Leadership and Management Analysis: Airdri Company Case Study Report

This report delves into the core concepts of leadership and management, contrasting the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers within an organizational context. The report uses Airdri, a hand dryer company, as a case study to analyze leadership styles and their impact on operational management. It examines the functions of managers and leaders in various situations, such as staff turnover and conflict resolution, and applies leadership theories, including situational, systems, and contingency leadership. The report further explores key approaches to operational management, the significance of operations in achieving business objectives, and the influence of the business environment on decision-making by leaders and managers. The analysis provides insights into how these factors influence organizational performance and strategy, offering practical applications for effective leadership and management in the business world.

Management and
Operation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1. Define and compare role and characteristics of leader and manager....................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
P2. Role of leader and function of manger in different situational context. ..............................4
P3. Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency.........................................................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
P4. Determine key approaches to operation management and role of mangers and leaders.....6
P5. Importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives. ..........8
P6. Factors within business environment that impacts operational management decision-
making by leaders and managers..............................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Management is a refers as a process of dealing and managing business as well as its
employees where as operations is refers as function of organisation (Alderton and Saieva, 2013).
In an organisation it is very important to manage all actives and employees so that business can
work effectively and achieve set goal and objectives. Operations function of organisation leads to
converting inputs into finished good or services of company. For this report, chosen company is
Airdri. This company was founded in Oxfordshire, UK in 1974. Airdri group business partners
are Peter Philipps and Peter Allen. This organisation is dealing in hand dryer products and some
of its products are The Airdri quad hand dryer, the Airdri quest hand dryer, Airdri quazar hand
dryer etc. this report consist of different roles and characteristics of leader and manager as well
as role of leader and function of manger in different situations. Approaches of operation
management and role of leaders and manager. Also, different factors that impact operation
management and decision making has been analysed.
TASK 1
P1. Define and compare role and characteristics of leader and manager
Manger and leader both play a very crucial role in managing organisation function as
well as motivating employees (Ates and et.al., 2013). Leader and manager have different
capability and characteristics which leads to achieving goals of organisation.
Manager
Manager is a person who is responsible for directing and controlling organisation as well
as employees of organisation (Agnihotri and Krush, 2015). This person is an individual who is in
charge of certain task of organisation and supervising staff who reports to him.
Role Set goal: Manager's role is to set short term as well as long term goals for company. It is
responsibility of manager to set objective and goal which provide direction to employees
(Burgess and Currie, 2013). Each and every employees under manager work with aim of
achieving goal set by manager.
 Monitor: Role of manager is to monitor the work done by team members. Manager is
responsible for seeking out information related to organisation as well as monitor task of
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team members to analyse productive of team (Rezvani and et.al, 2016). Manger's role is
to evaluate performance of team member and encourage team to work effective.
Characteristics Result oriented: Manager must be focus towards result and work with motive to
achieving goal of organisation. Result oriented is refers to quality of a manager who
ensure to attain set objectives and manger is constantly motivated to achieve desirable
results (Brandenburg and et.al., 2014). This characteristics of a managers makes
individual more ambitious towards work and give best to reach results.
 Knowledge: Manger of an organisation must have knowledge about each and every
aspect related to business. Through proper knowledge manger will be able to take correct
decision for business (Varela and Gatlin-Watts, 2014). Knowledge of manager will help
in solving problems or issues of team and team members which leads to effective
performance of employees.
Leader
Leader is an individual who is responsible for leading and commanding group of people
in organisation. Leadership is about motivating and convincing employees of organisation to
work effectively and efficiently in order to achieve goal of organisation (Boon and Biron, 2016).
Role Create vision: It is a role of leader to create vision for team and employees which helps
them is achieving objective of organisation. Leader will clearly define where team is
heading and provide path to team members (Lam, Huang, and Chan, 2015). Leader build
strategies and influence employees by proving proper guidelines and motive to
employees.
 Inspire: role of leader is to inspire team member which create urge in team to work
effectively and efficiently (Brown and Bessant, 2013). Leader's role is to inspire and
influences others which help them in successful achieving to desirable results.
Characteristics Creative: Leader must be creative in developing strategies and influences employees of
organisation (Lorinkova and Perry, 2017). Leaders is responsible for inspiring other to
achieve set goal and objective so leaders should use new and innovative techniques so
that employees follow leader. Creativity of a leader make him/ her different from other.
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 Communication: Communication is very important quality required in a leader. Leaders
can not influence their followers if they can not communicate effectively.
Communication is very important for delegating task as well as motivating employees of
organisation (Qu, Janssen and Shi, 2015).
Difference between roles and characteristics of leader
Manager Leader
Role Manager's role is to create goal
and objective of organisation
where each and every
employees work to achieve
goal of organisation.
Leaders will create vision for
organisation as well as people
of organisation (Gunasekaran,
Irani and Papadopoulos, 2014).
Leaders role s to inspire and
engage employees to turn
vision into reality.
Characteristics Managers work to control or
minimize risk as their aim is to
achieve results(Mone and
London,2018). They avoid
problem which create difficult
in attaining goal of
organisation.
Leaders are risk taker, they are
willing to take risk in order to
try something new(Goetsch
and Davis, 2014).
Difference between management and leadership
Management Leadership
Focus Management activities are
more forces on managing
employees or task of
employees within organisation
(Schiemann, 2014).
Leadership focus to inspire
people or employees of
organisation and motivate
them to work effectively and
efficiently (Odetunde, 2013).
Orientation Management is task oriented
and work to achieve desirable
Leadership is people oriented
and work to influence and
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results for organisation
(Hajmohammad and et.al.,
2013).
motivate employees (Mannon,
2014).
Management and leadership are different way of organizing employees and motivating
them to work effectively to timely completion of task. Leadership provides vision whereas
management control people of organisation.
TASK 2
P2. Role of leader and function of manger in different situational context.
There are various role of leader and function of manger in dealing with different
situations of organisation (Hazen and et.al., 2018). Airdri is small and medium organisation
where different situation can have huge impact on organisation performance and overall
profitably of company. In order to deal with these situations different role of leaders as well as
functions of managers leads to solve organisation issues.
Staff turnover
Staff turnover is an issue when more employees are leaving organisation as compare to
joining. Staff turnover refers to the measurement of how long employees stay in organisation as
well as how often employees leave company. In this situation staff Airdri are leaving
organisation which leads to high turnover rate in organisation which leads to leaving of capable
employees in organisation. To overcome this issue leader role is to identify reason of why
employees are leaving organisation and try to retain more capable employees in organisation.
Leader of Airdri role is to motivate employees to work in organisation by solving their problems
and issues. In this situation function of manager is to take decision in order to control turn over
rates of company. Manager of Airdri should develop strict rules and policy regarding leaving job
these policy will help in controlling employee turnover in organisation.
Conflict:
In organisation there are different type of people with different working styles. When
there is misunderstanding or oppose of interest between employees it can lead to conflict
between them (Hitt and Duane, 2017). It is very important to manage and control conflicts in
organisation because it affect working environment as well as productivity or organisation. In
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this issue role of leader is to role of leader is to evaluate issue and reason of confit between
employees. Leader of Airdri will try to identify reason and nature of conflicts and maintain
positive work environment in organisation. Leader of Airdri can listen to employees point of
view and let them express their feeling. Role of leader is to communicate this issue with the main
reason of issue to upper management. To handle conflicts in Airdri company, manager function
is to provide proper solution to manage conflicts in organisation. Function of manager is to take
strict step toward employees who are responsible for creating negative environment in
organisation.
P3. Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency
There are various leadership theories which can be adopt by organisation to deal with
issues and problems. Leaders and their leadership styles play very crucial role in effectively and
efficient working of organisation (Hübner Holzapfel and Kuhn, 2015). Leadership is a process of
influencing behaviours of employees in achieving objective and goal of organisation. Leaders
must have ability to maintain good relationship with employees by resolving their organisation
issues. Airdri company can use different leadership styles such as situational leadership, system
leadership, contingency leadership to deal with organisation issues. Leaders apply different
leadership style in different situational context to deal with it.
Situational leadership
This theory of leadership is state that there is no best leadership style to handle and
motivate employees of organisation. This theory is developed by Kenneth Blanchard and Paul
Hersey. Situational leadership refers to leadership style of when leader or manager have to
change their style according to situation they are dealing (Ivanov, Tsipoulanidis and
Schönberger, 2017). This is very flexible as it completely depends upon situation and it leads to
create comfortable work environment to employees. This style of leadership make leader more
efficient and increase awareness of leaders. In Airdri company, leader should apply situational
leadership in dealing with conflict of organisation. Conflicts in organisation have different
reason and every employees have different issues so leader can not use set or systematic way to
handle this problem. Leaders always have to use different approach or method to deal with issue
according to situation. For example if Airdri adopts this leadership theory for managing
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company's workplace under which he/she regularly adjust his style so as to fit the development
level the company will be positively impacted. The style is continually change according to the
needs of the organisation.
System leadership
System leadership theory is an interdisciplinary approach to study system of organisation.
This theory leads to provide holistic view which helps in dealing with various business issues. In
this theory organisation is study as a whole not through its parts which leads to increase
organisation adaptability to changes in environment. System leadership enables organisation to
adapt to needs of environment as well as focus on achieving goal or organisation. System theory
is focuses on multiple dimensions of management and its is adaptive and well as dynamic in
nature. System leadership approach provide an efficient plan of action to leaders and it develop
coordination of specialized activities. System theory is not always practical and it can leads to
delays in decision making as it can not be directly applied to practical problems. For example
system leadership at Airdri will enable leaders to create a organisation where at all levels
productivity for the respective company is achieved. Moreover this theory uses sound principles
about the behaviour of human to create various models which includes good leadership, system
designs and many others.
Contingency leadership
Contingency leadership theory states that success of leadership does not depends upon on
ability of leaders but is depends upon various other contingent factors. Frederick Fielder states
that effective leadership style depends on situational contingencies which includes nature of task
as well as certainty and uncertainty of task (Kauppi, 2013). Leadership depends upon various
contingency factors such as power of a leaders to influence others, expectation of followers from
leader and complexity of organisation. Contingency style of leadership helps leaders to adopt
best style of management in different situational context. In Airdri company, leader should
adopt contingency leadership style to deal with staff turnover issue. As in this problem leader
have to analyses and identify reason why employees are leaving organisation. This theory is very
helpful is motivating employees by solving problems of employees. Interaction of leader leader
with employees will help is understanding this issue in detail and will help in reducing
employees turnover rate. For instance contingency theory of leadership will help Airdri to top
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management of the company to make decision easily because the contingent leader is not
accountable to anyone while making decision. They follow their own style of leadership.
TASK 3
P4. Determine key approaches to operation management and role of mangers and leaders.
Operation Management is basically an field of management which is concerned with
designing and controlling the process of production and other business operations. Moreover it
usually involves responsibility of ensuring that business operations are efficient in terms of using
few resources and attaining at meeting the needs of customers. Operation Management is
primarily concerned with organising, planning and supervising the production of an organisation
(Feng and et.al., 2014). There are several key approaches of operation management some of
them are mentioned below:
Total Quality Management: This approach of quality management basically consists of
wide organisational efforts that aims at installing and making permanent environment where
employees continuously improve their overall ability and further satisfy the customers (Khanna,
2015). Furthermore total quality management can be summarised as a management system that
essentially focuses on customers and employees improvement. Therefore, to attain the targetted
goals and objectives of Airdri that is an electric appliance company and primarily provides hand
driers. The company should adopt the approach of total quality management which will
ultimately result in motivating employees to work with proper efficiency and they may also feel
secure. Implementing this approach essentially requires great amount of research and planning.
Therefore, manager at Airdri need to get trained into various total quality management practices
that will help in implementing the same. Furthermore it is their responsibility to allocate budget
required for this approach at the beginning of every financial year. For this, leader have to
regularly provide assistance to employees that help in improving them and ultimately aims at
satisfy its customers (Krajewski, Ritzman and Malhotra, 2013). This because customers feedback
plays important role in formulating and determining strategies required for TQM. Company
should consider feedback of customers and then develop business strategies. Mangers of Airdri
company can also conduct research or Survey to understand needs and wants of customer. TQM
is a continuous process of organisation and feedback from customer will help in improving
quality of produce offered by company.
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Just-in-Time: Just-in-Time is an inventory management system which helps an
organisation to manage stock which is kept in storage. It basically includes receiving goods from
suppliers when required rather than carrying large inventory at once (Jones, 2013). This strategy
is used by companies to increase efficiency and decrease waste by receiving goods only when
required for production and this ultimately result in reducing inventory costs. Moreover the
producers should forecast demand with proper efficiency. Under Just-in-Time approach the
manager of Airdri prime responsible is making decision regarding tools and techniques required
for initiating the process of just-in-time that helps in achieving overall target of company.
Moreover the leaders are responsible for making the supply chain management effective in
nature. This effective approach to supply chain management required knowledge in the field of
manufacturing, warehousing, logistics and many others (Ross, 2017).
Lean Manufacturing: It is a organized way of production that uses Japanese
manufacturing industry for reduction of waste within a manufacturing unit without sacrificing
the overall productivity. Eventually this can help Airdri in increasing the efficiency and adding
to increase growth of the organisation. Sometimes it is difficult to identify how lean
manufacturing operates and this is especially complex for company's whose manufacturing
operations deals in electronics. With lean audit done by Airdri, the company can measure how
well other lean manufacturing tools helps in improving overall efficiency by cutting waste
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Illustration 1: Just-In-Time
Source:Do You Use the “Just in Time” System for Your Business?
2019

produced. The lean manager's job is to optimize the actual process of production (Rosemann and
Vom, 2015). Moreover the lean manger is also responsible to mobilize company's stakeholders
that includes customers, employees and many others. They are usually appraised of required
changes when a plan is implemented. Furthermore, the leader helps to create day-to-day value
for stream of operations. This generally ensure that stakeholders meet current production demand
and make required improvements. If Airdri effectively make use of lean manufacturing the
excessive inventory produced would be reduced. This principle will also guide the company to
adopt only those activities that are capable of maximizing efficiency, profitability and
productivity for Airdri. Because this empower every individual in the organisation to
continuously improve the overall value of firm as well as help in generating activities that are
productive in nature and eliminating the non value generating activities.
P5. Importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives.
Operation Management is a essential component of manufacturing operation. Prime aim
of operations management is to make up advanced level of efficiency to perform business
activities (Saucedo-Martínez and et.al., 2018). Moreover it also attempts at equalisation of cost
with revenue generated and attaining the overflowing level of operating earnings.
Importance of Operations Management:
Operations Management is an important element of manufacturing operation. Therefore,
it is very essential to understand the importance of this process because it basically helps in
achieving detailed perspective of key areas that eventually results in improving.
Product Quality: Operation management primarily aims at checking the quality of
product produced and moreover enhancement in products and services are made if necessary.
Under Airdri while taking product quality in account the two aspects are kept in mind which are:
reliability and durability (Brown and Bessant, 2013). This process usually helps in delivering
durable products to company's customers.
Customer Satisfaction: Customer satisfaction under the process of operations
management is directly proportional to the quality that the company produces (Burke, 2013).
Moreover Airdri aims at satisfying its customers with all the variant of air dryers and they invent
new technology built air dryers keeping in mind the lifestyle and desire of its targetted
customers.
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Revenue Increase: With enhanced product quality and satisfying the needs of the
targetted group of customers that company overall revenue eventually increases. This is usually
because the company has positive and good reputation in marketplace (Griffin, 2013). Therefore,
Airdri is a well established company which helps it to attract more customers and expand its
overall market share.
Value of operations management widely includes the following points:
Operation Management system is enormously valued for a business organisation. This is
because it helps in creating and rendering value of businesses into the marketplace through
eliminating excessive cost of producing and improving flexibility to meet the rapidly changing
customers demand (Strande and Brdjanovic, 2014).
Higher Standard of Living: Operations management basically helps in increasing the
standard of living (Slack and Brandon-Jones, 2018). This due the reason because under operation
management process the produced quality by firms are intensely evaluated. Moreover Airdri
regularly analyses the lifestyle of people which reflect purchasing power of customers. Higher
power of purchasing ultimately result in increasing the standard of living.
Ability to increase productivity: Operations management helps in initiating and
enhancing company overall productivity (Aken, Chandrasekaran and Halman, 2016). It regularly
takes measures to improves company weak points. Moreover Airdri productivity can also be
enhanced by effective utilising of operation management process. This process is very useful
because while performing this process improvements are made in the firm that ultimately help in
gaining and increasing overall productivity for the company.
Better Quality Goods and Services: Better quality of goods are services are produced
due to effective utilization of operation management operation. Because this process usually
helps in eliminating the aspects that negatively impact the respective company. Airdri can
produce better quality goods and services if there effectively implement the process operation
management.
Therefore, in order to achieve business objectives and goals with proper efficiency a
company need to successfully implement the process of operation management. Because this
process helps in handling issue relating to operations, design, maintenance of system which used
for production of goods and this ultimately helps in increasing overall productively of an
organisation.
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