UNIT 4 MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS - Leaders and Managers in Business

This report explores the roles and responsibilities of leaders and managers within an organization, using Unilever as a case study. It examines various leadership theories and concepts, including situational leadership, systems leadership, and contingency theory. The report also delves into the importance of operations management in achieving business objectives, analyzing key approaches such as total quality management, just-in-time, continuous improvement, six sigma, lean production, and queuing. Furthermore, it assesses the impact of factors like corporate social responsibility, sustainability, stakeholders, and organizational culture on the business environment and wider community.

UNIT 4 MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS

Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................3
LO1 Differentiate between the role of a leader and the function of a manager.
...................................................................................................................................4
Introduction.................................................................................................................4
P1 Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader
and a manager.........................................................................................................4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................6
M1 Analyze and differentiate between the role of a leader and function of a
manager by effectively applying a range of theories and concepts..............7
D1 Critically analyses and evaluates the different theories and approaches to
leadership in given context....................................................................................8
LO3 Demonstrate an appreciation of the role leaders and managers play in the
operations function of an organization....................................................................9
Introduction.................................................................................................................9
P4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that
leaders and managers play:...................................................................................9
Conclusion................................................................................................................10
Introduction...............................................................................................................11
P5 Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving
business objectives:.............................................................................................11
Conclusion................................................................................................................12
M3 Evaluate how leaders and managers can improve efficiencies of
operational management to successfully meet business objectives..........13

LO4 Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between leadership and
management in a contemporary business environment.....................................14
Introduction...............................................................................................................14
P6 Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon
operational management and decision-making by leaders and managers....14
M4 Analyse how these different factors affect the business environment
and wider community........................................................................................16
Conclusion................................................................................................................17
References................................................................................................................18

Introduction
In an organization, Unilever the importance of leaders and managers are being
evaluated. From this report, it is being analyzed that managers and leaders fulfill
their roles and duties so that profit can be earned and growth of the employees can
also be analyzed. Various theories and concepts are being used so that the
employees can be motivated and retain for the longer period of time. Strength and
weakness of different approaches are also being evaluated in the different working
environment. Further in the study report, importance and value of operations
management are measured in achieving the business objectives. A lot of various
approaches are used in operation management along with the role of leaders and
managers. These roles and responsibilities of leaders and managers are being
evaluated in different situations and in the different working environment. It improves
the decision making and factors which contributes to the community in wider terms.

LO1 Differentiate between the role of a leader and the function of a manager.
Introduction
This answer will discuss the management and leadership firstly. The management
functions: planning, organizing, leading and controlling are discussed. Then the roles
of leadership are discussed. Differences are given between the management and
leadership.
P1 Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and
a manager.
Management monitors and controls the department and people in an organization
according to the principles which have been created by an organization. The
manager is the one who manages the work in the organization to achieve the
predefined goals. The work of the managers is to develop the strategies and plan for
the work and manage the employees to accomplish the target of the company
according to the strategy and the policies made by him. There are managers in
different departments who manage their own department (Jacobs and Chase, 2014).
Leadership is an art of guiding and motivating to the group of people in the
organization to achieve the common goal of the organization. Leaders are the people
who lead and motivate the employees through their leadership style and inherent in
them the vision of the organization.
Difference between the Managers and Leaders:
Managers Leaders
Managers make the policies and
strategies of the organization The
Unilever and communicate to the
leaders.
Leaders follow the policies and
communicate it to employees to work as
per the policies.
Managers focus on the things and the Leaders focus on the employees to make

goals of the company. them work in a team for achieving the
goal of the organization Unilever.
Managers give direction to the groups Leaders give direction to the teams
Managers direct the work to the
employees
Leaders motivate the employees towards
the work.
Unilever is a British transnational consumer's goods company headquartered in
London, UK. The products of this company include: food, cleaning agents, personal
care products. The company owns 400 brands: Lux, Rama, Sun silk, Dove and many
more. The management of the organizations follows the strategies made by the
company and leads it to increase the productivity. The management of the Unilever
makes standards of the work for the employees and leaders get work was done by
the employees inefficiently and ineffective manner (Nascimento and Melo, 2015).
The functions of the managers and the roles of the leaders in the organization:
1. Planning: Planning is the important function of the management system.
Managers of Unilever set and plan the goals of the organization which increases the
sales and the revenue of the product. The strategies made by the managers are to
improve the production process to create the effect of the product. Leaders
communicate the policies made by managers with the employees to achieve the goal
of the organization effectively and efficiently.
2. Organizing: The managers of the Unilever utilize and organize the resources in
an effective manner of the organization to achieve the goals of the organization.
Leaders effectively assign the resources and motivate the employees in such way
that the available resource is utilized effectively for the best outcome.
3. Leading: The managers of the Unilever lead the task to the staff and to the
employees but the leaders create a team or lead them about the work how to
accomplish it and achieve the goal of the organization.

4. Controlling: The strategies are made by the managers and the leaders
implement those strategies in Unilever. The strategies are monitored by the
managers and leaders verify the outcome of the employee’s performance with the
levels are made down by the managers and escort the employees accordingly
(Scase and Goffee, 2017).
Conclusion
This answer has discussed the definition of the managers and leaders, differentiation
between the managers and the leaders. The functions of the managers and the role
of the leaders are discussed according to the organization which has taken.

M1 Analyze and differentiate between the role of a leader and function of a
manager by effectively applying a range of theories and concepts.
In the manager’s function and the role of leader’s theory has several roles. Manager
supervises the employees and leader motives the employees.
The manager has the task of making decisions about the business and making the
planning, organizing and controlling of the organization and the leaders follow the
decision of the manager and communicate to employees to achieve the
organization's goals The Managers of Unilever supervise the employees and the
leaders control them. Managers adopt the approaches to supervising and disciplining
the employees. Managers help the employees work out conflicts. The human
relation theory is used by the managers to make the primary relationship between
the managers and the employees. The managers must use the different manager's
style to fulfill the needs of the person whom he is managing.
Managers can take four approaches to human relationships: an authority stance
based upon fear; the authority which based on a clear hierarchy that relies on
delegation; the approach which solicits input from staff and the approach to
managing the relationship with employees.
A manager is a person who serves as a public face of the company and the
communicating and listening to customers and stakeholders. Managers who adopt
the role of management can play the social responsibility; it establishes the
relationship with the community and combines the systems which affect the
company (Uzohue, et. al., 2016).

D1 Critically analyses and evaluates the different theories and approaches to
leadership in given context.
Theories analyses in leadership:
1. Contingency theory is the theory which focuses on the change of the situation
and changes the strategies according to it. The leaders play an important role to
bring out the changes in the operations to meet down with the challenges as they
influence the employees to do so (Sajjadi, 2014).
2. Behavioral Theory: This theory focus on the actions of the leaders not on the
mental quality. In this theory, one can learn the way of becoming leaders through
observation and teaching. The leader can study the way to success in the
organization. The leaders can identify the behavior which contributes towards the
success and failure of the future performance.
3. Influence Theory: this theory is used by the leaders to take advantage of what
they want to do by their followers. This theory is very effective to manipulate the
followers that the work in the way they are doing is the right way because some
individuals fall for it easily. Leaders are not concern about their followers but are
concern about the goals of the industry. Leaders are giving training to their
employees about the new technologies and the changing in the technologies for the
betterment of work so that organization can achieve its goals effectively
(Amanchukwu, 2015).

LO2 Apply the role of a leader and the function of a manager in given contexts.
Introduction
This is being introduced from the report about the functions of managers and role of
leaders. It tells about the roles and responsibilities performed by the managers and
leaders in different situations and worse conditions. Impact of the situations is being
analyzed and decisions are taken accordingly.
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a
manager apply in different situational contexts.
In the organization, The Unilever has leaders and managers with talent, skills, and
knowledge. In different situations, they act differently as their perspective and
thinking abilities are different. Below is a detailed description of the role of leaders
and functions of managers in various situations:
Stable situation: It is a situation in which there is no limit to making changes in the
external and internal environment. Moreover, the process of providing services to the
customers remains same (Dragnić, 2014).
Slow-to-moderate changing situation: The organization The Unilever has the slow
growth in the market. The slow change in the projects is being affected by the
external environment. Changes being made internal environment results in the
changes in the external environment (Hidayat and Akhmad, 2015). The percentage
of the profit depends on the rate of growth being done in organization The Unilever
Fast-changing situation: The changes being done in the external environment are
due to the trends and innovations. Moreover, the strategies being made by the
competitors in order to capture the market (Peterlin, et. al., 2015). The fast changing
environment is being done by controlling the number of earning profits and maintain
them for a longer period of time.

P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational
leadership, systems leadership, and contingency.
There are various theories being used in the organization Unilever. The organization
uses the theories such as situational theories and system leadership theory. Below
are these theories explained in brief detail:
System leadership: This theory tells about the systems being made in smaller
terms (Peppard and Ward, 2016). This theory states that the output can be gained
from smaller terms as in the organization has a lot of departments. This theory tells
about the results instead of focusing on the processor step by step processing. The
planned results are being evaluated with the obtained outcome. As the organization,
Unilever is a brand which has a lot of small departments which execute their work
and achieve their target.
Situational leadership: In the organization Unilever, the employees are being
recruited according to their talent and skills (Sajjadi, 2014). Furthermore, the
employees are being provided with work according to their talent, skills, and
knowledge. This helps Unilever in taking right decisions and working on them. Along
with this, various challenges are being faced by Unilever which is being handled by
these managers and leaders.
Contingency leadership: The organization seems to be positive and strong which
stands in the market even in the worst times. As the external environment keeps on
changing rapidly along with time, the organization needs to work accordingly and
taking unique to make the profit (Hidayat and Akhmad, 2015). New paths are being
developed so that cost can be covered and customers can be retained.

M2 Assess and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different
approaches to situations within the work environment.
There are various theories being used by the organization Unilever so it is important
to analyze the strengths and weaknesses which are described below:
Situational Leadership
Strength Weakness
 Perfect allocation of resources to
skilled employees.
 Measure skills and talent of
employees.
 Innovation and creativity
 No chance to introvert employees.
 Wrong interpretation of results.
Contingent Leadership
Strength Weakness
 Activities did by open mind
 Issues can arise randomly
 Unskilled and untrained
employees
 Involves high cost
 High wastage of resources

LO3 Demonstrate an appreciation of the role leaders and managers play in the
operations function of an organization
Introduction
The below mentioned state will cover some important steps related to operations
management and its six key approaches included total quality management, just in
time, continuous improvement, six sigma, lean production and queuing, along with
the role of managers & leaders in the operations management.
P4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that
leaders and managers play:
Operations management refers to the administration of business practices to build
the highest level of efficiency within the organization Unilever. Operations
management deals with various types of strategic issues including certain the area of
manufacturing plants and project management models, and executing the whole
structure of information technology nexus.
 Total quality management refers to the process that involves a collection of
continuous management process that improves the production quality related
to goods and services, along with enhancing knowledge of members and
workers (Uzohue, et. al., 2016). The role of a leader is to engage with the
employee time-to-time to identify any loophole in the production process. The
Unilever must improve the production quality related to its goods and
services.
 Just in time is a main key function of operations management that includes
the production of goods and services just to demand the in-hand demand, and
not included any surplus or advance productions of products. The role of the
manager is to record the transitions related to the production of goods and
services so to pretend the overflow and reduce the wastage of materials. The
Unilever must adopt this key management method to reduce wastage and
boost the production level.

 Continuous improvement is known as an ongoing process in the production
line that involves the production of goods and services with a continuous
improvement. The role of the manager has constantly reviewed the ongoing
process and identify measures to further improve the action plan of Unilever.
 Six Sigma is a statistical-based model of operations management that
eliminated defects in the improvement process of goods and services. In the
Unilever, the manager continuous make a plan and develops the strategies to
enhance production process and removing defects in products.
 Lean production is a process of removing the wastage of materials in the
production process without affecting the efficiency level of workers and
productivity. The Unilever must adopt the lean production method to save the
overall cost related to products and reduce the wastages.
 Queuing function of operations management refers to in-line waiting of
different process in the organization Unilever that relates to production to
serving customers and designing of the overall structure of the organization.
The role of manager and leader is to analyze the proper functioning of
queuing method and make possible changes to serve the customers of
Unilever.
Conclusion
The Unilever can make its production level strong after implementing these six key
approaches to operations management, along with the supportive role of managers
and leaders. The roles of managers and leaders can make possible to remove the
overall drawbacks and defects in the production line to achieve desired results in the
near future.

Introduction
The state will explain some important business objectives like survival, increasing
sale, maximizing profit, satisfying customers, and growth, along with six crucial
functions of operations management. The state will also discuss the role of
operations management in achieving those business objectives.
P5 Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving
business objectives:
The four main objectives of operation management are as follows;
 Survival refers to survive in the market arena for a long span after competing
with other business organization Unilever. It is the initial phase of a business
organization.
 The increasing sale means increment in the volume of sale of organization
with more improvement in the production, distribution and marketing level.
 For stability and growth, profit is an essence to survive in the market arena.
The profit motive is an important element to enhance the financial position of
the organization Unilever.
 Growth is an important objective of operations management that includes The
Unilever increment in volume of production, sales, profit, customers,
programmes and work plans.
There are six crucial functions of operations management that are helpful in the
production process;
 Control and Distribution Systems of operation management provides the
instructions related to the engagement of different parts of the machine that
automatically control each section. It is a fully computerized system that
controls each and every process of production & distribution with proper
functioning (Peppard and Ward, 2016).

 Transformation of raw material into finished goods and services refers to the
further stage of the production process that involves land, labour, and capital.
In this function of operations management, the inputs of production
transformed into outputs that further serve to the customers.
 Process design refers to the designing a plan for products and services that
involve the requirement of staff, tools, material, resources, and types of
equipment. Process design is an outcome of customer's feedback that
explains the requirement of market needs which is further helpful in the
process designing of products and services.
 Capacity management refers to the state that ensures the availability of
required resources to meet-out the future demand of products and services of
customers. It is helpful to save the management time and reduce the overall
cost of the production process.
 Logistics and inventory management refers to the management related to the
stock of finished goods, and the flow of information, financial instruments &
final products to the customers. Inventory management is an important
element to cover the stock of finished goods to meet the future demand of
consumers.
 Scheduling refers to the process of distribution of organization’s resources
that further includes arranging, allocating and controlling the organization’s
Unilever production process according to their allocation of plant, materials,
resources, machinery etc.
Conclusion
The Unilever can adopt these six methods of operation management for the
development of business operations all across the globe. The Unilever must
establish its business objectives to achieve goals in the near future. All these
methods can change the business environment of Unilever thoroughly.

M3 Evaluate how leaders and managers can improve efficiencies of
operational management to successfully meet business objectives.
To meet-out, the business objectives successfully of Unilever, the support of
managers and leaders is very important. There is some detailed information
regarding leaders and managers that how they can improve the efficiency of
operations management.
 Leaders can guide the employees for translating their goals in required time.
Besides, managers can monitor and track the overall performance of the
employees.
 Leaders can ingrate employee’s personal goals with the organization’s goals
to enhance the productivity level. On the other hand, managers can train
employees in the process of achieving goals.
 Managers make sure the technology advancement in the market and
instantly adopt into the organization Unilever for development and growth.
Besides, leaders can make impressive to the employees to adopt these
changes in their plans and programmes accordingly.
 Managers can make support problem settlements and decision-making
process of the employees. Contrary, leaders must know the overall data and
be impartial to set a plan at proper place to achieve the business objectives.
 Leaders can create a business environment that is more wide, clear and
open to every employee, and make sure to achieve their own & company's
vision. Besides, managers can make a better coordination between the
personal vision and company vision of the employees.

LO4 Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between leadership and
management in a contemporary business environment.
Introduction
The state will cover main four factors within the contemporary business environment
that have their impact on the operations management and its decision-making
process. That state will also explain the stakeholders' activity that affects operations
management and decision-making process of managers, along with the culture of
operations management.
P6 Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon
operational management and decision-making by leaders and managers.
Business environment refers to the internal as well as external factors that affect
management structure of the organization Unilever thoroughly. It is important to deal
with the changing business environment for successfully running the several
businesses of Unilever.
 Corporate social responsibility refers to a business function in which a
company ensures to make compliances according to company's policies,
rules, and laws made by the company law tribunal. CSR also take
responsibility for company's management effects on the environment. The
CSR activities mainly enhance the company image in the corporate market.
The Unilever can improve its image and maintain the goodwill through
contributing to the CSR activities accordingly (Uadiale and Fagbemi, 2012).
The overspending on CSR activities can affect the other business activities of
the Unilever.
 Sustainability means to make proper care of management operations without
compromise any useful information and strategy (Prutina, 2016).
Sustainability involves various different techniques, strategies that further
support the business as well as business objectives. Unilever needs to
improve and maintain its sustainability to stand out in the market for a long
span and fulfill its business objectives.

 Stakeholders can include any individual or group of individuals or any
corporate body. Stakeholders of any company can affect the business
environment, its major objectives, and programmes (Hidayat and Akhmad,
2015). There are two types of stakeholders that involve internal and external
stakeholders. Internal stakeholders include the managers and employees of
the Unilever, and they can be easily affected by the company's policies, plan,
and strategies. Besides, external stakeholders include third parties of a
company that can be easily affected by the company's daily business
operations.
 Organization culture plays an important role in the changing environment of
the company. Organization culture includes the terms values, perspectives,
beliefs and perception of each member of the company. It also influences the
behavior approaches of the members and employees of the company. The
Unilever's organization culture includes responsibility, respect, integrity, and
pioneering that connect its employees and members directly with the
customers.

M4 Analyse how these different factors affect the business environment and
wider community.
 The corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability, stakeholders, and
organization culture affects the business environment of Unilever thoroughly
with their positive as well as negative manners.
 If the Unilever is not capable to prioritize the CSR activities in the business
context that it can face several issues related to business operations and the
customer loses. All these activities are just mandatory as compare to making
the profit for the company.
 The CSR activities vastly affect the values and beliefs of the employees &
customers if taken as in wrong manner (Uadiale and Fagbemi, 2012).
 Sustainability of the Unilever is known for its customer value, image and
goodwill in the market. Unable to maintain the sustainability of the market
could result in a large reduction in the value of customers.
 Sustainability also affects the stakeholders because they can be affected by
the company's operations merely. Any change in the policies and strategies
diverse the field of operations that can further affect the activities of various
stakeholders of the Unilever.
 Organization culture can affect the business environment of Unilever, along
with its impact on the employee's behavior. Having a gap between the
company’s goals and employee’s satisfaction level entirely change the flow of
communication, and furthermore affects the overall performance of the
employees.

Conclusion
This is being concluded from the report that managers and leaders have their
different roles and responsibilities in the organization Unilever. The goals and
objective of the organization are being fulfilled so that profit can be earned and
strategies to achieve new goals can be made. This report provides a detailed
information about the decisions being taken by the organization Unilever. As the
services being provided by the organization Unilever, must hold quality and
encourage the managers to take the right decision in the right direction to achieve
the results and aims. The managers and leaders also use various theories in order to
motivate the employees and staff members. Moreover, this report provides detailed
information about the strategies being made and used to evaluate the marketing
conditions and external environment. This also helps in increasing the efficiency of
the employees and increasing productivity.

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