Leadership and Management in M&S: Roles, Theories, and Operations

This report provides an in-depth analysis of leadership and management principles within the context of Mark & Spencer (M&S). It begins by differentiating between the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers, highlighting their respective responsibilities within an organization. The report then explores how these roles are applied in various situations, emphasizing the importance of delegation, decision-making, and employee engagement. Furthermore, it delves into the application of different leadership theories and models, including situational, contingency, and system leadership, and their impact on organizational performance. The report concludes by examining key approaches to operations management, underscoring the significance of training and development for employees, and the crucial role of leaders and managers in optimizing operational efficiency and achieving organizational goals. The report provides a comprehensive overview of leadership, management, and operations within the context of a real-world business example.

MANAGEMENT
&
OPERATION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Difference between roles and characteristics of leader and manager....................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
P2 Role of leader and function of manager are applied in different situations of manager........4
P3 Application of different theories and models of leadership approach...................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P4 Explain key approaches to
operations management and role of
leaders and managers M&S........................................................................................................7
P5 Importance and value of operations management.................................................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P6 Factors within Business environment that affect operational management and decision......9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Management and operations are basic actions that every organisation does while
conducting business operations (Jacobs, Chase and Lummus, 2014). M&O is helpful in attaining
all targets in limited period of time by conducting all activities in proficient manner.
Management & operation assist managers or leaders in getting competitive advantages. Present
assignment revolves around Mark & Spencer company which is a garment association and
operating its business operations in United Kingdom. This organisation manufactures garments
for man, woman and kids all. This report includes difference of leader and manager along with
their role in different situations. Several leadership style and theories are also described in this
report.
TASK 1
P1 Difference between roles and characteristics of leader and manager
According to (Alderton and Saieva, 2013) manager is a person who is responsible for
organising and controlling things with help of proper planning in organisation along with
providing guidance to juniors and line managing staff members.
ROLE OF MANAGER
A manager of M&S plays a vital role in association. There are some points that will
describe role of manager. Roles are described below:
Figurehead Role: A manager plays a role of business representative and in this
responsibility he greets business visitors, signs legal document on the behalf of company. Other
duties are establishing formal and serious communication among staff members.
Leadership Role: In this kind of liability, manager of M&S works as senior authority and
coordinates his juniors in order to complete all tasks in requisite period of time. This role is about
hiring, training, motivating and maintaining discipline amongst junior subordinates.
Liaison Role: Manager has to perform some different sort of role in organisation. For
example, motivation, communication, encouragement and enhancement of team spirit. Manager
has to maintain a suitable coordination among all activities.
Monitor Role: A manager is a person who assesses performance of employees in order to
understand whether workers are doing well and level of functionality can be checked by
evaluating all targets whether they are achieved in time or not (Roles of Manager. 2018).
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Disseminator Role: When an information is confidential and it is required to give
specified person then manager plays a role of disseminator and provides information to
authorised person personally (Heizer,2016) (Slack, 2015).
Spokesperson Role: When management represents company in front of outsiders then
manager plays role of spokesperson and deal with outsiders on behalf of association and provides
information.
Entrepreneurial Role: In enterprises, a manager is a contacted person and he is innovator
and creator. Manager is responsible for all risks that he took for running a business enterprise.
Disturbance Handler: Manager has to maintain a friendly environment and always tries
to remove conflicts and clashes from workplace. When a conflict raises in working location then
it sabotage performance of other employees also and becomes reason of disturbance. So, it is a
responsibility of manager of Mark & Spencer that he handle all kind of disturbance.
Mintzberg's managerial roles: These are stated as below:
Interpersonal Role: Superiors are suppose to provide all relevant information and
knowledge related to task accomplishment to juniors in order to complete all activities in limited
time period. For this purpose, managers can use emailing function.
Informational Role: There are many surveys and researches that are conducted by
managers for gaining information about taste and preferences of customers along with
knowledge about competitor's product and services.
Decisional Role: For enhancing performance of production function it is required from
manager that they improve their strategy formulation skills so that all task could get completed in
shortest time span (Burns, 2014).
CHARACTERISTICS OF MANAGER
 A manager must have positive attitude in order to motivate work force and to maintain a
healthy & competitive environment at workplace.
 It is required from a manager that he must priorities things and plan operations according
them.
 Manager must be honest not only for his seniors but also juniors as well.
 Management personnel has patience in working which is necessary for listening co-
worker's problems and issues.
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DEFINITION OF LEADER
As stated by (Peng and Lai, 2012) a chieftain is a person who is takes command of other
group of people that are called as followers. Spearhead is responsible for getting things done in
most profitable and perfect manner.
ROLE OF LEADER
Requirement at all level: A headsman is required at all level for getting all task
accomplished by employees.
Representative of Association: Leader is a person who talks on the behalf of company.
Solicits Support: A figurehead support his followers if juniors are doing well (Role of
Leader. 2018).
CHARACTERISTICS OF LEADER
 Spearhead is eligible in delegating authority among employees.
 Chieftain is a confident person who takes all judgements in proper manner.
 Headsman always tries to conduct all activities in creative manner so that product could
attack real need of customers (Subramanian and Ramanathan, 2012).
 For accomplishment of task, leader must be committed towards his responsibilities.
Difference between leader and manager
Basis Manager Leader
Definition He has to manage things as
well as people in association.
He is a commander of his
group who give command to
followers.
Role Manager does all management
functions like planning and
controlling etc.
Providing guidance to all
subordinates for getting things
done.
Characteristics He is a person with positive
attitude.
He is able in delegating
authorities.
Above is a brief idea about some similarities and distinction between leader and manager along
with their role-play in M&S company.
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TASK 2
P2 Role of leader and function of manager are applied in different situations of manager
For motivating employees, leader should be good in building appropriate working
environment so that all task could get accomplished in most profitable manner. Manager
perform their duties i.e. directing junior subordinates that how can workers do their allotted task.
In M&S, all seniors are capable in hitting all complex as well as easy targets because managers
are able in deliver all orders in set time frame (Chevalier and et, al., 2015). Below are some
circumstances in which role of leader and function of manager are defined below:
Delegation of Authority: It is required from a leader that he should distribute all
responsibilities in appropriate manner which is assigning all liabilities along with some rights.
Authority delegation should be done in proper manner so that every employee shall feel self
motivated and then accomplish all tasks in best possible manner. Managers are required to assess
performance of co-workers so that junior could not harm working environment by decreasing
their working patterns.
Decision Making Process: It is a necessity of manager that he should make proper
judgement because this kind of behaviour is important for securing growth and success. Both
leader and manager play important role in decision making process. Both chieftain and head of
management level can take some feedback and suggestion in decision making process so that
involvement of workers could get increased. This kind of behaviour is helpful in attaining all
targets in limited period of time. Superiors should make adequate and proper decisions because
an efficient judgements is able in making competition easy in marketplace.
Employee Engagement: For M&S, its workers are most important because manpower is
responsible for production of extraordinary quality products and services and these items will
further grab satisfaction of customers and a satisfied consumer will make repetitive purchase
from company and these repeat buying is the ultimate reason of organisation's growth and
success along with getting competitive advantages (Brandon and Mullan, 2013).
Training and Development: If quality of products are low then it means line staff are in
need of a training program so that their skill get increased and manpower could be able in
understanding the use of latest technologies. So, training is required for developing skill in
human resource and it is a major responsibility of leader that they train their followers.
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Henceforth, it is studied that manager and leader both are essential part of M&S because
both seniors and chieftain are reason of growth of association. This action will help in getting
larger share in marketplace (Stadtler, 2015).
P3 Application of different theories and models of leadership approach
Large and moderate kind of organisations conduct seminars so that employees who are
working in these type of associations could be able in improvising their skills and talents.
Superiors are required to motivate their junior subordinates so that they will manufacture good
quality products to satisfy more number of customers and only improved no. of consumers are
able in enhancing market share of company. There are some approaches which are used in
company to ensure appropriate and adequate working:
(Source: Situational Leadership Model, 2017)
Situational Leadership Theory: It is a very important concept in context of leadership because
this theory enable employees to work according to market conditions. This model is propounded
by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard when they were working for management in organisational
behaviour (Situational Leadership Model. 2017). This model is based upon two factors one is
leadership style and other model is Employee's performance Readiness level. Description of
these two attributes are described below:
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Illustrat
ion 1: Situational Leadership Model

Leadership style: Professors suggested that a leader have to apply these theories in their task
performance so that life cycle of a person as employee could not reach on decline level after
arriving maturity stage. There are four leadership styles that are described below:
 Telling – It is a directional approach. Chieftain guides his subordinates that how
worker can do their task in most profitable manner.
 Selling – In this kind of thinking, spearhead provides coaching about task
completion and taking use of latest techniques in order to enhance productivity of
association.
 Participating – In this level of situational leadership model, figurehead tells that
employees are capable but they are doing their work without interest so to
increase and evolve interest level, leader should make them aware about all new
trends and developments.
 Delegating – In this level, employees can and want to do al, their operational
activities independently to get on maturity level of employee life cycle.
This leadership styles are described in most efficient manner in above picture (Galindo and
Batta, 2013).
Contingency Leadership Theory: This theory is given by Fred Fiedler and it is one of the
prominent model of contingency theories. Professor propounded this in year 1958 in his book
Leader Attitude and Group Effectiveness. This approach is well researched and statics & stated
parameters are quite reliable. Professor said a leader is not the person who applies leadership
theories but also headsman should have command and control over complex situations (Fiedler's
Contingency Theory. 2016).
System Leadership Theory: This models combines two theories of leadership of Bass (1990)
and Kark (2004) and a comparison is made between how each style will function in outline of
Hopkins and Higham and map of system leadership. This is a transformational leaders who are
on high rank than proactive and innovative leader. This kind of leadership motivates other person
to create decisions and movement to enhance working level of workers in order to achieve higher
productivity which is responsible for bringing greater profit in M&S company.
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TASK 3
P4 Explain key approaches to
operations management and role of
leaders and managers M&S
Seniors of M&S are in need to provide some training and development programs to their
employees because employees are able in creating things that are made for serving customers in
marketplace. Skill enhancement program is necessary for workers in order to attain all targets in
limited period of time. There are some techniques that are applicable for assessing production
function in order to get high efficiency in production (Gunasekaran and Ngai, 2012). Six Sigma – It is a standard which is provided to those associations who is eligible in
accomplishing all factors that are related to control, define, improvement, measure and
analysis. As, manager of M&S are quite efficient in completing their targets and this is
proved because seniors got six sigma in this section. Total Quality Management – In order to increase customer base, it is necessary for
association that they make improvements in products and services on regular basis.
Improved quality products are only factor that fascinates wide number of people. Total
quality management is a function that assess overall qualities of association that
comprises employee performance, financial benefits, competitive advantages etc. Lean Production – This measure includes around three steps to evaluate entire quality of
management. Steps that are include in this section are design, prepare and
implementation. This is done to reduce scrap while utilizing resources for production
purpose. This action increases functionality of workers. Continuous Improvements – Requirement of skill enhancement program can only be
assessed by monitoring current performance of manpower and association is having
adequate techniques and methodologies for assessing functionality of staff members. By
taking help of these tools and technologies, management can launch training and
development program in association so that items should be produced with extraordinary
qualities. Taking feedbacks and inviting suggestions is another method of establishing
function of continuous improvements.
 Just-in-Time – As M&S is launched its products on mobile application and people can
order their item with help of apps and company has to make home deliveries. This
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segment mainly works in delivery approach and in this context, organisation delivers its
products in promised time (Gillen, Jacquillat and Odoni, 2016).
Role of Leaders and Managers in operations management
It is a duty of both manager and leader that they manage and control all activities in
manner in company can make more profits as well as benefits. Management activities are fruitful
in catering needs and demands of customers in marketplace in order to complete all targets as
soon as possible. It is a responsibility of manager he should make some tactics and policies in
order to enhance and on the other hand spearhead has to follow these strategies into actions. By
making and establishing proper strategies management personnel can enhance their outcomes
and returns. This action brings high efficiency in hitting targets in shortest time period by
catching attention of numerous people in marketplace.
P5 Importance and value of operations management
In M&S, operation management plays a vital role in accomplishing business operations.
There are so many activities that are to be comprises in this section. For example, planning,
controlling, organising, leading operation of firm. This section includes changes in raw material
as per time passes, resource alterations according to need of latest trends and fashions. Managers
are always look for reduction in cost and operation management assist seniors in this action by
suggesting ways in which management personnel can reduce some extra expenses could be able
in making higher profits because rate of product is same but cost are minimised so difference
between old and new cost is an improved profit (Dekker, Bloemhof and Mallidis, 2012).
Managers of M&S company have to monitor performance of staff members in order to
find out necessity of any skill enhancement program that is necessary for producing ultimate
quality goods and services. This is a step which takes management in reach of wide number of
consumers and this kind of activity makes stronger base between client and company by
enhancing satisfaction level of customers. Importance of operation management is described
below:
Profit Maximisation – Main motto of running operational activities is enhancement of
profit by increasing performance of task accomplishment. Excellent implementation of
workforce, resources, raw materials, supply chain can bring a great success in corporation.
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Optimization Way of Utilizing Resources – When company is running its business
operations then it is a responsibility of operations manager that more production could get out by
putting less resources. This action enables high rate of production and attention of customers.
TASK 3
P6 Factors within Business environment that affect operational management and decision
There are many aspects that have impact on decision making skills of mangers.
Elaboration of these factors are as follows:
Internal Aspects Shareholders: These are real owners of company and they are always set on first priority
of management personnels and managers also take care of them in most caring manner. If
organisation is required financial resources for accomplishing any task or action then
these stakeholders are a good option because shareholders are big investors who put
money in other's business to get extra benefits and profits.
 CSR Activities: These are some responsibilities that an association have towards the
society. This includes some welfare programs for enhancement of living standards of
human beings, those are not having proper resources. For example, some business houses
starts schools and hospitals for poor persons. On the other hand, if organisation is
determined that it would not harm environment and society by their operations (Wong
and et. al., 2012).
External Aspects:
 Political – M&S is conducting its business operations across the globe and for efficient
fulfilment of task. For attaining this purpose, it is essential for company that they
consider all aspects related to political factors because entry in other country depends
upon this attribute.
 Technology – Today's era is technological time and techniques affect each and every sort
of business houses because tools are very important part in manufacturing process. It is
required from association that they comprehend technological atmosphere of country in
which firm is going to start their business operations. Technologies are having most
important role in manufacturing and production processes to improvise quality of
products and services. Techniques are also helpful in getting knowledge about taste and
preferences of customers and most prominent tool in this context is internet.
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So, there are some points that must be taken into consideration by spearhead to give positive
impact on interest of firm in direct and indirect manner (Plambeck, 2012).
CONCLUSION
Above report is concluded as a business house should maintain quality of its product as
well as services and management & operation plays an important role in managing quality of
items and facilities. Entire staff members must be aware about their all roles and responsibilities
to complete all task and actions. There are some similarities and distinctions that leader and
manager have between them. This report also considers some specific roles of chieftain and
some functions that manager has to play in organisation. This project is a summary of several
factors like comparison between leader and manager, application of roles of spearhead and
functions of senior employees, leadership theories, key models of operation management etc.
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