Impact of Leadership and Management on Asda's Operations (Report)

This report delves into the realm of management and operations, specifically within the context of Asda, a prominent retail chain encompassing financial services and mobile phones. The analysis centers on the significant impact of leaders and managers on Asda's daily operations, emphasizing the crucial roles they play in driving growth and success. The report examines the functions of managers in planning, organizing, directing, monitoring, and evaluating operations, alongside the leadership roles in guiding, motivating, and reconciling goals. It explores situational contexts, such as Asda's transformation into financial services, and examines leadership theories like trait, behavioral, and contingency theories, as well as contemporary management approaches including systems, chaos, and contingency theories. Furthermore, the report discusses key approaches to operations management, including resource, financial, and goal setting, and the factors influencing operational decision-making. The content provides valuable insights into effective leadership and management practices within a dynamic business environment.

Management and operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK1.............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Roles and Characteristics of Leaders and Managers.............................................................3
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts with special reference to the Asda ...............................................5
P3 Theories and Models of approach, including situational leadership, systems leadership and
contingency and contemporary management approach. ............................................................6
TASK2.............................................................................................................................................7
P4 Key approaches to operations management and the role of leaders and managers .............7
P5 Importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives ............8
P6 Factors within the business environment that impact upon operational management and
decision-making by leaders and managers ...............................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Management and operations, it is an area of management that is concerned about the
designing, developing and monitoring of the day to day business operations. In the context of
Asda which is a retail chain and with that they are also dealing in variety of other products such
as financial services and mobile phones. The present report is based on knowing the impact of
leaders and managers on the day to day operations of Asda. It comprises of knowing the fact that
an organisation needs the support of managers and leaders for its growth and in this report we
will analyse and critically assess the fact about the contribution of both leaders and mangers in
making Asda a successful supermarket retail store and help in its other portfolios as well. They
have to manage the production of goods and services(Lindström, and et.al ., 2012). They both
have a huge responsibility on their shoulders about the decisions they make as if that decision
fails the whole production fails. So let's look upon the impacts that they have on the management
and operations of Asda.
TASK1
P1 Roles and Characteristics of Leaders and Managers.
Leadership and management skills are almost one and the same to many entities. As these
two have many similarities with slight difference that all leaders possess the qualities of
managers but all managers are not leaders. They both complement each other at the workplace.
Whereas the manager is appointed to plan , design, monitor and control the activities, while the
leader is there for encouraging and motivating employees so that they can work hard and extract
results from them.
Roles of managers of Asda in managing operations is to produce the right amount of
goods and services ,in appropriate time and maintain the right quality and see to it that it meets
the customers requirements. Their role comprises of:
 Plan: The foremost plan of a manager is to plan for achieving the targets which are
already set by the top level management. The managers of Asda after knowing the targets
plan the path on which they have to move further(Baboliand et.al. 2014). They assess the

strengths and weaknesses of their company and of competitors as well. They also assess
the worst case scenario possible and plan for that too. They make plans and then evaluate
them and see which plan will be best suited for Asda and plan the solutions also if in
worst case that doesn't works.
 Organize: The plan is ready and now it has to be implemented(Cruz Marques 2011.), and
for that things and resources has to be organised. He has to check that whether his team is
ready or the resources are ready or not.
 Direct: All the work has been allotted by the manager to workers and they are set in their
respective departments and now the managers direct them and they start the work.
 Monitor: Now that everything has come to the state of working , managers here need to
keep an eye on everything which is going on and they monitor the tasks closely.
 Evaluate: Now the evaluation part comes when he assess that whatever is going , is it
worth it?
Roles of leaders are :
 Presence Required: Leaders are the essential part of the entity, in Asda they are required
everywhere be it the top management lower level management or middle level
management.
 Reconcile Goals: The leader is the person who is attached to the workers of the
organisation. He is the mediator between the management and the workers. He reconciles
the goals of the Asda with the personal goals of the workers and make them achieve both.
 Guide: The leaders of Asda works as mentors guide and philosopher to the workers.
They motivate them in achieving the goals(Chenand et.al2010).
Characteristics of leaders and managers are :
 Focus: Leaders does not major in minor things. They focus on interpersonal
relationships. Managers focus on getting the work done they have the hierarchial
relationship.
 Transparency: Leaders are very transparent with their followers while managers may6
hide certain things as they may be some confidential thing that tyhey have to hide from
the workers.

P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a
manager apply in different situational contexts with special reference
to the Asda
When Asda decided to diverse their operations from retail store to financial services and
mobile phones, they goes under the transformation that many of the employees resisted as it was
huge to shift and adopt a new change(Casolinoand et.al 2012). Transformation is something
which is a specific kind of change. Transformations is known to be the driver of the Asda's
success , they transformed and it gave their business a competitive advantage over others.
Transformations are complex they do have certainty. Transformations are generally more radical
and they are huge in magnitude.
The leaders and managers has the responsibility to convince people in favour of the
transformation. Because the decision of transformation is taken by the top level management and
these two are the persons who need to manage the workforce and make them able to work with
the motivation and dedication. The role and functions of managers and leaders are as follows:
 Issues to Manage: The issues that they(leaders and managers of Asda) face is that the
employees are emotionally attached and with the technical aspects. They have to focus on
the technicalities that includes having adequate systems, structured hierarchy, process and
rewards and remunerations in place(Chenand et.al, 2011), so that they are adoptable in
the new environment and that work system supports them, motivates them and help
people sustain in the transformational scenario.
 Shapers: Leaders and managers are tend to control everything and so that everything
goes according to the plan but the changes are meant to happen , so as the change has
arose and in the context of Asda transformation has arisen they both need to function
together so as to shape the employees for this new and better opportunity.
 Enablers: The leaders and managers of the cited organisation has adopted a way in
which they do change with people rather than doing change to them. For this they create
conditions that makes them grown in the transformation process and energise people so
that they remain motivated.
 Symbolic Actions: Management needs to take symbolic actions as to how to act in these
transformation issues and behave accordingly(Nakayama,BucksEds.2012). They then

have to support and encourage the behaviour of employee who are doing the exactly the
same and acting in ways appropriate in transformation.
P3 Theories and Models of approach, including situational leadership,
systems leadership and contingency and contemporary management
approach.
For the smooth running of the Asda there are certain theories and
approaches that are followed by the leaders and managers. There is no fix
formula of becoming a successful leader or manager they just need to find
the approach that fits in their situation and follow that.
Theories of leadership are as follows:
 Trait Theories: Traits are the characteristics that an individual
possess such as empathy, assertiveness, integrity, likeability etc.,. this
theory assumes that the leaders are born with all of these traits and
just needed to be brush up(Moghaddamand et.al 2011) , traits are
behaviours that happen because of the external factors that are
happening in our minds. These are based on the things and
characteristics you possess and can use them in your leadership style
and in leading others, as it helps in tackling the situations and people.
 Behavioural Theory: This theory tells about how the leaders behave. It focuses on their
behaviours, and aacording to it leaders of Asda are also divided in three categories. Some
are autocratic , some are democratic and others are laissez faire leaders .
▪ Autocratic : They take decisions by themselves like in Asda the decision of
transformation is not taken after discussing it with everyone, these types of
decisions are imposed on employees and are helpful when instant decisions are
needed to be taken.
▪ Democratic: these type of leaders are those who takes the input from the
employees and take decision accordingly(White,2016). This is required when the
agreement of team is necessary but is very difficult to manage when conflicts of
ideas arises.

▪ Laissez Faire Leaders: this style is adopted when the leaders don't need to
supervise much and the team is self sufficient in managing the work and is self
motivated.
 Contingency Theory: This theory is most commonly adopted in Asda as they modify
themselves according to the situations they face. They transform themselves as the
situations arises(Chenet.al2010).
Contemporary theories of management are:
 System Theory: In this theory managers works in a system. They have proper structured
system to accomplish goals and objectives.
 Chaos Theory: It often refers to as the lack of system in an entity , lack of obeying of
orders, it further when continued makes a big chaotic issue(Kang 2010).
 Contingency Theory: It works in management also, there are managers who work
according to the situations and instantly change their behaviour and way of working.
 Theory X And Theory Y: These two theories has different beliefs, the one who thoughts
that the workers lack self motivation and ambition and are motivated from the incentives
they get follow theory X , and workers who are naturally motivated by their work follows
theory Y. theory X follows autocratic leadership style an d the one who falls into theory
Y believes in participative style.
TASK2
P4 Key approaches to operations management and the role of leaders and managers
Operations management refers to the management of operation of an enterprise so that
their business operates smoothly Operation management includes activities of managing raw
material , labour(Bouvyand et.al , 2012), resources that are converted into goods and services.
Role that leaders and managers play in management of operations are that :
 Resource Management: role of the operation manager is to manage al the things that are
required in managing daily operations of Asda like managing raw material and
employees, they have top check whether they have sufficient inventory or not, proper
supply and purchasing is managed by them.

 Financial Management: The leaders and key managers has to work together in keeping
the control over the budgets and costs , so as the costs of Asda remains on track
financially. They both manage the supply chain and all the other resources that helps in
minimising cost of production.
 Goal Setting: The manager of operations set the goals and targets for every worker to
achieve in various departments. They also forecast sales and plan sales promotions with
the help of other departments.
 Communications: They need good communication skills as they have to maintain
relations with everyone , from the top level to the lower level management. Leaders have
to resolve the conflicts among the employees.
 Quality: Managers and leaders of Asda has maintained quality in their operations and
products and services and leaders motivate them to do quality work and attain objectives.
 Realistic: They not only deliver the orders and harsh facts but they listen to the
employees as well as to empower them. Thoughtful and constructive feedbacks are
provided by them.
By fulfilling their roles and applying to the approaches of management the leaders and managers
of cited entity gets success and this success ultimately contribute to the success of organisation.
The system approaches to management motivates them to work in a proper system and follow
structural hierarchy and avoid chaos. However the system model needs to be expanded and
nourished into a approach that converts various inputs through planning, organizing, staffing,
leading and controlling(HandschinPetroianu2012). System is known to be an interactive medium
between its business and the outside world. The approach of work process is familiar to
managers . It works on the principle of maintaining quality and re-engineering. The need on
which they focus are to improve quality process , minimisation of costs, reducing lead time of
supplies of Asda as they need products every time in their store.
P5 Importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives
Operations management plays a very important role in making Asda successful and
diversify further, it has helped a lot in its transformation, without operational management no
business organisation can achieve its objectives. Operations management comprises of
designing, operation and monitoring of the transformation process that helps in conversion of
raw materials into goods and services that are further processed and sold to customers.

Operations management plays a crucial part in achieving organisational strategies and goals and
establish and maintain leadership at a global level. The operations management is important as it
plays the role in Asda as they move towards managing the operations in supply chain , through
that the entire working of the organisation adds value at every step(MohammadiSoleymani,
Mozafari2014) . It begins with raw materials moves in work in progress and ends with the
finished goods. The importance and value of operations management in Asda's transformation is
that:
 It embrace both services and manufacturing.
 Maintains productivity which leads to development of economical growth and
development of employees
 It plays a important strategic role in achieving competitive success .
 In service industry operations management work starts from understanding of customers
needs fulfilling it and then getting their feedback
 They help in meeting the customer demands all the time.
It adds value to Asda as it helps in reduction of excess wastage, productivity is increased by them
and resources are managed as the cost is controlled . They even keep a check on the warehouses
that they are properly arranged and managed accordingly. The business objectives of the cited
enterprise is to achieve efficiency and effectiveness in its various projects. The transformation
they did was a of huge magnitude the value it gives to the business is no doubt huge but they
have a problem in managing the employees and they did manage it with the help of their leaders
and managers, they both helped the organisation achieved their targets and managed the
employees with their skills, tactics, and patience(NiknamMeymandMojarrad2011). The way that
the leader motivated their employees was by fulfilling their roles as:
 By creating organisational strategies and objectives and motivates employees in
achieving them.
 Create optimism and make employees committed towards their work.
 By Empowering people
 They help them in understanding the need of transformation.
Value that is added by the operational managers is due to the following tasks they performed:
 Set Objectives: He has set the objectives that an employee needs to achieve. That
objective was to achieve success in transformation.

 Organize : The set objectives are then need to be organized. The tasks should be given
according to their calibre.
 Motivate : Managers in this case has motivated employees a lot for accepting the
transformation that has taken place.
 Set targets: Targets are set and they are constantly monitored so as to keep a check on
the organisation that they are moving in the right direction.
P6 Factors within the business environment that impact upon operational management and
decision-making by leaders and managers
There are various factors that have their impact on the decision making and operational
management and these are :
 Perception issues: Different persons perceived things differently. It depends on their trait
how their thought process is.
 Organisational issues: The decisions of managers depends upon the issues that are
running in the organisation. If there is some sensitive issue then there decision might be
impacted.
 Environmental issues: Environmental concerns like the societal issues , pollution control
etc. are needed to be taken care of.
Perception issues: these are the ways in which one interprets the situation around them. These
are impacted by :
 Perceiver: The state of mind of the perceiver impacts the decisions. Whether he is in good
mood or bad affects its decisions.
 Object: The decision depends on the object as about what decision has to be taken
 Situation: The situation that arises(NiknamMeymand,Nayeripour2010), decisions are
impacted because of them also. Decisions change according to the circumstances.
Organisational Issues : employee in the organisation may face several issue and these are
generally :
 Procedures and policies: The procedural policies of the organisation affect the decisions
of managers and leaders as they are bound by these procedures.
 Office politics: office politics sometimes influence the decisions.
 Hierarchy of organisation: immediate bosses sometimes affect the decision of maangers
and leaders.

Environmental Issues : these are the issues of external factors which organisation have no
control on and these are:
 Market conditions: whether the market is bullish or bearish affects the decision.
 Government policies: how liberal the government policies is and how much liberty they
allow to the business.
 Economic conditions: the economic growth and development plays a major role in
decision-making.
The factors that have impact on operational decisions by leader and managers are:
 Work Process : every manager's task is to assign and allot work such as it gets completed
and in cost efficient manner.
 Employee Training : Trainings must be provided in a timely manner to update the
employees of the company(NakayamaBucks,2012). Whenever the new technology or
software has been updated , employees must e trained for that.
 Scheduling : managers are tend to create proper schedule for the employees, like how
many hours they need to work for, what will be their routine, etc., it also includes
coordinating with other departments for scheduled pick ups and distribution.
CONCLUSION
As per the above report the managers and leaders have shown huge impact on the
management and operations. They have shown immense efforts in managing the operations of
Asda. They have followed various approaches and theories of leadership and management and
achieved success in making people believe in the transformation process of the cited entity. Their
contribution is remarkable.

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