Report on Leadership, Management, and Operational Strategies at Amazon

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and management principles within the context of Amazon. It begins by differentiating between the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers, highlighting their respective responsibilities in setting goals, organizing tasks, directing teams, and controlling operations. The report then examines how these roles apply in different situational contexts, such as setting profit objectives and resolving conflicts. Furthermore, it explores various leadership theories, including transformational, classical, trait, and charismatic theories, with a critical evaluation of their application within Amazon's business environment. The analysis includes situational leadership theory, systems leadership, and contingency models, offering insights into how Amazon's managers adapt their approaches to different situations. The report also discusses the importance of communication, conflict resolution, and performance measurement in effective management. Overall, the report provides a detailed overview of leadership and management strategies, supported by the practical example of Amazon's operational practices.

Management and
Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Activity 1.........................................................................................................................................3
P1. Defining and comparing the different roles and characteristics of a leader and manager.3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P2. Examining examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts ..............................................................................................6
P3. Different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency....................................................................................................8
Activity 2.......................................................................................................................................11
P4.Covered in PPT...............................................................................................................11
P5. Covered in PPT..............................................................................................................11
TASK 4 .....................................................................................................................................12
P6. Covered in Booklet.........................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Management and operations is the art of management of operations in a company
regarding the production of goods and services (Management and Operations. 2018). Since, it is
a delivery focused management therefore it is the management of turning inputs to outputs in an
efficient manner. The organization here taken to explain the understanding of management and
operations is Amazon. It is a technological company which focuses on e-commerce, cloud
computing and artificial intelligence. This company is based in Seattle, Washington. This is one
of the biggest organizations in the technological field. In this report, role of a leader and function
of a manager are differentiated. After that, these roles and functions of leader and managers are
applied in the different organizational context. Apart from that, roles and functions which are
performed by managers and leaders in the operation functions of an organization are appreciated.
In the end, understanding of the relationship between leadership and management in a
contemporary business environment is also demonstrated.
Activity 1
P1. Defining and comparing the different roles and characteristics of a leader and manager.
A leader is a person who influences a team or group of people for achieving a common
goal. It is responsible in making long term decision so that they can be effectively applied within
the organization.
A manager is the person who is responsible in implementing the decision set by a leader
within the organization. It is responsible in managing different resources allotted to the
employees.
Role of leader
Setting up of goals:
It is one of the important roles of a leader within the organization (vom Brocke, J., Zelt,
S. and Schmiedel, T., 2016). A leader set up the goal for the whole team so that they can work
according to that goal. In Amazon, when a pre set goal is in the minds of employees, it would be
easier for them to perform their task. All the tasks are done according to the desired goal of
company.
Organizing:

It is also one of the important tasks of a leader. When a team is formulated to perform a
specific task within Amazon than it has become necessary for the leader to allot the tasks
properly to every member of team. Apart from the tasks, the resources which are necessary to
complete those tasks should also be provided by the leader.
Characteristics of Leader
Creativity:
In this characteristic of leader, it must be creative in nature. The leader has the
responsibility of making long term decisions because it requires a creative approach. In Amazon,
to think for the long term perspectives, a leader should think in every aspects of an outcome.
Confidence:
It is another characteristics of a leader in which it should be confident while taking the
decision. This is necessary fro the development of company because confident decisions have
more chances of succession.
Role of Manager
Direction:
It is the basic function of manager within the company (Stolzer, A. J., 2017). The
manager of Amazon helps in directing the steps which are running within the organization. All
the tasks are done within the direction of it.
Controlling:
A manager has the responsibility of checking whether all the tasks are running with the
pre set target or not. If it is not happening than it is also responsible in managing the functioning
so that all the tasks can be done within a right way.
Emotional Intelligence:
It is the essential thing which is require for every leader where they must understand and
manage emotion and also of those people who are around them. It is very important to have
emotional intelligence for achieving success.
Build relations at all levels:
Every leader must have the ability to build relation with each and every level of
department. It is necessary to built relation at every level because it helps to encourage every
staff and as a result they enhance there working ability.
\

Motivating and engaging others:
It is important for every leader to motive there employees as this will make them feel
connected with company. Where as leader must keep in mind that every staff should be engaged
in work either it should be gaining knowledge or related with other things.
Characteristics of Manager
Communication:
It is one of the most important characteristics of a manager within the organization. The
manager should communicate well with its followers and the seniors. This is necessary because
manager acts as a communication bridge between the employees and the employers.
Time Management:
The management of time should also be good for the manager (Ross, D. F., 2016). A
manager is responsible in allocating the tasks for its team members. Therefore it is necessary for
it to manage the tasks so that all the tasks can be done within time.
Planning knowledge:
It is the responsibility of every manager to have complete knowledge regarding planning,
as it is very necessary to manage all the work according to plan to achieve desire goal.
Customer knowledge:
In every organisation, the role of manger increases in the form of customer. As,
customers are the one who can help to increase the revenue of company. So, manger must
maintain the relation between customer regarding there requirement and wants.
Performance measurement:
It is the duty of every manager to measure the performance of each and every staff for
providing appropriate incentives. Measurement can be done on the basis of work done by
particular staff.
Comparison of Roles and Characteristics of leader and manager
Basis of Comparison Leader Manager
Role A leader has the role of setting up
of the long term goals of the
company. These long term goals
should be SMART.
A manager has the responsibility
of directing the team so that they
can achieve the target set by the
leader.

Nature A leader should be innovative in
nature. It should select the target
for its company which are unique
and different from other rivals.
A manager should be
administrative in nature. It should
manage all the team and tasks to
make them effective.
In context of Amazon, various leadership and management approaches have been stated
as under:
Transformational theory of leadership: Transformational leadership approach is an
important aspect which is used by leaders of Amazon so that employees can work in a safe and
healthy environment. This approach helps in bringing about transformation in business
environment of a company. Leaders and managers of Amazon have sustainability and profit
enhancement as their main motive.
Management theory:
Classical theory: This theory is adopted by managers in Amazon when they wish ot
improve or enhance their overall profitability position. This is mainly done by building or
developing satisfaction level in employees. A main considering factor here is that this theory
neglects needs of employees and only focusses on monetary profits of a firm.
Critical evaluation of various theories of leadership:
Trait theory of leadership: This theory of leadership helps leaders of Amazon in dealing
with critical and complex situations. In case of Amazon, it is a consumer goods company in
which demand for products and services may rise during festive seasons. It creates a workload
over employees and hampers their overall performance.
Charismatic theory of leadership: Charismatic theory works on the basis of personality
traits of employees. In context of Amazon, employees have a quite influential as well as
charismatic personality which is used by managers or leaders when morale level of employees is
to be satisfied.

TASK 2
P2. Examining examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts
There are various functions within the organization in which the functioning of leader
and manager is defined. A situation is created and in the context of which the functions of
manger and leader are discussed.
Situation 1- The leader of Amazon makes a SMART objective to increase the profit
share of company by 10% within the next financial year.
In the above created scenario the roles of manager and leader are stated as below:
Role of leader
Making the objective:
It is the first role of leader in which the objective is created (Pheng, L. S. and Meng, C.
Y., 2018). The created objective should be SMART enough so that it can be achieved by the
employees. The SMART objective means that it should be specific, measurable, acceptable,
realistic and time-bound. All these characteristics should be included in the objective created by
a leader in Amazon.
Providing Assistance:
It is another responsibility of leader in which all type of assistance is provided by it to the
managers. To achieve a target there is requirement of many resources. All these resources are
provided by the leader for the employees so that they can work accordingly.
Function of manager
Implementation of Objective:
A manager of Amazon has the responsibility of implementing the objective which has
been set by the leader. It is responsible in gathering the resources, allocating the tasks, keep an
eye over the performance etc. The tasks are allotted to the employees on the basis of their
capability and performance.
Communication:
The manager is assigned the tasks for accomplishing the objective set by the leader
(Graham, S. and Potter, A., 2015). To make it complete effectively, it is necessary to have proper
communication among the employees so that they can work to achieve the objective.

Miscommunication can leads to failure of achieving the objective. Therefore proper
communication is necessary in between the employees and the managers.
Conflict resolution: Conflicts play an essential role in every organisation's working and
and operations. Conflict refers to a situation in which two or more people disagree over a single
topic. In Amazon, it is a multinational level business entity hence people from all regions and
culture get hired. Rules in Amazon are quite complex and do not delegate major authorities
between employees due to which many serious conflicts arise. In this situation, managers need to
timely examine the issue and leaders need to develop morale of employees so that they can work
more efficiently.
P3. Different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency.
Situational Leadership Theory
This theory is developed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard in the late 1970. In this
theory the manager of Amazon is liable to adopt the leadership theory according to the situation.
There are many situations that come in the business where the manger have to take decisions.
This theory suggests that a manager have to apply a leadership theory according to the situation.
A situation defines what type of management skills have to be applied in a scenario. Managers of
Amazon have to be flexible so that it will adopt the situation as soon as possible. The situation
comes in front of the organisation is differ from time to time. Therefore it is not possible to apply
a specific set of theory in every situation. According to this theory, there are two factors namely
directive behaviour and supportive behaviour.
This model allows a manager to improve its decision-making skill in different situations.
It also helps company to grow in the market because different perceptions make the decision-
making different from others. This leadership model also helps in increasing the communication
level among the top level and the bottom level in the company.
Strengths: This theory maintains a healthy work environment in Toyota due to
flexibility of rules. Also no single leadership approach is followed it keep on modifying as per
need of situations.
Weaknesses: When a single leadership style is not opted employees and leaders tend to
get confused which greatly hampers performance.
System Leadership Theory

This theory is used by the leader of an organization to improve the systems of decision-
making within the organization (Feng, Q. and Shanthikumar, J. G., 2018). In this theory, the
decision-making of a leader is beyond the boundaries of company, geopolitical boundaries and
other aspects of company. The leader is liable to think about the improvement in decision-
making process so as to develop the company among it's competitors. This theory helps the
leader of company to change the system and structure of organization which is helpful for the
company. When this theory is applied, the long term vision of leader helps the company to work
beyond the new limits and boundaries. The decision-making of leader is unique in nature and
have long term perspective which is difficult for the competitors of Amazon to adopt, thus this
theory helps in gaining the sustainable growth in market.
With the help of different perception of leader, this theory helps the company in
promoting innovative and creative thinking for the employees in order to accomplish a particular
task. This theory is applied to improve the growth and development in the company with the help
of imparting the vision of leader in employees.
Strengths: System leadership approach helps in providing clarity about complex
situations. It also provides a framework for building and developing innovative ideas.
Weakness: It is a quite lengthy and time consuming process with lots of complexities.
Contingency Theory
According to this theory, there is no such approach for every situation in the organization.
Sometimes, the leader have to think an optimal course of action depending upon the internal and
external situation and the nature of leadership. A contingent leader always apply it's own style of
learning in a right situation (Durel, L. and et. al., 2015). There are two types of leaders in an
organization which are generally observed. A leader who is task oriented and a leader who is
relationship oriented. A task oriented leader never think about what others think about it. It
mainly focuses on to accomplish the task. The relationship oriented leader focuses on to manage
the relationship with all of its employees. This helps Amazon in increasing team spirit and
communication among the employees.
Strengths: This leadership theory is greatly helpful in clarifying various complex situations
that may occur. This also leads to smooth functioning of a business concern.

Weaknesses: One major weakness or drawback of contingency theory is that is that
technology needs to altered with time and again and if skills of leaders are underdeveloped it
creates an issue as they cannot deal with critical situations effectively
Transformational leadership:
It is the theory which is caused because of changes in individual and social system.
Transformational theory is best for organisation which have succession planning in the
organisation.
Strengths: It allows for quick formulation of a vision
Weaknesses: sometimes it might face serious issue regarding details of particular topic.
Trait theory:
In this theory leader must be able to motive his employees when it is necessary. This
theory is mainly applied in big organisation where the demand of products are high and
productivity is controlled.
Strength: It helps to identify the benchmark for leaders.
Weakness: Sometimes it is not possible for leader to manage performance of each and every
staffs.
Management Theory
Behaviour management: It is a type of management theory which is based on the behavioural
approach of manager and it does not trust the situational approach. This theory help in
addressing the employees dimension of work.
Chaos theory: It is another theory of management that states each enterprise faces few
disturbance and chaos activity during running its business which can modify in public demand.
Management by objectives: It is a management model that help an organisation to manage all
changes in effective and systematic manner. It also support an enterprise to achieve better results
or outputs within given time period.

Activity 2
P4.Covered in PPT
P5. Covered in PPT

P6. Covered in Booklet.

CONCLUSION
In this report, it can be concluded that management and operations are the important part
of an organization. In the early period, it has not given so much importance but in today's
competitive environment a lot small factors differs the organization from others. Therefore the
use of operations management has increased a lot. The role of leader and manager are different
from the organizational point of view. Their role is also important in every successful completion
of task. The role of leaders and managers are also different in different situational context and
approaches. In the end, the impact of different external factors also affects the decision-making
of leaders and managers.

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Online
Management and Operations. 2018. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/operations-management.asp>.