Evaluating Leadership and Management in Business Operations

This report analyzes the roles of leaders and managers in business operations, particularly within the context of Apple Inc. It differentiates between leadership and management, applying relevant theories like Fiedler's contingency theory, Hersey-Blanchard's situational model, and House's path-goal theory. The report assesses the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches and evaluates how leaders and managers can improve operational efficiencies to meet business objectives. It also examines the impact of the business environment on operational management and decision-making, concluding with an overview of the relationship between leadership and management in a contemporary business setting. Desklib is a platform where you can find more solved assignments and study resources.

Business Management and Operations
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Table of Contents
Introduction..............................................................................................................................................................3
LO1..........................................................................................................................................................................4
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 Analyze and differentiate between the role of a leader and function of a manager by effectively applying a
range of theories and concepts.................................................................................................................................5
D1 Critically examine the scope, development and growth of entrepreneurial ventures........................................5
LO2..........................................................................................................................................................................6
Apply the role of a leader and the function of manager in given contexts..............................................................6
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in different situational
contexts....................................................................................................................................................................6
M2 Assess the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to situations within the work environment......7
D1 Critically examine the scope, development and growth of entrepreneurial ventures........................................7
P3: Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems leadership and
contingency..............................................................................................................................................................8
M2: Assess the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to situations within the work environment.....9
D1: Critically examine the scope, development and growth of entrepreneurial ventures.....................................10
LO3........................................................................................................................................................................11
Demonstrate an appreciation of the role leaders and managers play in the operations function of an organization.
...............................................................................................................................................................................11
P4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and managers play.............11
P5 Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives.....................12
M3 Evaluate how leaders and managers can improve efficiencies of operational management to successfully
meet business objectives........................................................................................................................................12
D2 critically evaluate application of operations management and factors that impact on the wider business
environment...........................................................................................................................................................13
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LO4........................................................................................................................................................................14
Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between leadership and management in a Contemporary
business environment.............................................................................................................................................14
P6 Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational management and Decision-
making by leaders and managers...........................................................................................................................14
D2 critically evaluate application of operations management and factors that impact on the wider business
environment...........................................................................................................................................................15
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................................16
Reference list:........................................................................................................................................................17
Appendix:..............................................................................................................................................................19
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Introduction
In order to run an organization it is quite important to understand the role of a leader and a manager of a
business organization. Every business organization have their aims and objectives to achieve, for this reason
there are few factors which needs to be maintained in that organization. Whenever, the employees of the
organization have the proper motivation and inspiration to catch up with then they are able to work in a
systematic manner. This report states that the brand Apple generates one of the largest revenues in the market of
smart phones. However, it is considered as one of the niche brand that has a reach across the globe, but still the
brand is able to make its mark because of its good leader and management qualities. The founder of the brand is
Steve Jobs and he is known as one of the most motivating leaders towards the employees.
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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.
Definition
 Leader: The person who guides and leads a group of employees in order to achieve a selected goal of
the organization is called as leader. The medium of interpersonal communication or group
communication is mostly use to run this process. It is not necessary that it always need to be a group of
employees it can even be just a person.
 Manager: The definition of manager refers to a process in particular which states that a man is
managing a group of people through different process, in order to achieve the common goal of the
business organisation. The position of the manager includes different functions such as organising,
planning, motivating the employees and decision-making (Allen et al.,2017).
Characteristics
 Leader: A responsible leader should have various characteristics in order to run his business. In order
to give solutions to the business problems, research of the market and identify the areas of development.
An immediate attention in the sector those are collaboration with the needed companies, intact
communication, time management, team management, diplomacy in between the employees, guiding
and directing the employees.
 Manager: A manager has the characteristics like relevant skills of analysing the business skills, the
critical thoughts and situations of the organisation. The manager needs to strategise that, is proper
planning of the business, development of the business, identification of the interest and the preferred
segmentation of the stakeholders. The manager should also take care of planning, organizing the
enterprise, motivating and decision-making. Like the way Steve Jobs did (Grigsby et al., 2015).
Comparison between leader and manager
Leader Manager
The person who guides and leads a group of A manager has the characteristics like relevant skills
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employees in order to achieve a selected goal of the
organization is called as leader. As a leader, Steve
Jobs has come out with innovative ideas for the Apple
Inc and it has been seen that, the strategies applied for
the organization has given fruitful result in domestic as
well as in the international market.
of analysing the business skills, the critical thoughts
and situations of the organisation.
The medium of interpersonal communication or group
communication is mostly used to run this process.
Moreover, the managers of the Apple Inc, has come
out with in innovative strategies based on which they
can implement the ideas provided by Steve Jobs.
The manager can just serve a notice or a mail to let the
information reach to the employees. This strategy is
followed in the Apple Inc, in order to maintain
sustainability in the organization.
In the case of leadership one need to gain the trust of
the people, they are working with.
The manager is way more about the matter of
controlling, if the decision is accepted by the majority
of the organization agrees to a decision of
management, then the individual complaints do not
matter that much
A leader who has the relevant skills to run their team
will always guide and motivate their employees in
order to get the work done. The time management
skills, the visionary approach and the innovative IT
skills of Steve Jobs has been suitable for the company.
On the other hand, the managers look for the short
range of vision in the business (Bolden, 2016).
Managers of the Apple Inc, has managed to provide all
their efforts to motivate the employees and the reuse
the materials to cut down the production cost.
M1 Analyze and differentiate between the role of a leader and function of a manager by effectively
applying a range of theories and concepts.
Two types of leadership are applicable for the role of a leader and manager effectively in an organization, those
are Auto-critic leadership and another is transformational leadership.
Auto-critic leadership: In this kind of leadership, the management and the leader get to have the power to take
more of the decisions, the employees do not have that huge kind of involvement in that. The leader of the Apple
applied this kind of leadership for many times to achieve the targeted goal of Apple.
Transformational leadership: This type of leadership style states that the employees of the business
organization do have the freedom of decision suggesting to the organization, and there are certain cases where
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the organization even take the opinion of the employees. Steve Jobs used to think that this kind of freedom of
the employees is needed for the organization; this is why he applied this leadership to the organization as well.
D1 Critically examine the scope, development and growth of entrepreneurial ventures.
The scope and development of the entrepreneurial venture do have a scope to growth. in order to give the
business a new hike, research of the market and identify the areas of development. An immediate attention in
the sector those are collaboration with the needed companies, intact communication, time management, team
management, diplomacy in between the employees, guiding and directing them properly (Bolman and Deal,
2014).
LO2
Apply the role of a leader and the function of manager in given contexts.
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in different
situational contexts
The leader and the manager of an organization do have the capability to take the organization into a desired
direction of the goal. There are few of the theories, which help the organization to deal with the situational
contexts. Those are described below.
The theory of contingency of Fiedler
The theory of contingency of Fiedler, it states that different situational aspects demand different type of
leadership that is even applicable to the managers. Fiedler looked at under three basic elements. Those
elements are the structure of the task, the relation with the leaders; the power is positioned towards the needed
person properly or not. First of all there are a lot of situational context occurs because of the structure of the
task, if the task is properly structured then there is no point of problems, other than the employee relation
depends on the factor of environment of the work place. The brand Apple takes care of all this factors.
Hersey-Blanchard’s situational model
Hersey-Blanchard’s situational model depends upon the behavior of the task, relationship behavior and
maturity. There are different types of duties divided to each of the employees or sometimes in individual
groups. The task behavior includes different kind of things, which says what to do, how to do, when to do,
through which way to do, and the leader gets to be engaged in particularly one-way communication. In the
segment of the relationship behavior the communication becomes a two way process, because both the leader
and the employee is taking part in this conversation and the work is done in a smooth way. Maturity states that,
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when the employees themselves be responsible for the kind of work they are doing. This happens mostly when
the employees finish working in a organization for a long time (Burgoyne et al., 2014).
House’s path goal theory
House’s path goal theory states about different things such as it is highly oriented to achievement, directive,
supportive towards the employees, they can even take part in this, another thing which is included in this that is
the environment and the followers. It is very important to encourage the employees of the organization, to set a
standard goal in front of their eyes. After the permanent settlement of the goal they leader have to be directive
towards the organization. The fact that each of the employees should take part in the work and then supporting
the employees is one of the greatest things, in this way the work can be done in a better way possible. This
entire process can help the organization (Apple) to have good work environment and help to get new followers
(Montgomery, 2012).
M2 Assess the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to situations within the work
environment.
Weakness: Hersey-Blanchard’s situational model stats that the task behavior includes different kind of things,
which says what to do, how to do, when to do, through which way to do, and the leader gets to be engaged in
particularly one-way communication. The theory of contingency of Fiedler if the task is properly structured
then there is no point of problems, but if it is not then there is a probability of problem.
Strength: Those elements are the structure of the task, the relation with the leaders; the power is positioned
towards the needed person properly or not, is the major strength of the theory of contingency of Fiedler.
House’s path goal theory states about different things such as it is highly oriented to achievement, directive,
supportive towards the employees, they can even take part in this, another thing which is included in this that is
the environment and the followers (Certo, 2018).
D1 Critically examine the scope, development and growth of entrepreneurial ventures.
The scope and development of the entrepreneurial venture do have a scope to growth. In order to give the
business a new hike, research of the market and identify the areas of development. The task behavior includes
different kind of things, which says what to do, how to do, when to do, through which way to do, and the leader
gets to be engaged in particularly one-way communication. In the segment of the relationship behavior the
communication becomes a two way process, because both the leader and the employee is taking part in this
conversation and the work is done in a smooth way. It has the ability to bring the entrepreneurial venture.
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P3: Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency
Leadership can be defined as the quality of an individual where he or she has the ability to lead and guide. A
leader is one who has an optimistic and positive approach towards critical situations. A leader is also a source
of inspiration and motivation to the team members and employees (Krajewski et al., 2015).
There are various models and styles of leadership that can be evaluated and the models implemented and
followed by Apple are as follows:
Transactional leadership methodology is one of the few styles followed by Apple. In a transactional leadership
approach, the management presents a direct interactive structure on how the process is to be done. Here, the
management provides a blue print of the work and target that needs to be completed in a given span of time.
The idea of promotion, incentive and bonuses are introduced so that the employees of Apple can build a
competitive spirit so that the efficiency of the work increases. In a transactional leadership scheme, the idea is
transaction of effective work in return of incentives and promotions. It has been observed in case of Apple that
there has been a huge rise in the functioning and processes of the business after adoption of the transactional
scheme. Situational leadership scheme is a part of contingency scheme, which states that the leaders and
management of the organization introduces strategies and ideas that depend on the situation or state of the task.
Another model of leadership approach that Apple has incorporated in its system is the transformational
leadership scheme. Late Steve Jobs had incorporated the transformational style of leadership in the
organization. In a transformational organization, there is a translucent mode of communication among the
management and the employees. In this model the management and the concerned leaders aim to motivate and
support the team which leads to a better work environment and a efficient business output.
Autocratic leadership style is another model that the organization has adopted. However, this type of strategy is
appreciated in certain situations. In an autocratic leadership scheme the primary authority is in the hands of the
leaders and the management department. In this type of model, the members of the team have little or no
authority or function in the process of decision-making. The structure and decision is presented by the higher
authorities, in this kind of strategy the organization strictly sticks to the general rules and regulations and there
is no window for external suggestions and strategies (Heizer 2016).
M2: Assess the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to situations within the work
environment.
In an organization there is a huge section that is determined by the management and the leadership because it
the duty and function of the leaders and the management wing to focus and determine the business policies and
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scenarios. The leader provides assistance and support to the team members and employees of an organization.
However, there are certain situations that may arise where the leadership and the management plays a key role.
The different models and strategies that Apple has implemented have its own strengths and weakness.
Model of leadership Strength Weakness
Transactional leadership
scheme
In a transactional scheme of
leadership, the most important
factor is the increased efficiency
in the processes. In this scheme,
there is an idea of motivation in
the members because the
management provides a structured
target or goal and provides
incentives and promotions for the
employees (Smith et al., 2014).
An organization works on
commitment and creativity.
However, this kind of leadership
does not appreciate out of the box
ideas and creativity of the
employees.
Transformational leadership
scheme
In a transformational leadership
scheme there is a transparent
medium of communication among
the management and the members
and employees along with this
there is enthusiasm in the system.
In a transformational scheme of
leadership, the most necessary
parameter that reduces its
application is the huge difference
between the estimated structure
and the realistic figures. In this
type of leadership, there is
negligence from the authority in
case of details.
D1: Critically examine the scope, development and growth of entrepreneurial ventures
There has been a huge boom in terms if business growth and development for Apple after the organization has
installed certain changes in the management scheme. The founders of the organization Steve Jobs, Steve
Wozniak and Ron Wayne had implemented the transformational leadership theory. The theory suggests that
there needs to a translucent medium of communication among the executives, the management and the
employees. With the implementation of the transformational leadership theory there was a exponential increase
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in fresh ideas and strategies that were suggested by the employees. In the initial phase, Apple needed to
incorporate new and fresh ideas in the organization, which helped increase the efficiency of the business. With
change in time, there were certain changes in the system and transactional scheme of leadership was introduced
which resulted in an exponential increase in the business revenue because there was an increased spirit of
competition and efficiency in the work setting (Antonakis and Day, 2017).
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