Aston Martin: Leadership, Management and Operational Strategies Report

This report provides a detailed analysis of the management and operational strategies employed by Aston Martin, a luxury car manufacturer. It begins by differentiating between the roles of leaders and managers, examining their responsibilities in conflict management, change management, and performance management within the company. The report then explores various leadership styles, including situational, system, and contingent leadership, assessing their strengths and weaknesses in the context of Aston Martin's operations. Furthermore, it delves into operational management approaches such as Just in Time, Total Quality Time, and Lean production, emphasizing the roles of leaders and managers in their implementation. The report also considers factors influencing operational management and decision-making, including the impact of the business environment and wider community on Aston Martin's strategic choices. The report aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and strategies associated with managing and operating a business in the automotive industry.

MARKETING AND
OPERATIONS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................4
Task of Leaders V/s Managers affected by different situation....................................................4
Different Approaches to Situations – Theories and Models........................................................6
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................8
2.3 Key approaches of operational management and role of the leader and mangers.................8
Importance and value of operation management in business environment.................................9
Contribution of leaders and managers in improving the efficiency of operational management.
....................................................................................................................................................10
LO4................................................................................................................................................10
The factors that affect the operational management and decision-making...............................10
Factors that affect the business environment and wider community.........................................11
The application and factors affects on wider business environment.........................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Operations management involves the processes like planning, organising and supervising,
and also make the improvements if needed for more profit earning. Operation management is
also the practices of the business and it also ensures the profit maximization ans efficient growth
of the company. It also ensures that the through resource it gets effective and efficient output.
Aston Martin is the manufacturer of the cars. It is the public limited company. It basically
deals with the luxury cars and tourers. It mainly focuses on the sports car, as it is main culture
and trend in UK. It was found in year 1913 by the Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford.
In this report, different theories, leadership styles, strength and weakness of the
approaches, key approaches of the operational management, the role of the leader and managers
will be discussed. This report also includes the factors that impact on the operational
management and decision-making.

LO 2
Task of Leaders V/s Managers affected by different situation
Leaders and managers play very significant roles in increasing the overall progress of an
organization (Chiu, Balkundi and Weinberg, 2017). They both play different roles, managers
manage the employees by taking the efficient use of resources of organisation whereas the
leaders lead the team by motivating them to increase the productivity and performance. In Aston
Martin, many situations come where the leaders and managers have to play their vital roles.
Some of the situations which are resolves by them are as follows:
The above figure shows the aspects of Managers and Leaders.
Conflict Management
Conflicts are natural in all situations in every organization as there are differences in the
thoughts of every person working in the same. Leaders and Managers must have the skills to
manage those conflicts.
Leader: A leader should guide and direct the employees according to the type of conflict. It must
use its leadership function to deal with the negative effects of conflict and make it a positive one
(Do and Nuth, 2020). Leader must create an opportunity for the team structure improvement and
to transform the organizations positively.
Figure 1: Managers and Leaders
Source: 9 Differences between Managers and Leaders, 2012

Manager: It must firstly spot the signs of the conflict by analysing the situation. The, it must
examine the reason for the conflict. It should clarify everything by asking the right questions.
Then, finally it must use its right to make the decisions after doing proper discussions. It must
ensure that the decision taken are not against the norms of the company and which much help in
enhancing the performance.
Change Management
Changes are necessary according to the changing demands of the market. The
organization needs change management when the new system, new program or strategy
interrupts the regular operations (Darwish and et.al., 2020). This is mainly done by leader and
manager.
Leader: Leaders must manage every type of change otherwise the change will hinders the
performance of operations. This role needs care, communication and commitment for managing
the change. It must clear all the members about the vision of the organization regularly by
communicating to them. It must be accountable and transparent.
Manager: Their main role is to coach and influence employees according to their own process of
change. It must make aware of all the changes happened regularly. Employees need to be
evaluated about the support by the manager (Lyubovnikova and et.al., 2017). It must help the
employees to know about all the hurdles which comes in the successful change in policies of
organization.
Performance Management
Managing the performance of the employees is must for keeping a tab on the progress of
the organization. It involves numerous processes like establishing the goals, monitoring the
process towards the same and make certain adjustments to achieve the objectives efficiently. The
leader and manager plays a significant role in this.
Leader: They improve the team performance by analysing the reviews. They also helps in setting
goals through coaching by taking the feedbacks (Megheirkouni, 2017). They make different
strategies for the effective performance of the employees hence focusing on the team.

Manager: These, being the role model of employees, communicate the mission and values to
them by clearly describing the work expectations to facilitate the performance improvement.
They inform the employees about their progress and its importance.
So, the manager and the leader play different roles in the same situation of the Aston Martin
which contribute positively in the company's overall progress and performance.
Different Approaches to Situations – Theories and Models
The leader in Aston Martin plays the role of the important asset and motivator of
employees by analysing their desires and needs (Legood, Thomas and Sacramento, 2016). They
also evaluate the changes in the environment and take certain decision so that the company can
get the benefits of the changes. To maintain the leadership in the company, Aston Martin has
described following basic styles which for the effective performance in the workplace along with
their strengths and weaknesses :
Situational Leadership
In this leadership, the leader assigns the tasks by analysing the skills and abilities of the
employees. This theory helps the leader to find out the best of the best solutions to face the
challenges raised in the market (Rivers, Thompson and Jeske, 2018). The decisions are taken by
keeping a watch on the market conditions. For example, if there is a conflict in the team then the
roles of the employee changes to cater the situation and smooth functioning of the team.
Strengths: It is a creative approach which analyses the situation efficiently. This allocate the
resources properly, have well-trained employees which communicates effectively. This also
evaluates the skills and talents of employees.
Weaknesses: It doesn't have enough funds and resources for market evaluation. It sometimes
switch to more number of unqualified employees along with mistakes in resource interpretation.
System Leadership
This type of leadership aims at attaining the results rather than the process or iterations.
The activities are preplanned and their results are checked whether they are desired or not

(Purcell and Chahine, 2019). Aston Martin consists of many departments and each has its own
goals and objectives.
Strengths: This style is effective in analysing problems. It improves morale of an employee
thereby increasing loyalty. The productivity is increases due to saving time in commuting. If
security lapses, it has potential to resolve it.
Weaknesses: It is difficult to gain success rapidly and is much complex. It is not a good option
for catering any crisis. It makes hard to obtain the systems overview. In emergency mode, it
doesn't prove to be helpful.
Contingent Leadership
This leaders design strategies which helps in optimizing all the entities of organization
such as groups, business units etc. for efficient performance. This leadership focuses on every
situation which arises in the organization Aston Martin. After analysing the situation, the team
members are forced by the leader to find out the approaches to handle that situation accordingly.
Then the solutions are implemented effectively (Snelling, Exworthy and Ghezelayagh, 2020).
This is therefore used to find various options to achieve the organizational objectives.
Strengths: Its main strength is that it considers any random issues and solve it by innovative
approach. This involves broad mind activity which uses effective market research to find variety
of solutions and also require some financial resources.
Weaknesses: It costs high in the research by less trained employees. As the tasks are done by
unskilled employees so, the changes in growth becomes slow and the results are delayed.
So, the leadership decides the progress of the organization. In Aston Martin, System Leadership
is adapted to focus on its objectives. But not aiming at the process doesn't mean that they can go
against the organizational norms and laws to achieve the goals. So, they must ensure that all the
strategies are made in favour of all the laws and regulations.
In this changing market, there is a need for the organizations to be changed within a short span of
time and without prediction (Alefari, Salonitis and Xu, 2017.). Managers play a major role to
utilize the rapid social and technological changes to produce results. There are several methods
which helps in adapting the regular changes in the market. Two main methods or theories are as
follows :

Chaos Theory
It is applicable to many departments of organization including management and describes
that randomness is the most important thing even in predictable situations. The variables of
chaos theory are non-linear and fluctuate in short time passage. Its application is bringing
together these variables of market which can not be predicted along with the various patterns
which helps in introducing short term decisions.
Management by Objectives
This theory focuses on the ways in which the manger can make the best use and control
resources such as raw materials and processes and the employees to achieve the objectives (Dhatt
and et.al., 2017). In this theory, the manager need to set specific objectives and force the
employees to achieve those objectives in the near future and also asks the employees regularly
for new implementations. The objectives are assigned by confirming them by the superior of the
groups at the initial level. The main focus of MBO is to make aware all the employees about the
goals to be achieved and also their contribution by performing all the activities play a major role
in attaining the goals and objectives.
So, these 2 above mentioned theories aware the manager and leader of Aston Martin to perform
their roles effectively to achieve the organizational goals and thereby enhancing its overall
progress.
LO 3
Key approaches of operational management and role of the leader and mangers
There are many approaches to understand the operation management better. The
approaches are helpful for the organization as it helps in identifying the situation of the company
and helps in taking decision more efficiently. The approaches are as follows:
Just in time: The method just in time basically deals with the production process. It laid
emphasis of the process of production are completed according to the set targets or not. This
method involves the pre planning of the available resources and also the needs of the resources.
It helps in reducing the wastage of the available resources. The role of the leader is to enhance

the management by focussing on the production process and supply chain system, whereas the
role of the manager is to allocate the resources on time.
Total quality time: It is the process which basically involves the planning for the success of long
term. The company should earn the maximum profit and results in long term success. The role of
the manager in this process is to look after the activities for the better results, whereas the role of
the leader is to show the paths to the employees to achieve long term success.
Lean production: It is the process which focusses on the methods that can be used to get the best
result and output of the company. The output of the company can be affected by many factors.
The most important factor is to reduce the wastage of resources and use according to the
potential and capacity. role of manager and leader is to make the employees aware of the
available resources and also wastage of resources. This method helps in improving the
productivity and skills of the employees.
Therefore, the leaders and managers play an important role in the approaches of
management operations.
Importance and value of operation management in business environment
For the organization the importance and value of the operation management are to
achieve the success and desired goal. The importance and the value of the operations
management are as follows:
survival: For surviving in the market it is important for the company to identify the taste and
trend of the market and introduce it in the company. This helps company in smooth survival in
the market.
Customers satisfaction: the taste and trend in the market should be identified by the company,
which helps in satisfying the large number f customers. Customers can also be satisfied by the
prices of the products and also easily available nearby them.
Revenue increment: Increasing of profit ratio and evaluating it is the most important function of
the operation management (Mirela, B., 2016). The profit increment results in the expanding of
the business. Profit helps in implementing new targets and strategies,.
Market trend: In the market frequent changes takes place in the trend, regularly a new trend in
arising in the market. Aston Martin takes various steps in manufacturing and supplying of the

product according to the trends. It helps is satisfying the customers. It also helps in retaining the
employees for the longer time.
Sale increase: by conducting various researches program for the new competitions, operation
management helps in increasing the sale of the product. It helps in company to complete with the
competitors in the market and grow the business.
Therefore, operation management is important for the business environment.
Contribution of leaders and managers in improving the efficiency of operational management.
The managers and leaders play an important role in the improving the efficiencies of the
operational management. As the relationship between managers and leaders helps company in
maximizing the profit by meeting out the expected output. Managers and leaders are also helpful
in the using of available resources according to the potential and capacity. The decision taken by
them mutually helps in solving the situations (Popli and Rizvi, 2016). They focus on the needs of
the employees and customers and also make sure that their needs and expectations are to be
fulfilled in reference to the market situations. They make proper planning of the tasks and
implement it accordingly, which bring the efficiency to the work and accuracy in results.
Planning is also done for evaluating the costing and funding of the Aston martin.
Therefore the relationship of manger and leader are important for the operational
management.
LO4
The factors that affect the operational management and decision-making
Lots of factors affects the operational management and decision making by the leaders
and managers. Factors can affect the growth of the organization directly or indirectly. For
ensuring the growth many decisions have been taken by the manager or leaders that can be
positive or negative. The factors are as follows:
Resources: resources are the most important part of the organizations. For the efficiency in work
all resources work together. The resources can be human resource of the raw material available
in the organization. These resources should be used properly and systematically, so that it can be
more productive for the company (Askari and et.al., 2018). The resource should be used in the
way, that should not be wasted. At right time, right decision should be taken.

Financial position:evaluating the final position of finance help in managers and leaders in
taking new decision and making new strategies for the growth of the company (Babelan and
et.al., 2016). The cost related decisions effect the profits and cash flow.
Change in trend and technology: the frequent changes in the trend of the market are to be
identified by the managers and leaders and also adopt it in the company as soon as possible.
Identifying and adopting the new change are the most important pat of the company. The
managers and leaders should analyse the market wisely.
Factors that affect the business environment and wider community.
The relationship of the managers and leaders play an efficient role. It laid emphasis on
the fulfilling the desires and need of the employees. They also have to look after the goal and
objectives of the Aston Martin. They play many roles in the organization, similarly they have to
identify the environment of the business and work accordingly (Cortellazzo, Bruni and Zampieri,
2019). The main function of the leader is to identify and predict the future, whereas the managers
deals with the resources' availability. The leaders have to look after the risk present in the
market, whereas, managers have to allocate the available resources to the required activity.
Manager's role and power have been shared with the subordinate of the organization, so
that they can use it during the tasks and different activities and take decision accordingly. The
power-sharing helps company in fulfilling the goals of the company. The main function of the
leader is to give the direction to the employees and the employees follow them, which results in
the adequate growth of the company.
The application and factors affects on wider business environment.
There are many levels that are involving in the strategies, which results in focusing and
enduring the activities. The applications and factors can play both the roles in the business
organization i.e., negative and positive. These factors include the cost and quality of the product
have to be evaluated properly, so that planning can be done and making the strategies with
efficiency, which results in achieving the organizational goals (Alefari, Salonitis and Xu, 2017).
Therefore, the above mentioned factors are helpful for the company in creating the reputation
and satisfying more and more customers. Low product quality with the high cost results in the
dissatisfaction of the customers. The loyalty and trust breaks. The availability of the products and

services should be easy and must be reachable to the customers. Products and services should be
easily available according to the needs and demand of the customers. Otherwise, the company
has to face the decrement of the sales. The relationship of leaders and managers in contact of
social responsibility are:
Culture, the leader should be according the company, as everyone will follow them. They
should be in the way, in which they want to see his employees.
Values, the managers can motivate and convince their employees for the working efficiency.
Ethics, the mangers must be focused more on the ethics instead of making more business.
Sustainability, The managers should have the capability to sustain the employees, which results
I the satisfaction of the employees, which improves the overall growth of the company.
CONCLUSION
The research in the above report evaluated the different roles of manager and the leader in
different situations arising in organizations like Aston Martin. It also described the numerous
leadership styles like system, situational and contingent along with their strengths and
weaknesses. The report also discussed various applications of chaos theory and management of
objectives to achieve the goals of organization.
It also describes the contribution of leaders in operational performance along with examining
various theories of operations such as six sigma, lean production and queuing theory. The
research was followed by discussing numerous approaches of operational management and its
functions. The report was finalized by evaluating the relationship between leadership and
management in the business environment.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
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manufacturing. Procedia CIRP. 63. pp.756-761.
Askari and et.al., 2018. Role of managers’ communication skills and leadership style on
organizational effectiveness: Path analysis. The Journal of Qazvin University of Medical
Sciences, 21(6), pp.63-55.
Babelan and et.al., 2016. The role of managers’ professional ethics in organizational
excellence, with the mediation of job engagement. Bioethics Journal, 6(22), pp.59-70.
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of manager network centralities, social power, and followers' perception of
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Cortellazzo, L., Bruni, E. and Zampieri, R., 2019. The role of leadership in a digitalized world: a
review. Frontiers in psychology, 10, p.1938.
Darwish, T.K. and et.al., 2020. Organizational learning of absorptive capacity and innovation:
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Dhatt, R. and et.al., 2017. The role of women's leadership and gender equity in leadership and
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organizational trust: The role of the immediate manager for cultivating trust. Journal of
Applied Social Psychology. 46(12). pp.673-686.
Lyubovnikova, J. and et.al., 2017. How authentic leadership influences team performance: The
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Rivers, J., Thompson, N. and Jeske, D., 2018. Dedicated but exhausted? The role of ethical
leadership for employee wellbeing in UK student unions. Journal of Human Resource
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Snelling, I., Exworthy, M. and Ghezelayagh, S., 2020. The Chief Registrar role in the UK:
leadership capacity and development of hybrid leaders. Journal of Health Organization
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9 Differences between Managers and Leaders, 2012.[Online]. Accessed through:
<https://marksanborn.com/blog/2012/02/13/9-differences-between-managers-and-
leaders/>
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