Leadership and Management Report: ASDA Case Study Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and management principles, using ASDA as a case study. It defines and compares the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers, examining their application in various situations, including conflict resolution and rapid change. The report explores different leadership theories and models, such as situational, system, and contingency leadership, along with the application of chaos theory and management by objectives. Furthermore, it delves into key approaches to operations management and the roles of leaders and managers within this context, emphasizing the importance of operations management in achieving business objectives and the factors influencing operational decision-making. The report highlights the differences between leaders and managers, the application of transformational leadership, and the classical theory of management within the ASDA context. Overall, the report offers insights into effective leadership and management practices within a real-world business setting.

Management &
Operations

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1. Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager........1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P2. Examine examples of how the roles of leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situations.......................................................................................................................3
P3. Apply different theories and models of approach, consisting situational, system and
contingency leadership................................................................................................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
P4. Key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and managers play....6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
P5. Importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives.............8
P6. The factors within the business environment that impact upon operational management
and decision making by leaders and managers..........................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Management and operation plays an important role for achieving goal as well as objective in
stipulated period of time. In other words, operation management helps in managing different
activities and function of organisation in an effective manner. This report is carried upon ASDA
Company. It is the British international chain of Supermarket which is located in West Yorkshire
England UK. This company was founded in the year of 1949 with around 631 outlets as well as
165000 staffs within organisation. The main purpose of this report is to adopt effective type of
leadership style in order to perform various situations in an effective manner. It also gives
information regarding various models as well as concepts related to leadership as well as
management in an effective manner (Gibson and Parkman, 2018).
TASK 1
P1. Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager
Leader- The leader is a person who focuses on encouraging employee of business
organisation. In context of ASDA, the leader emphasised on motivating staffs so that they
perform their work in an effective manner. And it helps in achieving goal as well as objective in
stipulated period of time (Mou, Robb, and DeHoratius, 2018).
Roles of a leader
 The leader focuses on motivating employees in order to accomplish goals as well as
objective in stipulated period of time.
 Furthermore the leader offer a descriptive image, views as well as opinion regarding
vision that helps in performing task in better manner.
Characteristics of a leader
 It is necessary for leader to have strong communication skill for encouraging staff
towards their work.
 Moreover the leader must be confident so that they motivate employees to perform
their difficult work in easy manner.
Manager- The manager is a person who focuses on planning, organising, staffing, directing
as well as controlling the activity and function of business organisation in an effective
manner.
Roles of Manager
1

 In context of ASDA, the manager focuses on developing effective strategy for
achieving goal as well as objective of organisation
 The manager plays an essential role in organisation for providing essential
information to its staff in respect of policies as well as procedures.
Characteristics of a manager
 In context of ASDA, the manager must have a good communication skill in order
to administrate every activity and function of organisation in an effective manner.
 It is necessary for manager to must bring innovation in order to improve different
activities in an effective manner.
Difference between leader and manager
Basis Manager Leader
Meaning The manager is a person
who focuses on planning,
organising, directing
staffing as well as
controlling the different
activities of organisation.
The leader is a person who
motivate employees to
achieve goal as well as
objective of organisation.
Approaches The manager provide
descriptive data and
information regarding
strategies
Leader provide policies and
guidelines for achieving
objective in short span of
time.
Subordinate Workers are considered as a
subordinate of manager
Followers are considered as
the subordinate of a leader.
Style The manager adopts
transactional style.
The leader adopts
transformational style.
Transformational theory of leadership: In transformational leadership theory, the leader
focuses on alteration in individual person as well as social system and also generates the value
for appropriate modification in the staff for achieving goal as well as objective within business
organisation. In context of ASDA, the leadership is appropriate for success as well as growth of
2

organisation. It helps company in overcoming from lack of capabilities of leadership in future
period of time.
Classical theory of management: In this theory, it is necessary to follow the values in order
to fulfil the physical as well as economic requirement or need of staff in an effective manner. In
reference of ASDA, it is necessary to satisfy the employees for increasing profitability in future
period of time (Hazen and 2018).
TASK 2
P2. Examine examples of how the roles of leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situations
There are several types of roles and duties are executed by leader’s ad managers in diverse
situations. In ASDA, there are different types of changes that are occurred in its business due to
needs and requirements of individual, fluctuations in government plans and policies and many
more (Mitrovic, Durocher and Morgan, 2020). There are explanation of some circumstances in
context of ASDA and the role of administrators and leaders are also explained.
Conflict resolution- It indicates to an act of solving disagreement and infringement which are
maximising in the enterprise and unfavourably influence the business activities and operations
and employees performance. For instance, In ASDA, the condition of issue resolution can be
generate in term of forming creation in the products and services with the purpose of maximising
productivity and profit margins of the company by fulfilling consumer’s demands. So to make
creation in for of delivery service etc., the administration will also frame a team and develop new
plan and plan of action to accomplish the aims and objective. When the employees are executing
in a group then the options of issues occurrence is high. There are several reasons to arise
complexities in team work like ineffective communication, unclear decisions and improper
employee relation.
Roles of leader- In this situation, the leader play an effective role in term of maximising the
issues by providing better solution. In ASDA, the leader is responsible to set clear vision of the
task and assigned work according to their skills and knowledge. By making effective
communication in team, they deal with issues and complexities of workers so that they can get
effective solution and perform their work in well manner.
3

Roles of manager- In ASDA, the manager play an essential role by developing strategies in
context of task so that the task can be attaining its set aim (Sennewald and Baillie, 2020). The
administrator also provides relevant and required assets to the workers so that they can execute
their work and task in appropriate manner.
Rapid change- There are several types of changes that are form by the business enterprise with
the motive of satisfying requirements, needs and taste & preferences of target audiences. So that
they can take the advantages of commodities and services that are offered by the company
according to their demands. For instance, the administration of ASDA from modifications in the
delivery and marketing activities because every a new technology introduced in business
environment that create competition for the firm (Cavalcanti and et. al , 2018). To form better
and rapid change, the company can offer training and learning programs so that employees can
make development in their skills to perform their task in better form.
Roles of leader- In this situational context, leader functioning by choosing knowledgeable
and talented workers so that they can effectively execute their task with the implementation of
innovative technology.
Roles of manager- They also play an effective role by making and formulating strategies
and policies so that teammates and individuals can do their work in systematic manner.
P3. Apply different theories and models of approach, consisting situational, system and
contingency leadership
The description of theories, models and conceptions in respect to ASDA is mentioned as
under:
Situational leadership theory- Within this concept, the leader is responsible to perform its roles
as per the situation. This model is framed by Paul Harsey and the approach considers several
leadership forms such as telling, selling, participating and delegating. In Context of ASDA, if the
administration will adopt this theory then the leader of the firm will adopt leadership form as per
the situation and direct or lead workers as per condition so that they can also execute their work
in effective manner by facing any kind of issues.
Strengths- This concept help in developing the degree of motivation of employees. It is also
beneficial as it provides growth option to workers to make participation in determination
devising process.
4

Weaknesses- The major drawback of this concept is that sometimes it is not able to offer
accurate information regarding leader and generate confusion in the company that can misdirect
manpower.
System leadership theory- This leadership theory refers to those leaders who manage the
situation of all extent where employees can perform their duties regarding allotted work and task
(Barsness and et. al, 2018). In ASDA, the individual can execute their accountability in a
systematic form by offering appropriate direction to workers. It is effective for generating
healthy and friendly workplace where workers can do their work in better form without suffering
issues. This leadership theory can be implemented by respective venture in term of
administrating and improving business performance.
Strengths- This theory is effective for a business venture because by using it, workers can
execute their allotted work in systematic form by considering plan, policies and strategies of
enterprise and offer effective outcomes (KS and Papaiah, 2020).
Weaknesses- This model is a long term process so there are several complexities arisen and
the administration developed and formulated different kind of plans and set parameters to
involve within it.
Task oriented theory- This concept concentrates on allotted task and the execution needed
to accomplish the outcomes by accomplishing the work. In context of ASDA, it is beneficial for
the teammates who are not good at planning and organising as this method demands rgar
administrator does all the work and allot employees and communicate with them that what they
are desired to do and provide a deadline to accomplish it
Strengths- The capability of this approach is that clarity of the purpose as the demands of
the companies are specified clearly by the leader. The employees of team and task are well
familiar with their roles and duties.
Weaknesses- The demerit of this concept is that there is lack of innovation because it
concentrates on the usual mode of working. There is low employee morale and cause of which
they are not encouraged.
The application of chaos theory and management by objectives
Management by objective is the form of management model that effectively explain the
objectives for outlined in the process of management. This core highlights for assuring
contribution and employee engagement for the aims and accomplishing goals in respect to make
5

sure the outcomes. In ASDA, by applying this concept, the firm can improve the effective of the
firm that appropriately outlined for the administration and the workers performing on it and the
functioning of the efficiency of the outcomes are evaluates the tendency to forbid results.
Chaos theory mentions that at certain points of time the markets undergo modifications
which can be associated to international economic slowdown or modification in consumer
changes or recession in the market (Girbau-LListuella, Díaz-González and Sumper, 2018). In
ASDA, by applying this concept, the venture can be able to accept to the alterations as rapidly as
possible to reduce losses that occurring from these circumstances that are termed as chaos. This
concept is effective to easier to change as the company gets acceptable in nature.
TASK 3
P4. Key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and managers play
Operation management is essential part of business as they help firm to achieve goals as
well as objectives in proper manner. It is complex procedure which is being carried out by
manager and leaders in most efficient way so that adopted operation is set to achieve assigned
tasks within a given period of time. In relevance with ASDA Group, they also adopt the
operation management with proper consideration. It is wider as well as broader concept which is
to be understood in such a way that conflicts or errors do not arise. OM helps in converting of
inputs into outputs as it is theoretical as well as practical concept. Furthermore, through this firm
take decisions related to management in further process. Thus, there are various approaches
related to OM which are mentioned below-
Six Sigma- It is techniques in which quality of products or good is improved if there are
any faults or weak spot. Through this, business process and capabilities are enhanced and
improved so that there is continuous improvement during the process. In this, it is essential to
have reliable knowledge and skills related to operations so that decision making is done in
appropriate way. In relevance with ASDA Group, they can adopt this technique so that it assists
them in achieving the overall objectives of enterprise & through which they will be able to attain
long & short term goals. This will also give the generation of new ideas and thoughts. ASDA
need to make assures that they use this method so that they enhance their capabilities and week
areas. Furthermore, in this process standard deviation is used for appropriate measurement. Thus,
6

it is mostly part of statistics & when using this knowledge related to a particular field is required
(Laureani, 2017).
Role of leader- In an organisation, it is crucial to have a leader it is easy to manage
employees and motivate them. So, if selected entity selects the technique six sigma then role of
leader will be at wider scale. This is because, leaders are the source through which subordinates
communicate effectively. Further, they also assists in creating awareness of approach and which
helps in carry out the activities properly. Without a leader it is not possible to implement the
approach or convince the employee to do the work. Thus, it is crucial for ASDA Group to focus
on their leaders.
Role of manager- In every firm, there is always a requirement of manager as because
they are people who implement strategies as well as tactics for cost saving and generating more
profit to the business. In relation with chosen enterprise, they also do have manager in their
operation who is entitled to help employees and assists administration in their problems & work.
Also, with help of a manager, it is easy to manage everything in proper manner. Therefore,
manager of enterprise make ensures that they are able to enhance productivity and reduce cost if
production of company so that resources are used efficiently. Thus, it is important to have a
correct measure as well as skills so that managers take decision in most effective way ( Laureani,
2019).
Lean production- It is system or say method in which performance of work in improved
or is needed to improve with help of collaboration of team and group effort by removal of waste.
This technique is applied and used throughout the business process such as distribution system,
marketing etc. In relevance with selected entity, they adopting this approach will help them in
saving their capital and resources for future perspective. Moreover, it is also seen that to improve
the quality of operations of business it is crucial that lean and six sigma standards are to be used
at combine level. In relation with ASDA Group, they can adopt this and which will help them in
managing the resources as well as capital. Also, through this approach unnecessary waste is
removed and valuable and beneficial one are adopted for further process. Lean production and
six sigma are both beneficial for firm which provide a boost to organisation so that all the factors
are analysed appropriately.
7

Role of leader- In relation with ASDA Group, leaders of firm help employees & guides
them how they can use this technique in professional as well a personal life. Moreover, they also
assist in directing them towards their work which results in proper decision making. Through
leader, they also take decision in most effective manner and this helps them in eliminating the
problems during the process (Wagner, 2017).
Role of manager- If the chosen entity adopts the lean production then manager helps
them in analysing them in analysing as well as examining the products and materials usage,
durability etc. Furthermore, they also assist in their administrator work & which leads to
performing the multi-tasking functions at a time. It will enhance firm profitability and
management structure. Then, they provide reliable information related to employees regarding
the method so that subordinates use this din most efficient way.
After a brief analysis of above matter, it is analysed that approaches of operations
management are essential and are to be adopted with careful consideration so that changes are
not in frequent range. Therefore, it is also needed to have focus in to select the most suitable one
so that manager & leaders play their role without facing any problems or challenges. Also,
decision making related to both the approaches are to be done effectively so that changes are not
done in further process. High level of skills and expertise is required to use the approaches of
operations management. It is crucial to use OM in appropriate way so that when adopting these
techniques it is easy for everyone in management to use such approaches (Dennis, 2016).
TASK 4
P5. Importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives
Importance of operation management can be understood as it helps in improvement of
overall profitability and performance for organisation. It consists of different types of system that
can be adopted for the purpose of executing different operations in organisation. There are
various type of approaches like Six Sigma model, total quality management approach Kaizen
approach, such type of approach that can be adopted by organisation for the purpose of reduction
of cost and elimination of the wastage that is done in non essential activities. ASDA working on
utilisation of different types of approaches and overall tactics for organisation so that they are
able to understand the overall importance in the process of operations management there is not a
8

single activity that is contributing towards achievement of high efficiency and the process of
operations management but there are large number of activities that are together contributing
towards Such smooth functioning of the business. Below discuss some of the importance of
operations management in context of the present organisation:
1) Controlling and the distribution system:
Operations Management is concerned with overall controlling of the inflow of inventory and the
outflow of different types of finished goods according to the demand that is flourishing in the
external market (Glukhov, and Balashova, 2015) . It is the tool that is very helpful in saving of
overall cost in the supply of product and services in the market if there is presence of no such
demands. Managers in the operational department have to perform the activities related to
controlling and use of resources in a more optimum manner. It also helps in managing the overall
system of distribution so that there is right amount of product in right quality that can be
produced and there is overall control on the cost of holding the inventory. In the present scenario
of ASDA what requirement of the inventory there is atmosphere adopted in order to reduce the
cost of maintaining inventory and also helps in achievement of high effectiveness.
2) Process design:
Operations management helps in the overall designing of the process so that there can be
transformation of the objectives and visions of Organisation in to certain achievable objective.
There is requirement of some steps that have to be followed by the whole operations department
and proper Sequencing must be done by the operations team in such organisation. Surcharge in
case of managers in half to determine the overall process that has a customer in buying product
on different E-Commerce platforms. In ASDA, Based on certain activities there is development
of effective process that can help customers in making their purchases in a more flexible manner.
3) Transformation of raw materials in finished goods:
One of the most important aspects of operations department is that it is helping in transforming
the raw material in finished goods that are being offered to final customers. Different types of
detectors are used and applied by managers in a ASDA to make this conversion of raw material
in the final product more effective and efficient. Type of tractors are very helpful for managers
9

and reduction of the cost using different techniques such as Six Sigma just in time approach lean
production total quality management approach in the overall production scenario (Fiedler, 2015).
It is helping the managers in procuring the products at the right amount of time and maintaining
the quality of the raw materials that is reflected in the final products and resulting into higher
satisfaction of their loyal base of customers who are consuming the products.
4) Capacity management:
Operations management is very important for organisation as it helps in utilisation of the whole
production capacity by maximization of the overall potential (Cordray, and et. al.,
SCIENCELOGIC 2015). This capacity is related with the how much efficiently organisation is
able to produce and achieve high quality the products in a specified period of time. In the present
scenario of ASDA, It is also related with the operations management helping in utilisation of
capacity with aim to maximize the overall production so that there can be prevention of wastage
in resources.
5) Logistics and inventory management:
For the purpose of managing inventory in organisation there is need of logistics management
(Conaway, 2017). Logistics is a activity that is managed in a timely manner so that there is final
customers according to specified period of time and there is no delay that results in zero waiting
time by your customer. Such as in case of sta there is a development of proper logistics system of
their own that is used by this organisation so that product deliver according to the specified
period of time to all the stores and their final customers.
6) Scheduling:
In case of operations there are different types of activities that has to be done by Organisation in
a proper sequence punishment plays a very crucial role to schedule all such activities according
to the importance (Beske and Seuring, 2014) . Such as those activities which are more important
have to be done first and later other activities have to be scheduled. In ASDA type of
arrangement help in determination of a sequential steps so that there are finished products
according to the demand and also inventory is properly transport via loading transportation in all
their houses and stores for keeping proper storage.
10