Comparing Leadership and Management Roles in M&S Operations

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and management roles within Marks & Spencer (M&S). It begins by differentiating between the roles of leaders and managers, highlighting their responsibilities in guiding and supporting staff, creating plans, and executing policies. The rep...Read More

Management & Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................1
P.1 Difference between role of leader and functions of manager .........................................1
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................2
P.2 Role of leaders and functions of manager in different situations.....................................2
TASK 3 ...........................................................................................................................................4
P.4 Key approaches to operation's management and role of leaders and managers in decision
making ...................................................................................................................................4
P5. Importance and value of operational management..........................................................6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
P.6 Factors within business environment which impact operational management and decision
making of leaders and managers ...........................................................................................7
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Every company has to manage all the activities and operations in a better and effective
manner. Thus firm has to carefully monitor all the operations and task of the company so that
they can run effectively and efficiently. Thus as a result company can easily operate all their
activities properly (Ellis, and et. al. 2015). It leads to success and growth of firm. Thus they can
easily expand their operations and task in minimum time. Assignment describes abut the Marks
and Spencer which is a retail firm. It was established in U.K. It also explains about the difference
between role of leader and functions of manager. It also explains about the role of leader and
functions of manager in the company. It also describes about the role of leaders and managers in
operations function in the organization. Assignment also explains about the relationship of
leadership and management in the business environment.
TASK 1
P.1 Difference between role of leader and functions of manager
Manager creates long term plans and policies and leaders generally guide and support all
workers. Both are crucial in company so that all activities and tasks can run smoothly and
effectively. Thus they play different role in the company. Below is the role of leader in M & S
are described below:
Show path: Leaders play a different role in the organization as they show correct path to
all staff members. Managers creates various plans and policies while leader provides direction to
staff members. Through this company can easily perform their activities. For example Leader
give direction to staff members so that they can easily create products in better manner. Thus
they create and deliver all retail products according to preferences of all customers. Thus firm
can run smoothly.
Identify qualities in a person: Steve Rowe determines the qualities of all persons and
thus motivates them. This is very important so that staff members can easily perform tasks. Thus
leader identifies qualities of all person and thus create a training programme according to all
needs and wants of workers. Thus appropriate training is given to staff members and hence they
can easily motivate all workers. Hence all staff members ca give good results. Thus they can
easily earn more revenues (Zhang, Wang and Shi, 2012).
Role of managers: Managers play a different role in creating of plans and policies. Role
of managers are:
1

Execution of policies: Managers can also execute all plans and policies in the company.
Thus they execute all plans and policies (Chiu, Balkundi and Weinberg, 2017). This is important
so that company can easily accomplish the objectives. For example manager has create a policy
to use Six Sigma in organization so that there is no wastage in the firm. This policy is executed
by the company. Thus all activities can run in a proper and efficient manner. Hence firm can earn
more revenues.
Monitoring: In this step company tries to evaluate all activities and task which are
performed by all staff members. Thus as a result they can easily all activities and operations in
the firm. For example company's manager can easily monitor that whether the company can
achieve the objectives or goals. Thus all tasks can run in their proper manner. Thus they can
modify their processes and activities if staff members do not perform their tasks in proper
manner.
Difference between manager and leader
Leader Manager
Leaders our more focus on all activities and
tasks related to future
They our emphasis on all present activities and
operations
They motivate all staff members so that they
can perform well
Manager can easily performs activities which
are linked to purpose of administration
Leader's role is important when firm has to
make various changes.
Manager plays a different and unique roles in
reducing the problems and other complexities
in all activities and operations.
Leader generally set a long term objective. Managers create various tactics so that they
can achieve the objectives
TASK 2
P.2 Role of leaders and functions of manager in different situations
Company plays a different role in creating various products. Both leaders and managers
play a different role various situations. Hence as a result they can easily establish all activities
2

and operations in an effective and efficient manner (Khlat and et. al., 2016). Thus role of leader
and functions of managers in various situations in M & S are described below:
Decision making
Leader's role: Leader plays a different role in the company. They can easily enhance
their market share by creating various strategies (Mendis, Muttaqi and Perera, 2014). Thus they
can easily implement the Six sigma technique and thus they can easily reduce the wastage in the
company. Through this they can directly increase their profits and can enhance the market share.
Leaders take decision to manage all activities and task in a better and effective manner. They
had taken a decision to reduce the defects in the process and methods. Thus as a result they can
easily improve the quality of process and methods. Thus they can easily enhance their profits and
can enhance the market share.
Manager's function: Management of company decides to create effective and efficient
plans so that they can easily be executed in a better manner. Managers role is to create strategies
and plans so that they can organize training seminars and thus they can easily provide training to
all staff members. Thus as a result they can easily provide training to workers. They have a duty
to solve all issues and problems regarding any product or items. Thus as a result they can easily
earn more revenues and thus they can easily enhance the market share. This helps in expansion
of all actions and operations in a unique manner.
Risk taking
Leader's role: Leader plays a different and unique roles so that they can take risk and
thus they can easily solve all problems and issues. For example leader can take huge risk in the
industry and thus as a result they can perform all activities and tasks in better and effective
manner. They can take risks that they have to give employment to poor people also (Chan and
Mak, 2012). Thus they recruit and select staff members who belong to poor family and this is a
huge risk that company had faced. Thus as a result they can easily enhance the market share and
can earn more revenues.
Manager's function: Manager plays a different role in the company. Thus as a result
they can easily create various strategies so that they can easily generate more revenues. For
example M & S can administer the whole system and thus creates six sigma so that they cannot
3

face any issues and problems. Through this they can reduce the problems and issues in company
(Nakamura, and et. al. 2015).
P.3 Leadership models and theories
There are various leadership models and theories so that they can create a unique position
in the market (Pelley and Alcatel-Lucent, 2015). Thus as a result they can easily maintain good
and strong position in market. Leadership models helps in guiding and supporting all staff
members so that they do not face any issues and problems. Leadership models used in M & S
are:
Situational: In this leader can change their style according to different circumstances.
Thus as a result they can easily handle every situation. For example company's sales is not
increasing and thus it results in less profits. Thus leader has taken a decision that they have to
give appropriate training to all staff members so that they can get appropriate training. Thus as a
result they can easily enhance their sales in limited time and they can also earn more profits. M
& S can easily adopt every situation in an effective and efficient manner (Luo and Liu, 2014).
Through this they can easily diversify their activities and operations in better and effective
manner.
Systematic leadership: In this leadership theory and model, company can easily link all
components with each other. Thus as a result they can easily find the issues and problems. Hence
as a result they have to maintain proper coordination and cooperation among all activities. For
example if staff members are not satisfied with company's salary an their process then they have
to prove appropriate training to all staff members so that they can provide effective training to all
staff members (Steinert, Naismith and Mann, 2012). Thus if workers get appropriate training
then they can easily perform better and can give good and superior results. Hence as a result all
components are easily related to each other.
Contingency approach: In this approach company cannot use a single method which can
be applied in every situation (Pingili and et. al., 2014). For example there is a situation when
employee technical skills are required then company cannot follow a singe method to provide
training. But they have to use on the job as well as off the the job training method to provide
training to all staff members.
4

TASK 3
P.4 Key approaches to operation's management and role of leaders and managers in decision
making
As there are many activity which are required to be performed by workers of M&S which
is effective for achieving targets (Zakariazadeh, Jadid and Siano, 2015). This is important to
know which activities has to be performed at what time and by whom. Through operations
management activities are analysed as per market and then actions are taken. Managers of M&S
uses following approaches to utilise resources in optimal way.
Total Quality management- This is one of the important approach which is important to
maintain quality of product,. It s essential to know what can is demand of consumer and
accordingly quality must also be taken care. To make good image in market it is essential to take
care of quality of product M&S serve.
Six Sigma- This is Japanese techniques which gibes emphasise on improving quality of
product as well as enhancing feature too. As there are modification which are taking place in
fashionable market very frequently (De Mast and Lokkerbol, 2012). So M&S has to work as per
demand of customers. This helps to make good image and create loyalty among customers.
Continuous improvement- Improvement is the part changes can be done in working
style. It is essential to know what can be done through which improvement in product can be
done. This helps to satisfy and retain customer. Feature of product can be improved with the help
of interference of managers. They keep analysing market and take actions to make changes.
Lean Production- Production is the task which must be performed according to demand.
This helps to reduce cost of production and provide latest and trendy clothes to customer (Hofer,
Eroglu and Hofer, 2012). The effect of lean production on financial performance: The mediating
role of inventory leanness. International Journal of Production Economics, 138(2), pp.242-253.).
This can be done through proper planning and creating relations wit various other department
such as sales, marketing, etc.
Just in time- Planning is one of the important role according to which changes can be
done through which activities are performed in proper manner. This helps to work according to
demand and product are ready on time. It is important to plan resources through which they are
5

available on time. In festive season this technique is very beneficial for providing satisfaction to
customers.
Queuing- Queuing is the technique which says that there is interrelation between
activities of M&S. This technique emphasise on creating good relations between various
departments so there will not distraction in working and it helps to reduce cost and time.
Major roles played by managers and leaders are as under-
Planning- Planning is main role of managers through which change in roles and
responsibilities of workers. It is important to work according to available resources. This is
important so further activities can be performed properly (Zhang and et. al., 2014).
Managing- There are various activities which has to be performed by managers and
leaders. So they must plan policies in way through which activities gets managed and this helps
to satisfy customers.
Coordinating- Coordination means to create link between activities of various
departments. This can be done by managers through by communicating to departmental heads.
As M&S deals in various parts of worlds, so there must be coordination so satisfaction of
customer is possible.
P5. Importance and value of operational management
Operational management handling all the tasks of organisation with minimum cost and
optimum utilization of resources so that they can run the firm effectively and efficiently
(Rushton, Croucher and Baker, 2014). There are various importance and values of operational
management in M & S company that are as follows (Operations and Project Management
(OPM).,2017):
Provide long term benefits to enterprise:
Operational management promotes employees to make their product creative along with
quality and also offers consumers something innovative at appropriate time. This provide M & S
long term benefit as they add innovative products in their stores at regular basis which results in
attracting new customers and also retain the existing consumers.
Reduce wastage of resources:
Concept of operational management helps the proper utilization of resources that results
in maximization of profit by handling problems related to design, maintenance and operations of
6

system used for production of product to decrease wastage. M & S uses several strategies to
reduce the wastage like they give incentives to their retailers for making proper efforts over least
food wastage this will encourage people to decrease waste to earn more money (Alderton and
Saieva, 2013).
Interdepartmental integration:
This helps organisation to integrate with other departments of organisation. The manager
should divide task among different departments of company that supports the operational
manager in avoiding grudges between employees and saves time in product development
process. As in order to attain organisational goal, integration among departments of firm.
Product positioning:
Operational management is very important in positioning of final product in the market.
M & S assures that the product they offer are of superior quality and made up with green
processes that results in great value to the customer. This helps the organisation to differentiate
its product from its competitors while positioning.
Supporting company's strategy:
Operation management is the combination of different functions of company such as
planning, organising, managing, controlling etc (Shaheen, 2014). this is very crucial part of firm
as it supports the organisation's strategies in their operations to assure that firm can attain their
aims and objectives. It should be done by operation management to come up with resources
which aids in developing sustainable production process to increase cost-cutting for enterprise to
eliminate their expenses and also brings more options to generate revenue through its actions
(Tian, et. al., 2016).
Increasing the production:
With the help of operational management there is effectiveness in all activities. There is
decrease in cost of all actions or activities as there is proper planning of all task, methods and
processes for developing a product. As there is reduction in cost of production with quality it
increases sales and it leads to maximization of profit. Products manufactured with quality
increases the satisfaction level of potential customer.
Increase the satisfaction level:
7

It is another importance of operational management for M & S is to increase the
satisfaction level of customers. Products are manufactured after the market research which leads
to meet market demand (Ageron, Gunasekaran and Spalanzani, 2012). Goods are produced
according to the needs of customer which results in increase in sales , this shows that customers
are happy and satisfied. M & S tries to manufacture best quality of product and deliver goods at
time to its potential customers.
TASK 4
P.6 Factors within business environment which impact operational management and decision
making of leaders and managers
There are number of factors present in internal as well as external environment that
influences the decisions of leader and manager up to a great extent. Following are the factors that
may affect the decisions in M&S company are-
Internal factors – This includes factors that are present within the organisation. These are: Employees :- Employees are an essential business factor, as if employees are talented,
hard-working and motivated they provide better result and improved productivity and if
they are not satisfied with their job then they don't work in an efficient manner. Hence, it
increase the low productivity and higher production cost this affect the manager's
decision (Wang and Cullinane, 2015). Managers have to formulates plan and policies to
provide an positive environment for employees that will encourage them to work more
efficiently and to provide them incentives and reward over their performance that will
boost their confidence and bring the job satisfaction among them. Suppliers:- Suppliers are the persons who provides goods or raw material to company
for making finish products (Webb, 2017). Company must maintain good relation with
suppliers to maintain a regular flow of quality input material on time, as it directly affect
the quality of output. Customer:- Customers are the person who purchase the company's product and services
and customer satisfaction is the primary goal of an organisation (Kuratko, Hornsby and
Covin, 2014). Manger must pay attention to the customer's preferences in order to offer
product as per their requirement and to maintain long term relation with them by
satisfying their needs.
8

External factors:- It refers to the factors present in external environment of organisation that
affect that growth and profitability of business. Following are the factors that affect the decisions
of manager: Technology:- This factor includes various equipments, instruments, system and software
used for converting resources into finished product. Mangers must be careful while
selecting these sources as it affect the quality of product (Smith, 2016). Technologies
must be updated at regular interval to provide greater satisfaction and achieving
customer retention for longer period of time, as innovative products provide an
competitive advantage to company which directly increase profit. It further brings
efficiency in production process and provide an opportunity to offer quality products at
affordable price. Economical factors:- This includes factors like inflation, deflation, income level of
customer, exchange rate fluctuation, interest rate. These factors affect the demand for the
company's product and services. For instance during inflation period there is an increase
of commodity price as company have to pay more on resources or input products.
 Socio-cultural factor:- It includes factors like taste & preferences, custom, values,
demographical characteristics and behavioural attributes of the society in which business
functions. These factors must be keep on mind to offer product as per the requirement of
customer, as each person has different need and preference according to their choice,
roles and status in the society (Wright and et. al., 2014). It generally includes the
standard of product that the society will accept and appreciate them. These standard are
vary from culture to culture.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that managing all operation's is very crucial
in every company. Role of leaders and managers are different. Role of leader and functions of
manager are different in each situation. Role of leaders and managers play a different role in
operative function. Relationship between leadership and management in business environment.
Manager are risk controllers, while leaders are risk takers. Leaders are more innovative as
compared to managers. Hence this report highlights difference in characteristic of managers and
leaders. In business organisation, there are different situations which arise. So there is difference
in roles of managers and leaders also. Such as managers manage business operations, while
9

leaders motivates employees to work with new and innovative approach. Situational leadership is
best among all leadership because in this case managers lead team according as per situation and
react according to circumstances. So positive outcome can be achieved.
10

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ageron, B., Gunasekaran, A. and Spalanzani, A., 2012. Sustainable supply management: An
empirical study. International journal of production economics. 140(1). pp.168-182.
Alderton, P. and Saieva, G., 2013. Port management and operations. Taylor & Francis.
Chan, S. C. and Mak, W. M., 2012. Benevolent leadership and follower performance: The
mediating role of leader–member exchange (LMX). Asia Pacific Journal of
Management. 29(2). pp.285-301.
Chiu, C. Y. C., Balkundi, P. and Weinberg, F. J., 2017. When managers become leaders: The
role of manager network centralities, social power, and followers' perception of
leadership. The Leadership Quarterly. 28(2). pp.334-348.
De Mast, J. and Lokkerbol, J., 2012. An analysis of the Six Sigma DMAIC method from the
perspective of problem solving. International Journal of Production Economics. 139(2).
pp.604-614.
Ellis, R. W. and et. al. 2015, Smart Storage Systems Inc, 2015.Storage control system with data
management mechanism and method of operation thereof. U.S. Patent 9,123,445.
Hofer, C., Eroglu, C. and Hofer, A. R., 2012. The effect of lean production on financial
performance: The mediating role of inventory leanness. International Journal of
Production Economics. 138(2). pp.242-253.
Khlat, N. and et. al., 2016.Power management architecture for modulated and constant supply
operation. U.S. Patent 9,246,460.
Kuratko, D. F., Hornsby, J. S. and Covin, J. G., 2014. Diagnosing a firm's internal environment
for corporate entrepreneurship. Business Horizons. 57(1). pp.37-47.
Luo, H. and Liu, S., 2014. Effect of situational leadership and employee readiness match on
organizational citizenship behavior in China. Social Behavior and Personality: an
international journal. 42(10). pp.1725-1732.
Mendis, N., Muttaqi, K .M. and Perera, S., 2014. Management of battery-supercapacitor hybrid
energy storage and synchronous condenser for isolated operation of PMSG based
variable-speed wind turbine generating systems.IEEE Transactions on smart grid.5(2).
pp.944-953.
Nakamura, T. and et. al. 2015.Operation management apparatus, operation management
method, and operation management program. U.S. Patent 9,031,703.
Pelley, E. S., Alcatel-Lucent S A, 2015Self-service application for a service management system
and method of operation thereof. U.S. Patent 8,949,393.
Pingili, S. R. and et. al., Microsoft Corp, 2014.Power management via coordination and selective
operation of timer-related tasks. U.S. Patent 8,898,487.
Rushton, A., Croucher, P. and Baker, P., 2014.The handbook of logistics and distribution
management: Understanding the supply chain. Kogan Page Publishers.
Shaheen, K. M., InterDigital Technology Corp, 2014.Method and apparatus for resource
management in handover operation. U.S. Patent 8,817,741.
Smith, B., 2016. Nature and Geography: Tragic Voids within Marketing Textbooks and the
External Business Environment. In Global Perspectives on Contemporary Marketing
Education(pp. 47-64). IGI Global.
11