Leadership and Management Strategies for M&S Ltd. Operations

This report provides an in-depth analysis of leadership and management practices within M&S Ltd. It begins by distinguishing between the roles of leaders and managers, highlighting their characteristics and key goals. The report then explores the responsibilities of managers and leaders in various situations, examining different leadership models and theories such as trait theory, contingency approach, system theory, situational approach, and transformation theory. The analysis extends to the practical application of these theories within M&S Ltd., including the impact of the business environment on operational management and decision-making. The report emphasizes the importance of leadership qualities in driving organizational success and improving performance, specifically within the context of M&S Ltd., and its strategies for overcoming challenges and achieving its business objectives.

MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS
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Executive Summary
Management and leadership go in the same path to the progress of development. There is a basic
distinguishing element between a manager and a leader in a company where the manger acquires
all leadership traits to maintain honesty in an organisation. A manager having influencing
personality can reach to the best outcome in a company. In this study, with respect to M & S
Ltd., the skills of a manager to handle the total department of an enterprise have been
highlighted. Various methods of pursuing leadership qualities and different business factors
related to the environment are discussed here. Maintain integrity within the organisation,
business functional actions can be improved. In order to enhance the performance level of M & S
Ltd., strategies need to implement. A manager who fails to act as a leader creates a loss in
company performance. Various types of leadership are there and as a leader, a manager will
justify all the problematic elements in order to operate activities affluently.
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Table of Contents
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................4
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................4
LO1. Difference between role of a leader and the key goals of a manager.....................................4
P1. Definition and comparison of the roles and characteristics between a manger and a leader of
a company........................................................................................................................................4
LO2. Enforcing the characteristics of a leader and the responsibilities of a manager:....................6
P2. The unique role of a leader and the duties of a manager in various situations according to the
division of work...............................................................................................................................6
P3. Different models and theories of Leadership............................................................................7
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................9
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................9
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................9
LO3. Demonstrating an acknowledgement of the role of leaders and managers in the active
operation of an organisation............................................................................................................9
P4. Description of the key accesses to the management activities and the function of leaders and
managers..........................................................................................................................................9
P5 Explaining importance and the value of operations management for achieving business
objective.........................................................................................................................................10
LO4: Understanding the relationship between leadership and management business environment
.......................................................................................................................................................12
P6- Factors on which business environment impact upon the operational management and
decision-making by leaders and managers....................................................................................12
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................13
Reference List................................................................................................................................14
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Task 1
Introduction:
Influencing people is a unique quality that a person can possess in order to build their inner
leadership skill to come in front at the workplace. The key role of a manager always shows his
way of instruction and integration to its subordinates for making them follow his guidelines
properly. Leadership and management are treated in tackled in a similar way but theoretical
mismatch always creates a difference between a leader and a manager. The learner here has
taken the company M & S Ltd. for focusing the crystal clear picture of leadership trait of a
manager.
M & S Ltd. is considered to be one of the oldest multi-channel retailers headquartered in UK. It
has been established in the year 1884 and has grown from a single market stall linking with
international market. They sell high quality and rich value products to its million customers via
different U.K stores and e-commerce platform.
Figure 1: M & S Ltd. Logo
(Source: Marksandspencer.com. 2017)
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LO1. Difference between role of a leader and the key goals of a manager
P1. Definition and comparison of the roles and characteristics between a manger and a
leader of a company
According to Boyatzis, (2014, p.303), in an organisation, the manager plays a vital role to in
paying attention to the whole team of the employees for bringing the best outcome of his
guidance. As per the work is assigned to the employees depending upon their responsibilities and
section, performance can differ by the methods they used in their tasks and techniques. Managers
working in M & S Ltd are accredited with the task and responsibilities on the basis of their
nature. It comes under the duty of a manager to make sure that the appointed job of an individual
employee gets completed. It will help in keeping track on the daily work and in managing
actions performed by the fellow team members (Marksandspencer.com. 2017).
As stated by Ljungholm, (2014, p.76), the role of a manager in an organization is to set the
objectives for establishing the goals and the mission for future development. He needs to
organize the tasks by coordinating with his team members and arrange the proper role that fits an
individual. Managers carry a leadership attitude as well as the duties to motivate the employees
and communicate with the staffs to build a united team. It helps to convey all information and
requirements which are going inside the organisation. In order to run a company successfully and
in a right direction, it is mandatory to establish the target audience for the products or services
produced by the company. A good manager and leader are the ones who develop their employees
in terms of training and nurturing their capabilities and hidden talents. Strategic activities need to
be focused on a development of the organisation by the managers. Managers in businesses are
updated with e-commerce developments and acquire knowledge of the latest technology which
helps in the fast paced environment to keep a step ahead. Company leaders in M & S Ltd.
maintain awareness to understand the strength and weakness of the employees. It falls under the
duty of a leader to treat all the assistants equally and have to be fast decision maker in the
workplace. All the facts and figures of the organisation are being tracked by the leaders. A
leader earns respect from the team by maintaining a positive attitude towards the employees and
building good relationship which brings out different types of creative ideas for a long-term
progress.
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As mentioned by Siegling et al. (2014, p.67) it is not easy to learn to build leadership skills
because it requires more behavioral aspects than those skills needed for management. A manager
gains his position on the basis of his nature in the workplace but a leader’s authority is inbred
from the way he approaches. The continuous development seen in the activities of the employees
is the reason for the company’s development as well. The leaders acquire an absolute reward
which enables them to guide the whole team despite having any changes in management. It is the
sole reason that building leadership quality proved to be so challenging for the upcoming or new
managers. A leader without having management skills will face a disability in functioning the
goals and objectives. Similarly, a manager without leadership skills will face difficulties and
challenges in motivating the team for producing the results which were decided by him to
manage.
LO2. Enforcing the characteristics of a leader and the responsibilities of a
manager:
P2. The unique role of a leader and the duties of a manager in various situations according
to the division of work
According to Xu et al. (2016, p.7) different stages of management are implemented by different
leadership guidance. A management team of an organization always gets involved by
assimilating different activities. The coordination among the team gets distracted in a situation
where the leaders cannot guide or influence the subordinates properly. A manager is a key person
who assigns all forms of activities to the employees in a particular department. Flaws and faults
in the attitudes and guidance of the managers will not make the department under his control to
run efficiently. M & S Ltd. allocates three stages of management i.e. higher, middle and lower
level. The departments are segmented into different groups or teams where each team will be
assigned with a team leader who will handle the entire team and its coordination. The procedure
of the work in an organization is from the managers to team leaders and team leaders to the
group members. In a situation like, on the very first day when new employees have joined as a
trainee, it is the responsibility of a manager to guide them with rules and regulations of the
company and the norms to b e followed. But the team leaders further have to guide them in terms
of addressing the procedure to complete the projects assigned by the managers for the
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individuals. A manager is a person who negotiates with the employees, investors, creditors, etc.
and also communicates effectively to make every people aware of all facts he addressed to. In
situations like sudden changes in an organization, the managers have to cope up with it and will
then make the team leaders understand to bring out the outcomes from the employees. M & S
Ltd. has gone through several critical situations on the basis of communication, arrangements for
settling with environmental changes, etc (Marksandspencer.com. 2017). In this type of situation,
the problems can be eradicated easily if the company goes through the guidelines properly. The
process through which the leadership qualities of a manager can be identified includes certain
functions of the managers like, communicating with the entire team, planning strategies, rules
and regulations, unification, etc. M & S Ltd. improved their quality and services of management
with the help of the manager who assimilated the complete departmental work.
P3. Different models and theories of Leadership
As stated by Rosemann and vom Brocke, (2015, p.105), different types of models and theories of
leadership by the renowned experts have been discussed in order to apply to the organisation and
helps in supporting for development and sustainable performances.
Trait Theory: This theory states that leadership is genetic capability and nature of a person that
helps to make him a good leader. A leader in order to be productive and responsible in his work
needs to be both efficient and effective in personality
Inherent Leadership: In accordance with this access, leadership is the inborn quality of an
individual. Nobody can build a leader; the skills are inherited normally as per the behavior or
nature of a person. This proficiency of an individual makes his expertise in his genre proving this
theory to reveal that leadership is a hereditary quality.
Contingency approach: It is the most important theory which reveals that leadership traits are
being determined by environmental factors with a beneficial outcome. The strategies used for a
positive situation will differ from the strategies used for negative conditions. Leadership is such
a quality that goes on changing with time and varies from person to person. M & S Ltd. in order
to develop the management style and quality needs to adopt contingency approach. When the
company goes through a loss leading to a crisis, the first and foremost thing needs to do is
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identifying the fragile areas which caused the organization to face loss. Likewise, when the
company runs through a higher profitability situation, then number strategies needs to be planned
for continuing the consistency of the accomplishment.
System Theory: This theory treats an organisation as a system which has two aspects; one is
open ended while the other is close ended. Environmental factors mainly affect the open system
from further processing which shows on organisation to be definite open-ended system. Analysis
of any organisation as open system adds benefit to all factors during decision-making process
which makes it easy. M & S Ltd. by following system theory can find out all the problems
regarding decision-making (Marksandspencer.com. 2017).
Situational Approach: As opined by Odumeru and Ogbonna (2013, p.355) this theory states
that it is the duty of a leader to select the best activity among the various courses of activities.
This theory is approved globally due to the reason that most of the organisation takes their
decision on the basis of situation. M & S Ltd. sometimes improve the quality for adopting this
theory despite having changing situations. No matter what the situation turns to be; positive,
average or negative, a company eliminates adversity by formulating numerous courses of
actions. Among these, the best one will be chosen to solve the issues leading to a loss of an
enterprise.
Transformation Theory: This theory mentions that having a good bonding and direct relation
among the leader and the subordinates will help to boost the leadership quality. In order to
maintain the team performance, transformational leaders help to do that for the best outcome in
developing management.
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Figure 2: Different Theories of Leadership
(Source: Armstrong and Taylor, 2014, p.21)
Conclusion:
Though the role of leaders and managers are quite different from each other but a good manager
needs to carry leadership skill to run the organisation effectively. For assimilating various
managerial activities, a manager needs to be smart and productive. A top level management
having good leadership knowledge will help a company gaining competitive benefit in today’s
business world.
Task 2
Introduction:
In terms of running a company, a lot of internal as well as external factors get too faced by the
management team. So an active participation in the well being of a company is needed to achieve
the best outcome in developing progress. Leadership and management development is vital for
training leaders in order to have a better engagement with the employees. Strategic business
mission and vision are the goals which are needed both in present and future development of a
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TraitTheoryInherentTheoryContingencyApproachSystemTheorySituationalApproachTransformationTheory

business. In contemporary business world, various elements have been put to influence the
power of decision making in an organisation.
LO3. Demonstrating an acknowledgement of the role of leaders and managers
in the active operation of an organisation
P4. Description of the key accesses to the management activities and the function of leaders
and managers
According to Chang, (2016, p.44), the company sometimes faces external business affairs which
create a serious impact on the function of the management and in the process of decision-
making. In order to avoid crisis situations, the active participation of the management team and
the leaders are mandatory. Some of the duties are discussed below:
Economical factors: Consumer loans, interest rates and credit availability affect the wellness of
the company which needs to tackle the organisational management authority. On the basis of
terrorist attacks, political issues, and depreciation in currency, most of the economic businesses
run out of the market. In this crisis condition, M & S Ltd. provides its management team to pan
strategies in maintaining profit in order to be unique from the competitors.
Political factors:
Brexit union in the UK is currently elected focusing on labor priority. In order to run the
organisation for a long term, the management team and the leaders perform accordingly to the
new policy fulfilling the demands of the employees. With the increase of corporation tax on
business profits, taxation policy affects the business costs which will cause the managers to be
more concern in arranging things stable without affecting worker’s wages.
Laws:
As mentioned by Giltinane, (2016, p.33) any changes in the laws of central or state government
will cause a huge impact on the business only if the merchandise becomes prohibited highly. In
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such situation, the management team provides better comforts and deals to the employees in
order to stop them from going to an alternative job.
Customer Base:
Changing of target audiences in an organisation can affect the business in terms of prospect. In
this problematic situation, the managers of M & S Ltd. provides better offers to the existing
patrons and also search for new potential customers in order to fulfill their requirements at the
top level.
P5 Explaining importance and the value of operations management for achieving business
objective
Every business firm has its own objectives that can be achieved in order to estimate the level of
success and growth. Planning, management, and organization should be brought carefully so that
specific goal and objectives can be achieved. According to Guard (2017, p100) the manager
plays can efficient role in the whole task and aimed to achieves the goals by setting a proper
business. It is a useful material in exploiting the resources which include money, time and people
in order to reach the expectation of the customers.
Completing the project within given time:
The trickiest work of the manager is to complete the work within time. It is the toughest job of a
manager is requirement of the work sometimes changes. For achieving such goal they need to
manage the points very carefully and implement it. As per Man et.al (2014, p102) the change in
control process should be properly managed and implement. Plans need to be up to date and the
keep the records of planned progress. The quick deviation is required after recognizing the
mistake and fixes it as soon as possible. In this way, the plans would get properly implement and
the work gets completed on before a deadline.
Fulfill the requirement: Whether the firm has installed or update their system, refresh a
consolidate data collection data center or not, the project need to be done and produced. Hundred
percent requirements are needed for the solution. Therefore, the manager has to make sure that
they have enough details and set of requirement from the beginning of the work. Maroosis (2016,
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p32) as stated, if the details are not cleared then, at the end of the work it becomes huge and it
will take valuable time and resources to complete.
Budget need to be maintained: Manager not only needs to look after the technical and maintain
duration of work, they have to make sure that their project cost does not spiral. They need set a
budget on the project at the beginning to compare against it. According to Reber (2014, p80)
budget acquired all the cost of the project like materials, suppliers, requirement and the
employees who are part of that job. Then planning the total cost and deviations for that plan is
the next step. Overspend and under spend of the task must be noted in details for further
expresses. By this way, they can manage the budget.
Communication with customers: Customers are the important part of the each and every firm.
Completion of a project on time under budget by fulfilling the entire requirement but at an end
the customers are unhappy then the goals get failed. This usually happens due to their
expectation changed since the work started and not been managed properly. For this, all a
manager need is to manage their expectation and make sure that the work is on properly
implemented. According to Shih and Pierce (2016, p56) keep in touch with the customers and
other stakeholders from the beginning to the end of the project. They need to get the update and a
crystal clear view of progress. The changes that are made and they have face to face conversation
over the details of the project. Honesty and open conversation are always best tools for fulfilling
customer's wish.
LO4: Understanding the relationship between leadership and management
business environment
P6- Factors on which business environment impact upon the operational management and
decision-making by leaders and managers.
The environment consists of factors which directly effect on operations but still exercise the
activities of the organization. They are broad and nonspecific whereas the task is composed of
the specific firm. Whereas, task environment also consists of some different factors which affect
the organization like customers, competitors, suppliers and so on.
The elements which are responsible for the general environment of the organizations are
determined below.
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