Marks & Spencer: Leadership, Management, and Operation Management

This report examines the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers within the context of Marks and Spencer, a British multinational retailer. It differentiates between the functions of leaders and managers, highlighting their impact on operational management, which is crucial for transforming raw materials into finished goods efficiently. The report delves into how leaders and managers contribute to meeting organizational goals and objectives, using Marks and Spencer as a case study. It explores various organizational situations, such as new product launches and employee induction programs, to illustrate the application of different leadership styles and managerial skills. Furthermore, the report discusses several leadership theories, including situational, contingency, and system leadership, and their relevance to Marks and Spencer. Finally, it addresses the influence of internal business environment factors on operational management and decision-making by leaders and managers, providing a comprehensive overview of leadership and management in a business context.

Management and
Operation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
P1. Define and differentiate between the roles and characteristics leader and manager........1
P2. Explain role of a leader and the function of a manager in context of organisational
situations.................................................................................................................................3
P3. Explain the different theories of leadership in context of leaders and managers.............5
P4. Discuss role of leaders and managers in the key approaches to operation management. 6
P5. Discuss the importance of operation management to meet the business objectives........8
P6. Discuss the internal business environment factors that affect operational management and
decision making of organisation by leaders and managers....................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
References:.....................................................................................................................................11
Books and Journals...............................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Leaders and managers carryout leadership and managerial functions in organisations are
considered as the greatest asset. They facilitate operation management in the business
organisation which means managing the business activities within aim of accomplishing goals
and objectives of the organisation with higher efficiency (Liu and et. al., 2018). Basically
operation management is the whole process of transforming the raw materials into the finished
goods with the help of labours with maximum productivity and efficiency in order to generate
higher revenue for the organisation. The managers and the leaders of the organisation play a vital
role in balancing the activities attain during the operation management to make sure workforce is
aligned towards the business objective and resources are utilised optimally at the same time. The
present report is on Marks and Spencer British multinational retailer which is headquartered in
London, UK. The company was founded by Michael Marks in Thomas Spencer in 1884 at Leeds
UK. The report will outline difference between the role of a leader and function of a manager in
context of Marks and Spencer. Further in the report leadership theories are applied with the
different situations in an organisation and the role of leaders and managers are discussed in
improving the operational management of organisation. At last and understanding about the
internal factors that impact the operational management of the organisation as well as decision
making of leaders and management is also discussed.
MAIN BODY
P1. Define and differentiate between the roles and characteristics leader and manager
Leaders and the managers of the Marks and Spencer have different roles and
characteristics but both teams at attending the objectives and the goals of the organisation with
effective strategies (Rawat and et. al., 2019). The functions roles and the characteristics of the
manager and leader help the organisation in growing and making their employees as well as
customers satisfied and happy.
Basis Managers Leaders
Definition Managers are the individuals those
who perform the managerial actions
in the Marks and Spencer. The
manager is the in charge of managing
Leader is the one who has ability to
lead the group of people by converting
the vision of an organisation into an
practical activity by keeping the
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the activities and the operations of an
organisation (Reichard and et. al.,
2017). Manager of the Marks and
Spencer perform actions like
planning, organising, controlling,
implementing activities to attain the
goals and objective of the
organisation by showing the correct
path.
employees as a priority. Leader is a
person who motivates the employees in
order to increase their performance and
productivity which interns helps in
meeting the objectives of the
organisation. The leader of the Marks
and Spencer performs leadership skills
to engage the employees towards right
path
Roles  Role of the manager is to
manage the work and bring
stability in the organisation to
achieve the goals
 Role of the manager is to plan
and coordinates the activities
of the organisation divide the
task between the employees.
 The role of the manager is
also to manage each and
every department of the
organisation and daily
activities along with the
adequate flow of resources
(Lee and et. al., 2017).
 Role of the leader is to lead the
people effectively towards the
target and goals along with
continuous improvement and
learning (Herdman, Yang and
Arthur, 2017).
 The leader has a role of making
the employees work together as
a team and also to act as a team
player to monitor the
performance of the employees
and to increase the efficiency.
 The role of the leader is to
analyse the behaviour of the
employees at every level and
guide them towards improving
their skills and capabilities.
Characteristics Characteristics of the manager
includes:
Responsible
Accountable
Patient
Characteristics of the leader includes:
Motivator
Friendly
Caring
Influencer
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Organising
Specific
Straightforward
Positive attitude
Empathy
Reliable
Time oriented
Communication
Honesty
Delegating
Creative and innovative
Confident
Risk taker
P2. Explain role of a leader and the function of a manager in context of organisational situations
An organisation like Marks and Spencer this is the difference between the role of the
leader and the function of a manager the leaders help the organisation in motivating and guiding
the employees whereas the function of manager is to align the employees towards the objective
of an organisation (Gazizulina and et. al., 2017). Marks and Spencer go through various
situations in its day to day activities where there is the requirement of different leadership styles
as well as managerial skills that are performed by the leaders and the manager of an organisation
as per their roles and functions. The different situations are mentioned below that are occurred in
Marks and Spencer that will apply the role of leader and the function of manager:
Situation 1: With changing fashion trends Marks and Spencer has developed the new series of
clothes for which company requires new foreign market segment, company wants a successful
launch of the new clothing series by insuring that product gives high revenue and desired results
to Marks and Spencer.
Functions of Manager at Marks and Spencer
Planning
The main function of the manager of Marks and Spencer will be to develop an efficient plan to
commercialize the product in the suitable market to meet goals and objectives of the company.
The manager will allocate the employees distribute responsibilities set the realistic timelines and
the standard for the completion (Carroll and Gillen, 2019).
Organising
Along with the planning a manager will represent its organisational skills to allocate the
resources for the launching of the product. I will also develop different teams and units for the
specific task in order to keep every employee involved in certain activities throughout the daily
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operations which is important for the functioning of an management. The manager of the Tesco
will increase the responsibility of the marketing department to do research related to the
customers with regards of the new clothing series.
Directing
The third function of a manager is to lead the various team members and confidently command
each member during the period of time to make sure the task is completed with efficiency
(Ashley, Gifford and Lefebre, 2019). The manager will also show autocratic leadership to
communicate new product among the team members and also to boost the reinforcement and to
handle the conflict between the team members.
Controlling
The manager has been more function to perform to make sure that each and every activity and
task assigned to their team members and to the departments of the Marks and Spencer is
consistently monitored to ensure the high performance of employee, Quality of work and
efficiency and reliability of the completed project. Controlling function of a manager it is
important to make sure that ultimate goal of the Marks and Spencer is adequately met.
Situation 2: Marks and Spencer was conducting induction program for the new recruiters for
whom they needed already working employees to train, guide and make the new recruiters
familiar about the working culture of Marks and Spencer about their job roles to work
productively. The goal of the leader was to conduct hassle-free induction program for training
and learning of new recruiters.
The role of leaders at Marks and Spencer
Vision: It is the role of the leader of Marks and Spencer to make new recruiters understand the
vision and mission of the organisation in order to provide them clarity about what organisation
expects from them and how flexibly organisation operates (Cote, 2017).
Coach: The role of a leader is to have the responsibility and accountability for coaching and
developing new recruiters to enhance their skills in order to succeed in their roles as well as to
enhance their productivity for gaining promotions and advantage in the future roles. It is the role
of the leader as a coach to inspire and motivate the new recruiters in order to make learn new
skills and gaining knowledge and experience.
Team player: the team leader of a Marks and Spencer also how the role of a team player in order
to foster the communication between the team mates and to understand the perspective of the
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new recruiters during the induction and training program which is also useful in building a new
team with diversifying skills of their employees which will help in executing a good training and
learning program for the new recruiters (Adams, 2018).
Role Model: training and giving an induction program to the new recruiters it is very important
for a leader of a Marks and Spencer to be an effective role model to demonstrate a good, caring
patient attitude among the employees in order to gain the respect and to make the people work
harder in order to achieve such position which is helpful in attaining the business goals.
P3. Explain the different theories of leadership in context of leaders and managers
Leaders and managers of the Marks and Spencer motivate the employees by determining
their needs and wants. It is important to understand the theories and the models of leadership as it
helps the managers and the leaders of the Marks and Spencer to become more efficient in their
job roles and to enhance their leadership skills and abilities in order to make the employees work
in the desired direction towards the accomplishment of organisation objectives (Offermann and
Coats, 2018). Few leadership theories and approaches that are applicable to the Marks and
Spencer are discussed below:
Situational leadership theory
The situation theory refers that leadership style of an organisation completely depends on
the current situations that are happening within the organisation. Leaders of the Marks and
Spencer always follows the leadership style that it is suitable for the particular situation by
examining the certain variables like the nature of the task, number of employees, skills required
etc. The situation theory is integrated using the two elements leadership style and the maturity
level of the follower. The situation theory does not focus on the style of leadership brother
focuses over the flexibility and skills of the leader on the basis of response in the particular
situation. This theory helps the leader in taking best decision to overcome the particular situation
(Da’as and Zibenberg, 2021).
Contingency leadership theory
The contingency leadership theory focuses over the different variables in the
business environment which will help a leader and a manager to determine the style of leadership
that is best suitable for the business to lead and align towards the goals and objectives. The
leaders and the managers of the Marks and Spencer believe that no single leadership style is
suitable for all the situations of the business environment. Two famous leadership researchers
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Hodgson and White believes that to become an effective leader one must have a right balance
between needs, attributes and the context of situation. The Marks and Spencer examine the
various internal and external factors of the business before adopting the suitable leadership style
so that the business is benefited with leadership style in increasing the employee’s productivity
and to drive the sense of motivation for their employees (Stamatis, 2019).
System Leadership Theory
System leadership theory works on three elements the internal system of the organisation
the outside community and the individuals. System leadership theory requires the set of skills
that an individual or an organisation can use to support change management of the organisation.
Marks and Spencer during the change management operation the leaders and managers combine
their collaborative leadership, correlation building and systems insight to drive innovation and
decentralized network (Yadav and et. al., 2020). The system leadership approach enables the
leaders of the organisation to think long term goals ant think across the geopolitical boundaries.
Marks and Spencer seeks for the leader or a manager who has a vision of long-term goals and
success in order to gain new heights and growth for the organisation.
P4. Discuss role of leaders and managers in the key approaches to operation management
In Marks and Spencer for the operation management managers and leaders of the organisation
play important role in providing the right direction to the various activities of the organisation to
achieve the desired target and to increase the productivity and performance to provide better
products and services to their customers. The role of leaders and managers of Marks and Spencer
in different approaches of operation management are discussed below:
Six Sigma
Six Sigma quality management approach of operation management is mostly used by the
entire organisation of Marks and Spencer to improve the current and upcoming products and
services of the organisation in order to discover and mitigate the errors. The six Sigma approach
provides the company strong tool to improve the capabilities and quality of the business
processes. DMAIC (define, measure, analysis, improvement and control) is the strong tool of the
Six Sigma approach used by the leaders and managers of the Marks and Spencer (Liu and et. al.,
2018).
Role of manager and Leader
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The leaders identify the errors and the issues within the business manufacturing process and then
determine the tools and resources that are required to improve the performance. At the same time
the managers measure the performance of the current manufacturing process and of the
employees using the suitable Metrics tool in order to develop the idea to enhance them. Resource
and analyse reasons of underperformance for finding the solutions that are required to for
improving the production process of Marks and Spencer where the leader is responsible and has
a role of implementing the solution given by the manager and by controlling the activities
required for the improvement by setting a benchmark (Cao and et. al., 2020).
Kaizen
Kaizen is the operation management approach for the quality management used by Marks
and Spencer to improve the quality, productivity and the workplace culture. This approach of
operation management aims over applying the small changes which are effective in day to day
activities of Marks and Spencer thereby resulting in the major improvement over the time.
Role of managers and leaders
The kaizen approach is basically a quality management tool which focuses over continuous
improvement in the functions of the organisation it is the role of the manager to involve each
level of the management from top to the assembly line in the improvement process. By
implementing the Kaizen approach the leaders of Marks and Spencer build up a strong
relationship with the workers and the other staff members by delegating behaviour towards the
employees by involving them in the suggestions for improve the business process (Rawat and et.
al., 20).
Just in Time
Just in time approach of operation management focuses over the process ordering and supplying
the materials at the time of production. This approach of operation management helps Marks and
Spencer in increasing the efficiency during the time of production and decreasing the waste
thereby cutting additional cost of raw materials and unused inventory by receiving the goods that
are required for the production (Liu and et. al., 2018). This technique also helps organisation in
reducing the storage space and saves the money of the organisation.
Role of manager and leaders
The manager plays the role of ordering the supplies at the right time in the right amount and also
maintains the good relation with the supply to ensure that supplies are available at the right time
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in the desired amount. The leaders make sure that all the raw materials are utilised optimally
during the production process and are not wasted. Also insurance workers roles and
responsibility in the complete process and monitors regularly the efficiency and productivity of
the workers and machineries (Rawat and et. al., 2019).
P5. Discuss the importance of operation management to meet the business objectives
In every organisation there is imperative need of the operation management for maintaining the
quality of the products and services offered by the organisation and reduce the errors and waste
for the sustainability of the organisation. The few values and importance of the Operations
management in Marks and Spencer to meet the business objectives are discussed below:
Greater Customer Satisfaction: The biggest importance of operation management to Marks and
Spencer is it helps in attaining greater customer satisfaction because it help the company in
maintaining the quality of their products and services which meets the needs and desires of the
customers in the market. Operation management ensures that the production process run
smoothly which helps in delivering the quality products with minimal cost which turns greater
customer satisfaction (Reichard and et. al., 2017).
Increase sales and revenue: operations management helps Marks and Spencer in increasing the
sales of their products and services by conducting accurate research about latest technology and
the competitive advantage which in turn increases the ratio of profit. Itself the company e to
increase the customer base which results in higher revenue and that helps Marks and Spencer to
capture new market by making new targets.
Facilitates waste reduction: The foremost and most beneficial importance and value Operation
management provides to an organisation is reducing the waste and maximizing the optimal
utilisation of the resources which enhance the level of productivity and performance in Marks
and Spencer. Six Sigma approach helps detecting the errors that reduce the waste of and also
ensures the quality which helps the business in achieving their objectives.
Inventory and logistics management: The Just in time approach of operation management is
important as it provides the value to organization by managing the inventory and logistics
properly with supports adequate amount of production of goods and services and also leads to
wastes of raw materials. The operation management provides the proper flow of supply thereby
maintaining the effective delivery of finished goods to the consumers which meets the business
objective (Herdman, Yang and Arthur, 2017).
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P6. Discuss the internal business environment factors that affect operational management and
decision making of organisation by leaders and managers
By the leaders and the managers of organisations are required to be highly specific and
precise in order to avoid the negative impact on the organisation and on operational
management. Number of factors in the external and internal environment of an organisation that
it has the influence on the decision making of the leaders and the managers such as globalisation,
competitors, economic conditions, board of directors, employees, organisational culture and
structure etc. These are the factors that affect the organisations operations in achieving the
desired goals (Lee and et. al., 2017). The factors within the business environment impacted
operational management and decision making by leaders and managers are discussed below:
Resources of the organisation: Within an organisation there are many resources atal available
and work together but the scarcity of resources can affect the operation management as well as
the decision making. The human resource and the raw materials and inventories are required to
be work together with optimum utilisation if there is improper management in the proper and
systematic way of utilising the resources by the human resource then it directly impacts the
productivity and performance of an organisation.
Legal and political changes: Legal changes directly affect the decision making of an
organisation's taken by the leaders and the managers as changes in the policies related to the
employment or a property rights affect the planning of the managers and leaders of Marks and
Spencer. The political changes within the organisation between the higher authorities tend to
change the decision making of managers and leaders during the time of negotiation.
Business sustainability and ethics: In Marks and Spencer the managerial and the leadership
decisions are highly influenced by the business code of conduct as the company ensures that
their production and manufacturing activities are ethical and sustainable for the environment and
to the consumers (Gazizulina and et. al., 2017). Marks and Spencer aims at using the natural and
highly environmental friendly resources with optimum utilisation and avoiding the wastage in its
production process the ethics and the sustainability code of conduct highly governs the decision
making of managers and leaders of the organisation.
Stakeholders: The stakeholders of the Marks and Spencer includes board of directors employees
customers suppliers and the investors which have most important role in managing the
operations as well as in the decision making of the managers and the leaders of the organisation.
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The investors play a major role in deciding the amount of revenue and cash flow within the
organisation. The suppliers supply the raw materials and the other necessary elements that are
required for the production there for the operation management completely depends on the
suppliers.
Financial situation: The financial conditions of the organisation help the leaders in the
managers in planning and implementing the proper strategies and also help in educating the
resources to make that strategy work in the proper direction (Carroll and Gillen, 2019). The
decisions related to the cost the price of the products and services that an organisation offers to
their customers are completely dependent on the cash flow in the profits of Marks and Spencer.
CONCLUSION
The report concludes that both the managers and leaders are important for the smooth
functioning of an organisation. It is also analysed from the above report that managers and
leaders have the interrelated get different roles functions and responsibilities but went integrated
their helps in exclusive operation management of an organisation. This also concluded that if
there is a collaborative and coordinated relation between the leader and manager then it results in
effective leadership and management of an organisation that helps in efficient decision making
for the operations of the business to attain the business goals and objectives.
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References:
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