Evaluating Leadership and Management Approaches at M&S

This report provides an in-depth analysis of leadership and management roles at Mark and Spencer, a multinational retailer in the UK. It differentiates between the roles of a leader and the functions of a manager, applying various leadership theories such as Stogdill's Trait Theory, Lewin's Style Theory, Taylor's classical theory, and Drucker's management by objectives. The report examines how these roles and functions are applied in different situational contexts within Mark and Spencer, focusing on employee motivation, strategic planning, and handling challenges such as high raw material costs. It also assesses the strengths and weaknesses of different leadership approaches, providing a critical evaluation of their impact on organizational performance and profitability, highlighting the importance of both leadership and management in achieving organizational goals.

Management and Operations
Table of Contents
1

Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
LO1 Differentiate between the role of a leader and the function of a manager..............................4
P1 Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager.........4
M1 Analyse and differentiate between the role of a leader and function of a manager by
effectively applying a range of theories and a manager..............................................................7
LO2 Apply the role of a leader and function of a manager in given contexts.................................9
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of manager apply in
different situational contexts........................................................................................................9
P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership, and contingency leadership.....................................................................................12
M2 Assess and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to situations
within the work environment.....................................................................................................16
D1 Critically analyses and evaluates the different theories and approaches to leadership in
given concepts...........................................................................................................................19
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................20
References......................................................................................................................................21
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Introduction
Management and operations play very important role in the business organisation to achieve high
profitability and sales. Managers and leaders helps in attaining set goals and objectives by
managing and controlling functions of the management. Basically managers are backbone of the
organisation that design and develop various strategies as well as plans for effective business
activities and to overcome with several issues. Whereas, leader is person who encourages
employees to work in proper way to achieve set standard. This project report is based on mark
and Spencer which is multinational retailer organisation in UK. It offer wide range of luxury
food products, clothing and home products at global scale. Company was founded in the year
1884 by Thomas Spencer and Michael Marks. Different function of manager and role of leaders
has been examined in this report. Also, has been analysis various theories and models of
leadership in this report which is used to achieve high profitability and sales.
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LO1 Differentiate between the role of a leader and the function of a manager.
P1 Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager.
According to Zalezniks’ theory manager play very important role within the organisation to
achieve set goals and objectives effectively. It is a major responsibility of the manager to recruit
highly qualifies and talented employees who can perform their task and activities in most
appropriate and suitable manner. Manager of the organisation tackle difficult situation and issues
by developing great strategies and plan.
Manager of the organisation gives a reward to employees for appraising their performance within
the organisation and give them punishments for their mistakes. There are so many important
decisions are taken by the managers for achieving high sales and revenue. Manager design and
manage entire organisational activities in an effective manner to attain the better result.
Leaders are the person who has various leadership qualities and abilities through which they can
motivate and encourage employees towards the difficult task. Zeleznik’ theory says that leaders
have also a very important role within the organisation to achieve high growth and success. They
influence the mind of employees and make them ready to perform any difficult activities.
Leaders motivate all employees to perform business activities in the same direction to increase
sales and profitability. Leaders provide right direction to employees and influence them to
achieve high productivity and profitability effectively (Yukl, 2013).
Difference between management and leadership are defined as under:
Management Leadership
 It is a major role of manager to set
organisational goals and objectives according
to which employees perform their work.
 Leaders influence and motivate
employees to achieve set goals in an effective
manner.
 It is necessary for the manager to  For achieving better result leaders
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communicate policies to leaders. communicate policies to employees so that
they execute allocated task accordingly.
 It si major duty of the manager to
develop various plans and strategies for the
betterment of the company.
 Leaders implement all the developed
strategies and plan in a most appropriate
manner to achieve better outcomes.
 Manager organises all the business
activities for reducing the chance of loss and
risk within the organisation.
 The leader is an individual who
provides a great idea (Johnston and Marshall,
2016).
 The manager plays a very important
role in the Mark and Spencer because they
develop planning for long-term growth and
success.
 While the leaders have the main role to
encourage and motivate employees to work in
a proper way to achieve set goals.
 Managers are responsible for all
business activities so it is necessary to control
and manage them in a suitable manner.
Managers develop great strategies for effective
operational management and to reduce
organisational issues.
 Leaders are the person who provides
right direction to employees through which
they can enhance their productivity level. This
will improve the performance of the
organisation in the large competitive
marketplace.
 Without taking help manager
organisation is unable to perform in a better
way to attain high growth and success in the
large competitive marketplace (Amanchukwu,
et. al., 2015).
 Leaders make organisational easy by
encouraging employees towards the set goals
and objectives. This will also assist in
improving the ability and skills of the
employees.
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M1 Analyse and differentiate between the role of a leader and function of a manager by
effectively applying a range of theories and a manager.
Stogdill's Trait Theory of leadership
In the Trait Theory of leadership, the different operations can be performed under the
supervision of leadership by developing the skills from the leaders to the employees of the
organisation. This is a trait theory Emphasis on a development of the skills among the employees
of the organisation. The leaders of the Mark and Spencer also follow this theory for the
development of the skills among the employees that can be helpful in meeting the unique and
beautiful designs in the clothing of Mark and Spencer (Tricker, & Tricker, 2015). This theory
includes theory X and theory Y.
Under the theory X, it is analysed that what are the needs and wants of the employees of the
organisations. Needs and wants in perspective of the development of the skills is analysed by the
leaders of the organisation. After that, the fulfilment of needs and wants by the later used to be
done. This helps in the development of the skills in the employees of Mark and Spencer.
With the help of theory Y, it is analysed that up to what extent there is involvement of the
leaders is required by which the development of skills among the employees of the organisation
can be done. There is a need for the involvement of the employee and the leaders for the
particular task to be accomplished. In this case, leaders used to be leaders history involved in the
task. If there is a need for the development of the skill in the employee then leaders used to help
in developing the different skills in the employees (Tricker, & Tricker, 2015).
Lewin's Style theory
This is the theory that suggests the decision making that can be done by the leader in an
organisation. The leaders of Mark and Spencer used to make 3 types of decisions in the different
task.
In the urgent task of Mark and Spencer, leaders used to take Autocratic Decision Making. In
the autocratic decision-making, leader used to take decision directly without the involvement of
any employees (Fairhurst & Connaughton, 2014).
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There is a different type of important decisions like Change management and others have to be
taken with the satisfaction of the employees of the organisation. The leaders of Mark and
Spencer used to involve employees and be coordinating staff in such type of decision making
these are called Democratic Decision Making
Laissez Faire is a type of decision making that used to be done by the followers of the
employees of the leaders of the Mark and Spencer. This is the type of decision making that are
least important and that can be only done by the followers all the small level employees of the
organisation with their own for the task of the organisations (Northouse, 2015).
Taylor's classical theory
It is the scientific theory of task and work that can be assigned to the employees of the
organisation. It is the theory that gives the tools by which maximizing the efficiency of the
employee can be attained by the leaders of the organisation like Mark and Spencer. Task
assigning is easy with the help of this theory. This theory is widely used in the business in which
there is repetitive task are you there.
Druckers theory (Managing business objective)
It is the type of theory in which the different objectives of the employees according to their roles
and responsibilities are made understood to the employees of the organisation. The different
objectives of the organisation need understood to the employees of the organisation. The
coordination between the organisational objective and the employee’s objective is made
understood by the HR that helps in a completion of both organisational as well as employee’s
objective. Further, there is the development of qualitative and quantitative approach by which the
both objectives can be achieved. This would help in making the operations of the mark and
Spencer to be accomplished effective and efficient manner (Fairhurst & Connaughton, 2014).
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LO2 Apply the role of a leader and function of a manager in given contexts
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of manager apply in
different situational contexts.
Mark and Spencer perform in most appropriate and proper way with the help of managers and
leaders who helps to attain set targets and objectives effectively. There are so many important
roles and function of both through which organisation able to execute its business operation in a
suitable manner. There are different roles and functions of managers and leaders but have single
motive to achieve organisational goals.
Within the Mark and Spencer Leaders have a very important role because they motivate and
encourage employees to adopt required changes within the organisational activities which helps
in increasing the sales and revenue. Managers of the organisations develop so many plans and
strategies to tackle all the issues and problem that arises after implementation of change
(Chhokar, et. al., 2013).
If suppliers provide the high price of raw materials, machinery and equipment then it is essential
for a manager to purchase all these things from such suppliers who can give the same quality
product at a lower price which will impact positively on the productivity and profitability of the
organisation. Leaders of the Mark and Spencer motivate and encourage employees to adopt all
the changes in a positive way to achieve better result and outcomes.
Mark and Spencer face so many difficulties because of the high cost of raw material and
machinery in such situation manager play very important role by developing great strategies to
handle the high cost of production and Leaders role are to motivate employees to increase the
quality of productivity for increasing sales and revenue (Goleman, et. al., 2013).
Leaders and managers help the organisation to achieve high profitability and sales in the certain
time period. Managers set standards for the employees according to their ability and leaders
delegates the duties between them so that they can perform well. It is highly important for the
managers to develop various plans and strategies for improving the performance of employees
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and organisation for achieving high growth and development in the large competitive
marketplace.
Leaders influence the mind of employees towards the set goals and objectives so that they can
execute their task and activities in most appropriate manner. In the large competitive
marketplace, it is very much important to motivate employees to improve production so that
Mark and Spencer can maintain its stability and growth for the long time period.
Managers develop different plans and strong strategies according to the different situation
through which operational activity of the management will be improved effectively. Whereas,
leaders can implement the strategies in proper way and encourage employee to adopts them in
their task for achieving best result and outcomes (Ramos, 2014).
There are various different situation arises in Mark and Spencer through which company faces so
many issues that can be easily handled by managers and leaders by taking constructive steps.
Grievance of employees
There are so many issues and problems arise among employees due to which their performance
gets affected. In mark and Spencer productivity and profitability of company affected by the
issues so it is a major function of a manager to resolve all the problems and provide the good
working environment. If the manager does not solve employee’s grievance then they will not
perform their work in proper way. By taking appropriate step manager can resolve all the
grievance of employees (Goetsch and Davis, 2014).
Leaders motive employees to perform well within the organisation and guide them one direction
due to which less grievance take place between them. This will improve the productivity and
profitability of the Mark and Spencer.
Budget Cuts
If the supplier provides the high price of raw material and equipment then in this situation
manager identify that supplier who can provide all these things at a low price. By taking
appropriate step manager can easily handle this situation. Mark and Spencer required a large
amount of raw material and advanced equipment for producing high-quality goods and services
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for the customers. Manager set a suitable budget for the different operational activity f the
management according to which all employees perform their task within the organisation.
It is highly important for employees to perform all task and activities in the set budget for
achieving goals and objectives. A leader is a person who brings employees in the same direction
for increasing their productivity so that they can complete allocated task in given budget. This
will save the cost of production and enhance the sales and revenue of the organisation
(Chiabrishvili and Chiabrishvili, 2013).
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P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership,
systems leadership, and contingency leadership
In Mark and Spencer, various theories and models can be implemented by leaders for
maintaining long-term stability and growth in the large competitive business environment.
Fiedler's theory: There are two different categories of this theory which is used by the
organisation. This category involves people oriented as well as task-oriented leaders. Fiedler said
that there are three different components that influence the effectiveness of leadership. It is
essential for leaders to maintain a good relationship with employees so that they can perform
their work in a proper way to achieve better result and outcomes. There are various advantages
of this theory which are defined as under:
 Employee’s opinion: According to this theory, leadership effectiveness totally depends
on the relationship with employees. It is important for leaders to give focus on the culture of the
organisation for achieving success. Leaders must provide respect to all employees so that they
will loyal towards the organisation and give their best efforts to achieve set target and goals
(Morley, et. al., 2015).
 Flexibility in task structure: It is necessary that leaders should provide flexibility in a
task so that employees can easily perform and adopt the working culture. For example: In the
production and manufacturing process it is important for the leaders to guide them what to do
and how to complete a certain task to achieve better outcomes.
 The flexibility of management style: According to this theory anyone can become a
leader in the right condition. There are so many people who believe that leaders are born but
people can easily develop leadership qualities by increasing their skills and knowledge.
Blake Theory
Blake theory is the smart grid model that can be used by the leaders and managers of the Mark
and Spencer in the application of leadership and management practices for the employees and the
organisation. There can be different leadership styles by which the evolution of leaders and
managers can be done. The points can be given to the leaders and managers of the Mark and
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