Impact of Environment on Operational Management and Leadership

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and management roles, comparing their characteristics and functions within different organizational contexts. It examines examples from Unilever to illustrate these roles in practice, particularly during technological changes and organizational restructuring. The report applies various leadership theories and models, including situational leadership, systems leadership, and contingency theory, to understand different leadership approaches. Furthermore, it explains key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and managers play in achieving business objectives, emphasizing the importance of effective operations management in reducing costs and meeting customer requirements. Finally, the report assesses the impact of the organizational environment on operational management and decision-making by leaders and managers, highlighting factors that influence their strategies and actions. This document is available on Desklib, a platform offering a range of study tools and resources for students.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
LO1...................................................................................................................................................4
P1 DEFINE AND COMPARE THE DIFFERENT ROLES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF LEADERS AND
MANAGERS..................................................................................................................................4
LO2...................................................................................................................................................7
P2 EXAMINE EXAMPLES OF HOW THE ROLE OF A LEADER AND THE FUNCTION OF A
MANAGER APPLY IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONAL CONTEXTS IN THE ORGANIZATION...................7
P3 APPLY DIFFERENT THEORIES AND MODELS OF APPROACH, INCLUDING SITUATIONAL
LEADERSHIP, SYSTEMS LEADERSHIP AND CONTINGENCY.........................................................10
LO3.................................................................................................................................................14
P4 EXPLAIN THE KEY APPROACHES TO OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT AND THE ROLE THAT
LEADERS AND MANAGERS PLAY................................................................................................14
P5 EXPLAIN THE IMPORTANCE AND VALUE OF OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN ACHIEVING
BUSINESS OBJECTIVES...............................................................................................................18
LO4.................................................................................................................................................21
P6 ASSESS THE DIFFERENT FACTORS WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION’S ENVIRONMENT THAT
MAY IMPACT UPON OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT AND DECISION-MAKING BY LEADERS AND
MANAGERS................................................................................................................................21
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................24
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................25
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INTRODUCTION
The leadership plays an important role in the operations and goal achieving process of a
company. The current assignment compares the characteristics of leaders and the managers.
The assignment also discusses various models of leadership such as situational leadership
model which categorizes different leadership styles into three unified categories which are,
Directing, coaching, supporting and delegating (Krajewski, et al. 2015). The report also covers
the operations management theory and the role of leadership in applying the management
theory. The operations management is a methodology which is followed in the organizations to
reduce the cost of the production and to produce goods according to the requirement of the
customers.
The assignment also highlights the tools used for effective operations management in the
company such as lean manufacturing which reduces the wastage of resources in the form of
overproduction, unnecessary transportation and movement of excess inventory (Stevenson and
Sum, 2015).
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LO1
P1 DEFINE AND COMPARE THE DIFFERENT ROLES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF
LEADERS AND MANAGERS
DEFINITION OF A LEADER
A leader is a person who has a broader vision for the company’s objectives and goals. The
leader believes in taking the people with him and achieving the tasks by a joint effort. The
leader has the ability to influence and inspire people by his personality and actions. A leader
has a vision for the future and he motivates the people in such a way that people start working
for that vision and that vision now becomes the vision of the team (Yukl, 2013). A leader works
as a guide and philosopher and encourages the employees to work up to their full potential.
DEFINITION OF A MANAGER
A manager does the basic management in the organization and has the responsibility of
Planning, directing coordinating and controlling different functions associated with the goal
achieving process. The managers may also be assigned to a particular project they can be the
function managers, project managers or the general managers. A manager is a person who gets
the work done, and his primary focus is on completing the task within a stipulated time. These
managers work in different areas such as sales, accounting, marketing, production, and
inventory and supervise various activities which are associated with the accomplishment of
certain time-bound goals.
Roles and
Characteristics
LEADER MANAGER
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Personality Leaders have a charisma in their personality
and they are high-risk takers and have high
levels of imaginations
Managers focus on goals and the available
resources, basically, they are problem
solvers.
vision Leaders have a long-term vision for the
company and align the process to realise that
vision (Fairhurst, et al. 2014).
Managers work on short-term goals and
they organise the process for achieving the
goals.
Direction A leader is a person who sets the direction. The manager plans the details of the
methods to be used to move in that
direction.
People
management
The leader has a focus on people and aims for
the growth and the overall development of the
employee.
A manager focuses on the process and
procedures and aims at the
accomplishment of goals.
Leadership style A leader follows the transformational style of
leadership in which the leader transforms the
employees by constant motivation.
A manager follows the transactional style of
leadership in which there is a 'give and take'
relationship. If the employee performs well
then only he can get the rewards and
bonuses.
Change process The leaders are the initiators of the change,
which is done keeping in mind the long-term
goals of the organisation.
The managers are the one who reacts to the
change and plan for a smooth change
process.
Strategy A leader follows the proactive approach in the
strategy making.
The managers follow the reactive approach.
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Approach for
employees
The approach of the leaders regarding
employees is optimistic and they believe in the
potential of the people and let them drive
themselves.
The managers assign the task to the people
and continuously monitor the process.
An organization needs both the leaders and managers for the effective functioning of an
organization. The leaders are helpful in keeping the motivation level of the employees up, and
the managers are necessary for planning and coordinating all the necessary functions of the
organization. A leader works on the emotional aspects of the employees and targets along term
goal while the manager works rationally and directs a specific group of people for achieving a
specific short-term task.
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LO2
P2 EXAMINE EXAMPLES OF HOW THE ROLE OF A LEADER AND THE FUNCTION
OF A MANAGER APPLY IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONAL CONTEXTS IN THE
ORGANIZATION
Unilever is the largest consumer goods company in the world. The company has its
headquarters in London and operates worldwide. The product range includes food and
beverages, home and personal care products (Hargreaves, et al. 2012). The leaders and
managers at Unilever work in a strategic way to keep the employees motivated and help the
company achieve the organizational goals. Role of a leader in different situational context is
given below:
Situation1: Technology change to recycle sachet waste
In May 2017, Unilever announced that the company is going to introduce a new technology
called CreaSolv® Process through the sachets will be turned into plastic and will be used again
in the supply chain. This type of technological changes demands huge changes in the operations
of the company. The leadership has a deciding role in carrying out this technological change
successfully through its manufacturing centres worldwide.
Role of a leader in managing the change process
Changing the organizational set-up in a company requires a proactive role of the leadership.
The leadership should help the employees to adopt the changes mentally because employees
always try to resist any change process. The leader has to communicate the need for the
change and make the employees part of the decision making process. This helps the employees
go with changes easily and understand the vision of the leader.
The leader should initiate direct interaction with the employees and try to know about their
views and suggestion for effective change management. For effective interaction, the digital
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medium of communication can also be used such as social media platforms which will help the
leadership, communicate with a large number of employees in minimum time.
Functions of manager
The managers have the responsibility to plan the processes which are necessary for a smooth
change process. The management has to organize the different functions of the company in a
planned way so that employees can work in an organized manner according to the new
processes. The next step is the controlling process in which the management establishes the
performance standards and monitors the output of the employees with respect to those
standards (Goleman, 2017).
The company requires the installation of new machines for implementing the new technology
for recycling the sachets. The new machines require some new skills to be learned. For this
purpose, the management needs to start a new training program to provide necessary skills to
the employees, so that they can operate the new machines safely.
Situation2: Organizational Restructuring at Unilever
The next situational context is the five-year-long restructuring process at Unilever from the year
1999 to 2004. Many changes were made in the marketing strategies, operational management
processes and supply chain management. The leadership had a deciding role in controlling the
ill effects of restructuring process like sluggish growth and falling share prices.
Role of leadership
The leadership took a decision to cut down 1600 brands from its portfolio and focused on the
top 400 brands. Unilever is world’s largest FMCG Company and implementing this restructuring
exercise was a huge challenge. To manage this challenge effectively, the company leadership
launched a program ‘Path to Growth’. This program focused on marketing the targeted 400
brands through various platforms. The marketing was mainly done through digital mediums.
The company leadership decided to launch an aggressive marketing campaign to counter the
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sluggish growth of the major brands of Unilever. The leadership also started a customer
feedback collecting program to identify customer preferences.
Functions of manger
The managers had the responsibility to implement the ‘path to growth program' effectively. The
managers designed the marketing strategy through Facebook and Twitter. The company
website was redesigned and all the major products of the company were mentioned on the
front page of the website with attractive displays. The company also decided to launch a
dedicated mobile app to facilitate the online purchasing of goods via smartphones. The
management also took steps to improve the business relationship with the suppliers and
dealers to strengthen the supply chain operations (Northouse, 2018.).
To implement the customer feedback program the managers started a questionnaire program
in which some questions were designed regarding the quality and features of products and the
customers have to give their response in the provided question sheets. This program helped the
management to collect a large number of data regarding customer preferences and based on
these inputs the management took many strategic decisions to improve the quality of the
products according to the customer preferences.
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P3 APPLY DIFFERENT THEORIES AND MODELS OF APPROACH, INCLUDING
SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP, SYSTEMS LEADERSHIP AND CONTINGENCY
SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP
The situational leadership framework was developed by Kenneth Blanchard and Paul Hersey.
The situational leadership is a flexible kind of leadership in which the leader adjusts his
leadership style according to the needs of the organization (Norman, et al. 2015). An effective
leadership does not limit itself to a single style of leadership, successful leaders adopt new
styles of leadership based on the situations and the ability of the individuals or groups they are
going to lead. Different styles of leadership like autocratic, democratic, transformational,
transactional leadership can be categorized into four simple categories which are discussed
below:
Figure 1: Situational leadership styles
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[Source: http://atodorov.org/blog/2017/11/11/4-situational-leadership-styles/]
Directing
This type of leadership approach is followed when the employees are naive and are unable to
perform tasks independently. In such conditions, the leader has to design simple task which is
short term and goal oriented. The managers monitor this program closely and provide
assistance wherever required. As employees are not highly skilled they are not able to perform
the task without any supervision, therefore managers have to provide necessary instructions
clearly define the work according to skills and experience of individual employees.
Coaching
In this style of leadership the leader will give all the necessary instructions but at the same time
ensures an effective communication between the management and the employees. In this
stage, the employees have acquired certain skills and are in need of motivation and support so
that they can become able to perform the tasks independently.
Supporting
In supporting style of leadership the employee is given constant support and motivation to
perform the tasks. At this stage, the employees have the necessary skills but they lack the
confidence to complete the task individually, therefore, they are in need of support of the
management.This also involves encouraging the employees to share their ideas and
suggestions. This involvement process has a very positive impact on the motivation level of the
employees.
Delegating
The delegating style is suitable for such employees who have a high level of skills and are
capable to perform the task independently. The leader has the role of monitoring the whole
process and analyzes the work progress. The employees are self- motivated and they do not
need to be pushed constantly. The leader participates in the decision-making process but the
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responsibility to perform the tasks is delegated to the employees, the leader monitors and
reviews the whole process.
FIEDLER'S CONTINGENCY THEORY
Fred Fiedler’s contingency model for effective leadership defines a number of variables
according to which the leadership style of an individual is decided (Fiedler, 2015). In order to
identify the particular leadership style, he developed a ‘Least preferred co-worker scale’
Figure 2: Fiedler’s Contingency model
[Source: https://toughnickel.com/business/Leadership-Theories-Three-Types-of-Contingency-
and-Situational-Theories]
In this scale, the leaders are asked certain questions regarding the person with which they will
least or most like to work. The questions asked are pleasant/ friendly, tense/relaxed,
rejecting/accepting etc. Each question has certain points in the LPC scale. The leaders getting
high scores are relationship oriented leaders while the leaders getting low scores are the task-
oriented leaders.
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