An Analysis of Leadership and Management at Kingfisher Plc

This report provides an in-depth analysis of leadership and management within Kingfisher Plc, a multinational retailer. It begins by comparing the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers, highlighting their importance in achieving organizational goals. The report then examines how leaders and managers fulfill their roles in various situations, including stable, moderate, and rapidly changing environments, as well as during product launches. It further explores different leadership theories, such as system, situational, and contingency leadership, and the application of these theories by Kingfisher Plc's leaders and managers. The report also covers different leadership models like autocratic and democratic. The assignment concludes with an overview of operational management approaches, including Just-in-Time and Six Sigma, and the roles of leaders and managers in implementing these approaches to improve efficiency and achieve business objectives, along with the factors influencing operational management and decision-making within the company.

Management and
Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
P1 Role and characteristic of leader and manager and its comparison..................................1
P2 Role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in different situations...................3
P3 Theories and model of leadership.....................................................................................4
P4 Approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and managers .............5
P5 Importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives.......6
P6 Factors that impact upon operational management and decision-making........................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Leader is a person who is dominant in nature and holds senior level position in the
organisation. They has to influence others people which helps to emerge them in achieving
organisational goals. Leaders are responsible and capable to motivate employees of an
organisation through which they achieve their goal with efficiency and effectiveness. Manager is
the person who has charge to complete the task of company. The main motive of a manager is to
co-ordinate, organising and managing different functions of organisation which help to attain
company goals and target with in limited time period. Several functions are performed by
manager that include to hire employees, maintain records for performance appraisal etc. as they
are accountable for completion of project. This present assignment is written in context of
Kingfisher Plc which is a British Multi-national retailer that offers or deals in clothing, home and
food products. Different role of leader and function of manager will be included in this report.
Key approaches to operational management and different external factor will be covered in this
report.
P1 Role and characteristic of leader and manager and its comparison
This task cover aspects which define the role and characteristic of Leaders and managers
because both works as pillar for an organisation which determine their importance for achieving
goals of organisation (Shaheen, K.M2014).
Role of leader
Innovator- Leaders performs as innovator for the organisation they formulate existing
products or services with update features to increase its value. Its determine that an leaders put
continue efforts to develop new ideas it is beneficial for company to formulate policy as per
market changes.
Coach- Leaders are holding senior position in organisation. In context, leader has role by
which they produce effective result for company. They provide positive feedback to employees s
they are motivated and perform work with more enthusiasm.
Role of manager
Resources allocator- The manager of an organisation combine and collect all the
resources that are needed to complete a project. After this, resources are divided among
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employees and departments to perform their daily activities. For example- In Kingfisher Plc
manager supply resources like funds, manpower etc. for smooth functioning of organisation.
To assign roles and responsibilities- In context of role for a manager it is the
responsibility for them to assign the task and project of company as per the capabilities of
employees (Muir and et. al., 2013). This is essential for manager to delegate roles as per skill
and ability of employees. Like in Kingfisher Plc each employ has to perform separate role so
manager delegate task or project to them based on their skills.
Basis Managers Leaders
Loyalty and Honesty The organisation generate more
profits for company if they has
loyal managers. Manager of
Kingfisher Plc has effective and
loyal manager that helps to
influence their stakeholders even
there is high risk and challenges
are present in industry or market.
Successful leaders are always
honest and hard worker towards
their work, teams and organisation.
It helps an organisation to motivate
other employees as they set an
example for others members also.
Adaptability For being an effective manager
it is necessary for employees to
adopt flexible nature. This helps
them to adopt and implement
changes effectively in company.
Leaders has dominant nature which
helps them to tackle different
situation as per market conditions.
In context of Kingfisher Plc leaders
formulate policy which is best to
solve the situations.
Style of work Manger of Kingfisher Plc follow
and adopt different management
skills and theories that help to
gain positive result for company.
As for each situation it is
essential to increase morale of
employees.
Leaders who are the members of
Kingfisher Plc. They executing
effective leadership style such as
democratic it helps organisation to
participate their employees with
more enthusiasm. It increases
motivation and morale of its work-
force.
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P2 Role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in different situations
Kingfisher Plc is the giant retail company which is offering its products among overall
world which govern that they has large variety of products (Morgan, E., Tallontire, A. and
Foxon, T.J., 2017). This help them to satisfy need and wants of all segment, range and size of
customers. For this high performance leaders and manager of Kingfisher Plc follow sequential
steps through they fulfil their roles and responsibilities in proper way or manner. They both play
an essential role for company so that organisational goal will be met properly through
employee's efforts.
Stable situation- This situation refer to the fixed position of organisation. Through this
management formulate policy which help to develop needs and market of company. This help an
organisation to create policy by which organisation get more stability in its business. For stable
situation manager predict the environment and then formulate policy as per situation analysis.
While leader encourage its employees so that they adopt and new policy in their organisation.
With this it is easy for company to sustain at similar level in market.
Moderate situation-The moderate situation refer to implement important changes in
company. In this company develop different methods to update their products or service. Like in
context of Kingfisher Plc management cover different aspects that include technology and
financial aspect. Leader in moderate situation develops the vision that help organisation to gain
higher profits while manager explore the ways through which employees will get guidance and
direction to achieve the organisational vision.
Fast changing situation- This situation cover aspect of customer needs and dynamic
changes that exists in market. In present scenario there are large number of companies that exists
in market so that company has to manage with quick changes it helps them to formulate policy as
per company needs and targets (Miller, K., 2016). In this case Manager of Kingfisher Plc is
required to adopt the new changes as per the demand of market and whereas leader can be the
one who help out to guide that what can be done after implementing the changes in organisation.
For example: manager need to find the main reason of changes and after that it is necessary for
them to do appropriate planning for achieving the targets.
While launching new products- Whenever new products are launched by the
organisation in new or existing market. Then manager and leader develop new policy or
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strategies that will help the organisation to launch its products effectively in each market. In this
case manager of Kingfisher Plc develop new plans to effectively launch their product in market.
Along with this they also take suggestion from leaders that are necessary to implement change in
market.
P3 Theories and model of leadership.
Several theories are present in market which are used by an organisation. This task covers
theories that are implement by leader and manager of the organisation. It helps them to make
changes according to the situation. Some of this theories are mention are given as below:
System leadership theory- This theory helps an organisation to develop the goals and
treat their employees and its functions as a single entity or organisation. Usually this theory is
used by manager or leader to build an effective team. This help to increase the efficiency of
employees performance. In context of Kingfisher Plc, this theory will encourage employee's for
achieving organisational goals quickly. The manager of Kingfisher Plc use this theory to
appreciate their employee's by giving various benefits such as reward, incentive, flexible
working hours etc. While leader implement this theory to build friendly relations with between
employees and management.
Situational leadership- As per situational leadership, leaders cannot implement same
style of leadership in all situations. So, this theory helps leader to maintain and develop new
strategy according to market situation. In this case, company has to find different goals with
different needs and make changes as per required condition. This theory is also known as life
cycle theory of leadership (Mallampalli and et. al., 2016). In the context of manager, it is
essential to execute democratic style as it involve employees of the organisation which helps
management to make effective results. While the leader of Kingfisher Plc develops team-
building in effective manner that help to adopt change easily in sequential manner.
Contingency leadership theory- This theory was developed in the year 1964 by Fred
Edward Fielder. This theory states focus on personality of leaders and different ways by which
they adopt the changes that take place in dynamic environment. This theory is divided into two
parts which is task and people oriented. While the launching of products manager implement
task oriented style through which they obtain high performance in market. In similar context for
develop and launch new product leader implement people oriented structure or theories as it
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helps to encourage employees and make their performance better through which effective result
are developed by performing company activities.
Form these theory, it is easy to control and monitor different complex situations that are
needed by organisation. In regards of Kingfisher Plc the leader and manager develop different
ways through which they make changes as per their needs and market. As it help them to
formulate the changes effectively and help organisation and employee's to achieve their personal
and professional goal together.
Model of leadership are given as below
Autocratic – This kind of leadership model is used when leaders have to increase
productivity of organisation. For example- in a situation, when Leaders of Kingfisher Plc have
decided to increase productivity of firm then this model of leadership is appropriate for
increasing productiveness of firm in marketplace.
Democratic In it, leaders have to provide freedom to their teammates so that they can
provide full efficiency for completing each task effectively. In context of Kingfisher Plc, Leaders
have provided full exerts to their teammates so that they will generate innovate ideas for
completing given task.
P4 Approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and managers
Operation management is the process to manage different types of operations and
activities in the company. It helps to improve the organisation efficiency and performance of its
routine activities (Klarin and et. al., 2017). Some tools that are used by company to improve
their performance are mention as follow: Just in time approach- This approach states that an organisation will order only limited
products which are essential to manufacture the products. In Kingfisher plc, company
have to control the expenses that are done by them to make or manufacture the products.
Through JIT approach management use optimum resources that lead an organisation
towards sustainability and growth. In it, leaders have to encourage their teammates so
that they perform their activities with spending less expenses. Whereas, managers of
Kingfisher have to implement effective technologies in their workplace so that products
of organisation would be delivered in market on time. Six Sigma approach- This approach help the company to make changes in disciplined,
statistical data that help to make changes and develop techniques that to improve the
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process of company. It is useful in making changes by identifying the weaknesses of
employees and eliminating them that help to improve performance of company. This
approach increases the efficiency in production process that increase performance of
production. In it, leaders have to ensure about managing all resources effectively so that
better outcomes will be received in future. Whereas, managers should allocate each
resources effectively so that in using of this approach any difficulty wouldn't be faced by
them
 Total quality management approach- This approach provide benefits to company as
well as its customers. Through this company execute those changes which help to
improve quality in its products (Jones, P., Comfort, D. and Hillier, D., 2016). With this
it also help to increase performance of its employees. Under this all quality functions are
performed that help to increase maintenance along with quality improvement in
company products. In it, managers have to encourage or motivate their employees so that
they will perform better on the given task and leaders have to provide training to their
teammates so that goals can be accomplish.
P5 Importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives
Operation management is the area of production department which is concerned with
planning, designing and controlling of production process. Under this operation manager monitor
of all activities that are done under production department. Moreover it relates with
administration, organising and management of different function so that efficiency will be
increases in products and process of company. Some importance of operational management are
given as below:
Inventory management- This is an important function that is done by the operation
manager of kingfisher plc (Higgins, Fitzpatrick and Dancho2015). It helps to gain productive
results as it reduce the cost of company by managing the inventory. Under this a manager
execute just in time approach through this they found the necessity employees. As it manage and
supply of raw materials as per company requirement of production department. While in this
leader has to build effective result with supplier so that they quick and efficient supply of
essential raw material. While the operation department or manager increase efficiency of
employee's with eliminating the waste so that company got competitive advantage and manage
its inventory in appropriate manner.
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Quality management- This type of operations are relate with the inferior level of
product. For this it focus on planning to manufacture a product and then develop a benchmark
for them. So it is easy for company to deliver better qualtity products for the company. For this
leader and manager execute total quality management approach in the organisation. With the
help of this operation manager of M&S perform the role through which they manage effective
qulaty of products by using optimum resources to develop a product. While this approacch is
used by leader to increase the efficiencies in overall production department like to take feedback
from customers and suggestion from its employees. This help to manage and modify essential
change in production process.
Value of operation management
In this company has to find policy through which they analysis the needs of market.
Along with this they identify function that increase value in their products. Like for this case
company found ways to add more value in products. The operational manager of M&S try to
reduce the cost of its products (Gouldson and Sullivan, 2014). For this they develop ways which
help to find alternatives for company. Similar leader organise brain storming session for
employees through which they refine their employees to achieve their expected and final results.
P6 Factors that impact upon operational management and decision-making
Under this task those factors are covered that impact positively and negatively on the
operational management and on decision that are taken by leader and manager of company. This
factor are discussed as below:
Corporate social responsibility- To bring positive results the management execute CSR
activities this create optimistic results. For this management organise various activities through
which they create positive perception among customers. As in case of Marks & Spencer it is
beneficial because it increase brand awareness among employees. Along with this government
also provide support to its employees which help to make positive results. Like subsidies help
company to expand their business and to provide funds to manage CSR activities (Berger and
Solferino, 2012).
Impact of culture on operation and decisions- Each company develops a culture inside
the organisation. This is followed by all employees as they all work together to achieve similar
goal. Like in Marks & Spencer company is motivating their employees along with this they also
provide enough opportunities in organisation or culture. This helps them to contribute in the
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growth and development of country and company. Moreover the positive results are developed
by company if the manager and leader work with similar strategy. Leader need to make decision
according to the culture in this they manage its activities as per organisation vision and goals.
Ethics and sustainability- To retain and sustain a business for longer time period it is
necessary to follow and implement ethics inside the organisation. While doing the business
ethically company cover all aspect such as its law, rules and regulations (Baboli and et. al.,
2014). This help company to gain competitive advantage among the competitors. While
unethical working practice create customers and profits for short term but for long run it is not
successful because it create effects negatively on company brands or products. This reduce
down the values of company and decrease standards of company products.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that to survive an organisation for longer time
period. It is essential for them to follow the rules or decision that are developed by leader and
managers as it will increase the profits for an organisation and make their presence in market for
longer time period. Along with this different theory that relate with M&S is discuss in this report.
This help leaders and managers to handle difficult situation effectively. Moreover approaches
such as six sigma, just in time and Total quality management etc. are mention as this help
management to improve their decisions and to increase the efficiency of their employees that
bring more revenues for the company. At last different factors such as CSR, value and ethics are
explained that impact on business operations and decision of leaders and manager.
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thereof. U.S. Patent 9,063,844.
Jones, P., Comfort, D. and Hillier, D., 2016. Materiality in corporate sustainability reporting
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