An Analysis of Leadership and Management Roles at Marks & Spencer

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and management roles within Marks & Spencer (M&S). It begins by defining and comparing the roles and characteristics of managers and leaders, highlighting their responsibilities in organizational contexts. The report then examines how these roles are applied in different situational contexts, particularly focusing on employee turnover and its impact on M&S. It also explores various leadership theories and models, offering practical insights into effective management strategies. The analysis covers the importance of operations management in achieving business objectives and identifies environmental factors influencing operational management. The report emphasizes the critical need for managers and leaders to work effectively to support the company's mission and vision, ultimately aiming to enhance service quality and optimize operational efficiency. The report incorporates examples from M&S to illustrate the concepts and provide real-world application of leadership and management principles.

` Management
and
Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Definition, comparison of role as well as characteristics of leader and manager.................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P2 Examining the way role of leader and the function of manager applied in different
situational contexts .....................................................................................................................5
P3 Different theories and models of approach............................................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P5 The importance and value of operation management in accomplishing business objectives
...................................................................................................................................................10
P6 Element in business Environment that have impact on operational management..............11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Management includes the process of formulating strategy for enterprise and coordinating
the effort of workers for achieving organisational objectives. It consists of interconnected
functions or activities of developing corporate policies. Management includes various activities
such as planning, organising, managing, directing and controlling resources in effective as well
as efficient manner so that the objective of strategy could be achieved in systematic manner. It
also includes marketing and innovation process. The modern concept of management intends to
analyse the reason for low efficiency and failure of specific organisation.
Operation management is the process designed to administered the business practices in
order to develop the highest level of efficiency within enterprise. It is associated with
transforming input into output to maximise the profit of a company. The objective of operation
management is to assist organisation in making balance between cost and revenue to accomplish
high operating profits. It includes various activities such as utilising various resources such as
human , material, labour, technology and other equipment.
The project has focus on highlighting the role and characteristics of manager as well as
leader in context of M&S. It will also include the way role of leader and function of manager can
be applied to several situational contexts. The report will have emphasized on applying various
theories related to leadership.
TASK 1
P1 Definition, comparison of role as well as characteristics of leader and manager
MANAGER:
A manager is a person who is accountable for controlling various activities and managing
various resources in enterprise. In other manager can also be defined as an individual who is the
in charge of various depart or group in organisation. Manager is the person that provides
guidance to the workers or his subordinate (Hsu,2014.)
Role of manager-The significant role of manager is to provide performance report to top level
management executives. The other functions of manager are providing support, guidance and
motivation to employees. They have to fulfil the demand of higher authorities and cater the needs
of workers working at lower level of management. Role of manager is dealing with performance
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problems, decision making, executing performance evaluation procedures, monitoring as well as
controlling budgets as well as expenses etc. Function of manager is to prepare and submit daily
reports of work to higher authorities. The other role of mangers are:
Figurehead- They have to perform their duties that are symbolic and ceremonial in nature such as
attending official guests. The interpersonal role of manager include The routine work of manager
is to facilitate group discussion and focusing on operational activities and making less significant
decisions.
Leadership role of manager -manager is considered the in charge of business or of particular
group. The role of manager is to facilitate coordination between various departments and
provides direction or guidance to subordinates. Function of manager is to hire, motivate and
maintain discipline among workers.
Liaison role of manager-The various activities that manager are required to perform as a leader
includes motivating, promoting team spirit and interacting with other people in order to motivate
them to improve their performance at workplace. It also includes communication with external
parties in order to seek information that can be beneficial for enterprise.
Manager Act as a Monitor-The role of manager is to conduct analysis, gain information and
develop understanding about organisation i.e. M&S as well as Business environment.
Discriminator Role of manager-manager takes initiatives and gathered information from internal
as well as external sources. His function is to communicate the same to other stakeholders.
Spokesman Role of manager-The manager act as spokesman where he represents the company in
front of external stakeholders or parties. They have to keep themselves updated about various
changes' in business environment. As this will assist them in formulating effective as well as
suitable strategy in order minimise the effect of these variables on business. Role of manager is
to provide various data such as information related to financial performance of business and
customers demands, need of product development, quality maintenance etc.
Entrepreneurial role of manager-manager also act as creator or innovator. He identifies the need
of product development and take initiatives to analyse the effective way of improving
performance of team and enterprise.
Problem solver and Disturbance handler-It is the duty of manager to plan suitable tactics in order
to deal with uncertain issues (Ghosh, 2015)
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Resource allocator-Time is the most significant resource that managers allocates to his
subordinates. Their function is to manage and allocate resources in effective as well as
systematic manner. Duty of manager is to preparing a schedule for daily operational activities ,
establishing short term goals, approval of various expenditures.
Role of manager as a negotiator-Acting a negotiator, function of manager is to facilitate
negotiation with internal as well as external stakeholders. He initiates negotiation with
employees improving commitment and loyalty. This process is conducted in order to encourage
workers to develop coordination, cooperation, and integration in order to improve the culture in
the enterprise. He also motivates and supports employees to increase their productivity and
working efficiency. As this activity of manager will help firm in achieving success and fostering
growth (Harwiki, 2013)
The significant role of manager is to integrated all his function when performing task.
Characteristics of manager are-
The effective and good manager need to posses various characteristics such as self-
motivation, integrity, optimism, confidence, calmness, flexibility and reliability. The business
characteristics are industrial as well knowledge about delegation of work and authority,
organisation skills, understanding about financial management, knowledge about various laws
and legislations. In addition to these characteristics the manager is required to develop various
qualities such as communication skills and relationship qualities. These characteristics will assist
manager in supporting M&S company in making suitable business decisions and expanding their
core business activities. It will also assist manager in identifying the suitable solutions to various
business problems (Harwiki, 2013)
Leader:
Leader is a person who has the authority to lead or provide command to group. In other
words' leader is an individual who are accountable for managing and controlling group activities.
He is the person who advice or commands his followers to take actions and motivates other to
increase their contribution towards achievement of organisational goals and objectives.
Role of leader -
The major roles of leader includes managing workplace diversity, proving sensitivity
training to employees, appreciating and motivating employees to increase their participation in
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various activities conducted by Marks and Spencer company. The other functions of manager
are:
Formulating plans, policies and strategies for team member this activity is performed by leader
in order to support team member to improve their performance and produce effective results.
Leader also act as representative for firm. As they are more concerned with organising various
events such as seminars, conferences, and general meetings. Function of leader is to
communicate and promote the objective of M&S organisation to various external as well as
internal stakeholders.
Leaders with effective leadership qualities support workers in integrating employees individual
goals with enterprise objectives. His duty is to coordinate the efforts of workforce towards
accomplishment of common purpose.
Characteristics of leader-The significant characteristics that is required by leaders to posses or
adopt are
Empathy- this characteristic of Leaders will assist him in gaining loyalty from his followers. It
will also support leader in positively influencing them to increase their participation and
increasing productivity by team member.
Collaborative-This characteristics would enable leader in developing transparency and trust
among various group member. It enables Leader in M&S company to develop effective bonding
and emotional connection with followers. This characteristic would assist leader in
demonstrating their interest in group activity and promoting welfare.
Influencing power-This is the unique characteristics of leader that make them different from
manager and other people in organisation (Park,and el.at., 2014)
Comparison Between role as well as characteristics of leader and a manager
Basis Manager Leader
Definition A manager is a person who has
the authority and responsibility
to manage people, activities
and resource in enterprise.
Leader is referred to as an
individual that has authority to
lead other and provide them
command to take actions in
order to achieve goals and
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objective of firm.
Role Role of the leader is to manage
various business activities,
allocate resources in effective
and efficient manner.
The function of leader is to
manage and control group
activities. Their main role is to
positively influence and
support other people in
enterprise in order to
contribute towards
achievement of M&s company
goals as well as objectives.
Characteristics Influencing, collaborative,
visionary, dreamer, emotional
Level headed, practical and
realistic, flexibility and
calmness, Charismatic (Hogan
and Coote, 2014)
TASK 2
P2 Examining the way role of leader and the function of manager applied in different situational
contexts
It has been identified that there are several roles and functions that are to be performed by
leader as well as to provide M&S assistance achieving success. It is very important for
manager and leader to execute their work in effectual as well as systematic manner and
fulfil their duties at organisation. They play active role in contributing as well as directing
and supporting firm towards fulfilment or achievement of objectives. The mission of M& S
is to provide effective service to its customer. While This mission and vision can be
achieved when the firm will be able to deliver good quality of products and services to its
customer. Other mission of the organisation is to improve its store estate and structure for
multi channel world. The vision of the company is to gain more popularity and to become
among top most or leading organisation in all aspects. Success and growth of firm is totally
dependent on its manager and leaders. As they are such person who have great influence on
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the other people in business. The role of leader is to manage group activities as well as
performance. Their duty is to encourage workers to increase their participation in various
activities and improve their performance at workplace. Managers are the persons who
manages and allocate resources. They assist employees by providing them resources,
which can be used by them in increasing their working efficiency (Bonanni and Cafazzo,
2014)
For example, In case of M&S company that has high worker turnover rate which has direct
consequence on company profitability, production capacity and routine operational
activities. In such situation it is necessary for leader and manager to perform their roles and
responsibility in effective manner. It is their duty to support organisation in overcoming
such difficult situation. It is the part of manager duty to develop effective as well as
suitable Plans, strategies and policies to attract and retain employees. Manager can develop
effective communication system and introduce attractive monetary incentives,
compensatory policies and bonus schemes to cut down the employee turnover rate. It is
necessary for manager to identify the major cause of such situation and analyse suitable
solution. It is the duty of manager to provide or create healthy and safe working
environment. The function of manager is to provide open communication system so that
conflicts and misunderstanding can be eliminated. Their province is to specify the roles of
individual in order to support them in performing tasks in systematic manner (Khan,
Asghar and Zaheer,2014)
On the other hand leader also has a significant role to play in assisting enterprise in
overcoming such complex situation. Leader has such effective communication skills that
can be used by them to positively influence employees and encourage them to retain their
job. Leader has power to motivate workers to increase their contribution and participation
in various decision making process. Leader plays important role in facilitating coordination
as well as managing people at workplace. Due to effective communication and leadership
qualities they can inspire people to maintain healthy and long term relationship with
enterprise. The function of leader is to provide effective training to their followers and
prepare them to deal with uncertain and complex situations.
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The manager has to play active role in emergency management system. In complex and
uncertain situations' manager is the first person who has to deal with uncertainties and
ambiguity. They are more concerned about the identifying and adapting new ways to drive
company towards positive change. The function of manager is already very complex but
becomes more difficult in such situation. As they have to fulfil the demand of top level
management and need of employees at the time of uncertainty. Managers uses resources in
order to support business entity in achieving their goals and objectives. Leaders are
accountable for increasing their commitment to make effective as well as efficient use of
such resources. The critical situation may also have adverse effect on relationship between
workers and enterprise, it is required by manager to plan effective strategies and tactics in
order to reduce the effect of such situation on growth as well as success of firm. Manager
should have power in order to facilitate positive change at workplace and assist business
entity in increasing their competitive strength (Mahembe and Engelbrecht, 2014)
P3 Different theories and models of approach
Leadership is referred to as the process of influencing other people to increase their
contribution towards achievement of enterprise goals and objectives. The various theories of
leadership are:
Situational theory- This approach states that nature of business and group activity are the two
major factors that have great impact on the characteristics as well as effectiveness of leader.
Situational theory recommends that the only variable that determine the effectiveness of the task
is favour ability of the situation. The favour-ability is analysed in relation to trust that followers
have for their leader, the extent to which the responsibilities of subordinate can be structured as
well as performance can be evaluated and the potential of leader to have control on followers
reward. The approach states that the situation is most favourable for the firm when the followers
have great respect for their leaders, the task of subordinates are highly structured, and leaders
have great control on the punishment as well as reward system. It has been stated by the theory
that task oriented leaders are more effective at whatever the situation may be. On the other hand
person oriented leaders are more effective when favourable and unfavourable situation are
moderate (Hatch and Cunliffe, 2013) This approach focus on the significance of adjusting
leadership style based on the requirement by followers.
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Contingency theory- This approach intends to specify the leadership styles and situations.
Contingency approach emphasizes on followers' readiness. It refers to the extent to which
individual have ability and willingness to complete specific task in effective and systematic
manner. This approach is based on assumption that leaders are flexible and have great potential
to adopt any sty;le depending on situation.
Situation and contingency approach models-This model states that situation determines the need
of particular leadership style. It also demonstrates that there is no as specific leadership style that
can be applied by leader in all situations. The leadership contingency model involve:
Fledler: this model describes the favour ability of leadership situation that includes leader and
follower relationship, task structure, and power in the position held by leader.
Vroom and Yetton and Vroom and Jago: Quality and acceptance of a leader’s decision House
and House and Dessler: Path-Goal Theory, This approach have focus on identifying the way
leader motivate and influence other people to achieve to increase their contribution towards the
achievement of goals and objectives by M&S company. Path goal theory states that effective
leader has high potential to positively influence their follower by providing them proper
guidance and assisting them in eliminating various barriers that can occur in high performance
and achieving desired outcome. This theory believes that employees will feel more motivated ,
they have trust on the direction provided by leader as well they believe that they have the
capability to perform particular activity that will result in desired result.
Hersey and Blanchard: Competence of followers
System approach- It is an improvement model which is based on developing understanding
business entity as a system that uses OD approach in order to improve leadership and firm. This
approach has great impact on the way leadership is applied managed as well as developed. It can
use by leader at all level of management. This concept has great impact on System concept is the
holistic approach to leadership and development of enterprise. It is being utilize by leader to built
sustainable high performance environment and to deal with highly complex as well as uncertain
situations. This concept consists of various strategies that are applicable to whole system and can
be used by other organisation that are dealing in same industry. System approach states that it is
very important for a leader to work according to the system of enterprise as this can have great
effect on their status as well on position at workplace (Dietrich, 2016.)
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TASK 3
P4 Crucial formulation associated with operational management
The production as well as quality of goods and services is completely supported by
operational management. Work procedure help an organisation in accomplishing targets and
objectives. The goal of marks and Spencer firm is to render gratification as well as high level of
satisfaction to customer and achieve advantage by taking initiatives for increasing their Loyalty.
The manager in marks and Spencer required to maintain their concentration on rising the
quality of products as well as services. Operational management procedure support management
in supervising or monitoring production of goods and creating functional system(Mahembe and
Engelbrecht, 2014.)
In context of Marks and Spencer, an organisation has effective functional management
system. The various functional direction conceptualization adopted by business entity are:
Six sigma approach-This system or procedure has supported firm a lot in improving their quality
Of products and services. It has also aided business entity in reduction of wastage and helped o
business entity in ensuring effective as well as efficient utilisation of resources.
Lean management- This operational management approach emphasizes on reducing waste and
ensuring the effective as well as efficient utilisation of resources. This concept will help cited
venture in maintaining or controlling the quality of goods and services.
T otal Quality Management - This formulation motivates employees to increase their
participation in implementing successful and positive change at workplace. It also encourages
workers to increase make important contribution in making improvement in various policies,
procedure and system within an organisation. This approach can be adopted by cited venture for
developing unique culture. As this strategy will support marks and Spencer in increasing its
competitive strength and gaining competitive advantage in the market.
P5 The importance and value of operation management in accomplishing business objectives
As the Marks and Spencer is retailer company it is completely dependent on its supplier
for supply of products. The operational technique adopted by organisation have significant effect
on the quality of products and services. Managing operational activity is also necessary for an
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organisation in order to achieve success and fosters growth. Effectual functional administration
system help an enterprise in increasing profitability and generating sales. It also helped business
entity in increasing working efficiency and raising effectiveness. The aim of designing
functional administration system is to see the effectualness as well as ensure efficient utilisation
of resources. it is essential to be enforced at workplace at this process help an organisation in
eliminating wastage and allows organisation to fulfil corporate social responsibility (Bonanni
and Cafazzo, 2014 )
P6 Component in business Environment that have effect on functional administrative system
There are few components such as internal as well as external variables have big effect
on the administration system. The functional administration system is effected mainly by
internal elements within business environment. The outer situation forces that have impcat on
functional administration system and decision making process by manager or leader are
employees, resources,organisational culture,supplier , business structure etc. The macro or
external business environmental variables that have impact on operational management system
are environment, technological, economic ,customers, legal and social forces (aur and Haase,
2015)
The relation between employer as well as employee and organisational culture have
major impact on the productiveness and other operations. Internal and external stakeholder are
those people who have great influences on operation al management system. Interior
stakeholders that is employees and external stakeholders help manager in arranging various
resources that are essential to facilitate several activities in organisation. Products demanded by
consumer has effect on marketing strategies and customer policies. Supplier has the power to
effect the quality of the product and services that are delivered by cited venture to its clients.
CONCLUSION
The report has successfully defined the meaning and role of manager as well as leader. It
has highlighted the various characteristics that are required by individual to posse in order to
become effective leader or manager. These skills and qualities will assist person in fulfilling their
roles and responsibilities in effective manner. There are little differences between the function of
manager and leader. It has also been identified that leader has also required to posses
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management skills as they have to manage and control the various actions of group. It has been
concluded from the report that leaders as well as manger both have significant role to play in
complex and significant situations. It has been analysed that managers have great accountability
to facilitate positive change and formulate effective strategy in order to support business entity in
overcoming critical situations. It has been concluded from the study that leaders are required to
adopt various leadership style on the basis of situations. Managers roles are more critical and
complex as compared to leaders.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
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Hsu, S. H., 2014. Effects of organization culture, organizational learning and IT strategy on
knowledge management and performance.Journal of International Management Studies.
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Ghosh, K., 2015. Benevolent leadership in not-for-profit organizations Welfare orientation
measures. ethical climate and organizational citizenship behaviour. Leadership &
Organization Development Journal. 36(5). pp.592-611.
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commitment, organizational citizenship behavior and employees' performance (Study of
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Behavioral Studies.5(12). p.876.
Park, Y. K. and el.at., 2014. Learning organization and innovative behavior. The mediating
effect of work engagement. European Journal of Training and Development. 38(1/2).
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Bonanni, R. and Cafazzo, S., 2014. The social organisation of a population of free-ranging dogs
in a suburban area of Rome: a reassessment of the effects of domestication on dogs’
behaviour. The social dog: behaviour and cognition. Elsevier Inc. pp. 65-104.
Khan, S., Asghar, M. and Zaheer, A., 2014. Influence of leadership style on employee job
satisfaction and firm financial performance: a study of banking sector in Islamabad,
Pakistan. Актуальні проблеми економіки. (5). pp. 374-384.
Mahembe, B. and Engelbrecht, A. S., 2014. The relationship between servant leadership,
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Dietrich, R., 2016. Comparison of Leadership Styles & Their Impact on Team Performance.
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