Ford Motor Company: Leadership, Management, and Operations Report

This report provides a detailed analysis of leadership, management, and operational practices within Ford Motor Company. It begins with a comparison between the roles of managers and leaders, examining their characteristics and functions in various situations, including decision-making and risk-taking scenarios. The report delves into different leadership models and theories, such as situational leadership and the systematic approach, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses. Key approaches to operations management, including the Six Sigma approach and the Kaizen approach, are discussed, highlighting their importance in achieving business objectives and improving operational efficiencies. The report also evaluates factors impacting Ford's business environment and decision-making processes, offering a comprehensive overview of the company's management strategies and their impact on overall performance.

Management and Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................1
P1. Comparison between role of managers and leaders..............................................................1
M1. Analyse the differences between role of leader and Functions of manager........................2
P2. Role of leader and functions of managers in various situations ..........................................3
P3. Leadership models and theories ...........................................................................................4
D1. Analyse the different theories to leadership ........................................................................4
M2. Strength and weakness of the different approaches.............................................................4
TASK 3 ...........................................................................................................................................5
P.4 Key approaches to operations management .........................................................................5
P.5 Importance and value of business operations in achieving of business objectives...............5
M3. Methods to improve the efficiencies in operations .............................................................6
D2. Evaluate different applications and factors which impact business environment of Ford...6
TASK 4 ...........................................................................................................................................6
P.6 Evaluate different factors which affect operations and decision making ...........................6
M.4. Examining different factors which affects operations........................................................7
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Every organization has to emphasis on the operational activities so that they can earn
more profits and market share. It helps company to manage all activities efficiently and
effectively (Ageron,Gunasekaran and Spalanzani,2012). Thus it can expand the business in
various countries. Ford Limited is a auto mobile company and it operates in various parts in the
country. Report discusses about the differences between the characteristics of leader and the
manager,various examples in which role and responsibilities of leaders and managers apply in
various situations. Assignment discusses about the various theories and models of approach
which reflect role of management and leadership,key operations , importance and value of
operations management. It also discusses about the factors which affect the decisions of leaders
and managers.
TASK 1
P1. Comparison between role of managers and leaders
Managing employees are a difficult task. So leader of Ford company play an important
role in making various plans and policies. Characteristics of leader are -
 Valued human capital - Ford company has increase the wages of all employees. This is
done to motivate all workers so that they can perform better.
 Believed in equality – Leader of ford company equal opportunities to women,African
people and disabled individuals so that all can start their business. Through this all can
work efficiently, effectively and can achieve their objectives.
Role and characteristics of manager -
 Execution of plans – Manager of Ford creates various plans and policies of the firm. They
manage various resources and give directions to all employees so that they can perform
better.
 Monitoring – Manager evaluates goals and plans, policies so that employees can perform
their work efficiently and effectively (Alderton and Saieva, 2013). It thus increases the
productivity of the firm.
Difference between Leader and manager-
Manager Leader
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Leader mainly focuses on the present activities.
They check the goals, objectives,plans and
policies of the firm. Through this firm can
achieve their objectives.
Manager emphasis on the future activities.
They create the plans and policies related to the
future so that organization can run smoothly
and successfully.
They focuses on the activities and tasks in all
departments. It helps in proper management of
all resources in the firm. This results in
increasing of productivity.
They motivate employees so that they can
perform better. This results in good quality of
output.
Manager tries to reduce the problems in
business operations. Through this all activities
and tasks run successfully and smoothly.
Leaders tries to make plans and policies to deal
with various changes. It is important so that all
employees can perform well and can achieve
their objectives. This results in growth and
success of the firm
They create various strategies to accomplish
the objectives and targets inn the firm. Through
this all employees can achieve their targets.
Leaders make long term goals. Thus employees
know in which direction they had to move.
This helps them in accomplishing their goals.
M1. Analyse the differences between role of leader and Functions of manager
Manager manages all resources and all employees within the organization. It includes various
various functions such as planning,organizing ,staffing directing,and controlling. This is
important for effective and efficient management of all operations and tasks in the Ford Motors.
While Leaders focuses on the motivation of employees so that they can perform better in the firm
(Brandon and Mullan, 2013). They follows the different leadership approachers in the firm.
Firstly they use transactional leadership in which leader mainly focuses on the employee
performance. Workers are given rewards for their performance and given punishment for failure
of achieving their targets. Transformational leadership is one in which leaders make goals, vision
of the firm and make plans and policies to achieve them. Both are important for increasing the
organizational efficiency and for growth.
TASK 2
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P2. Role of leader and functions of managers in various situations
Ford motors have great leaders and managers in the organization. Both cannot work
without each other. They contribute to the accomplishing of the objectives and targets. Following
are the role and functions of managers and leaders in different situations-
Decision Making
Leader's Role – Leader of the Ford company follow the Six Sigma technique in the organization.
In this leader motivates the employees so that they can perform better in the firm. This helps in
reducing the conflicts and disputes in the firm (Jacobs,Chase and Lummus,2014 . Staff members
can also give good results .So this results in increasing the productivity of the company. Thus
company can earn more profits and can increase their market share.
Manager's function - Manager of Ford company follows the Six Sigma technique. More efforts
are given on training sessions so that all employees can be motivated to perform better. Staff
members can learn new skills to do variety of jobs. Through this workers can do work efficiently
and effectively. This increases the productivity of the firm. Thus also reduces the conflicts and
problems in the firm. It leads to success and growth in the firm.
Risk Taking
Leader's role – Henry Ford take a huge risk by giving employment to African American people
and women. As none of the company selects them in their firm. Organization has bring diversity
so it has given equal opportunity to all people to work in their organization. Through this there is
development of all people. This helps in maintaining the equality and it leads to growth and
success in the firm.
Manager's function – Ford Motors had taken huge risk as there is support from the management.
They had implemented Six Sigma technique in the organization. This helps in maintaining
efficiently and effective administration in the firm. Through this employees get motivated and
they take training sessions (Naphade and et. al.,2012). Thus workers learn new skills and
perform efficiently and effectively. Thus they achieve their targets and goals. This results in
increasing of productivity.
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P3. Leadership models and theories
All companies want to increase the profits through their activities and tasks. So Ford
Motors have applied various leadership and theories which are described below-
 Situational leadership – Leader can change their leadership styles according to various
situations. Managers have to follow the Six Sigma approach but employees are not
satisfied with it as they had to do extra work for increasing the productivity. So Ford
company has to organize training sessions in which all employees are motivated to
perform better (Song and Parola, 2015). Thus employees can achieve their goals and
targets Through this functions of each departments runs successfully. Due this there is
innovation in the organization. This results in efficient functioning of all activities. Thus
it results in increasing the productivity. This results in increasing of profits and market
share.
 Systematic Approach – This theory explains that all factors are linked together. It takes
customer satisfaction and employee motivation. Manager motivates employee to perform
better in the firm. It results in increasing productivity and customers become happy and
satisfied. So by applying this approach firm can deliver good results through motivation
of employees. Thus company can achieve their business goals and can satisfy the
customers.
D1. Analyse the different theories to leadership
Ford Motors can use system approach in which it can achieve their business goals as well
as satisfy the customers. In this approach all components work together. Firm motivates the
employees so that they can perform better. They give good quality of output. It results in
increasing of productivity. Thus it results in achieving of firms goals and can satisfy the
customers. This leads to increasing of profits and long term growth.
M2. Strength and weakness of the different approaches
Ford Motors can use systematic approach. There are various strengths and weaknesses of
this approach which is described below -
Strength – Through this approach employees are motivated to perform better. It leads to
customer satisfaction. Thus organization can achieve their business goals and can satisfy the
customers in same time.
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Weakness – It is impractical approach as leader has to give false information to employees so
that they can achieve their goals. This leads to low productivity and firm cannot achieve their
targets. Thus customers are not fully satisfied.
TASK 3
P.4 Key approaches to operations management
Companies have to improve their operational activities so that all functions can run
successfully in the firm (Starr and Van Wassenhove, 2014). They had to increase their profits so
that organization can increase the market share. So hence Ford Motor needs to apply the Six
sigma approach to improve the operational activities and tasks. Six Sigma approach is described
below -
Six Sigma - In this approach company produces good quality of products so that it increases the
production. Ford Motors have to use various charts and other techniques so that good quality of
products can be manufactured. Company do not adopts this approach as it takes high cost in
training and producing the goods. So Henry Ford who is the leader has make the vision and
communicates to the all employees. Manager has motivated all employees so that they can
perform better. Through this employees can work efficiently and effectively to achieve their
targets .It results in increasing the productivity. Thus customers gets satisfied. It results in
earning of more profits.
P.5 Importance and value of business operations in achieving of business objectives
Company can increase their profits through effective management of all resources and
activities. It leads to increasing of customer satisfaction. It can be due to less production cost and
manufacturing cost. So Ford can increase their business operations in various ways- Six sigma – Using this approach company can increase the output through good quality
of products. There is less wastage of resources. So there is optimum utilization of the
resources. Company can sell good quality of car to the customer. Through this customers
gets satisfied (Yabuki, 2014) . Thus they give reference to all relatives to purchase the
car. Thus they can easily expand their operations.
 Development of employee skills – Training sessions are to be organized in the company
through this more employees are motivated so that they can perform better. It helps in
increasing of the skills and employees can do their work more efficiently and effectively.
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It helps in increasing of the productivity and profits. Thus it results in increasing of the
market share. Thus company can maintain unique position in the market.
M3. Methods to improve the efficiencies in operations
Company can apply the Kaizen approach in which there are changes in the processes and
activities in the firm (Operations and Project Management (OPM), 2017). It reduces the wastage
of resources and leads ton increasing of the production. It helps Six Sigma approach as it made
good quality of products without wasting much materials .Through this activities can run
efficiently and effectively. It leads to long term success of the firm.
D2. Evaluate different applications and factors which impact business environment of Ford
There are various approaches and factors which can affect business environment of firm.
It can be process and capacity design,scheduling raw materials etc. Ford Company has to
consider various factors so that they can work efficiently and effectively. The various factors are
-
 Layout design and strategy – Company has used robotics technique through which there
is less wastage of resources. It also increases the speed of production. So company can
manufacture more cars with less cost.
 Scheduling – Ford company uses automated scheduling in which time of completion of
each activity can be calculated through various softwares. It reduces the operational
timer of the manager to explain all activities. It also reduces time of all activities and
resources.
TASK 4
P.6 Evaluate different factors which affect operations and decision making
There are different factors which affects the operations and management of the Ford. They are -
 Ethics – Company has to follow the ethics, rules and regulations. Through this employees
can be more disciplined and punctual. Thus it leads to increasing of productivity. All
employees have to understand each other and tries to maintain friendly relationship with
each other. This results in growth and success of the firm.
 Supplier - Supplier has to supply the raw materials for producing the product. If it do not
supple raw materials in time then production cannot be done in an appropriate time. It
results in low productivity. So supplier has to supply raw materials in time.
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M.4. Examining different factors which affects operations
There are various factors which affect the operations in the management. There can be
good ethics,rules and regulations in the company. Through this employees of Ford company can
become punctual. They complete all activities in time. It results in increasing of productivity.
Supplier do not supplies raw materials in time. Through this production cannot be completed in
time. It leads to low productivity.
CONCLUSION
From the above assignment it can be concluded that both leaders and managers are
important for managing the organization. It discusses about the differences between role and
functions of the manager. There are different role and functions of manager according to various
situations. It also discusses about the role of leader and manager in the operational activities and
the various factors which affects the leadership and management decisions.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ageron, B., Gunasekaran, A. and Spalanzani, A., 2012. Sustainable supply management: An
empirical study. International journal of production economics. 140(1). pp.168-182.
Alderton, P. and Saieva, G., 2013. Port management and operations. Taylor & Francis.
Brandon, C. J. and Mullan, P. B., 2013. Teaching medical management and operations
engineering for systems-based practice to radiology residents. Academic
radiology. 20(3). pp.345-350.
Jacobs, F. R., Chase, R. B. and Lummus, R. R., 2014. Operations and supply chain
management (pp. 533-535). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Naphade, M. and et. al., 2011. Smarter cities and their innovation challenges. Computer. 44(6).
pp.32-39.
Song, D. W. and Parola, F., 2015. Strategising port logistics management and operations for
value creation in global supply chains.
Starr, M. K. and Van Wassenhove, L. N., 2014. Introduction to the special issue on humanitarian
operations and crisis management. Production and Operations Management. 23(6).
pp.925-937.
Yabuki, K., NEC Corp, 2014. Operations management apparatus, operations management
method and program thereof. U.S. Patent 8,874,963.
Online
Operations and Project Management (OPM). 2017. [Online] Available through:
<https://www.beds.ac.uk/research-ref/bmri/centres/bisc/okm>. [Accessed on 7th November
2017].
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