Detailed Analysis of Leadership and Operations Management at M&S

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and operations management within Marks & Spencer (M&S). It begins by comparing the roles and responsibilities of leaders and managers, highlighting their distinct functions and how they apply in various situations, including conflict resolution and employee motivation. The report then delves into the application of different leadership theories and models, such as situational and contingency leadership, to the M&S context. Furthermore, it explores key approaches to operations management, including the Six Sigma methodology, and assesses the value of operations management in achieving business objectives. Finally, the report examines the impact of internal and external factors on operations management and decision-making within M&S, offering insights into how these factors influence the company's ability to meet its goals. The analysis covers aspects such as employee turnover, market share fluctuations, and customer satisfaction, providing a well-rounded perspective on the company's management strategies.

Management and Operations

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1. Comparison between the roles and responsibilities of leader and manager.........................1
P2. How the role and functions can be applied in different situations........................................1
P3. Application of different theories and models of approach....................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................1
P4. Key approaches to operations management..........................................................................1
P5. Value of operations management in achieving objectives....................................................1
P6. Assessment of factors and its impact on operations management........................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................1
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION
Management is considered as a process of different activities that includes some sort of
strategies in an organisation that can help the specific company in achieving all the objectives
and goals in a faster time (Han and Jekel, 2011). In short, it can be termed as a way of achieving
all the targets and goals of a company by satisfying a huge number of customers and thus,
gaining maximized rate of profits. Operations management is considered as that area of
management in which a proper designing and the management procedure is being done for the
servicing of all the products and operations. The report is about analysing the role of leader and
managing different aspects in M&S. also, it includes the influence of operations management
and decision making in achieving the business objectives of M&S.
TASK 1
P1. Comparison between the roles and responsibilities of leader and manager
A leader is considered as a person that is capable enough of standing on a superior position
and also capable of controlling all the processes and people under them. A manager is a person
who controls and manages the whole administration or a team of people. Both the parties and
their own roles and responsibilities and are discussed as under :
LEADER
 One of the basic role of a leader is that it helps in setting a clear vision. It means
that a leader helps in influencing all the members about the company (Bolman
and Deal, 2017). As in M&S, a leader helps in making all the employees
understand about the processes and the current condition of the company so that
they all can stay aware of all the undergoing processes of the company because by
this way they can stay focused towards attaining the targets.
 Also, a good leader knows very well how to manage in any conflict situation as in
M&S when they observed a fall in employees, they start providing some sort of
increments and incentives to the employees as a sort of motivation so that they
can stay happy with the company and stay focused towards the work (Zhang,
Wang and Shi, 2012). This factor has helped in making M&S in achieving all the
targets and goals in a faster time.
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 Also, a good leader knows that providing some sort of motivation is very
important because it helps the employees in staying focused towards the work,
with the help of which the company can be able to gain all its goals and targets.
 guiding the employees and making them correct at the time of issues and
problems is another important feature of a leader as the employees are also
normal people and they can also do mistakes, so at the time of such issue, a good
leader instead of terminating them, guides them to a correct path so that they
cannot repeat the same mistake again and work focused. Mistakes are also a part
of life, so a good leader avoids when possible and provide efficient training to
them so that they can realise where they are wrong and try not to repeat it.
MANAGER
 A manager is a person who is responsible for planning the directions and
overview of the specific task. Like in M&S, the manager plans the whole
scenario of any new project. So, before the implementation of that specific
project, a manager completes investigating about different ways etc. so that
according to all that, they can decide and plan the new structure.
 After a proper planning, the responsibility of manager is to direct. It means
giving proper directions and guidelines to all the employees and staff
members (Thiel and et.al., 2012). It is a very important procedure because on
the basis of those directions, the team continues which further decides the
results and objectives of the company.
 Controlling quality is another important factor of a manager because it is not
about giving directions and planning, but about checking whether the
processes are going according to the plan or not and how much successful
they are going so that it can help M&S in achieving all the targets and goals.
 These all steps are essential because after monitoring all this, a manager takes
proper feedbacks from the customers to check whether they are satisfied with
the product or not. If any customer faces some issue with the products or
services, then M&S focuses on resolving the issue as soon as possible so that
all of its customers can stay happy and satisfied with the company (Smith,
2014).
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P2. How the role and functions can be applied in different situations
There are many types of situations occur in any company, like in M&S as well, the
company has to face various different situations such as some conflicts happen, employee
turnover etc. a very well known and common example is employee turnover. Like before some
time, it has been observed that the company had to face employee turnover which affected the
company to a huge extent (Groves and LaRocca, 2011). At that time, the company was left with
a very few of its employees, so it became quite tough for the company to manage all its
operations. At that time, the leaders of M&S provided some sort of increments and incentives to
the employees just because the left over employees of the company can stay happy because it
was the only way to make them focused towards the work. So, at such times, it is very important
to manage the situation and a good leader is one who is capable of managing any conflicting
situation. The same way, when the market shares of M&S got down, it was also a very
challenging situation for the company. So, at that time it was very important to mage the whole
situation. The managers at the M&S managed by making improvements in their work, thus they
were able to satisfy the customers which further helped in increasing the number of customers as
well as market shares.
P3. Application of different theories and models of approach
There are various theories that can be applied in M&S for effective and better results. Some of
these theories are discussed as under :
Situational leadership
The model of situational leadership considers the fact that in M&S, whenever some
situation arises when the leader or manager of the company tries to fit in the level of the
employees so that the company can achieve its higher targets and goals. it considers two main
aspects which involves the leadership style and the performance level of the employees so in
this, the leaders and managers goes to the level of the employees so that they can guide them in
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their own way so that they can be able to understand the processes efficiently and also can
further be helpful for the company.
System’s leadership
System’s leadership model attains three basic concepts for making any improvements in
M&S. The first aspect is that they try to develop a equality in the employees to view a
larger system which means that taking the processes and concepts in a way that they can
achieve much in M&S, there are various things that they can achieve in this company.
another is how systematically should all employees must work so that they can be able to
understand the requirements of the company and also where the company is lacking so
that in areas, where the company may be lacking, the employees can resolve it as soon as
possible so that no customers can get disappointed (Anantatmula, 2010).
Contingency leadership
The theory says that there cannot be any way that can lead M&S to achieve the success
and innovation. it says the actual action is somewhere dependent on the external and internal
situation of the company (Han and Jekel, 2011). It means that internally, how much there is
cooperation between the employees, how much they all are focused and externally, how much
percent, they are able to satisfy their customers etc. so this can also be considered in M&S so that
it can help in understanding the importance of customer satisfaction, thus they can be able to
focus on it more efficiently and appropriately.
TASK 2
P4. Key approaches to operations management
There are various approaches to operation management that M&S can use for getting better
and efficient results. Also leaders and managers have an essential role in it. All these
approaches are discussed as under:
Six sigma
It is considered as an approach which has its focus on he quality. it involves the control
limits. With the help of this approach, M&S has every step properly defined and
sequenced in a way that they can directly targets the main factors such as financial
aspects, increasing productivity etc. there are various tools in this approach as well which
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the M&S can make use of and these involve potential defect calculations, all the ratios
and all trending charts as well (Gao, Janssen and Shi, 2011).
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Operations management is considered as an area that deals with the designing and
management of all the processes including the production as well as any modification
required in any service or product so that all the operations of the company can stay good
and efficient.
P5. Value of operations management in achieving objectives
Operations management is considered to be a very important role for managing and unning M&S
and its operations. it is actually considered with the production process of M&S which
involves all the processes and services M&S provides to its customers. the main agenda
of operations management is that all the operations of M&S can run smoothly and
efficiently so that it can be able to run all its processes and services very smoothly and in
a way that it seems capable enough of attaining all the targets of the company such as
gaining a huge number of customers, maximized rate of profits etc. all the processes and
its organisation is being done in the operations management, so operations management
will be responsible for that (Zhang, Wang and Shi, 2012). It also acts as a very crucial
and important factor which can help in maximizing the rate of profits f a company so that
the company can reach at higher conclusions and also can attain a great number of
satisfied customers. When more the customers are satisfied, it can help the company in
gaining a huge popularity as well. A higher number of satisfied customers mean the
business is going good enough and is on the right path as well.
P6. Assessment of factors and its impact on operations management
There are two types of factors, internal as well as eternal that has an impact upon the
objectives of M&S. both of these factors along with the decision making is discussed as
under :
 The internal factors of M&S consists all its internal operations such as its
management, production etc. there is a relationship between internal factors and the
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achievement of business objectives and it is that if the production and management
of M&S will go efficient, it will automatically help the company in achieving its
targets and goals. Also, can help M&S in gaining a huge number of customers.
The external factors of M&S are the factors outside the company. marketing and operations can
be considered as well known examples of M&S that can help the company in achieving
higher targets as if the operations and marketing will be going better, it will attract more
and more customers so that the company will also be able o achieve its goals and that too
in a faster time (Kim and Brymer, 2011).
 Decision making by leaders and managers also play an important role as both the
parties should involve all the employees in the decision making process because
employees are an important part of the company and by this way, they will also
consider the fact that they are important for the company, thus, it helps in staying
them focused towards the work more efficient which can further help M&S in
achieving all the business objectives.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the report that managers and leaders have their specific roles in
M&S. There are various theories of leadership as well which can be adopted by M&S for
achieving effective objectives that can take the company at higher levels. Operations
management also play a very important role and along with a better decision making can
also help the company in attaining all its targets and goals to a higher level as involvement
of all the employees in the decision making is considered as a very important tool that can
also help in making the relations better within M&S.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Anantatmula, V. S., 2010. Project manager leadership role in improving project
performance. Engineering Management Journal. 22(1). pp.13-22.
Bolman, L. G. and Deal, T. E., 2017. Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership.
John Wiley & Sons.
Gao, L., Janssen, O. and Shi, K., 2011. Leader trust and employee voice: The moderating role of
empowering leader behaviors. The Leadership Quarterly. 22(4). pp.787-798.
Groves, K. S. and LaRocca, M. A., 2011. An empirical study of leader ethical values,
transformational and transactional leadership, and follower attitudes toward corporate
social responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics. 103(4). pp.511-528.
Han, G. H. and Jekel, M., 2011. The mediating role of job satisfaction between leader‐member
exchange and turnover intentions. Journal of nursing management. 19(1). pp.41-49.
Hill, A. and Hill, T., 2012. Operations management. Palgrave Macmillan.
Kim, W. G. and Brymer, R. A., 2011. The effects of ethical leadership on manager job
satisfaction, commitment, behavioral outcomes, and firm performance. International
Journal of Hospitality Management. 30(4). pp.1020-1026.
Kim, W. G. and Brymer, R. A., 2011. The effects of ethical leadership on manager job
satisfaction, commitment, behavioral outcomes, and firm performance. International
Journal of Hospitality Management. 30(4). pp.1020-1026.
Smith, W. K., 2014. Dynamic decision making: A model of senior leaders managing strategic
paradoxes. Academy of Management Journal. 57(6). pp.1592-1623.
Thiel, C. E. and et.al., 2012. Leader ethical decision-making in organizations: Strategies for
sensemaking. Journal of Business Ethics. 107(1). pp.49-64.
Zhang, Z., Wang, M. O. and Shi, J., 2012. Leader-follower congruence in proactive personality
and work outcomes: The mediating role of leader-member exchange. Academy of
Management Journal. 55(1). pp.111-130.
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