation arises, this is the trait by which they are
differentiated from managers and employees.
Fiedler's Contingency Model Of Leadership: Fiedler's contingency model states that
effectiveness of a leader should be examined through a scale named Least Preferred Co worker
(LPC), In this leader has to decide a criteria to whom he or she wants to work with and rank
Them on LPC. A low LPC represents the characteristic of a task oriented leader it means leader
is focused on performance and high LPC denotes relation oriented leader that means they prefer
personal contacts over capacities of employees (Krishnan and Laport, 2014). In the surrounding
of ASDA if they follow this model of leadership then leadership traits can be judged on the basis
of LPC.

TASK 3
Covered in ppt
CONCLUSION
In the last from the summarized report it is concluded that leaders as well as managers of
an organisation contributes various efforts to achieve their goals and objectives such as
motivating employees and formulating effective strategy to complete all work effectively. Their
are various theories such as transactional leadership, transformational leadership and
contingency model to encourage employees for performing their work with organisational plans
and objectives. Further, managers also perform different task by implementing plans and
strategies that motivate workforce to perform in ethical way. Along with this TQM, six-sigma,
lean production etc. are also implemented to reduce overall cost of organisation that also possess
to complete work under guidance of manager and leader.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Chappelll, L. and Petrov, P., 2014. The European Union's crisis management operations:
Strategic culture in action?. Chappell, Laura and Petar Petrov (2014):‘The European
Union's crisis management operations: Strategic culture in action. pp.1-24.
Chiarini, A., 2015. Sustainable Operations Management. Measuring Operations Performance.
Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
Cordray, C., and et. al., SCIENCELOGIC Inc, 2015. Self configuring network management
system. U.S. Patent 9,077,611.
Davidson, M. J. and Olsen III, J. A., United Parcel Service of America Inc, 2013. Systems and
methods for utilizing telematics data to improve fleet management operations. U.S.
Patent 8,416,067.
Davidson, M. J. and Olsen III, J. A., United Parcel Service of America Inc, 2017. Systems and
methods for utilizing telematics data to improve fleet management operations. U.S.
Patent 9,704,303.
Grahn, M., Johansson, K. and McKelvey, T., 2014. Model-based diesel Engine Management
System optimization for transient engine operation. Control Engineering Practice. 29.
pp.103-114.
Hitt, M. A., Xu, K. and Carnes, C. M., 2016. Resource based theory in operations management
research. Journal of Operations Management. 41. pp.77-94.
Krishnan, S. and Laporte, R. R., EMC Corp, 2014. Script language for storage management
operations. U.S. Patent 8,635,594.
Narayanaswami, C., Raghunath, M. T. and Rosu, M. C., Institute for Information Tech
Advancement and International Business Machines Corp, 2016. Context-aware code
provisioning for mobile devices. U.S. Patent 9,418,367.
Ozbay, K. and et. al., 2013. Probabilistic programming models for traffic incident management
operations planning. Annals of Operations Research. 203(1). pp.389-406.
Prahlad, A. and Pawar, R. S., CommVault Systems Inc, 2016. Systems and methods for
performing data management operations using snapshots. U.S. Patent 9,268,602.
Qin, R. and Nembhard, D.A., 2015. Workforce agility in operations management. Surveys in
Operations Research and Management Science. 20(2). pp.55-69.
Rajan, S. N. and et. al., 2014. Performing power management operations. U.S. Patent 8,667,312.
Rose, L. and et. al, 2013. Genericity for model management operations. Software & Systems
Modeling. 12(1). pp.201-219.
Simon, P., 2011. The age of the platform: How Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google have
redefined business. BookBaby.
Spandre, P. and et. al., 2016. Panel based assessment of snow management operations in French
ski resorts. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism. 16. pp.24-36.
Stevenson, W. J. and Sum, C. C., 2014.Operations management(Vol. 10). New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

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