Analysis of Logistics and Leadership at ASOS Plc: A Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of ASOS Plc, a British online fashion retailer, focusing on its management information systems, logistics challenges, and leadership models. The report begins with an overview of ASOS Plc, highlighting its business operations and target market. It then delves into the specific problems faced by the company's logistics department, including issues with seamless shipping and delivery, cash-on-delivery fraud, high and seasonal volumes, and the impact of government regulations. The report explores the situational leadership style, its application within ASOS Plc, and the framework used to guide leaders in selecting the best leadership approach. It examines different leadership styles, such as directing, coaching, supporting, and delegating, in the context of ASOS Plc's operations. Furthermore, the report outlines an intervening program designed to address identified issues, including problem identification, goal determination, decision-making processes, plan implementation, and evaluation and control. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of proper management in achieving business objectives efficiently and recommends steps to improve ASOS Plc's performance.

Management and
Information system

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................1
Overview................................................................................................................................1
Problem faced by ASOS Plc...................................................................................................1
Leadership Model:..................................................................................................................3
Designing an intervening programme....................................................................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Management of information within an organisation helps in getting timely, accurate and
relevant solution to a several problems. Furthermore, management information system is defined
as a combination of people, computer and method used for collecting and organizing relevant
information to facilitate decision making (Almalki, Gray and Sanchez, 2015). This report is
based on ASOS Plc which is British online fashion and cosmetic retail organisation. The
company was founded in 2000. It is e-commerce platform which carry on its business operation
online. The outcome of this report will be based on issue which the respective company in facing
and several steps which shall be implemented by in order to effectively carry out its business
operation. Furthermore, a proper invention design is identified which will help the respective
company in solving problem and recommendation are made so the problems are effectively
solved.
TASK
Overview
Asos plc is British online fashion as well as cosmetic retailer. The company was founded
in 2000 under London. It was founded by Nick Robertson, Andrew Regan and Quentin Griffiths.
The target market of respective company is young adults. Operation of respective company is
done online and its website sells over 850 brands in several parts. The main objective of the
company is to provide trend and led collection to is potential customers. Furthermore, in order to
attack more customers towards the brand, company publishes high quality content in brand
magazine. Asos also effectively make use of social media in order to enhance its overall
productively.
Problem faced by ASOS Plc
ASOS Plc is a global fashion destination which sales is products online. The company
has good reputation in potential market. Currently the respective company is facing issue with
regard to its logistics department. The prime resources managed in logistics usually includes
tangible goods such as equipment, suppliers materials and several other aspects (Azaria and
et.al., 2016). Logistics Department is a part of supply chain management that implements, plans
and control effective forward as well as revere flow of goods. Asos is a e-commerce company
where the main impetus is on timely delivery, logistics plays a very important role. Without
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having a well-developed logistics as well as shipping process the desired business objectives
cannot be achieved with efficiency. Some of the major issue which the logistics department of
respective company is faced are mentioned below:
 Seamless Shipping and Delivery of products: It has been observed that currently e-
commerce industry is booming and this will be continued in upcoming years also.
Number of parcels that are being shipped by ASOS has shown a rapid growth. However,
the main challenge is to properly handle shipping as well as delivering of parcels on right
time by using logistic department appropriately. Furthermore, some issues related to
logistics department are also faced due to natural calamities, political instability and
many other related aspects which affects the logistics of respective company. Such issues
usually reduces the seamless flow of business and affects the market share.
 Cash on Delivery Frauds: Payment methods adopted by customers also impacts the
turnover of a company when it comes to logistics in e-commerce (Dietz and et.al., 2015).
In context to ASOS Plc if company's potential customers selected cash on delivery,
chances of fraud activities increases in some exceptional cases which results in non
payment and undue payments. Furthermore, perception as well as behaviour of customers
also play an essential role in ensuring proper logistics and flow of items in an
organisation.
 High and Seasonal Volume: Seasonal Sales and promotional campaigns is a integral
part of ASOS PLC and this more around festive seasons. However, lack of planning
under festive seasons negatively impacts the overall productively of an organisation.
Innovative approaches by logistics department shall be implemented so the during the
peak time the delivery of products shall be done with the allocated time period.
 Government Regulations and Policies: Economic policy implemented by government
highly influences the functioning of logistics department within an organisation. With
reference to ASOS Plc logistics space faces huge challenges due to taxation system
prevailing. These hurdles and complexities in supply chain tend to reduce the overall
productively of respective organisation.
These are some of the major challengers which ASOS is facing under its logistics
department. However, in order to most effectively carry out its business into potential market
these challengers shall be overcome by ASOS plc.
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Leadership Model:
Leadership Model basically helps in providing guidance to the leaders of respective
organisation to effectively manage of the important aspects of business. There are several models
of leadership. These models are basically implemented according to specific environment or
situation.
Situational Leadership Style
Situational leadership can be defined as a model which is based on relationship between
leaders and followers and function as a structure to analyse each situation on basis of their
performance. It is a leadership style which was developed by Kenneth Blanchard and Paul
Hersey while working on 'Management of Organisational Behaviour'. In this style, leaders
adapts to existing environment and take decisions regarding demand of situation in enterprise or
marketplace (Fountas and et.al, 2015). Situational leadership style is effective in logistics and
supply chain in various situations. Due to inappropriate information and working process of
logistic department in ASOS Plc demand and supply of products and services doesn't match in
marketplace. In this situation leader take step forward to resolve problem of demand and supply
of products effectively. Through logistics products and services of ASOS Plc are delivered at
right place, right time and to right person, but several times due to improper transportation
system and lack of information inappropriate conditions takes place. This can be resolved only
by situational leaders according to condition which assist them to achieve highest profitability
and productivity level. But sometimes these leadership style create problems for appropriate and
effective execution of supply chain in an organisation. In context to ASOS Plc, when leaders
delegate powers to their subordinates they misuse it. Contrary to it, if leaders being an autocrat
take decision by their own also effect working of employees. Situational leadership model is a
framework that helps to make this style more effective. The framework used to guide leaders of
ASOS Plc to analyse situations and select best leadership style for that particular situation is as
follows:
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Il
lustration 1: Situational Leadership Model
(Source: Situational Leadership Model)
 X-axis of this graph indicates degree of directive behaviour leaders. It is quantity of
direction they provide to their team for guidance.
 Y-axis depicts degree of supportive behaviour used by leaders. It is measure or quantity
of support they provide to their team.
Leadership styles
According to situational-leadership-model, there are four leadership styles that leaders
used in an organisation which are as follows: Directing- In this leadership style, leaders may be autocrats. Employees perception
doesn't matter for Directing leaders (Girard and Girard, 2015). Directing leader will make
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all decisions without consultation of their employees this can demotivate them. This will
affect supply chain management of ASOS Plc, when superior or top management conduct
all decision process without consulting opinions of subordinates. Coaching- This leadership style puts little emphasis on input and feedback from
subordinates. In ASOS Plc, leaders state roles, tasks, ideas and plans to their employees
to perform at their best level. Through this suppliers in logistics cannot innovate their
ideas and plans for effective and smooth supply chain. They perform as per plans of
superiors it can demotivate them to give their best results in declination of profitability of
ASOS Plc. Supporting: In this leadership, supportive leaders may be 'quiet' one. As they support
their team leaders to perform and take decisions by their own. This will give chance to
employees for better performance but sometimes this will lead to wrong and ineffective
decisions for supply chain management. When subordinates, suppliers and other people
get power to take decisions by their own it effect supply of products and services at right
time to its customers.
 Delegating: Delegating leaders provide least supervision and guidance to their
subordinates, this results in inappropriate working of subordinates (Horita and et.al,
2015). Employees working in supply management of ASOS Plc doesn't perform well due
to burden of work and decision making powers. This will demotivate them to perform
well, it increases cost of supply and wastage of time. When this happen it affects working
of logistic department in appropriate manner.
Designing an intervening programme
An intervention is used for assessing problem that are being faced by management and
appropriately make strategies for finding solutions for attaining desired objectives for the
organisation. The interventions are normally used for critically identifying issues, set objectives,
introducing strategies, implementation of plan, evaluation and control on changes that are taking
places in work culture (Jiang and et.al, 2015). When talking about ASOS, the managers need to
design an effective intervention programme that include many methods, for preparing quality
cosmetic and clothing product. Some of these methods are briefly discussed below:
Identifying problem: This is the initial stage, where individual or manager identifies
issues that have occurred in work culture of every organisation. If it is talked about ASOS, the
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technical team critically identifies problem in quality of raw material of cloth The manager
could deal with supplier which have good image in manufacturing industries.
Determining the goals: The goals need to be feasible and should be attainable by the
management after identifying the problem in order to capture competitive advantage in specific
industry (Laudon and Laudon, 2015). In context with ASOS, the manager could develop strict
policies on price of cosmetic product by providing various offer at online purchase. Also
maintain security for customer so that their personal information should safe and secure while
consuming the brand product.
Decision making process: This stage involves choosing accurate solution for problem in
decision-making strategies in an organisation. If it is talked about ASOS, the leader should give
emphasis on motivating and satisfying every employees, so that they can work productively in
work culture. Thereafter, the motivation level could be increased by providing various monetary
and non monetary incentives, it will create a sense of mental any physical security to them, while
working for the organisations. Henceforth, it will management in building effective cordial
relation with consumer.
Implementation of plan: This stage include systematic framework of plans that have
been decided by top management for effectively acquiring desired goal for the organisation.
When talking about ASOS, the production and manufacturing department should appropriately
communicate with workforce so that day-to-day operations could take place effectively. The
leader should critically plan strategies that would be beneficial for both consumer as well as for
organisation. The middle level management could implement product development strategies,
where each workforce can innovatively think and design unique product that will seeking
attention of customers.
Evaluations and control: This is the last stage where controlling, monitoring and
evaluation take place on the basis of performance of both employee and organisation (Soomro,
Shah and Ahmed, 2016). In reference with ASOS, the leaders have to analyse and monitors the
operations that are taking place in working environment. The prime objective of manager is to
give training to each employee and evaluate performance of each employee, so that they can
produce quality product and service to the target market. Thereafter, rewards should be given to
employee who have performed well throughout the year, so that they feel motivated, while
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working in an organisation. Henceforth these initiative will help management to achieve
competitive advantage in retail industry.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that proper management within an
organisation plays a very crucial role in attaining the desired business objective with proper
efficiency. Several steps are followed to order to identify the areas were a firm need be improved
so the goals are achieved within the specified period of time. However, under this report
consideration is made to determine the area where respective company is faces issues and have
resulted in reducing its overall productively. In order to improve the issue appropriately
intervention programme is implemented so that issues faced are effectively altered. Herein,
discuss relating to leadership model is also made which will enhance the respective company in
performing their work with proper efficiency.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Almalki, M., Gray, K. and Sanchez, F. M., 2015. The use of self-quantification systems for
personal health information: big data management activities and prospects. Health
information science and systems. 3(S1). p.S1.
Azaria, A. and et.al., 2016, August. Medrec: Using blockchain for medical data access and
permission management. In 2016 2nd International Conference on Open and Big Data
(OBD) (pp. 25-30). IEEE.
Dietz, W. H. and et.al., 2015. Management of obesity: improvement of health-care training and
systems for prevention and care. The Lancet, 385(9986), pp.2521-2533.
Fountas, S. and et.al., 2015. Farm management information systems: Current situation and future
perspectives. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 115, pp.40-50.
Girard, J. and Girard, J., 2015. Defining knowledge management: Toward an applied
compendium. Online Journal of Applied Knowledge Management, 3(1), pp.1-20.
Horita, F. E. and et.al., 2015. Development of a spatial decision support system for flood risk
management in Brazil that combines volunteered geographic information with wireless
sensor networks. Computers & Geosciences. 80. pp.84-94.
Jiang, Y. and et.al., 2015. Outage management of distribution systems incorporating information
from smart meters. IEEE Transactions on Power Systems. 31(5). pp.4144-4154.
Laudon, K. C. and Laudon, J. P., 2015. Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital
Firm Plus MyMISLab with Pearson eText--Access Card Package. Prentice Hall Press.
Soomro, Z. A., Shah, M. H. and Ahmed, J., 2016. Information security management needs more
holistic approach: A literature review. International Journal of Information
Management. 36(2). pp.215-225.
Online
Situational Leadership Model. 2018. [Online]. Available
through<https://expertprogrammanagement.com/2018/11/situational-leadership-
model/>.
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