Leadership and Management Strategies for Clarks' Operations Success

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and management within the operational context of Clarks, a global shoe retailer. It begins by differentiating between the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers, highlighting their distinct focuses on people versus processes, vision versus execution, and strategic versus tactical thinking. The report then explores how these roles function in various situations, such as increased competition, product shortfalls, and supply chain challenges, illustrating the application of management functions like planning, organizing, and controlling, alongside leadership tactics in guiding and motivating employees. Furthermore, it delves into leadership theories, including situational, system, and contingency approaches, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses within the context of Clarks' operations. The report also covers key approaches to operations management, emphasizing the importance of supply chain, distribution channels, and inventory management. Finally, it discusses the impact of environmental factors on operational management and decision-making, providing a holistic view of leadership and management in a dynamic business environment.

Management and Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Comparison of various roles and characteristics
of a leader and a manager ..........................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
P2 Role of a leader and
functions of a manager in different situations............................................................................4
P3 Theories and
models of approach....................................................................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P4 Key approaches to operations
management with role of manager and leader...........................................................................7
P5 Importance and value
of operations management.........................................................................................................9
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P6 Factors within the business environment
that impact upon operational management and decision-making............................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
“In the end, all business operations can be reduced to three words: people, products and
office.” Their is a role of every in operations of a company simultaneously leader and manager
have their own role in bringing actions to company's process. This document consist of
justification to these role which manager and leader plays in operations of Clarks in UK. Clarks
is a UK based organisation which deals in shoes by its retailing store. Its business is spread in
many countries across globe. Hence, requirement of leadership and management is there in
context to this role of leader and manager in this organisations operation has been illustrated in
this study.
TASK 1
P1 Comparison of various roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager
Management is a process of getting things done from people in an organisation
effectively and efficiently so as to achieve its goals and objectives. It involves certain functions
which are to be performed like- planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling. These
are performed by manager of Clarks to manage various operations of company (Binder, 2010.).
Manager is a title which is attached to a role which uses rules, processes, tactical direction and
control to manage activities in an organisation.
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Leadership is a process to affect action of other people in an organisation by influencing
and motivating them to achieve goals and objectives of company. It involves various qualities
like- communication skills, integrity and ambition. A company appoints leader who has been
chosen by its qualities and performance who performs leadership activities in Clarks. Leader is a
person who motivates, initiates, inspire, help and encourage its subordinates to change their
behaviour in order to achieve goals.
Personality traits:
Leader Manager
Tactical Strategic
Major focus is on results Focus is on progress
Task are priority People are priority
Realistic and practical Visionary and dreamer
Follows processes of organisation Motivates guides and encourage people by
itself
Linear thinking Lateral thinking
Leader vs Manager:
 Vision:
A leader help to furnace a shared vision that its subordinate believe in after which it
communicate it to them so as to attain agreement (David, 2011). A manager role is to bring
action in vision of company to achieve goals.
 Gap:
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A leader supports people to make path in reality so as to have a vision. A manager helps people
to take action for a specific or a defined path.
 People:
Leader is people oriented it focuses on encouraging, guiding and developing people. For
manager these people are a source to achieve goals and objectives of Clarks which have been
specified in its policies.
 Path:
Leader makes sure that his followers on a right path which lead to right vision. Manager
completely focuses on progress of a specified path on which employees are supposed to work.
 A higher purpose:
Leader is responsible to motivate people so that they gives their best in a specified task. Manager
looks after persistence, endurance and perseverance.
Critical analysis and evaluation of theories of leadership:
In words of Ergun(2010) leadership theories consist of trait theory, great man theory,
behavioural theory and consistency theory. Out of which great man theory is best which says that
a leader is born not made. This implies that leadership qualities in a person are from its birth they
are not gained by any experiences. They were used in traditional period by company's who were
operating in that era or country were ruled by kings and queens.
Whereas Fuller(2011) disagrees to this and says that leader is made out of experiences
and situations which it faces. Which implies that behavioural theory which means there are
qualities of leader in a persons behaviour and consistency theory which states that situations
decides leader the one who have experience becomes leader for a particular situation. These
theories are supported by Galindo(2013) which are used in current time by all organisations.
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TASK 2
P2 Role of a leader and functions of a manager in different situations
Several situations occurs in Clarks while it operates its business and solution to these also
have to be ascertained. To do so manager and leader are put to work to apply their various
techniques and procedure to get a solution for various situations. A manager uses its function to
operate and leader uses its tactics in different situations. Functions of manager are planning-
which means forecasting future for bridging gap between present position and targeted position,
organising- placing everything at right place, staffing- appointing right people for right job,
directing- putting people to work in a proper direction which leads to achievement of goals and
controlling- monitoring all policies that if they are working properly or not. Leader's role is to
guide, encourage, motivate and lead people to achieve targets of organisation. A leader
completely works itself using own tactics (Hamilton, 2011). Both of them apply their functions
and roles in various context of situations which might occur in Clarks to get best operational
efficiency for organisation.
When a business operates it have various elements which may affect it directly or
indirectly. Environment is dynamic which keeps on changing so various situations occurs in
Clarks which are to be managed and lead to achieve targets by being flexible to those situations.
An illustration to justify these have been given below with situation which occurs in Clarks:
 Increase in rivalry:
Their are many competitors of Clarks which affects its operations in context to production. A
company have to operate according to its environment. Competitors rising implies to formation
of strategies for core competency which brings functions of manager into action to form best
policies. A leader has to assist people in this situation so that they perform better to compete
with external threats.
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 Shortfall of products:
Clarks is a shoes retailer where sometimes situation occurs when products takes time to get
ready. In that case manager has to see employees if they are performing according to standards
and leader has to motivate production workforce so that they achieve their goals which leads to
overcome shortfall of product.
 Demand is not collateral to supply:
Demand of products sometimes rises which leads to shortage in supply and vice a versa.
Manager has to make appropriate plans and procedure so that if this situation arises in Clarks
that can be dealt in a proper manner. Leaders role here is to enthusiastically upgrade employees
by telling them to work hard so as to satisfy demand and supply needs of consumers.
 Apportionment of stock for operation:
Stock of money, raw material and various other things which are required in organisation have to
be appropriate. Situations are there where there is shortfall due to less supply or shortage in
market. In which manager have to see if utilisation of resources is appropriate by organising
things and leader have to initiate it by guiding employees on ground about how to use stock.
P3 Theories and models of approach
Clarks is a shoes giant spread all over globe almost in every country with its one or more
stores. Only a single branch of this company cannot control its widespread operation (Heizer,
2016). Hence, there is a requirement to deal with various functions by most appropriate people.
Country varies in relation to language, culture and taste so approaches of dealing with employees
inside organisation requires assistance which are provided by leader who are present at various
location appointed by organisation itself. As situations which occurs in shoes retailer company
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have been justified above according to that various leadership theories can be applied to it in
order to have best control over company to lead its sector. These theories with their strengths and
weaknesses are listed below:
 Situational leadership approach:
In this approach a leader is confined to work and perform according to a situation which might
occur in a business. This approach totally work on situations which implies taking decisions
according to them. Like above it is defined that manager have to play various functions and
leader have varied roles in several situations of Clarks. A manager will perform its functions
which are planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling and a leader will
simultaneously use similar techniques to motivate and guide people in a particular situation.
There are many advantages which are also called strengths of this approach and disadvantages
which are weaknesses of this approach (Hill, 2012). Strengths- this approach is reliable and very
much accurate as business operates in a changing environment where several situations occurs.
Weaknesses- it is very difficult to have solutions for operation in n number of situation in
business context.
 System leadership approach:
Every organisation such as Clarks have a organisation structure in other words a system on
which it operates. There are various department, various heads and various people in
organisation who are allotted there duties and they have to work according to that. A manager
have to form plans and strategies according to system that a organisation follows and leader also
have to work in same direction. A system of an organisation might be formal or informal which
implies way in which it will operate. Hence this states how in this a member of organisation have
to act. Strength of this approach is- there is a specified way in which everyone has to work and
take decisions. Weakness is that a system is sometimes rigid which does work in changing
situation with business context.
 Contingency leadership approach:
Surroundings of Clarks operations are dynamic which keeps on fluctuating as demand changes,
customer changes, technology changes, globalisation impacts etc. This states that a manager and
leader have to work in relation to it by being flexible in operating and making people to act.
Changes specifies how manager will function and what role will a leader play. Strengths to this
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are- it develops leader in context with every change which occurs for Clark in its surroundings.
Weaknesses are confusion and risk chances are there as business may succeed as well as fail.
TASK 3
P4 Key approaches to operations management with role of manager and leader
Clarks is a British based global shoe retailer and manufacturer. It was founded
and headquartered in England as a private enterprise which have its stores worldwide.
Diversification of work and decentralisation of authority is essential in this kind of an
organisation. Keeping this in mind organisation performs various tasks on daily basis to meet
need of customers. It have to manage availability of of shoes on shelves of its stores which are
located at various places. Stores of company have to operate on daily basis management of
which is also important. For these operations Clarks have used various distribution channels so
that its product is available to right people at right time whenever required.
It requires maintenance of stock for shoes which are manufactured and retailed by
company itself. To do so it have to manage production as well as sale parallelly. Manager have
to see coordination of both departments so that goals are achieved (Karlsson, 2016). As it have
retailing stores demand of customer in those stores across globe have to be attained by proper
manufacturing of shoes. In other words demand and supply of products has to work hand in
hand.
Functions of manager in Clarks are to use planning, organising, staffing, directing and
controlling. These operations in stores of Clarks have to be managed properly so that company
can lead its market. Manager plays an active role in formulating and monitoring proper usage of
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resources in manufacturing as well as in stores so that there is least chances of shortfall as well as
wastage is minimised.
Leader have to guide and motivate behaviour of its followers in company to bring action
in plans and procedure which are specified by manager. Leader brings effective actions to
operations by rapid motivation to followers so that they achieve organisational as well as
individual goals. There are various approaches to management operations by support of which
leader and manager can have best dealings of Clarks and they are listed as follows:
 Lean Production:
This type of production is very sustainable and cost reducing which aims at deceasing waste at
maximum level without any disturbance in production of company (Naphade, 2011). Clarks
manager and leader can make sure that its shoes are manufactured in very good manner with
proper material in their production but there is least wastage.
 Just in time:
This type of production implies that stock has to be produced and acquired according to
requirement. In other words if there is need for production than only raw material should be
acquired. This is a very efficient techniques which alters chances of hit and trial which leads to
wastage of time and effort.
 Continuous Improvement:
Clarks can make innovation in its product as it is a lifestyle brand so it can create its product
according to changing lifestyle of people. This will increase its customer as they will be satisfied
more and customer today want something new from companies.
 Total Quality Management:
Clarks is very well known brand for maintenance of quality in its shoes because of which
customers are retained in company. It can have more better policies so as to ensure quality in
coming future of company which will help to retain in market for a longer period of time.
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P5 Importance and value of operations management
Operations of company decides its position in market as effective operations leads to
success whereas defective leads to failure. Operations management deals with all departments in
an organisation as it relates to various activities like- controlling, input and output of raw
material, resources, planning, strategic formation, cost etc. in Clarks also there is a major support
of this which includes and leads to proper work of company's functions. Importance of it has
been illustrated below:
 Management of stock:
Its leads to proper management and availability of stock in retail stores and raw material inside
company for production (Peng, 2012). It is necessary for company to manage its stock in order
to have best position in market by maintaining quality as well as least wastage while doing so.
 Efficiency in cost:
If management of operations is there than there will be least wastage in company which will
reduce cost of company. Financial resources are managed properly by this way in a company
when it have program for operations management.
 Increases customer satisfaction:
Rise in customer satisfaction is there as proper management of operations implies availability of
product in market at right time and right where it is needed.
 Innovations:
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It also leads to new productive innovation in products of company. Clarks is a manufacturer of
shoes which innovates new shoes by enhancement of operations management in its premises.
 Solid base for knowledge:
It give knowledge to a person who is appointed to manage operations which also develops plans
and guide people to work on it which increases knowledge of them. In other words employees
get to know about how optimum resources can be utilised.
TASK 4
P6 Factors within the business environment that impact upon operational management and
decision-making
Operations of Clarks might be affected by several internal factors directly as they
associate with them very closely. Decisions by a manager and leader have to be taken
accordingly in order to formulate plan to action and initiating action (Su, 2012). Internal factors
are those which are within an organisation and there variation may impact operations of
organisation. Some of these factors are listed below with justification about how they may
impact:
 Organisational And Operational:
These are related to supply management of products as well as IT management of product which
relates to producing sufficient number of goods to meet demand and using proper Information
technology in order to record and manage performance of employees and stock with company.
This may impact company which may lead to dissatisfaction of customers.
 Strategic Risk:
Changes in technology may impact internal strategies which are formed according to a specific
technology (Lewis, 2012). Usage of proper strategies in present world is very necessary so that
goals are achieved. This may impact company's operations directly.
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