Leadership and Operational Management at Marks & Spencer Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and management within the context of a business organization, using Marks & Spencer (M&S) as a case study. The report begins by comparing the roles and features of leaders and managers, examining their distinct responsibilities and functions in various situational contexts, including decision-making, strategy formulation, and contingency scenarios. It delves into different leadership theories and approaches, such as situational, systems, and contingency leadership, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses, and how M&S applies them. The report further explores key approaches to operational management, including Total Quality Management (TQM), and the roles of leaders and managers in achieving organizational objectives. It also discusses factors impacting operational management and decision-making, providing a holistic view of leadership and management in a dynamic business environment. The report emphasizes the importance of adapting leadership styles and operational strategies to meet the changing demands of the market while maintaining the company's core values and originality.

MANAGEMENT
AND
OPERATIONS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Comparison between different roles and features of leader and manager.............................1
P2 Responsibilities of leader and function of manager in different situational context.............3
P3 Theories and approaches of leadership..................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P4 Key approaches of operation management and role of leader and manager in the context of
organisation.................................................................................................................................5
P5 Significance and value of operation management in attaining organisational objectives.....6
P6 Factors which impact on operational management and decision making..............................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCE ..................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Business organisation have to deal with, or control, people who are working in the
enterprise. This process is basically known as management and managers are those people who
are responsible for managing organisational work. Operation is a term which is related to daily
activities which are carried out in an organisation (Barratt, Choi and Li, 2011). They are mainly
related to conversion of inventories and revenue generation and this is the prime reason that
every firm want to make sure that this department always perform better. M&S is one of the
most successful company of UK. They are operating in retail sector and provides distinct
products out of which clothing is company's key source of revenue. This assignment will discuss
about the responsibilities of leader and the work done by manager in various situations. Different
theories related to leadership will also be mentioned in this assignment. Few approaches of
operational management will be included in the project and their importance at the time of
moving forward towards organisational objectives will be explained under this assignment.
TASK 1
P1 Comparison between different roles and features of leader and manager
M&S is leading retail firm and they are known as one of the best brand of clothing. This
multinational British company is almost 1000 stores in UK. This company has also started
selling food item and they have almost 650 stores, only in UK, who are selling food item. M&S
has image of selling goods at high price because they do not comprise quality of their products at
any cost.
Management structure of M&S
This organisation has a flat structure because almost 85000 people are working in the
company and they few key employees cannot hold all the power and authority. M&S has given
many authorities to branch manager and they also held them accountable for the revenue which
is generated by particular branch. This company has various departments which are mainly
related to product. Below is structure of management:
Executive director – This is the top position in the company and executive all the heads of
various divisions work under executive director (Bhasin, 2011). Flat structure of company allow
many managers of different segment like HR, retail, food and cosmetics etc. to directly approach
executive director and talk about various issues.
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Director of food – M&S is also selling food in their stores and this director of this division is
responsible for increasing sale of food item.
Head of Lingerie and Beauty – M&S may have a image of cloth selling firm but their stores also
sell beauty products. Head of this department hold the same power which is given to other senior
executives.
Head of Retail – This is most important department of company because it bring significant
amount of revenue. M&S retail is clothing generate maximum revenue for them. All the other
managers work understand head of retail.
Head of Human resource – This position is not connected to a single department, head of HR
recruit and make system for recruiting all the people who will work in the company.
Manager – A person who is responsible for administration of an organisation, he/she also take
accountability for controlling staff members. Managers take responsibility of implementing the
strategies which is designed by leaders.
Leader – A person who provide direction to the group of people and lead them for a certain
purpose. Leader inspire others and motivate employees for attain organisation and personal
goals.
Comparison between characteristics, function and role of manager and leader
Basis Manager Leader
Vision Manager work on the vision of
executives. M&S has various
manager in different divisions
and all of them are working on
the mission which is set by the
management of company i.e.
provide inspirational quality of
product to everyone.
Leader is the person who set
and communicate vision to the
employees (David, 2011).
Michael Marks and Thomas
Spencer are the leader of M&S
and they have set the vision
which is not being followed by
every employee.
Planning Manager make short term plan
and their main focus is on
executing the long terms
strategies which is made by
Leader only get involve in long
term planning and they do not
care much about day to day
operations.
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leaders of M&S.
People One of the most important role
which is played by manager of
M&S is to organise the people
work are working under them.
Leaders at M&S focus on
finding talent which is present
in the employees so they can
allot them a right task. This is
one of their prime duty.
Work Manager's job is related to
administration and controlling.
Their is limited to these two
areas (Johnstone, 2016).
Leaders who are present in top
level management of M&S
take the responsibility of
motivating and inspiring
employees of whole
organisation.
P2 Responsibilities of leader and function of manager in different situational context
Change is the law of nature and every business organisation has to go with different kind
of changes at the time of proceeding towards their goals. M&S is running their operations from
more than 130 years and they have gone through various situations where they have make
alterations in their leadership style and in adopted strategy. Below are few situations and the
leader's role & manager function in these cases:
Decision making – M&S is present in many countries where they situation of business
environment is stable. It means then they risks are predictable and company is getting expected
revenue from the strategies which they have adopted (Liker and Morgan, 2011). An organisation
do not change their current policies and goals in case of stable situation. US is one of the many
market where M&S have stable situation. Retail market of this country is gradually growing and
competitor of M&S in this regions do not have any aggressive expansion plan. The function of
manager is simple in this case because all they have to do is implement and monitor the plan
which is made by top level management. The role leader in stable situation is to motivate
workers for keeping their focus on the work which is allotted to them and do not deviate from
the long term plans of business.
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Strategy formulation – Change do happen in this situation but at a decent rate. M&S has
started their business in India and clothing retail industry of this country is changing but not
rapidly. M&S is known for high quality of products and in India, people do not have much
buying power so they company cannot attain swift growth as the market of expensive cloths is
growing with a moderate speed. It is the responsibility of leader to convince employees to
become flexible and make changes in the present strategy according to the situation so that
higher sales are achieved. Manager's function is limited to the implementation of alterations in
strategies so company can smoothly adopt change and can show better results.
Contingency situation – A situation when risk is completely unpredictable and company
have to make rapid and continuous changes in their strategies, is known as fast changing
situation. M&S get most of their revenue from UK and Brexit is one political incident which has
created a swift changing business environment for company's like M&S. Leader's role is very
important in this situation because he/she is responsible for involving in everyday decision
making. In these type of circumstances, big decisions have to be taken on daily basis so leader
cannot only stick to long term planning (Luna and Bott, 2012). Manager have to do a significant
job of executing changes and provide ground knowledge to the management so they can frame
strategies accordingly.
P3 Theories and approaches of leadership
M&S understand that they cannot run their organisation by adopting a single leadership
style which is why they have follow below mentioned leadership approach and theory:
Situational leadership – This theory argues that leader have to change in working style
and leadership approach according to the situation. M&S has seen different phases and in many
situations like Brexit, they are adopting this leadership style. Key strength of this approach is that
it is practical, other theories remain a ''theory'' i.e. leader cannot follow them in real situation but
this leadership style is adopted by a leader. The weakness of this model is that it do not provide a
solution about how can subordinate can match with the development of leader.
Systems leadership – It is not related to one person, every person who try to develop a
healthy working environment, where others can get professional progress, can be considered as a
system leader. People with formal authority at M&S are system leaders. This company follow
various process because they believe that for attaining desired results, company have to focus on
process (Mendis, Muttaqi and Perera, 2014). The key merit of this approach is that it allow an
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individual as well as company to attain their overall goals. It drawback is that it can sometime
delay decision making process and many MNCs do not consider it as a practical approach.
Contingency leadership – People often find huge similarity between contingency and
situational leadership because both focus on situation but there is a big difference between them
and it is related to expectation of follower. In contingency leadership, a leader have to bring
changes in own attitude and working style so he/she cannot motivate subordinate for working
according to situation. M&S do not focus much on contingency approach because of its major
drawback i.e. complexity. This theory is known for specific traits in leader and link it to
flexibility of management style. Flexibility is integral part of this style and it can also be
considered as its main strength (Niknam, Meymand and Mojarrad, 2011).
Leaders and managers are significant for a company because they are accountable for all
the outcomes. M&S is surviving and growing in this highly competitive market because their
leaders make changing in their working style according to the demand of market. But an
important thing which they should focus on for future improvement is, not to lose their
originality. They may face tuff time and in these situation they should not try to follow the style
of a great leader. They should analyse own strengths & weakness and then take decisions
accordingly.
TASK 2
P4 Key approaches of operation management and role of leader and manager in the context of
organisation
An organisation has various options in terms of operational approach but they chose one
according to the suitability of company (Operations and Project Management (OPM), 2017).
M&S has a clear policy of selling top class quality of goods and they have adopted various
approach for assuring that they do not comprise in quality of the product which they are selling
in the market. Below are few key approaches of operational management and role of manager &
leader:
TQM (Total quality management) – This operational approach is used by M&S because
they are customer focused company and they understand the importance of involving employees
in decision making. TQM is a method which is used by M&S for improving quality of products
and services that organisation is selling to their customers. This work is done by developing a
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healthy environment in the organisation so a productive culture can get develop. The role of
leader, at the time of executing this approach, is to make sure the decisions are taken on the basis
of facts. Manager, on the other hand, focus on small things i.e. daily operations. They are
responsible for assuring that customer are satisfied with company's product (Palizban,
Kauhaniemi and Guerrero, 2014).
Lean manufacturing – It is an operational approach which concentrate on minimising
wastage but without making compromise in terms of quality. M&S is serious about quality of
their products but they also want to keep the prices of product competitive and lean
manufacturing approach help them in doing this. Leader is accountable for motivating employees
to find the ways of reducing expenses and increase efficiency. Manager is responsible for
making sure that they workers followed the procedure and process which is designed by
company. They have to monitor their performance and find the areas where more improvement
can be done.
P5 Significance and value of operation management in attaining organisational objectives
Approaches of operational management provide huge help for all the business
organisation who want to attain their set targets. M&S has a clear aim i.e. to produce premium
quality of goods and make sure that customer get value for the money which they are paying.
attaining trust of public and continuous innovation are two key values of M&S. Below is
significance and value of main approaches of operational management:
TQM – This approach concentrate on improving the buying experience of customer.
M&S is known for assuring high customer satisfaction and they are using this approach is
important for company because it assist them in checking the whether customers are happy with
company products and services. Total quality management concentrate on attaining long term
goals and this is the prime reason that continuous improvement is considered as its integral part.
One of the key value of TQM is to develop an atmosphere where employees can improve
themself and produce high quality of products. M&S want to improve quality of their offering,
which is already impressive, and they understand that TQM is one approach which can generate
atmosphere of innovation in the organisation.
Lean manufacturing – As mentioned earlier, this approach is related to reducing wastage
but without making any negative impact on quality (Shuxin, 2011). Their is general perception
that if a company with providing premium quality of cloths or any other products then goods
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must be expensive. M&S is operating in premium segment and they also face the negative
consequences of a the tag of ''expensive products''. This tag stop them from attaining their
targets. One of the key advantage of lean manufacturing is that it reduce the unnecessary wastage
of resource which ultimately help company in decreasing overall price of products. M&S give
huge importance to the concept of ''value for money'' and it is their prime objective to make sure
that they customer do not feel cheated. Lean manufacturing is an approach who support company
in moving forward towards this goal because it minimise wastages but without making any
comprise in terms of quality of product. Although adopting this approach is not possible without
finding out of the box solution of various problems. This ultimately promote innovation in the
organisation but in an indirect way.
Role of manager and leader in improving operational efficiency:
An organisation cannot effectively use approaches like TQM or Lean manufacturing until
they have a manager who can properly do the job of monitoring and controlling. At M&S,
managers are responsible for making sure that all the process which is involved in operational
approach, are implemented properly. Leaders like CEO of M&S take decisions about which new
approach can be implemented in the organisation and they are improve operational efficiency by
motivating employees to raise their limits and perform better (Travis and Rekhtman, 2011).
P6 Factors which impact on operational management and decision making
Making right decision is important for survival and growth of business. Most of the
leaders and managers have to make difficult calls but this task become more problematic when
external factors are involved in it. This reason behind this is that they are not predictable.
Affect of external factor on the decision related to operational management by Managers and
Leaders:
Technological changes – Technology is one of the most important external factor of
present business environment because it has capacity to provide surprising return (can negative
or positive). M&S want to improve their supply change but the increasing trend of online
shopping forced leaders and managers of the company for changing their decisions. They
negatively impacted on the business of M&S by forcing them to focus on online shopping.
Although in long run, it will affect company in positive way by providing them competitive
advantage on rivals.
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Economic factors – Brexit created new challenges in terms of demands of goods in UK.
Buying power of customer in this country is not increasing and this is negatively impacting the
strategies related to operations of company (Zhang and Chen, 2014). Leaders of M&S are facing
challenge in setting the right path for company because their decisions are dilute because of poor
economic condition of country.
Increased competition – M&S is a strong player in retail sector of UK but increased
competitions is an external factor which is creating challenges for managers in daily basis.
Managers try to bring new method of manufacturing but when rival of company find a better or
modified approach then this influences operational efficiency of company in an ineffective
manner.
Globalisation – M&S is a multinational company. Normally leaders and managers make
plan for domestic growth of business but business friendly global environment motivated them to
change their decision and explore new opportunities in other nations. They expanded their
operational process in more countries so company can use the positive influence of globalisation.
Application of operations management for managing the impact of external factors:
Operational management techniques can be used for minimising the impact of external
factors like adopting technological changes (Vogel and Güttel, 2013). When company like M&S
install some new software then it improves their operational efficiency but at the same time, it
enhances cost of business. Operation management approaches help company in reducing overall
business cost and it dilutes the impact on negative external factors on the performance of
company.
Recommendations for future improvements:
In upcoming time, M&S should start using more approaches of operational management
so they can enjoy to key competitive advantages i.e. high quality of goods and low cost of
production. They should also provide regular training to their employees in order to increase
their efficiency. If employees perform better, then company can easily achieve their objectives.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded leader may decide that which leadership style
will work in the organisation but this does not mean that managers work is not important. They
are responsible for execution of plans and strategies which is made by leader. Their are various
theories of leadership but in present era, their application depends upon the situation and mission
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of company. Operational approaches assist a company in finding and resolving operational
issues. This is necessary for every organisation i.e. MNCs or SMEs. Approaches like TQM and
lean production can provide an extra edge to a business firm who want to produce high quality of
goods at low cost.
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