An Analysis of Leadership and Management at Ford Motor Company

This report examines the crucial roles of leadership and management within Ford Motor Company. It differentiates between leaders and managers, highlighting their characteristics and responsibilities, and explores the application of leadership styles, including situational, systems, and contingency leadership, within the company. The report analyzes the functions of a manager according to Fayol's principles and provides examples of their implementation at Ford. It also explores the importance of management and leadership theories in enhancing operational efficiency, production quality, and overall business performance. The project aims to offer advice for improving administration in the workplace, covering concepts and approaches to operations management to ensure effective and efficient operations.

MANAGEMENT AND
OPERATIONS

INTRODUCTION
Management and operations are the two main fundamental strength elements in an
organization. This report will discuss the role of leadership and management in business firm,
along with differences between a leader and a manager, their traits and characteristics, functions
of a manager and role of a leader in an organizational context. It is prepared to understand the
role of managers and leaders in a company which helps in the improvement of production and
development of high quality products.
The project includes study on Ford Motor Company, an American multinational auto
manufacturer. Importance of theories of management and leadership styles has been explained
with reference to the operation's management of Ford. It will present advice to improve the
administration at workplace. In addition, the assignment covers concepts and approaches to
operations management and the role of ensuring efficient and effective operations by
management.
TASK 1
a) Differences and similarities between a leader and manager considering their roles and
characteristics Leader is an individual who influences, convinces, leads and commands a
group or team to follow for achieving a goal. Manager is a person who manages, controls,
administers and guides the activities or processes of a business organization. The common
thing or similarity between a leader and a manager are that they both are essential for the
successful working of a business. They both motivates the employees for the betterment of
the business.
In every organization, leadership and management have a major role in achieving goals
and objectives (Jacobs and et.al., 2014). Ford Motor Company has an immense workforce in
their organization and for managing they need effective leaders and better governance. The
leaders and managers perform various roles in the establishment.
Comparison between leader and manager with their roles and characteristics are as follows:
Leader Manager
He leads a team with innovative styles of
leadership, having particular mission and
He is the Soul of an organization who brings
operations in a systematized manner with their
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vision for an organization. management skills.
Leads the innovative workforce to execute the
strategies of management through masses of
the organization.
Manages the administrative unit which plans
and organizes the resources with an objective.
Leaders perform duties like motivating,
internal strategies for delivering work,
performance management, etc.
Their functions include planning, organizing,
directing, controlling, resource allocation,
achieving objectives etc.
They communicate and influence employees to
work as per policies.
Managers communicate policies to the leaders.
Leaders invent or innovate by bringing new
ideas to a forward thinking level by developing
fresh thoughts and strategies.
A manager organizes alongside maintaining
what is already established. They control
employees and workflow in an organization.
They take decisions for betterment of an
organization and it can be of high risk. They
have power to take any decisions without
anybody's consent.
Managers need to execute decisions taken up
by top-level management with supervision.
They are not free to take any decisions as it
may harm the organization.
Leader personality will influence team and
entire organization. Their attitude and actions
are helpful in achieving goals of a company.
The attitude and behaviour of a manager is
decent. Manager manages the daily operations
by bringing professional attribute in an
organization.
Leaders are enthusiastic and dominant in their
position.
Managers posses versatility and commitment to
the businesses.
The main role of a leader is to motivate the
employees.
Manager plays a crucial role of monitoring the
activities in the business organisation.
Major responsibility of a leader is to ensure
operational effectiveness by making the staff
work efficiently.
Manager has the main responsibility of
ensuring the business goals and objectives are
met.
Authority and power of a leader is the control Managers has the authority and power of all
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or influence of the employees in an
organization.
activities in a business organisation which
includes staffing, appointing, terminating etc.
b) Functions of a manager according to Fayol and how a manager performs these functions
The foundations for modern scientific management were laid down by Henry Fayol
(Alderton and Saieva., 2013). The primary concepts are underlying factors for a successful
management which is also known as principles of management.
Division of work- According to Henry Fayol, specialization promotes efficiency of manpower
thereby increasing productivity. When employees are specialized, outputs may increase as they
become skilled and efficient.
Authority and Responsibility- Management has the dominance to give orders to employees to
get things done in an organization. Incidental power or authority gives the right to assign duties
and responsibilities to the subordinates of Ford.
Discipline- This is about obedience and is often a part of core beliefs of a mission and vision in
form of good behaviour and respectful fundamental interaction.
Unity of command- It means that an employee or worker of Ford motor company should only
receive orders from only one superior and that the individual is answerable to that manage
(Ergun and et.al., 2010).
Unity of direction- Fayol's principles are all about focus and unity. It means all employees
present the same activities which can be joined to same objectives. In addition, all activities must
be carried out by one group that forms a team and these acts should be described in a plan of
action.
Subordination of individual interest- Personal interests is subordinate to the curiosity of an
organization as there is always all kinds of likes in a company. The focus is on the organizational
objectives rather than individual's regard.
Remuneration- Satisfaction of employees depends on fair wages. Ford company has two types
of remunerations such as Monetary or financial compensation and non-monetary or non-
financial.
Centralization- It shows how close employees are to the decision making process and is
important to aim for a proper balance. The degree of centralization is depended on the size and
volume of an organization.
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Scalar chain- This principle states that there must be a clear form in the area of authority from
top to bottom and at all levels.
Order- For the better performance and functioning of an organization, the employees of Ford
should have right resources at their conveyance (Heizer, 2016).
Equity- Employees must be always treated kindly and equally which means there should not be
any partiality. Managers of Ford are fair to their workforce by maintaining discipline and
keeping staff in right place hence making them do right things.
Stability of tenure or personnel- Human Resources Planning must be a priority as it represents
deployment and managing of personnel.
Initiative- Employees should be allowed to express new ideas and level of freedom to carry out
plans. Henry Fayol argued with this principle as these fresh thoughts encourage interest, involves
and creates value to the company.
Esprit de corps- This means organization should endeavour to promote unity and team spirit
(Kato, 2011).
Henri Fayol was a French engineer, worked in the mining company and he produced
principles of management in his book in 1916. In his book, he described five major functions or
principles of management that are discusses as below:
Planning is the primary function of a manger which deciding in advance the action needed for a
business. Manager of Ford Motor Company must plan their future activities to make the business
run smoothly. It is simple defines as looking ahead and according to the Fayol, better plan of
action is the hardest of the five functions of management. It leads to the organisational work.
Organizing is the management function of organising resources for a good working of an
organization. Ford Motor Company's manager should organize the staff for a better
organizational structure to increase production. In this function, a manager should organise all
his or her employees and manage their task so that they can achieve organisational goals and
objectives together.
Commanding is the process of giving orders to the subordinates and communicating with them
also encouraging taking initiatives. Manager of Ford Motor Company must give clear working
instructions to the staff which will make them know what exactly is to be done. In this function,
manager should give proper order or command to his or her subordinates. Every successful
managers always have integrity, communicate clearly and base their decisions on regular audits.
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Controlling is the management function of verifying whether all actions and plans are going
according to the plan formulated. Ford Motor Company's manager must establish certain
performance standards, measure or report these performances and take corrective preventive
actions. It is the process of make control over the employees so that they do work in well
disciplined manner and their productivity is also expanded. Controlling measure the
organisational work and provide report on actual performance. In this context, manager Establish
performance standards based on organizational objectives.
Coordinating is the process of motivating and bringing discipline within the employees through
communication and leadership. Manager of Ford Motor Company must achieve intended
objectives by making their staff's behaviour positive. This function describes the way in which
manager can do work with their supportive staff members with proper coordination. So for this
reason objectives at stimulating motivation and discipline within the group dynamics.
c) Situational leadership, Systems Leadership and Contingency Leadership
To improve operations and bring down cost of manufacturing, some functions of Ford‘s
management along with styles of leadership are applied to bring changes in their strategies and
policies. The leader's role has been explained with consideration to the functions of
establishment in context to the operational department. Description of types of leadership applied
to the company and the way these are combined with the management theories like
contemporary and classical leadership can be applied for better operations.
Situational leadership is an adaptive strategy which encourages leaders of Ford to take control
of team, measure variables in the workplace and chooses a leadership style which fits the best
with their goals and conditions. Leaders of Ford have the permission and freedom to change
management styles as they fit (Parsanezhad and Dimyadi, 2013).
There are certain stages of employee development in situational leadership which a company
uses they are:
Ford follows this type of leadership style due to the following reasons:
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Easy to use- as a right style is chosen by the leader they know its exact use.
Simple- Leader of Ford evaluates the situation and applies correct leadership style.
Spontaneous Appeal- Having the right leader for accurate problem solving makes quick
responses and quality leadership.
System leadership approach - Ford Company's leaders are enabled by the system leadership
which creates conditions where people at all levels can perform productively to their potential.
Principles of human behaviour for creating leadership, design of systems and process of society
are used in this style. It provides leaders of Ford with tools which help them in predicting
people's actions and to develop effective systems that may drive productive actions directing to a
more impressive realization of the company's purpose. The system leadership style can be
characterized by two distinct and interrelated attributes- Collaborative and Crossing boundaries.
Ford implements this style in the following ways:
 The way they analyse and think such as sharing vision by way of communicating
for the creation of quality and trust by managing and encouraging performance
(Song and Parola., 2015).
 Behaviours and actions such as processing capability by developing success
systems
 Way of relating with others like connecting services by adapting several standards
and approaches outside the company.
Contingency leadership theory focuses on various situations in which leaders can find
themselves. The primary idea is that different cases may demand various styles of leadership
which means the best leadership style is contingent on a situation. Ford Company uses this style
of leadership which is common between a leader and a situation. This style suggests that
successful leaders uses different styles of leadership according to the situation's nature and
followers. It also advises that no beset style of leadership exists.
The Situations can be characterized by assessing three factors which Ford uses are:
 Leader and social unit relations refer to the atmosphere of group, confidence
levels, loyalty and attraction of followers towards a leader.
 Task structure- refers to the degree of requirements of a task which are clearly
specified.
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 Power of the position means an authority which a leader has to reward or penalize
to their followers (Barratt and et.al., 2011).
TASK 2
1. Different approaches to operations management and identifying their use in Ford Motor
Company
Approaches
Application of various frameworks is the major focus of Ford motor company where the
aim is to have uninterrupted betterment in the process and lead business to success. The
organization is trying continuously to change functional beliefs through technology
transformation. Ford is also having attempts to control costs which assists them in the
advancement of financial opportunities. Management of cost technique has been adopted with
this respect. Tools as quality management has been employed which aid in ensuring quality
standards are maintained for long-term attainment of all opportunities.
Uses
Innovation, integration and inspiration are major beliefs which are promoted by the
management in recent times as these values may help in resolving workplace issues in a well
manner (Omansky, 2014). Innovation allows accepting challenges at workplace in the suitable
way to attain sustainability which assists the firm to success. Customer relationship management
can be improved which facilitates effective record keeping of client information. Ford also
focusing on advancement in allocation of resources. Labour and machine allocation as per the
need have also reinforced the total execution of business.
The Ford motor organisation has different types of approaches for their operation
management. In this context, these are describes as follows:
Just In Time is a management philosophy which is an inventory managing method where
materials, goods and labour are scheduled to arrive when needed in the production process. It is a
manufacturing production model in which items are created to meet demand.
Total Quality Management is a structured approach focused on processes to improve quality of
organization's outputs, goods and services. It concentrates on meeting customer needs and
organisational objectives.
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Kaizen or continuous improvement is a long term approach for achieving small changes in
processes with the aim of improving quality and efficiency. It focuses on production
improvement through change.
Six sigma - This is systematic approach of operation's management that describes as improving
process that use in data driven. It is useful for existing and new process and defines new
methodology. The main goal of this theory is to provide profits as much as possible by eliminate
all defects and variability of wastages. It is focuses on the clients and manage whole process of
flow. It also removes loss and non value added steps.
2. Role of a Store Manager
A store or retail manager is the ultimate person who is responsible for day-to-day
activities and operations of a store. All other workers or employees working in a store has to
report to the store manager. They manage overall functioning of the store like taking care of
operational activities and ensuring maximum profitability.
The roles and responsibilities of a store manager are defines as follows:
 Generation of sales- The store manager should meet monthly or yearly sales goals
depending on the firm's financial intervals (Subramanian and Ramanathan, 2012). This
may include sales goals, contests holding, offering sales promotions. They should
motivate team or workers under their authority to achieve a target which is fixed for the
store thereby setting an example for the subordinates to follow.
 Safety and security- They are responsible for the safety of all clients and staff in store
and may be required to hold meetings for safety.
 Division of responsibilities- Store manager may have several subordinates who may
have management level responsibilities like deputy managers or assistant managers.
 Training and development- They are responsible for hiring, providing training in some
cases and development of staff. Store manager may be liable for developing employees
so as the company may promote staff within and create future leaders.
In this context, store manager also do some other work that are discusses as below:
 Recruiting employees for the store
 General care and well being of the staff
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 Store manager should guarantee the enterprise is meeting its targets and earning profits
 Demonstration of store and advertising displays
 Managing the products, ordering, receiving, handling and returns
 Team developing, staff learning and improvement
 Understand customer service values
 Handling customer queries and issues
 Problem solving
3. Importance of operations management
Operations management is concerned with the production and controlling process and
business operations in the most efficient manner (Karlsson, 2010). It involves certain
responsibilities like ensuring trade operation efficiency and meeting the customer's requirements
to the highest standard economically.
Advancement in operations management process can be achieved by Ford Company with proper
application of certain key measures which in turn will make sure that the quality of production is
attained.
This is necessary to guarantee that leaders and managers are performing their roles and
responsibilities accurately. In addition, operations of Ford Company are mainly dependent on its
skilled manpower which makes them deliver the best and quality products to be offered in the
market. It can be seen that operation management permits Ford to gain strengths in diverse
factors which can be classified as Planning, Directing, Staffing, Controlling and Motivating
(Jacobs and et.al., 2014). So for this reason the importance of operation's management is
describes as below: Product selection and design - Production management is also called as operations
management which shows origins to manufacturing. This is the essential section for Ford
Company which assists them in leading business towards success level. Process selection and planning - Ford can achieve advancement in production capability
through an effective consideration of operations management. Invariable productions
increases with more intense managing of operations which may also helps in improving
or gaining competitive advantage over the competitors.
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 Maintenance and replacement – It helps to the company to ensure superior quality of the
goods which required minimum maintenance and replacement cost for the company.
 Cost reduction and control – Effective operation administration ensure minimum cost of
production and helps in to increase the sales of Ford Motor. If operation management
standards are maintained properly it improves smooth working and progress satisfaction
among the employees due to advanced quality of work.
4. Identifying and assessing the key outside factors that can have an effect on the operations
management
There are number of factors that affect the business environment of Ford. For long-term
development, it is necessary that the management understand factors which hinder their
operations.
Globalization- Other than this, market conditions can also be a reason which can affect the
overall business activities (Alderton and Saieva, 2013). Overcoming such kind of issues, the
management needs to improve the standards and take decisions to make sure that quality is being
advanced. If these values are not being taken care then it may affect the overall outcome and may
force firm to bring change in standards.
Economic Conditions- It is also considered as an important value which influences business
work conditions. If economic prospects are not stable then it will force the entity to reduce price
of their products and services so that the customers can afford such goods.
Operations management is the business practices used to create efficiency in the organization
and is concerned with designing, controlling production process also redesigning business
operations in the goods and services production.
Ford Motor company also affects from its internal and external environmental factors that
are describes as follows:
 External Environment Factors – In external factors it includes mainly six type of
factors that are as follows political, economical, social, technological, environmental, and
legal. There are any changes in these factors can also give their impact on business
activities and managers and leaders should awareness and focus on it.
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