Leadership and Operations Management in Zara

This report discusses the role of leaders and managers in Zara, and the different theories and models of approach used in situational context. It also explains the key approaches to operations management and the value and importance of operations management.

Management and
Operations

Table of Contents
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................3
P1 Compare the differences in the role of leaders and functions of managers...........................3
P2 Discuss with the help of examples how functions of a manager and role of a leaders apply
in various situational context......................................................................................................4
P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency.........................................................................................................5
P4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and
managers play..............................................................................................................................6
P5 Explain the value and importance of operations management..............................................8
P6 Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational
management and decision-making by leaders and managers.....................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
REFERNCES:................................................................................................................................11
Books and Journals:..................................................................................................................11
Introduction
Leadership and management is an important aspect of a company and plays a major role
in the success of the company. It is important for the company to ensure that the leaders and the
managers of the company are competent enough to handle the workforce and the dynamic
situations of the company. The major goal of managers is to formulate strategies for the future
tasks of the company and the aim of leaders is to make sure that the employees of the company
are following the strategy so that they will be able to achieve their goals and objectives. In this

report, Zara is being opted which is the Spanish retailer in apparel which is specialised in the fast
fashion, clothing, shoes, accessories and the beauty and perfume offering. In this report, different
roles and functions of the manager and leader along with different theories of leadership are
given. Also key approaches of operations management will be provided.
Main Body
P1 Compare the differences in the role of leaders and functions of managers
Managers and leaders plays two distinct important role in the organisation. The manager
has to manage five major functions of an organisation which is planning, staffing, organizing,
directing and controlling whereas the role of the leader is to be a part of the strategies and make
sure that the employees of the company are working according to plans made by the manager. It
is the duty of managers to give an understanding about the task and strategies to the leader
whereas the role of leader is to make sure that the employees of the company have understood
the steps that they have to take. In order to understand the role of leader and the functions of
manager a difference between the two roles are given below:
Role of manager:
 The major role of manager is to make strategies for the tasks of the company so that by
following the strategy, employees will be able to complete the task. The manager must
have a clear vision so that planning can be done effectively and efficiently.
 It is important for the manager to make sure that they are clearly communicating the
working expectations of the company from the employees to the leader as it will help the
leader in encouraging their teams.
 Another important task of a manager is to make sure that necessary rules and regulation
are followed at the workplace so that a proper discipline is maintained in the workplace
and a proper standard and operating procedures can be followed within the organisation.
Role of leader:
 The major role of the leader is to communicate with their employees clearly so that the
employees will be able to perform the task without any misunderstanding.
 The role of the leader is to align the goals and objective of employees with the goals and
objectives of the company so that the employees will perform on their utmost capacity
and the productivity of the employees also increases.

 The most important role of the leader is to encourage the employees of the company to
give better performance and to increase their efficiency and effectiveness which is
beneficial for both employer as well as employees.
 Honesty and integrity is an important factor as it help the leader in achieving trust of
employees and make sure that the employees are sharing their problems with the leader.
Problems can affect the workings and productivity of employees and leader will make
sure that solutions are provided to the employee as soon as possible so that the work does
not suffer.
P2 Discuss with the help of examples how functions of a manager and role of a leaders apply in
various situational context.
The major goal of both leader and manager is to make sure that the company is
continuously moving towards success. It is important for them to make sure that the employees
are working on their optimum capacity and are increasing their productivity. There are certain
situations in the company which requires quick decision making and it is important for managers
as well as leaders to make sure that the decisions are not delayed so that the routine practices of
the company does not get affected or interrupted. In case of Zara, the company make sure that
the leaders and managers of the company are capable enough the handle dynamic situations and
workforce of the company. The examples of two different situations are given below:
Conflict management: It refers to a situation where there are differences in the opinions
or view points of the teams of the company. In case of Zara, there are situations where the
company divides its workforce into different teams and provide them tasks for which the teams
have to find innovative solutions. It helps the company in involving the workforce into the
decision making activity of the company also the company is able to find creative ways for
completing a task with the help of this activity. But sometimes conflicts occurs in both the teams
as they find their idea better then the idea of other team. At that point of time, the role of leader
is to understand view point of both the teams and the function of the manger is to make sure that
best decision have been made and to do planning effectively and efficiently related to that
specific task involving the creative ideas of teams.
New product launch: In case of launching a new product there are several factors that
are needed to be taken into consideration by the company. The launch of a new product requires
lots of planning and promotional activities for the company. The situation at that point of time is

highly unstable and it is important for the company to carefully plan their strategies as it involves
high amount of efforts and it is important for the company to launch the product in the best
possible way so that the product can become a success. In context to Zara, at that point of time
the role of the leaders is to make sure that the employees of marketing, operations as well as
finance departments are working effectively and efficiently whereas the role of the manager is to
make sure that strategies are implemented properly and tasks are completing according to the
plans.
P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency
Leaders and managers act differently in different situations. Some of the leadership
theories are mentioned below-
Situational leadership theory- This theory suggest that a good leader always adopt
different leadership styles and behaviour in different situations. It further states that sticking
toward a single style or behaviour to solve different kind of situations is ineffective for both
employees as well as for the organisation (Raza and Sikandar, 2018). In context of Zara, their
leaders analyse their environment first and then adopt those leadership style which are most
appropriate and suitable in the given situation to resolve the issue. In context of manager in Zara,
they are using their managerial skills and behaviour to handle any situation. They also opt
different ways to act in different situations but the main aim of handling the situation is that they
need to achieve organisational goal without consulting the issues faced by their workers. System
leadership theory- This leadership theory states some kind of skills and abilities of employees to
adopt changes within an organisation which is made by their managers for the betterment of
organisation. Nowadays, business world is getting more dynamic in nature which means their
internal and external factors changes rapidly. Hence, to handle the impact of such changes,
managers adopt some changes in their system, process, structure and few others. Therefore, the
capabilities and skills of employees to adopt the change and work accordingly is beneficial for
organisation to earn maximum profit (Stuart and Wilcox, 2017).
In context of Zara, their leaders try to opt those system in the organisation which will provide
benefit to both organisation as well as employees. For example, in context of adopting any new
technology, they consult with their employees of production department that which tools and

machines will be beneficial for them to work flexibly and which will help them to increase their
production and employees performance.
In context of managers of Zara, they supposed to adopt those technological changes which is
beneficial for their organisation to increase the overall productivity. Hence, the managers analyse
their external market and adopt those technology which is becoming trendy nowadays. They did
not focus on flexibility of employees to use that technology. They just bring the new technology
and ask for training of employees to use the tools and machines.
Contingency leadership theory- This theory suggest that future situations are
unpredictable but they can impact upon organisation in any ways whether it is positive impacts
or negative impacts. Hence, this theory suggest that leader must adopt those skills and strategies
which help them to control their unpredictable situations when it is needed (Bachrach and
Mullins, 2019).
In context of Zara, their leaders focuses to predict the things and situations within their
internal as well as external environment so that they will get be aware them self for upcoming
uncertainties. They analyse their current trends, competitive analyses and many others which
help them to analyse that what kind of situations are faced by their competitors and how their
competitors manage them.
In context of managers of Zara, they mainly focus on managing their available resources in
such a way that it can be used effective for organisational benefit in any situation. They keep
some inventory of their essential resources so that it can be utilized in case of uncertainties or
unpredictable situations.
P4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and managers
play
There are few kind of key approaches of operational management which are explained below-
Six Sigma approach- It is the methodology which defines how a defect can be mitigated
from manufacturing process. It is essential for every company to manage the quality of their
products and services because nowadays customers are more focused to gain best quality instead
of quantity. Hence, this theory helps in managing quality management of a company in such a
way that it will provide benefit to organisation in monetary as well as non-monetary ways
(Kaswan and Rathi, 2020). Process of six sigma and the role of manager and leader in these steps
are mentioned below-

Step 1- Define
It means to identify all the problems related to project or production within the organisation.
Here, leaders define the timeline, motivation factor, resources and many others to determine the
importance of their quality products. In context of Zara, their leaders mainly focus to collect
those information which are observed by them self and the managers are supposed to collect
information in a report form which are observed and made by others.
Step 2- Measure
Here, they measure their current process with their planned process after determining the
problem or issues. In context of Zara leaders, they measure the performance of employees and
suggest them in case they need any requirement. Managers of Zara, measure the performance of
employees by comparing their actual performance which is given by leaders with planned
performance which they plan initially.
Step 3- Analyse
This stag consist of analysing actual reason for organisation issues. In context of Zara, in case
they receive many companies from customers regarding their quality of products then their
leaders analyse the reason by checking quality of product by them self. In context of manager,
they send the samples of their products to check their quality and analyse the issue after getting
the actual report from quality department.
Step 4- Improve
After analysing the issues, companies is required to make corrective measures to improve their
quality. In context of Zara, their leaders improve quality by explaining their team the ways and
methods opted to improve the quality. Here, leaders directly contacted to their employees and
share few good and appropriate ways to improve the quality and they even ask for training of
employees. In context to manager, they ask for extra working hours for employees to improve
the quality of their products.
Step 5- Control
This step consist of observing and controlling the performance of employees on regular basis. In
context of Zara, their leaders control the quality on regular basis and managers are mainly focus
to study the quality report which is received by them by comparing the actual performance with
planned performance.

Lean production approach- This is the approach of operational management where the
main focus of company is to minimize their wastage during production and use the raw materials
as much as possible to produce those products which will satisfy customers (Goh and Goh,
2019). There are many benefits to minimize wastage in production process like it will help to
maintain the cost, quality of products and many others. In context of leaders of Zaras, they
mainly analyse how much raw material is required by their production department and then they
order the raw materials from their loyal and trustworthy suppliers. After getting raw material
they plan that how much and in what ways they have to use their raw materials. They mainly
supervise that they employees will no longer waste the raw material and for this they send their
employees for training sessions on regular basis. In context of managers of Zara’s, they mainly
approach to focused on those machines and tools which consist of less wastage of materials.
Their manager directly give orders to their employees and manage their performance by setting
few systems and helping them from technological factor so that they will analyse how much they
have to produce products. As the Zara is a retailing company hence, their essential work is to
provide best services. So they focus on training of employees for providing best services to their
customers which help them to gain customer satisfaction level.
P5 Explain the value and importance of operations management.
Operations management refers to an activity or a process which helps the company in
making plans and strategies for the workings of manufacturing and production department. It
helps the company in managing the production department and will make sure that the
department is working on optimum capacity (Gao and Su., 2018.). It is important for the
production department of the company to work efficiently and effectively so that the products
and the service of the company can reach to its potential customers and the profits of the
company can be increased. In case of Zara, the benefits that the company is getting by managing
the department effectively is given below:
 Enhancement in the quality of the products: Effective operational department will
make sure that the products of the company are of best quality. Quality is one of the
major factor that helps the company in creating a loyal customers base for the company
which will help the company in being profitable. It is important for the company to make
sure that they are working on the enhancement of the productivity of operations

department as well because it will help the company in meeting the demands of the
customers.
 Exceptional experience to customers: One of the major aim of the company to fulfil
the needs and demands of the customers and with the effective workings of the operations
department the company will be able to capture the market share (Aust and et. al., 2020..
The company will also be able to fulfil the demands and needs of the customers. It will
help the company in getting competitors advantage in the market which will enhance the
profitability of the company as well.
P6 Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational management
and decision-making by leaders and managers
There are various kind of external business environment factors which impact upon the
operational management of Zara. The role of leaders and manager in taking decision to handle
the factors of external business environment are given below-
Corporate social responsibility- CSR are the activities which is done to provide benefits
to society and environment. There are many benefits to perform CSR activities to an organisation
like government support, increase in organisational reputation and many others (Franco and et.
al., 2020). Performing CSR activities helps to develop the living standard of those people who
are lacking behind to use equal opportunities to use resources available in the society. In context
to Zara, their CSR activities are basically related to both providing benefits to society for their
personal development and the protection of environment. (Boutilier, 2021). They also focus on
reduction of usage of plastic in their organisation by providing packaging of products in paper
bags and cloth bags. In the CSR activities of Zara, their leaders recognize the opportunities for
both society growth as well as for organisational growth. In context of performing CSR activities
by Zara their employees get motivated to perform well because CSR activities can act as an
motivational factor for organisation. Hence, employees of Zara will provide better services to
their customers. In context of decision making process then they have to take appropriate
decisions on managing their finance because they are supposed to use their revenue in such a
way that will contain utilization of operational management as well as CSR.
Values and ethics- It is essential for every company to maintain their values and ethics
in such a way that it will provide benefit to company. Good values and ethics of an organisation
further help to increase the reputation of company. It also attracts more customers toward the

company and its products (Floridi, 2018). In context of Zara, they have good relationship
between their management team and their employees which will help them create a good value
and resolve ethical issues. In context of decision making process, their leaders tries to involve the
suggestion of every employees and appreciate them in case they provide good decisions. In
context of decision making process from manager's side then this good relationship between
subordinates and senior authority will help them to take those decisions which will further help
them to maintain their organisational values and ethics (Brabban and et. al., 2017).
Conclusion
From the above report it is concluded that leaders and managers have their distinct role in an
organisation. It plays a major role in the success and efficiency of the company. Effective
management of the company will make sure that the company is able to provide high quality
goods and services to their customers. It will help the company in increasing their brand
reputation and will also make sure that the company is able to build a loyal customer base which
will help the company in being profitable. The leaders will help the company in managing the
employees and workforce and will make sure that they are working on their optimum
productivity.

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