Analysing Leadership, Management, and Operational Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and management roles within the context of operations management, using the Morgan Motor Company as a case study. It defines and compares the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers, applying various theories such as classical management, behavioral, and contingency theories to differentiate their functions. The report examines how these roles apply in different situational contexts, focusing on situational leadership, systems leadership, and contingency approaches. Strengths and weaknesses of these approaches are assessed, and the impact of leadership and management on operational efficiency and business objectives is evaluated. Furthermore, the document explores key approaches to operations management, the importance of operations management in achieving business objectives, and factors within the business environment that impact operational management and decision-making. The relationship between leadership and management and its effect on the business environment and wider community is analyzed, concluding with a critical evaluation of operations management and its broader impacts.

Unit 4: Management and Operations (L4)
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Contents
LO1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a
manager................................................................................................................................3
M1 Analyze and differentiate between the role of a leader and function of a
manager by effectively applying a range of theories and concepts............................5
LO2............................................................................................................................................7
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager
apply in different situational contexts...............................................................................7
P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational
leadership, systems leadership, and contingency.........................................................8
M2 Assess and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to
situations within the work environment............................................................................9
D1 critically analyses and evaluate the different theories and approaches to
leadership in given contexts............................................................................................10
LO4..........................................................................................................................................11
P4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that
leaders and managers play.............................................................................................11
P5 Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving
business objectives...........................................................................................................12
M3 Evaluate how leaders and managers can improve efficiencies of operational
management to successfully meet business objectives.............................................13
LO4..........................................................................................................................................14
P6 Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon
operational management and decision-making by leaders and managers.............14
M4 Analyse how the relationship between leadership and management affects the
business environment and wider community of your chosen organization..............16
D2 Critically evaluate the application of operations management and factors that
impact on the wider business environment...................................................................17
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................18
References.............................................................................................................................19
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LO1
P1 Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a
manager.
(Figure 1: Leader or Manager)
(Source: Western, 2013)
Role and Characteristics of a Manager: The managers are individuals who
manage and design the work of an organization as per the decided objective and
goals that are pre-determined and organization journey path. For the successful
achievement of the desired objectives, it is the responsibility of the managers to
establish and develop the strategies that are relevant and the policies and make the
plan as per the staff of the organization so that they can able to complete their tasks
as per the aligned objectives of the organization. The managers are designated on
the different department of the organization to supervise the staff and manage the
tasks of the workers in their allocated departments. The managers are also liable to
analyze the performance and the appraisal of the employees and obtain this by
implementing the performance appraisal procedure in their assigned departments at
regular intervals (Victorovich and Sergeevna, 2012).
Role and characteristics of a leader: Leaders are the individual who has delegated
the work to various and able to get it done through them. These people are
concerned for the accomplishment of the goals of the company. The leaders will play
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a very important dimension in motivating the employees of the organization with their
communication skills and effective leadership and make the employees inherent
them the organization vision (Victorovich and Sergeevna, 2012). Their main role is to
guide the organization and the team towards the vision of the organization. The
primary aim of the leaders is to inspire and influence the organization employees
towards achieving the productivity and efficiency of the organization.
(Figure 2: Difference between Leader and Manager)
(Source: Rușeț, 2013)
Difference between Leaders and the managers
Generally, the roles of leaders and the managers are found to be different, but there
are some differences on the responsibility that are being done by the leaders and the
managers. Organization managers are performing their task as per the mission and
the vision of the organisation and the function of the leader is to communicated
further the primary vision of the organization towards the employees and motivate
them to think toward achieving the organization vision as their own vision as per the
planned route path by leaders.
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M1 Analyze and differentiate between the role of a leader and function of a
manager by effectively applying a range of theories and concepts.
(Figure 3: Morgan Motor Company Logo)
(Source: Beverland, et. al., 2015)
In Morgan motor, an innovative motor manufacturer that is engaged in the
manufacturing, designing, assembling and the sale of the classic passengers' cars in
the nations such as the United States and the United Kingdom. The productivity of
the company has been increased because of the efficient strategy that is being
developed by the organization to upgrade the productivity. Role of leaders of Morgan
motor has been differentiated with the role of managers of the company. The leaders
of the company will get the work done by the employees as per the set standards
established by the managers and managers will perform as per there set standards
for themselves (Smith, 2014). The role differentiation of leaders and the managers in
the Morgan motor will help in growing the business because of the segregation of the
tasks in an efficient manner. There are various theories that are effectively
implemented in the Morgan motor areas Classical management theory, behavioral
theory and contingency theory described as per below:
Contingency Theory: This theory suggests that is there is neither a best possible
way has been defined to perform any particular task or to take decisions or to lead a
specific organization. In Morgan motor, the decisions are taken by the leaders and
the managers as per assessing the external and internal factors.
Behavioral Theory: This theory of leadership has helped in assessing the behavior
of the leaders in certain specific circumstances. Morgan motor has gained much
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success because of the timely action was taken by the leaders and how they
perceived a challenging situation to sustain in the competing market ( Rușeț, 2013).
Classical management theory: This theory suggests the scientific approach of
performing a given task and will do a scientific analysis of the tasks that are being
performed by the workers. The success behind Morgan motor has mainly because of
the science-driven approach in performing a task and understands the loophole
where the scientific approach has been majorly required.
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LO2
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a
manager apply in different situational contexts.
Organisation objectives are being fulfilled because of the efficient and effective
direction that is undertaken by the efficient leaders and the managers. There are
several functions of the management as well as various style and the leadership
traits that will help in efficient functioning of the management functions. Morgan
motor is facing challenging situation where prices of equipments, labour cost,
material as well as the cost of the fuel are uprising in a steep phase and in such
negative situation the proper implementation of the management functions and the
skill of the leaders will plan and implement various strategies that can able to handle
the manufacturing cost for increasing the revenue and the productivity of the
organisation (Western, 2013).
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P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational
leadership, systems leadership, and contingency
Situational leadership is described as a style of the leadership that is depending on
the employee capabilities and the skills of the employee that are influenced by the
help of the leaders. The Operations management of the Morgan motor is very well
affected by this form of leadership style. Leaders of Morgan motor will adopt a
different form of leadership in several situations. The recent situation of the Morgan
motor where they are facing the challenging situation of increasing the overhead
costs the situational leadership is playing a major role in this form of the situation
(Otley, 2016).
Systems leadership is applied in the Morgan motor, as the leaders can control the
performance of the employees and also able to communicate as per the
circumstances of the Morgan motor and will help in performing the workers as per
arising needs of the company such as the Morgan motor will need to make changes
as per the operations of the Morgan motor and able to establish those strategies for
the fulfilment of the KAIZEN and will make the operations department to improve the
activities that are related to manufacturing the finest automobiles by reducing the
production and assembling cost.
Contingency theory is based on changing the strategies as per the change in the
situation. The leaders are playing an influential role by the help of which they are
motivating the employees to develop significant changes in the operations in order to
overcome the challenges that are present in the market (Otley, 2016). The managers
and owners of the Morgan motor has considered the reasons behind the rapid
increase in production cost and theory that has been applied to bring changes in the
operational activity to reduce down the super high prices of the equipment as well as
material that are being procured from the suppliers and will change the policies of
the Morgan motor regarding the operation and production department.
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M2 Assess and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different
approaches to situations within the work environment.
As per the understanding of the several approaches, it has been found that there are
different strengths and limitations are being observed in a different work
environment. Systems leadership theory that is being followed in the organisation is
effective as when the leaders are able to communicate effectively to their employees
down the line but this theory is ineffective as when employees are not able to follow
a specific leader and unable to exercise his leadership on the certain individuals and
these are against the policies of leaders (Pless, et. al., 2012). System approach to
leadership is only effective as when it able to clarify the complex thought process
and dynamism in the environment and providing a model framework for building the
ideas. On the other hand if a Morgan motor or any organization that is following the
contingency theory it has also some strength and weakness that is being observed.
The major strength of contingency theory is it is researched and expertise approach,
It helps in identification of best potential leaders in an organization. This theory is
presenting the option of selecting variables and very flexible in nature while the
contingency theory has an only limited weakness that any other prevailing theory.
This theory is sometimes thought as very rigid as when the leader perspective
towards the workers is not very flexible. In such situation, this theory will bring
negative motivation o the organization which has to produce an impact on the entire
organization.
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D1 critically analyses and evaluate the different theories and approaches to
leadership in given contexts.
It has been implied that the most critical form of leadership style is the behavioral
approach to the leadership. As per some of the managers, the behavioral leaders
are very bossy or dictatorial in nature when they are dealing with the employees
while they are also found to be effective as when they are dealing with the
challenging situations. So at the point of this context of Morgan motor, it will remain
unclear whether this form of leadership style is effective or not. One of the widely
recognized approaches to the leadership is the situational approach of the
leadership that has been developed in 1969. This approach has been widely popular
across the different organizations across the United Kingdom as well as in Morgan
motor company (Kotler and Armstrong, 2013). This theory is based on a flexible
approach to handling a specific situation as different approaches will demand
different handling approach. This approach seems as sensible, intuitive and
understandable and can easy to imply in different situations as per the need arises.
Though their certain limitations of situational theory as well that has been observed
in the context of Morgan Motor Company. There is very less evidence that is
supporting the propositions and assumptions set forth by this particular approach.
This theory does not explain the composition of each progress phase in the level of
development regarding the application of this approach. This theory is not able to
clear line of difference between competence as well as commitment (Kotler and
Armstrong, 2013).
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LO4
P4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that
leaders and managers play.
In an automobile manufacturing company, the operations are being divided into the
pre-production, assembling and the post-production phase. During the plan of pre-
production, the required necessary resources are being allocated and assessed. For
example the there should properly space is being required for the production, the
labor required, required quality and the quantity of raw material, space required for
handling warehousing and handling logistics as well. After completion of the
manufacturing in the factory premises, the cars are being supplied to various dealer
showrooms. There are various natures of the operations that are being performed at
this stage (Du, et. al., 2013). The dealer showrooms are providing feedback to the
company sales department about the demands of the colors as well the features
they are most likely to see in the models of cars that are being manufactured. The
sales department will collectively send all these feedbacks to improve in the
upcoming model of the cars. These will help the operations department of the
company will modify and procure the material as per the needs of the customers.
Operations in an automobile sector would require establishing the controls and the
processes for a smooth running of the organization as per the requirement in the
market to attain the organizational objectives that are being the preferred choice of
the consumer category.
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P5 Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving
business objectives
The business function that is responsible for the controlling, coordinating and
planning the response factors that are being required to develop the services and the
products of the company. Operation management is describing the administration of
the practices of the business that is created to develop the highest level of the
efficiency possible inside the organization context (Bolden, 2016). The operation
management is used in wide spectrum of industries. The operations management
helps in achieving the tactical and strategic business advantages required in a wide
Variety of the industries. The primary role of the operations management is helping
the organization in proper utilization of the resources effectively and efficiently.
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