Management and Operations: Leadership and Business Environment

This report delves into the multifaceted roles of leaders and managers, contrasting their characteristics and functions within an organizational context. It examines how leadership and management principles are applied in diverse situational settings, using Aston Martin as a case study to illustrate practical applications. The report explores various leadership theories and models, including situational, systems, and contingency leadership, analyzing their impact on organizational effectiveness. Furthermore, it assesses the key approaches to operations management and the significance of operational strategies in achieving business objectives. Finally, the report evaluates the external factors within the business environment that influence operational decision-making by leaders and managers, providing a comprehensive overview of leadership and management in a dynamic business landscape.

Management And
Operations
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Table of Contents
INTRODUNCTION:.......................................................................................................................3
Task1................................................................................................................................................3
P1: Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager........3
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................5
P2: Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts. .....................................................................................................5
P3: Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency.........................................................................................................7
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................8
P4: Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and
managers play..............................................................................................................................8
P5: Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business
objectives...................................................................................................................................10
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................11
P6: Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational
management and decision-making by leaders and managers...................................................11
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................13
References .....................................................................................................................................14
Books and Journals ..................................................................................................................14
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INTRODUNCTION:
Management is a procedure of handling and managing business function and activities of
the company to assure the effective working environment of the company. Functions and
activities term advert to the daily working activities of the company to achieve and accomplish
the organisation aims and target. (Burns 2018.)Management team in an company need several
kind of individuals that are categorised and divided on the basis of their responsibilities and roles
in the company. Operational management provide smooth functioning in order to get more
positive and effective results and to grow much effectively.
Aston Martin is a British independent manufacture company of sports car and tourers.
The company was established in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. This report is
going to explain and cater structure and framework for the company and also define about the
several responsibilities and roles of a manager and leaders. This report is also going to define
about several theories of leadership and approaches which is used by an leader in order to work
effectively with positive outcome and also contain various factors and component of business
surroundings that create effects on the process of decision making of leaders and managers in the
company.
Task1
P1: Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager.
A leader can be defined as a person, who creates an idiomatic expression that influenced
others to follow this expression to achieve the pre decided goals.( Reid and Sanders 2019) In this
way, a manger is defined as a potential person, who manage and control all operational activities
in an organisation like: directing, administrating and controlling etc. in positive manner.
Leadership is about to present a vision in front of others in positive manner that affect
people to understand that vision and encourage them to work with organisation for achieving
goals. Management is about to make sure that things and work related with administration are
happening correct for complete the targets.
Role of leader and manager:
The main role of leaders and managers in an organisation is that, manager is a responsible
person for creating an efficient environment in an organisation, which helps people to work
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effectively. Along with this, leader is a person who present an attractive manner of work, which
answer and inspire others that, how to perform in best way by.(Heizer 2016.) In this way, to
make a business successful, managers and leaders are playing their role as a strong or key
personality. The different characteristics and roles of manager and leader are as follows:
Role of manager
 Monitoring and Evaluating- The manager of respective organisation can
monitor and evaluate the work performance of employees on daily basis, because
it is the responsibility of manager to check all activities which conduct in
organisation, are making positive impact or not. Monitoring and evaluating also
helps business to create an efficient workplace.
 Allocation of resources- manager plays an important role in this manner, they
always work towards achievement, which an organisation decided for success.
(Barnes 2018)It can be said that resources are limited in nature for every
organisation. In this manner, it is the key responsibility of manager to utilise
them optimally.
Role of leader
 Set a vision- leaders, always clear their vision to employees by presenting best way of
working which, inspire them to work with the organisation in efficient manner. Leaders
try to set an effective vision, that helps employees to how can they use the limited
resources of business to get success.
 Decision-making- it is the most important role of leader, to help an organisation in
decision making. Because the leader of an organisation is aware about everything and
everyone so it will helpful for the organisation to take the decision related with an
employee and particular work form.
Characteristics of manager
 Manager is a person, who is able to execute the vision on company.
 Manager has an ability to direct all the efforts in positive manner.
 Manager can apply rules, standard and many operating procedures to achieve goals.
 Manger is the person who focused on people, their requirements and needs at workplace
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Characteristics of leader
 A leader is an honest person, who is creating an effective work frame to inspiring others.
 Leader creates a vision that where the company wants to reach in future and how to
perform for that.
 Leaders have an ability to accept challenges.
 Leaders have a great power of communication, which influenced others.
Task 2
P2: Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts.
The company Aston Martin is British manufacture company of luxury sports cars and grand
tourers. The organisation is listed at the London Stock Exchange. The company is very reputed
and much famous for their products for reaching at this place, (Yan 2018.)they need more
efficient and effective managers and leaders to handle the operations of the business.
Management is much important part and portion of any company in order to accomplish their
goals and aims .
In context of Aston Martin its operates at very huge level and it is a very reputed
company. The flow of communication in the Aston Martin is very downward which means the
higher scale management team proceeds judgement and den give message to the another or
different level of the company. In the organisation the roles and responsibilities of the leaders
and managers are very important because it help to work in a very systematic manner and to get
most positive result. and There are several kind of roles and obligations of leaders and directors
in various conditions are mentioned below:
Situation 1: Effective management in complex situation:
There are various kind of complex conditions develop in the company and that can be
externally or either internally because of changes and modification in the market and due to
dynamic surroundings. They need appropriate , suitable and amended management team in order
to solve the condition and situation in a very effective and efficient way.
Modification and alteration in requirements and desires of the customers put the company
in the very complex condition because these are major and key priorities of the company and
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due to market trends their taste and demand changes. In order to fulfil the requirement and needs
of the customer and to manage the situation, the mangers and leaders plays an essential role in
the company. leaders and managers plays an important role. ( Childe 2017)The responsibilities
and functions of the mangers and leaders of the Aston Martin are mentioned below:
Role of a Leader
 The leaders of the Aston Martin identify the problems and understand the situation
accordingly and then find the best outcome and solution for the same.
 To minimise the possibilities of risk and uncertainty for future, the leaders develop and
make plans on a daily basis and then made a decision accordingly. The leaders of the company also believe in team work, they always prefer to motivate
other so that they can produce and made more effective outcomes for the company.
Functions of manager
 The Aston Martin mangers always maintain a evidence and documents of the profit and
losses that develop in the company and then analyse and find most appropriate and
suitable possible resolution for the situation to gain best results.
 Mangers of the Aston Martin always create a situation and strategies to keep their
workers more motivated and inspire towards the company. The managers of the company also conduct so many activities that enhance the
motivation of the worker like rewards, appraisals and appreciation programs.
Situation 2: New product launch:
When a organisation is going to introduce something new in the market so the leaders
and managers of the organisation play an much essential role in the company in order to get
more success. Leaders and managers provide better assistance to represent their innovative cars
in front of the audience so that they can attract most audience . While launching a new product
the roles and responsibilities of the mangers and leaders are mentioned below:
Role of managers
 The managers of Aston Martin perform several activities and roles like to make strategies
to promote their products, about their sales and representation and many more activities.
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 The managers of the Aston Martin always develop a new techniques and planes to
accomplish the aims and objectives of the company in a very planned and appropriate
way.
Role of Leader
 The leaders of the Aston Martin always assure the quality and functions of their
innovations and they make a proper report for the same to maintain a document.
 They also manage and handle post and pre launch problems that arise in the company
and if any problem arise they communicate and handle in a very effective way.
P3: Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency.
Situational Leadership:
This theory define that each leaders of the company behave or react differently
according to the condition and according to their mindset and capabilities.(Chary 2017.) There
are several kind of models and theories that are followed by the Aston Martin company. There
are few models which are explained below:
 The company Aston Martin shared their plans and strategies with their workers to make
them feel valued towards the company.
 Aston Martin leaders always tries to share and provide their thoughts, opinion and ideas
with their team and also take the recommendation for them in order to develop something
effective and much innovative.
 Higher authorities are much emissary to their workers that are much needed to finish a
project and task on the particular and given time period. The leaders and managers of Aston Martin take feedbacks and opinion from their
workers in order to motivate them towards the work and towards the organisation.
System Leadership:
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Aston Martin is a very reputed and popular company and they always assist their workers
by picking real life examples and situation and by giving them solution to handle the situation
and any kind of circumstances.(Karlsson 2016) Leaders of the company are much prudent and
responsible to provide better assistance and training and education in the company that are
conducted earlier to proceed major decisions and action in the company towards any condition or
circumstances. This theory or concept is used to analyse and understand the workers opinion and
their capabilities to handle the situation by giving them real life conditions.
Contingency Leadership:
On the basis of this theory a leader can not be effective and potential on every situation.
There are few condition and circumstances that make the leader ineffective means sometime that
conditions make them ineffective and they are not able to manage the situations. In Aston
Martin, there are various different kind of conditions and in which the leaders are much
potential and effective to handle the conditions and complex circumstances but also in various
conditions that make them more experienced for the future to handle the situations. (Anand and
Gray 2017.)The leaders of the any company should feature a attribute to have much innovative
thoughts ideas so that they can share with their subordinate and team mates so that they can
improve themselves and can boost up their way of thinking.
Task 3
P4: Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and managers
play.
It can be said that, there are various approaches of operation management which is used
by the leaders and managers to operate all organisational activities in effective manner. In
operation management, managers play their big role to increasing the productivity, which is
beneficiary for Aston martin in creasing the level of profitability.
Operations management- operation management is related with the designing,
controlling, process and techniques that used in organisation for achieve the best result. Business
operations are basically related with maintenance of service and product quality, which affect an
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organisation directly. If Aston martin, can not conduct their operational activity properly than it
will be harmful for company's reputation. (Slack 2018)The approaches related with operation
management which, helps in company's effective management to maintain their product quality
for customers satisfaction. In context to Aston martin, these approaches are followed to manage
operational activities-
TQM-
In this, company always try to maintain product and service quality to secure interest of
their customers in the related product or service. This approach refers that a various standard
quality of product or service which is provided by company to its customers is must be right or
best. Total Quality Management (TQM) approach is, delivered right product to right person in
given time period. It will helps company to maintain the demand of respective product in
competitive market.
JUST IN TIME-
This approach is helpful for company in order to focus on production activity which is
conducting in an organisation. It ensure that all activities related with production completed in
given time period without damaging the quality of product. This approach supports the company
to maintain and fulfil its consumer demand in competitive market and also helps to increasing
the level of sales. Along with this, company always try to avoid the wastage during production,
because every company has limited sources for production.
LEAN PRODUCTION-
This approach is related with maximum output, in which company can input least and get
maximum output. It can be said that, this approach helps company to maintain the present output
level with optimum use of resources.(Bromiley and Rau 2016) it is includes development
programme and proper training to employees and workers about minimum resources which is
the respective company have. It is also included to carrying production activity of company with
100% capacity level without wasting limited sources.
From the above, it can be said that, concept of TQM is required for Aston martin, which
ensure company to maintain quality of product for future. In this way all activities related with
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production is being done in given time period than, company is able to achieve the additional
profits of competitions.
The main role of leader and manager in it, is to pay attention on operational activities
which enhance the sale and profitability of company and also provide best results. In this way,
manager try to create an effective and attractive environment for employees and workers to
completing the targets by producing the best.(Kumar, Mookerjee and Shubham 2018) Along
with this, main role o9f leader is creating an potential and interesting work frame for employees
and also provide best guidance for work towards the success by motivating them.
P5: Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business
objectives.
Operations management is an important part of every company to conduct the business
activities without any major issues. Aston Martin focus on their operational activities more than
other activities because of the results. Operation management provide best results to an
organisation for achieving the goals. In this manner, importance and value of operation
management for the leaders and managers of Aston Martin are as follows;
Customer satisfaction-
Operations management is necessary for each and every organisation to carry on the
business without any getting loss. If the operation management is perfect in company than, it will
helpful for maintaining the demand of its product in competitive market. Operation management
is valuable also for Aston martin in order to make their customer satisfy with the quality of
product.
Secure position in present competition-
operations management is helpful in present competitive time for small and large size
organisation. In present competition time it is very difficult to secure a position. But with the
help of perfect management it is easy to survive.
Increase net revenue -
with the help of proper operations management Aston Martin, can able itself to increase
the net revenue by boosting up net sales. It is possible through the operational activities which is
ultimately helps in increasing the value of the brand.
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Increase market value -
By the proper execution of operation management, it can be said that the market value of
Aston Martin is increased in positive manner. This management support a company to fight with
competitors in present competition with effective strategies and increase the market value by
maintaining the demand level.
Increase sales
It is important for every organisation to increase sales by performing very well in the
market. (Gibson and Parkman 2018)Effective work can help an organisation to achieve their pre
decided goals in a short time period. Management of Aston Martin, conduct various analysis
related with production activity to increase the sales.
Increase profitability-
it can be said that, operations management helps Aston Martin to increase the
profitability in order to fulfil their targets. In this way, company focus on the quality of product
and customer satisfaction which is required to maintain the profit level same as before.
From the above, it can be said that, operations management is required for every step
which is taken by company for achieving the goals and complete the targets in this competitive
time.(Benjaafar and Hu, 2020.) This kind of management helps an organisation to applying
effective strategies and also helps to manager and leaders in execution of these strategies.
Task 4
P6: Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational
management and decision-making by leaders and managers
There are various factors of business environment that plays vital role in effecting the
operational management and decision-making process of Aston martin organisation. Leaders and
mangers take positive as well as negative decision in some situations. Some factors of business
environment are discussed below:
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 Resources of the organisation- Organisation need various resources to complete
their task on time. Human resources and other raw material are being used in the
Aston martin. The management department of the organisation should maintain
these resources in systematic way, so they are available easily when needed. The decisions of
Aston martin are effected by the productivity as well as the performance of the employees. The
organisation have to manage their resources.
 Financial status- Appropriate planing and effective strategies are made by the
leaders of Aston martin by the help of financial status of organisation. (Westlake
and SightPlan Inc. 2018)All the decisions that are related to the cost of the
production, services that are offered to satisfy customer and the investment of
Aston martin is effected by the condition of cash flow statement and the profits
which organisation earn within the respective financial year. Financial status of an
organisation reflects its current condition and evaluate their revenues and
expences.
 Market trends- Market is full of new trends and with passing the each day
innovations are being evaluated. The organisation should analysed these trends
properly, these trends help an organisation to estimate the requirement of
customer. If the current market trends are appropriately analysed, this will be
helpful for the success of that particular organisation and vice-versa in opposite
situation. The respective organisation should conduct various research to evaluate
the recent trends of market and needs and their requirements.
 Legal and political changes- Legal and political changes affect the all decision
making of Aston martin and its operational activities that are carries by the
leaders and managers of that particular organisation. These changes are imposed
by the authorities on the organisation of Aston martin. Leaders have to predict the
future requirement of relative market and then the manager of organisation fulfil
their responsibility by arranging and managing all respective resources that are
important to achieve the desired goals and objectives of organisation. These
changes affect the policies and way of working of an organisation.
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