Black Pepper Software: Leadership and Management Report

This report provides a detailed analysis of leadership and management concepts, focusing on Black Pepper Software Ltd. It begins with an overview of the company's organizational structure, including the roles of the CEO, Vice President, and various department heads. The report defines the roles of managers and leaders, highlighting the key differences between them. It then analyzes the application of management and leadership roles in different organizational situations, supported by relevant theories. The report further evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of different leadership and management approaches, such as operational, situational, systems, and contingency leadership, drawing conclusions to support leadership theories. Finally, it concludes with an assessment of the impact of managers and leaders on the organization and offers recommendations for future improvements, emphasizing the importance of effective management and leadership in achieving organizational goals and addressing challenges like technological advancements and employee satisfaction.

ID
Unit Number and Title Unit 2 – Marketing Essentials
Title Leadership and Management Concepts (Part 1)
Leaders and Operations Management (Part 2)
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Table of Content
Assessment Part 1
1. An introduction to the college/ chosen organisation
management structure p
2. Definition and roles of both managers and leaders,
highlighting the differences between management and
leadership p
3. An analysis of the different roles of management and
leadership in application to different organisational
situations, supported by theories and concepts
p
4. An evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of different
approaches to leadership and management to draw
conclusions that support theories of leadership
p
5. Conclusions on how managers and leaders have made an
impact on the organisation and recommendations for
future improvements p
References p
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1.0 An introduction to the college/ chosen organisation
management structure
Black Pepper Software Ltd. is the IT company in United Kingdom. This is a multinational
company, headquarter in London, UK. The company provides the best IT services in the world. The
goal of the company is to develop world class relationship and provide the innovated solution to the
clients. The vision of the company is to provide best productive services to their clients and
effectively compete with the other organisations in the world.
Black Pepper technologies organisational structure starts with the CEO/head of this
company and on the second level Vice President (IT services) is here to guide and manage the
departments. There are three departments covered and managed by Vice president which are as
follows:
IT technologies
In this department, there is Director of IT technologies (deal projects directly with the
clients) then comes Delivery manager (that handles the project to be deliver on the time) and then IT
Solutions Architect (create architecture flow and provide solutions of the project).
Project management
In this department, there is a IT project manager (they follow the project methodology, and
make sure that the developers and testers are working in the correct manner) and then there is
project team (this team develops the project and test the developed one).
Client CIO
In this department, the chief information officer handles all the information
regarding clients. There is a IT support manager is there along with a support
specialist. A IT consultant is there for consulting any issues regarding software and
gives help desk services to clients so that they have any questions and need any
kind of help so they can easily contact to the desk people.
2.0 Definition and roles of both managers and leaders,
highlighting the differences between management and
leadership
Managers
Manager is a person who manage and control the department which covers under their
position. Effective managers are appointed by head or superior of the company (Milner, Milner and
McCarthy, 2020). Managers establishing guidelines for the people who work under their supervision.
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Roles of Managers
 The main role of manager is to hire new talent for the organisation and select them on the
basis of their skills and abilities which are needed for the vacant position.
 Manager has a responsibility to give training and coaching to those employees who lack in
performing their job and develop their skill and creative thinking towards performing job
(Paul and Eklund ).
 Dealing with issues which comes in performance of employees.
 Gives effective solution to employees of their problems.
 Make strategies to guides staff properly.
 Communicate the goals and objectives of organisation.
 Set a goal for each and every members according to their capabilities and skills.
 Management of expenses and budgets.
Leaders
Leader is a person who has a quality to lead a group of people. Leader motivates their staff
towards performing their work more efficiently and effectively (Phillips and Phillips, 2020). An
effective leader gives a better vision to achieve their goals.
Role of a leader
 The main role of leader is to coach their team members’ to enhance their skills and
capabilities.
 Leader has a quality to influence people to perform their tasks on time without doing any
delays (Guthrie and Jenkins, 2018).
 Leader has to involve each and every team member while taking any decisions regarding
their roles and duties.
 An effective leader has responsibilities towards health and safety of the employee.
Difference between management and leadership.
1. Leadership is broad concept comparing to management.
2. Leadership focuses on establishing directions while management focuses on planning,
organizing, directing, controlling and staffing.
3. In leadership, the leader has a responsibility to lead their team but in management, the
manager has a responsibility to manage the whole organization.
4. Leadership is based on verbal communication but management is based on written
communication.
5. Leadership is proactive process while management is reactive process.
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3.0 An analysis of the different roles of management and
leadership in application to different organisational
situations, supported by theories and concepts
In Black pepper company, the up-gradation of technology is proceeds due to sudden change in
technology. Whenever there are new technology launches in market the company has to adapt it or
upgrade the old technology because which helps the organisation to compete with their
competitors.
Example 1- there is poor employee satisfaction which is found in Black Pepper Software company.
the staff is not satisfied with rewards and benefits. So, they are not satisfied from it. Thus, line
manager will solve issue by motivating them. He will involve staff is decision making to boost morale.
Example 2- another issue in Black Pepper Software company is poor work environment. The culture
of firm is not positive as there occurs conflicts within staff. Therefore, store manager will solve issue
by communicating with staff and taking meetings. In that he will find out issues and the solve it.
While up-gradation of technology occurs, the management has to update the methodology and
the process of their work cycle. The management has to change its strategies and need to keep eye
on the cost estimates of the organisation and the efforts of the team in accepting the change. With
these changes the manager has to change its functions. These sudden change increases the
responsibility on management for giving better outcomes to company.
The manager has to perform their functions again with the change in technology like they have
to make plan that how they are going to establish new technology in organisation, organising the
policies and procedures, recruiting talented people who are able to use the technology, directing the
employees in a right way and controlling.
At the time of updating the technology the leader has main role and responsibility to manage its
staff and motivate them to take training and gain some knowledge about the new technology.
Leader faces many complexities to understand their team members about the new procedure of
doing work. This sudden change proves the ability of leader that he is really eligible to handle this
kind of situations.
Innovation theory supports up-gradation of technology which is discovered by Rogers to help
those organisations who wants innovation ideas and technology to grow their company and achieve
their objectives and goals in an efficient manner. This theory motivates the company to accept the
changes in a positive manner and also encourage the employees because they learn something new
and interesting.
4.0 An evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of
different approaches to leadership and management
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to draw conclusions that support theories of
leadership
Operational approach
This is a management approach which is also known as management process school. This
approach brings all the knowledge of management together to relate with the functions of
management.
Strengths
The strength of this approach is that it helps in making decisions faster because the organisation
involve employees in this process which boosts their morale and motivate them to perform their
work more effectively (Piyathanavong and et.al., 2019). This approach helps in building good
relationship between employees. Through this approach the organisation easily monitors the
performance of employees and flexibility towards their job.
Weaknesses
Weakness of this approach is that all the components are dependent to one other. Even if
something has been planned this will not work and will get fail. The other weakness is the human
error, this is normal in the human trend, people usually makes mistake and if the management
makes mistake in coordination then it will impact on their sales. The management has to work
closely with the multiple teams like marketing, operations and other finance activities.
Situational leadership
In this leadership the leader adjusts its style and adapt new style according to situation
which helps the leader to handle the team in all kind of situations (Thompson and Glasø, 2018).
Strengths
 This approach helps in boosting up the tem to work better together.
 From this approach the leader maintain flexibility between staff.
 This approach increases the knowledge of leader.
Weakness
 In this approach the leader has to focus more on immediate situation rather than long
term goal.
 The leader has not enough information to deliver some leaders.
System leadership – In this leadership it requires set of skills which leader use to support system
level change within organisation
Advantages :
 It increases the environmental changes in an organization. This enables the system
leadership provide decision making so that to keep in a mind.
 It focuses on the achievement of the overall goals of an organisation.
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 Good decision making so that no specific domain get any problem
Disadvantages :
 May not be always practical and lead the employee in decision making.
 It cannot be applicable for small organisation of business.
 This leadership theory assumed that most of the organisation are big , complex enough.
Contingency leadership- the theory state that leader effectiveness is contingent on their leadership
in specific situation.
Advantages :
 This leadership provide a valid and reliable leading approach to make them effective
leadership.
 The contingency leadership theory provide the understanding the scope leaders and focus
on single best type of leadership.
Disadvantage :
 A leader may can appear on the employee as insincere or inconsistent way.
 The managers cannot individual change decision and leadership style for the different
situations
This can be concluded from the above leadership approach is that the situational theory fully
supports the situational approach of leadership because this theory does not depend on the
particular situation. The leaders respond situation by participating, debating and by commanding the
task.
5.0 Conclusions on how managers and leaders have
made an impact on the organisation and
recommendations for future improvements
Conclusion
From the above report, it can be concluded that managers and leaders both gives a positive
impact on organisation because they play a very crucial role in management and helps in
accomplishing the goal and objectives of the organisation in an effective manner.
Managers helps in managing human resources and makes effective strategy for the employees
to guide them towards their work process. Manager’s main function is to do planning, organizing,
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directing, staffing and controlling. Manager help the organisation through hiring a most suitable and
highly skilled person for the vacant position.
Leaders also gives positive impact on organisation through effective leading qualities which
helps in increasing the performance of organisation as well as employees. Leaders helps in managing
the staff and also monitor the performance of employees. Leader helps in managing the relationship
between employee and connected people with the organisation and motivate them time to time.
Recommendations for future improvement
From the above report, it is recommended that the organisation should choose a most
eligible manager who can handle and face each and every situation which comes frequently in the
company. A manager should capable to resolve any conflicts between employees and employer. A
company should motivate their managers time to time so that they can give their best which helps in
increasing the level of company. A manager should be trained enough to make strategies for
employee’s way of performing work in this dynamic environment.
The recommendation for leader is to increase and enhance their knowledge with change in
time because the old strategies not working in future time. Leaders has work with team as a
member not as a leader which encourages the team members to gives their suggestions regarding
work procedure. This helps in making relationship good between leader and employee for long time
and it is helpful in achieving future goals.
References
Books and Journals
Milner, J., Milner, T. and McCarthy, G., 2020. A coaching culture definition: An industry-based
perspective from managers as coaches. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science. 56(2).
pp.237-254.
Paul, R. and Eklund, Y., The role of managers and organizations in creativity and innovation.
Phillips, J. J. and Phillips, P. P., 2020. Courageous leadership: delivering results in turbulent
times. Strategic HR Review.
Guthrie, K. L. and Jenkins, D. M., 2018. The role of leadership educators: Transforming learning. IAP.
Piyathanavong, V., and et.al., 2019. The adoption of operational environmental sustainability
approaches in the Thai manufacturing sector. Journal of Cleaner Production. 220. pp.507-
528.
Thompson, G. and Glasø, L., 2018. Situational leadership theory: a test from a leader-follower
congruence approach. Leadership & Organization Development Journal.
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Table of Content
Assessment Part 2
1. An introduction to the key operations of the organisation
p
2. Details of each of the key operational functions, identifying
the roles and responsibilities of managers in the key
operational functions p
3. Explanation of the key operational approaches to
operations management and their value p
4. An evaluation of the impact of external business
environment factors that affect decision-making by leaders
and managers p
5. How operational efficiencies can be improved to
successfully meet business objectives using appropriate
management and leadership approaches p
6. Conclusions and supported recommendations for future
improvements to be taken by the organisation p
References p
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1. An introduction to the key operations of the organisation
Key operations of black pepper software Ltd.
Govern IT Operations
The key operation of IT company is to manage infrastructure audits (checking how the
applications run) and maintain licences of software which is used in the company. The another key
operation is to develop operational metrics (this helps in viewing the projects current status or team
in real time). After developing metrics, the company knew about the current issues and then
develop a solution so that the issue is resolved quickly.
Evolve Infrastructure
The company can identify the impact of infrastructure on their work. This can lead to either
the system installation or the accessories of the office (Temnyshov and Belyaev, 2020). the company
also provides patches to their products in case of any issue in delivery. The patches can be in format
of the new release. They also updated the software and hardware time to time in order to avoid any
inconvenience in their work.
Manage configuration
This is also the key operation of the company which covers documentations, general
specification and executable specification (Hill, 2017). The company first manage the documentation
of the configuration. In that that they keep records of all the hardware and other stuffs provided to
the company. Also they track the record of solutions and other facilities to the workers.
Run Solutions
The company backups, restore their data on the regular base. So as to avoid loss of data. The
company usually keeps their data in secured place like cloud or any secondary memory to keep data
safe, also they allocate the resource to employees in appropriate way to get distribute equally to all
staff.
2. Details of each of the key operational functions,
identifying the roles and responsibilities of managers in
the key operational functions
Key Operational functions in IT company
 The main function of operation departments is to control and operate everything and makes
effective plans and strategies for the employee to guide them in right way (Reid and
Sanders, 2019).
 Operational manager has to do regular backups to save the data.
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 If any data is remove from the laptops, then the manager has to restore those data.
 This department helps the management in achieving their goal and objectives more
efficiently.
 Manager also manages finances of the company.
 Key function of operations is to provide services to the clients as well as employees.
Roles and responsibilities of managers
The operation manager is responsible for managing all the activities regarding the project
timeline, requirement gathering and other non-technical stuffs, also the manager deals with the
client to provide the better approach and solution (Hwang, Han and Chang, 2020). The main focus of
manager is to ensure the company should hit the target goal and increase the sales of the company.
The technical responsibilities include manager to troubleshoot the things, backup the data,
and to keeps operate the hardware.
The other technical functions are like planning the project to gather all the required thing
before implementation, organizing the project to keep the record in the logical manner, staffing and
leading the team to keep eye on all the team leader and the team members to ensure the work to
be complete and controlling the project stuff helps to overcome the stress on the team members
and the work go in smooth manner.
3. Explanation of the key operational approaches to
operations management and their value
Operational approaches
The approach is based on four different theories:
Business Process Redesign (BPR)
The goal of BPR process is to redesign the structure of the company based on the
requirement (Greasley, 2019). The redesign may occur either in the team members, company policy,
of the organization structure. The management team can also update the work structure if in change
of any requirement.
This approach is important in the company to optimize the organization structure in a better
manner to accomplish the goal and objective of the company.
Reconfigurable manufacturing systems
The goal of the system is to update or change the technical structure like update the
software and hardware components. This also helps to adjust the strength of the company based on
their requirement to check how this function get response in the market.
The value of this approach in the organization is to update the technical changes in the
company.
Six sigma
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This approach mainly focuses on quality, once the project is built the quality check comes
into the picture. The higher the quality of the product the higher will be sale. Management is
responsible to deliver the higher quality product (Fehlmann and et.al., 2018). The approach uses
multiple tools like graphical carts, mathematical calculation and the ratio count.
This approach helps to achieve the financial target with the minimal cost of efforts,
therefore increasing the profits of the company.
Lean Manufacturing
It is the systematic method that reduces the effort of the developers. The approach helps to
reduce the burden over the team and eliminates the wastage of resources in an effective manner.
The value of this approach in Black Pepper software Ltd. company is to make higher profit
without giving burdens to their staffs.
TQM- It is defied as the consumer oriented process as well as aims regarding the continuous
improvement regarding the operations of the business. It assures that all the staff members are
working towards a common goals to improves the quality of the product and services. It will improve
the process of production as well as impact the decision-making by the utilization of the
performance metrics to the monitor progress.
Just in time - It is considered as the inventory method where the materials are only received and
orders as per the requirement within the production process as through this approach Managers
of the Black Pepper Software reduces the costs through saving money. Here the company need to
employ the strategies that can increases their efficiency as well as decreases their waste by receiving
products as per the requirement of the production process. the manager do proper planning that
how production is done. whereas leader encourage staff to increase their efficiency.
Kaizen- the technique focuses on continuous improvement within process by improving operation
and engaging all staff. So, there is regular improvement done in it by which efficiency is increased.
The are some elements followed in it are teamwork, discipline, etc.
4. An evaluation of the impact of external business
environment factors that affect decision-making by
leaders and managers
The external factors are those who affects the organization outside the company. The company has
no control over the external factors. The external factors are as follows:
Competitors
This are group of people who compete with the different organization. The competitors of
the Black Pepper software Ltd can affects the decision of the managers and leaders by distracting
them from their work and their positive work may lead to fear among the workers.
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