Leadership and Management Strategies at Oakhouse Foods - Task 1 Report

This report provides an analysis of leadership and management practices within Oakhouse Foods, a home meal service provider. It begins by differentiating between the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers, examining how they function within the organization. The report then delves into various leadership theories, including situational, scheme, and contingency models, illustrating their application within Oakhouse Foods. Furthermore, it explores the significance of operations management in achieving business objectives and the factors that impact it. The report evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of different leadership approaches and the influence of managers and leaders on improving operational efficiency. Finally, it critically assesses the application of operations management principles within the company, providing a comprehensive overview of leadership and management strategies.

MANAGEMENT AND
OPERATIONS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................................................1
TASK 1...........................................................................................................................................................................1
A. Different roles and characteristics of leader and manager...................................................................................1
B. Examining the different functions of manager and role of leader in various situations.......................................2
C. Applying theories and models of leadership approaches......................................................................................3
M1. Difference between role of a leader and function of manager...........................................................................5
M2 Assessing the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches.......................................................................5
D1 Critically analyse and evaluate the different theories and approaches to leadership..........................................6
TASK 2 ..........................................................................................................................................................................6
A. Approaches of operations management and role played by leaders.....................................................................6
B. Importance and value of operations management in order to achieve the business objectives............................8
C. Factors in business environment which affects the operations management.......................................................9
M3. Evaluating how manager and leader can improve efficiency of operational management.............................10
M2 Analyse how different factors affect business environment.............................................................................10
D2 Critically evaluate the application of operations management..........................................................................10
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Operations management is the thought of managing activities of business and it helps in
creating an appropriate level of efficiency which is beneficial for the organisation. The team of
operation management tries to balance revenue along with the cost to achieve high level of profit
at the workplace. Present report is based on Oakhouse Foods which provides home meals
services and desserts throughout UK and offer wide range of dishes. This report covers the
different roles and functions that is performed at workplace according to the requirement of
company (White, 2016). Further, it also includes various explanation and models of leading
including situational, scheme and eventuality. In increase to this, also explains the significance of
dealing management to achieve the objectives of business. Further the report carries out the
assessment of different factors which have an impact on activities of operational management
along with the decision making of leader and manager. Thus, it covers the strength and
imperfection of various conceptualization to the leadership.
TASK 1
A. Different roles and characteristics of leader and manager
As per to the provided case scenario, Oakhouse Foods adopted different types of
leadership approaches and management theories. In context of this, different function of manager
and leader which is played by them at workplace is given below:
Leader- Leader is a individual who motivates and leads other people as a superior and he is
capable enough to manage other employees and having a high degree of control on others.
Manager-He is an individual who is in-charge of all of the activities and tasks. Along with this,
they help in supervising employees and directing them for achieving objectives.
Leader Manager
The main role of leader is to inspire the
members of team to achieve targets. For
example, at Oakhouse Foods main task of
leader is to motivate people for providing
appropriate services to their customers
The major focus of the manager is on the
objectives for achieving success. It helps to
increase the level of profitability at Oakhouse
Foods.

(Johnstone, 2016).
Major aspect which is related to leader is to
create integrity to gain trust of employees.
Leader at Oakhouse Foods takes the
responsibility of different tasks and their team
work accordingly.
Manager at Oakhouse motivates people and to
convey different information which is
necessary for the business. They also manage
the records of transactions and various
functions which is appropriate for the business.
Leader makes ensures the issues and problems
of employees and solve it on their own and
also support in their work which encourages
them for achieving goals.
At Oakhouse Foods, manger communicates
information directly with their leader and
employees. In addition this, information goes
through upper and lower level in order to
ensure the performance on the basis of
achieving goals and objectives.
Furthermore,
 Leader influence other people to work in an appropriate manner for group activities
whereas manager perform the functions of management at Oakhouse Foods.
 There is no well defined accountability of leader while managers are responsible for the
behaviour and performance of the subordinates.
 Leader suggests different ideas and opinions to complete the tasks while manager gives
order to the people (Higuchi, 2016).
 Leader has long term perspective while managers have short term criteria considering the
views and opinions.
B.analyze the different purpose of manager and role of leader in various situations
The role of leader is to take quick decisions in various situations within the organisation.
At Oakhouse Foods, the managers have to identify problems which are faced by them at the
workplace. The leader at workplace find out an effective method in order to solve the different
types of issues within organisation. Further, leaders encourage team members to follow all of the
rules and respect decisions for managing the different activities. Different types of roles are

performed within the organisation such as planning, organising, directing and controlling. In case
of Oakhouse Foods, manager plan some of the strategy regarding enhancement in sales so that
leader can implement it in an effective way so that it provides appropriate outcomes for the firm.
Further, in case of achieving the targets, the manager gives deadlines to leader and so that the
leader can motivate and inspire team members for achieving goals and objectives in an
appropriate time frame (Derakhshan and et.al., 2013).
In addition to this, for increasing sales at Oakhouse Foods, the leaders develops plan for
increasing the sales through the different promotional activities such as social media marketing
of company and services. In such cases, manager maintains the balance of different activities
which are conducted by the other people at the workplace. Further, the role of leader at
Oakhouse Foods is to use various methods for inspiring the team members in context of
achieving goals so that it is required to make appropriate planning which is created by the
manager and they also respects the ideas of other people.
C. Applying theories and models of leading approaches
There are some of the leading theories which are mentioned below:
Situational theory
Situational leadership can be termed as the various situations in which leader or manager
and make some of the adjustments at workplace. It helps in managing the different activities for
achieving the goals and objectives of the organisation. In this kind of leadership, the leaders are
effective and efficient and ready to adopt the changes according to the situations. For example, at
Oakhouse Foods, the leader needs to make appropriate alterations in their way of work so that it
matches the form of work related to the group social unit. In case, if any employee perplexed
with any problems so that leader have to give the responsibilities to the people for managing the
tasks and activities. It allows all employees to choose suitable activities to solve the issues and
problems (Chang and et.al., 2013). In situational model, there are some of the styles of leadership
which are described below:
Telling- In this style, the work of leader is to tell people how the tasks can be done and decisions
are taken by the leader. This is also called as micro management where the leader is involved to
supervise the work of employees. The workers at Oakhouse Foods carry out their task according
to the orders given by the leader.

Selling- In this type of style, leader focuses on relationship wit team members and their
responsibilities which are given to them. Here, the leader also takes ideas and opinions from
other group members. At Oakhouse foods, workers are supervised and leader also involves them
in the process of decision making.
Involving- In this type, leader at workplace takes all of the judgement and assign the different
tasks and activities to the team members. Leader of Oakhouse Foods provide direction to the
employees in order to handle the different situations within workplace. Along with this, leader
also give feedback with respect to the performance of employees which helps in increasing the
confidence level (Costa, Keane, Torrens and Corry, 2013).
Delegating- In this type of leadership, the leader are needed to relate in the process of decision
making and to solve the different issues. For example, at Oakhouse Foods any problem is faced
by an employee so that follower decided to involve the leader for taking decisions.
Scheme leading Style
Scheme leading style can be defined in which a leader crossways the limit of the
organisation. This leading styles is related to the transactional leading as it involves the different
way to handle the communication and build trust among employees. They are able to see the
things which are required at Oakhouse Foods. The leader build trust and collaboration among the
team members which is helpful in achieving the goals and objectives at workplace. With the help
of appropriate plans things can be done in an effective manner. Further, at Oakhouse Foods the
leader also take the decisions regarding the improvements and various changes through their
efforts. Along with this, the leader also create the joint leading and see the large scheme and their
main concentration is on the organisation system. This is considered as one of the major ability
of a scheme leader as it includes in the contemplation and to create the conversation. In this,
another capability is to solve the issues which are created among employees at workplace in an
appropriate manner (Han, Bennett, Luk and Mihai, 2013). The employees might be resist the
changes which is an important aspect related to the profitability of the company. Thus, it helps in
maintaining an appropriate relationship with the employees and encourages them in order to
accepts the changes.
Eventuality theory of Leadership

Contingency theory of leadership interpret that effectual leading is not based on one style.
It is effect at Oakshouse Foods as this kind of leader changes their perception according to the
different situations at workplace. The employees are highly experienced so that they can work
effectively and efficiently. They give proper support to employees so that they do not face any
kind of difficulty at workplace.
M1. Difference between role of a leader and function of manager
There are some of the leading styles which are playing an important role at workplace
along with the functions of manager.
Some of the styles of leadership are described below:
Autocratic Leadership- In this types of leadership all of the decisions are taken by the leader and
the team members have to follow them accordingly. Further, their main role is to direct and
supervise the workers and identify the work is to be done in effective manner. The main function
of manager is to plan, control and direct the employees for the provided tasks and activities at
workplace.
Democratic Leadership- According to this type of leadership style, leader at cited business
concern plays an essential role as they also help their team members and also concern them in
the process of decision making. For example, at Oakhouse Foods there are different types of
strategies are made by the manager for motivating employees at the same time the democratic
leader implement those strategy so that the it can encourages employees towards their work.
Leader also helps the employees in order to solve different issues which make improvement in
their level of performance at workplace (Slack, 2015).
M2 Assessing the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches
There are various types of leading styles and it also have some of the strengths and
imperfections which are described below:
Situational leadership style
There is one of the main capability of this leading style is that it is used in the training
programmes and it has been successful for many years. Further, in this style it allows flexibility
at workplace that is based on the requirement of other people. On the other hand, major
weakness is that the leader losses the believability and trust with the employees. Further, the

preference of leader in context of employees is distinguish which is based on the experience and
age of the workers.
Contingency Leadership style
The major strength of this style is that it provides the different approaches which can
make changes for the improvement in the ratio of the group. Further, the task oriented leader can
be efficient and effective in a group which is highly structured and easily define all of the tasks.
There are some of the authorities and powers are provided to the employees so that motivated
them to perform in an appropriate manner. However, one of the weaknesses of this style is leader
that they people does not motivate others for the performance.
D1Critically analyse and evaluate the different theories and approaches to leadership
There are some of the leadership theories which are mentioned below as :
Behavioural theory of leadership
As per this theory, the major focusing of establishment is on the action of leader within
the organisation. Further, the leader is an proper forecaster of the power of the leading which
provide appropriate results as an efficient leader. This theory also shows that leader take
appropriate decisions and their behaviour is also appropriate so that all of the team members
work in an effective manner at Oakhouse Foods (Peng and et.l., 2015).
Trait theory of leadership
Trait theory of leadership can be termed as in which there are various leaders including
successful and unsuccessful which helps in the predicting the effectiveness. According to this
style, to guide the employees as per the abilities and leader encourages them for achieving the
goals and objectives. At Oakhouse Foods, this theory helps to promote others so that they can
accomplish aims and subjective on appropriate time frame. The leader also provide their efforts
in order to develop various aspects that is related to the enhancement of the workers within
organisation.
TASK 2
A. Approaches of operations management and role played by leaders
According to the given scenario, in the stated business and it also required to look
forward for enhancing all of the efficiencies through work on the different operations

management. In addition to this, the selected business also concentrate on to get competitive
advantage as compared to other players in the market of UK. Here, the company can adopt the
various techniques of operations management that supports in order to reach high level of
efficiency at workplace. By using different techniques and approaches which are related to the
operations management so that it provides proper results along with the use of available
resources and to satisfy the needs and requirement of customers. Oakhouse Foods can make
effective use of approaches including six sigma, reconfigurable system of manufacturing and
lean manufacturing for the improvement in the overall efficiency. By following six sigma
Oakhouse Foods follows Beef Ready Meals, Chicken Ready Meals, Fish Ready Meals, Pu
reed Ready Meals for effective work in way of growth. The company can sue this approach
of operation management which is based on the enhancement in the service quality and
development in the company (Kärnä, 2014). This approach is used by many of the companies
with an aim of delivering the best and appropriate quality of goods and services to the customers.
On the other side, Oakhouse Foods can also make use of this approach including system of lean
manufacturing that mainly focuses on the elimination of wastage of resources and it helps to
enhance the efficiency of the activities of business. With the help of lean manufacturing system
the stated business analyse the reason behind the wastage of resources. The main reason behind
the wastage is over burdening and workload on employees so that it also highlighted by this
approach.
Here, leader at Oakhouse Foods will plays an significant role in order to manage overall
process of the operations management. This can be identified by the leader at workplace and it is
needed to develop the understanding of the reasons and advantages which are related to the
implementation of techniques of operations management. In addition to this, leader plays an
important role in order to direct the efforts of employees and resources in the cited business for
achieving high level of efficiency at workplace (Belbin, 2012). There are some of the situations
are faced by the company in which employees and workers are resisting to the changes that are
carried out within the business. Here, leader will required to make appropriate use the way and
method of change management so that the workers can easily embodied along with the
approaches to the operations management which is adopted by Oakhouse Foods. However, it can
be stated that rather than adopting the autocratic leadership style the company should go for the
democratic style of leadership. It is beneficial for the company to use the democratic leadership

style which helps the members and employees are allowed to give their ideas and opinions in the
process of decision making. Other than this, leader plays an essential role in the monitoring and
to implement different approaches to the operation management in the selected business
enterprise.
B. Importance and value of operations management in order to achieve the business objectives
In modern era, it is essential for the enterprise to have an appropriate administration for
the development and growth of the company. Operation administration can be defined as the
different attempt which is made by the company with an objective to attain the score and
subjective. Along with this, operation management also helps the in order to develop an effective
level of the efficiency of the businesses. Operational management is also important for the
purpose of enhancing the sales and profit of Oakhouse Foods (Bolden, 2011). In this, there is one
of the most important advantage that is linked with the dealing management is that it facilitates
the enterprise to ensure all of the different pattern which are conducted in a high possible ratio.
In order to enhance the sales and profit of Oakhouse Foods there is an appropriate role played by
the operations management. This helps in achieving the score and subjective that are formed by
the business. On the other hand, it can be said that if in some of the cases operations management
of the enterprise is inappropriate as there are some of the obstacles are created in context of
accomplishing the different objectives of the company. Operations management is valuable as it
provides guidelines to Oakhouse Foods in order to carry out proper use of various resources in
selected enterprise. Operations management does not dealing with the internal activities of
enterprise but at the same time it have focus on the external activities such as supply chain
management. This provides results as to deliver the goods and services to the wide range of
customers in an appropriate time frame that creates a high level of satisfaction among the
customers (Burke, 2013). Furthermore, it is important for carry out the activities of operations in
an appropriate manner and use the resources properly within the enterprise. Apart from this, it
can also identified that in the recent years, all of the industries are required to have the operations
management which is helpful in managing the different activities of the organisation. There is
one of the main aim backside the use of operations management is to make enhancement in the
choice of services and products that delivered by company to the customers. This concept
facilitate the organisation for managing the aspects in the practices of business and to form input
for providing the appropriate output to the wide range of customers. To increase the sales and

profit ratio Oakhouse Foods always try to make an effective work. For example, it is evinced that
Oakhouse accept a range of credit cards, debit cards etc., they also provide offers and prices are
changed fractionally, they also provide delivery services, all such evidence increases the sale and
profit ratio of Oakhouse Foods.
In addition to this, through operations management it also added the value to the goods
and services and it is done by the manager in order to make sure the quality of products as they
are delivering it in proper manner or not. At Oakhouse Foods, operation manager manages the
activities of production, distribution and also give proper support to employees so that helps in
order to provide effective quality of services to the customers. It also increases the value of
different products along with the operations management. Oakhouse Foods provides delivering
meals to the customers across UK at low cost of production that is beneficial for the business in
order to grab large number of customers. Furthermore, there is one of the main objective of the
organisation is to decrease in the level of wastage and to maximise the satisfaction level of
consumers (Daft, 2014). Thus, the manager is responsible for making appropriate use of
resources effectively and efficiently so that production of cost can be reduced and it generates
high level of profit.
C. Factors in business environment which affects the operations management
There are certain elements in the business organisation surroundings that have an impact
on the operations management and in the decision making.
Oakhouse Foods is an organisation which provides services of home meals and desserts
throughout UK. Further, at the time of carrying out different activities so that they have to
consider the different factors which are having direct impact on the business. Factors involves
the pestle through which the analysis can be carried out for the outside factors which affect the
business. It can be stated that the political changes such as subsidiaries and tax rates which have
an impact on the operations and profit margin also affected at Oakhouse Foods. The business
should carried out and it is based on the proper policies which are introduced by the UK
government. Changes which are required and demand of consumers also affects the operations of
Oakhouse Foods (DeHoratius and Rabinovich, 2011). The main aim of the stated business is to
satisfy the needs and demands of consumers. Further, there are some of the modifications in their
current products and services an be made as per the requirement of consumers so that helps in

maximising the level of profit. Apart from this, legal environmental changes have an impact on
the operations management and to take the decisions at Oakhouse Foods. The company have to
make some of the changes as per the different practices of working and it is also identified that
all of the conditions in order to formulate the changes on the existing laws. If proper
determinations are not consider so that the enterprise is needed to takings various kinds of
judicial consequences that having unsupportive impact on the company. In addition to this,
alteration in technology also motivates the leaders and director who are running in company in
order to take decisions along with considering the changes in business. It is required by Oakhoue
Foods to upgrade the technology in their business activities at specific time frame in order to
sustain in fully competitors marketplace and present the services to consumers. The brand also
needs to take some of the decisions for carry out modifications in the operational activities so it
does not develop any issues and negative effects on the environment.
M3. Evaluating how manager and leader can improve efficiency of operational management
Leader and manager plays a significant role at workplace and also facilitate for the
improvement in the efficiency of the operations management.
Leader at Oakhouse Foods analyse the different problem considering the delivery of
goods and to find out proper solution in order to achieve the objectives. Furthermore, leader
motivates the workers by giving rewards and incentives for the improvement in the efficiency
level of operations management. They also inspire team members so that hey can give their
appropriate performance within workplace. There are some of the strategies are adopted for
motivating and maintaining the activities so that the employees can perform in an effective
manner. Moreover, manager provides high quality of services to the employees which helps
them to perform in an effective manner (Derue and et.al., 2011).
M2 Analyse how different factors affect business environment
There are certain political factors that affects the environment of business due to the new
regulation made by the government and tax rate also impact on the functioning of organisation.
Furthermore, the social factors also have an impact on the activities of business such as taste and
preferences of consumers that is changing time to time.