M&S: Comparing Leadership and Management Roles in Operations

This report examines the roles and responsibilities of leaders and managers within the context of Marks & Spencer (M&S), a major retail company. It differentiates between the functions of managers, who focus on planning, organizing, controlling, and directing, and leaders, who motivate, coordinate, and inspire employees. The report explores how these roles are crucial for operational management, including decision-making, resource allocation, and achieving organizational objectives. It also discusses key approaches to operational management such as Six Sigma, lean production, and queuing theory, and analyzes different leadership theories, including situational, systems, and contingency leadership, within the M&S context. The report highlights the significance of operational management in enhancing productivity, reducing waste, and improving product and service quality, while also considering factors affecting the business environment in operational decision-making.

MANAGEMENT
AND
OPERATION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................1
P1 Description on differences between role and responsibilities of leader and manger.............1
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................3
P2 Explanation on the role of leader and manager in the different situation..............................3
P2 Role of leader and manger in relation to the key approaches to operational management....4
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................5
P5 Description on significance and value of operation management.........................................5
LO 4.................................................................................................................................................5
P6 Factors affecting business environment in oppression management of decision making.....5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Managers and leaders are the key elements in every business organisation. They involve
in overall function of business and keep on checking employee performance level. Without the
role of manager and leader enterprise cannot work efficiently. It is the responsibility of the
manager to follow the appropriate strategies so that task can be accomplished in timely manner.
To have successful organisation it is needed to have both potential and effective leader and
manager. The following report has been addressed to have deep knowledge regarding
management and leadership or it significance in the organisational activity. The main aim of this
report is to understand the importance of management and to follow the good leader style. The
role of leader and manger should be effective in term of M&S (Harwiki 2013). It is a public
limited company which mainly deals with food and clothing product. In addition to this the
working of operation management and its significance towards firm has been systematically
addressed. Moreover, the difference between the function of leader and manager has also been
discussed in this assignment.
LO 1
P1 Description on differences between role and responsibilities of leader and manger.
Operation management is that part of area which concerned with designing and
controlling process in the organisation. It is useful in day to day activities of the organisation. It
manages the activities in such a manner in which required objective can be achieved. The M&S
is the world largest retail outlet which mainly deals with the food and clothing product. The main
object of this firm is to satisfyied their customer and provide high quality of product and service
to them. In this regardregard, they should have good manger and leader support so they can
perform the activities in effective and efficient manner (Hsu 2014). With this context manager is
the person who can involve in decision making process or leader is the person who controls the
overall functioning. They both play key role in respect to bring desired result in the organisation.
SoSo, it can be said that they both have different role and responsibilities toward the
organisation. Such different features are as follows-
 The mangers are the person who arrange overall functioning of the organisation while
leader areis the person who coordinates, motivates, directs and controls the functioning of
the employees working under them.

 Mangers convey the employees to achieve the desired objective while leader direct the
employees to have such desire result.
 A manger is the person who hasve the right to involve in decision making process,
formulating planning and strategies while leaders have to implement the functioning
decided by the mangers (Iqbal and Sharma 2012).
 A manger always considered the firm profitability and success but leader focuses on to
inspire the employees working under there and help them to gain maximum contribution
in the organisation.
 Managers follows four function such as planning, organising, controlling and directing
on other hand leader have different function such as coordinates, motivate and
encourages to employee to bring out their best talent so organisation can grow.
Illustration 1: Management and Operation
Source:(Hogan and Coote 2014)

LO 2
P2 Explanation on the role of leader and manager in the different situation.
The managers and leader plays different role in term of the business enterprise. The
organisation activity is largely dependsdepending upon on the performance of the employees.
With the context of M&S manager and leader have to follow the responsibility in such a manner
that can help them to achieve the desire objective in the organisation. The main role and
responsibility of the manger is the coordinating the overall functioning of the department. To
have the maximum gain, leader should motivates the employee and provide them a way so they
can perform well. Poor working in the organisation largely affected the probability of the firm
(Jafri 2012). Manager can motivatesmotivate the employees by providing them working reward
like incentive, bonus, increment, promotion and growth opportunities. The manger is also
responsible for monitoring the work performance and taking corrective action in the
organisation. The main role leader to coordinate the functioning of the organisation and work in
appropriate manner.
Without coordinationcoordination, an organisation cannot perform well because it is the essence
of management. It should be required at all the three levels of the firm. It is the manager duty to
perform in such manner which can leads the organisation to success. The manger should frame
the decision in effective manner (Ratten 2012). Leader should have personal interaction with the
employees about the working of the firm and should immediately solve their queries. A leader is
the person who can understand their employee and can put efforts to bring out best among them.
Manager should understand the issues and take initiative efforts to sort out such problem. The
best way to retain the employees in the organisation is to feel motivated them with their efforts.
Recently, M&S has started the flexible working strategy to their employees so they can maintain
the balance between their personal and social life (Jain 2016). A leader has the responsibility to
overcome the employeesemployees’ issues by listening them and provide them to good solution.
An effective leader bringbrings out the firm productivity and high performance which can retain
in the firm for the long time. The leader should keep on checking the employee working and
evaluate them in timely manner so it can improvise. The main responsibility of the manger is to
involve in decision making activity and perform in effectively manner.

It helps in identifying the wastage of resources and take efforts in eliminating them. The leader
also taketakes steps in evaluating the wastage of resources and give consideration on completion
of task in timely manner. With the help of leader in the organisation it works as adding the
benchmark in the performance level of employees. SoSo, it can be said that both the leader and
manger are essential for the business enterprise (Khan, Asghar and Zaheer 2014). Hence, the
involvement of manger and leader bring maximum contribution in the organisation. They both
have different role towards the firm but they perform as crucial part of the business enterprise.
P3 Role of leader and manger in relation to the key approaches to operational management.
Operation management is the crucial part of business enterprise. It is a process of
designing, executing and controlling of business activities in order to attain the objective of the
organisation. The main aim of operation department is to provide high quality of product and
services to them. Following points are to be covered under approach of operational management
in order to improve the performance of working and quality of commodity and work.
Six sigmasigmas- This method is very useful in improving the quality of product and
service. The product can be improviseimprovised by knowing the loopholes of such
commodities. This verification should be done in such a manner which can removing the causes
of defects and give that to a new life (Klotz and Buckley 2013). It helps in enhancing the
customer satisfaction by proved them effective good and services. In order to attain this
methodmethod, the major consideration is based on system, measure data of current process,
relevant information of firm and analyse the data to improvise the cause and effect relationship.
The main aim of this method is to satisfying the customer needs in term of the quality and
product service.

Lean production- It also takes initiative steps in improving the quality of product and
service. The main aim is to reduce the wastage of resources and completion of task on time. This
method is very useful in functioning of the M&S.
Queuing theory- It is a kind of metamathematical approach. This is very helpful in
predicting the lengths and waiting line (Kolade Oluseye and Osibanjo 2014). With the terms of
M&S this approach is very useful in providing fast customer service and bringing improvement
in timing of shipping order etc.
P4 Different theories and models of approach.
Situational leadership: It is related to the behaviour for leaders towards the changes in
organisation. Effective leadership in Marks and Spencer can be measured through situation
factors. As per the situational theory of leadership, companiescompany’s leader changes its
strategy towards management of employees. M&S leaders follows different styles of situational
leadership to establish control over workforce which are as follows:
Illustration 2: Six Sigma
Source:(Hatch and Cunliffe 2013 )2013)

Selling and Telling: This style of leadership in the company indicates leader for changing
behavioural support according to situation towards employees likes when the control should be
high and low.
Participating and Delegating: It indicates leader to provide direction in order to accomplish
organisational goals on time. M&S focuses on adapting power of leaders, as in this type of
theory an individual need to take instant decisions according to the change in situation and to
make employees functioning of operations as per the market fluctuations.
Systems leadership: This theory aims at systematic functioning of organisational, functions.
According to this M&S aims at improving system, like instead of blaming employees, improve
them. With the help of this theory leader can improve time management and can save money by
proper allocation of resource (Randeree and Chaudhry 2012). Systematic leadership is important
for the company to carry smooth functioning of resources. M&S uses this theory to see the clear
picture of operations and wider scope for firm.
Contingency leadership: This theory of leadership havehas some stated parameter for leading.
The company leaders have good personal relations with employees and also knows how to
manage the work environment for employees and functioning of organisation. M&S follows this
and place informal leaders in task structured environment.
LO 3
P5 Description on significance and value of operation management.
The operation management is very useful regarding achieve the objective of the firm. The
main aim behind this is to providedprovide high quality of good and service to the consumer.
The panning, controlling, directing and organising are the main key operational management so
that production activity can be effectively run. They work as converting the materials and labour
into the good and services as efficiently as possible to maximise the firm profitability. It refers
as systematic process of managing and organising the resources so that desired output can be
achieved. Any firm is primarily focused on the objectivity of profitably without the support of
operation management is not effectively possible (Randeree and Chaudhry 2012). The
productivity and performance of business can run systematically with the proper flow of working
in the firm. The organisation can earn maximum by delivering high quality of product and
service. There are some key features to operation management such are as-

 Increase productivity and process- It helps in increasing the output of productivity of the
firm by delivering high quality of product and service. It helps in assisting the entire
profitability of the firm. With the superior of commoditiescommodities, the customer
should be satisfied so that can add prosperity to the firm. Eliminating the wastage of resources and additional cost- It helps in reducing wastage
of resources by using them alternatively. It is required to be look over the process of
production process so entire activity can be noticed (Klotz and Buckley 2013). It works
as increasing efficiency in the operational activity and reduce additional cost.
LO 4
P6 Factors affecting business environment in oppression management of decision making.
M&S is the largest retail store which mainly deals in clothing and food products. The
stakeholders of this company isare the key element because firm profitability and progress is also
dependsdepending on them. Stakeholders are the person who have core interest inn functioning
of the company (Lin and et.al., 2012). They are the person who can directly or indirectly
influence the activities of the business. They also take their initiative efforts in making decision
of the company. The stakeholder havehas key interest in overall oppression of the management
activity. The establishment progress is also dependsdepending on the stakeholders. An
organisation is largely affected by the stakeholder and their involvement in the decision of the
business. There are some elements which are to be covered under them-
Customer- Customer should be treated as assets to the firm without which no operation
can survive for longer period. They are treated as important stakeholder in performing business
activity. The consumer should satisfiedhave satisfied with the quality and product offering them
(Shahin, Naftchali and Pool 2014). An organisation should consider the taste and preferences,
choice and consumer expectation. In order to maintain the strong relation with stakeholder an
organisation take effective decision provide them relevant information about the product and
services which are offering them.
Employees- Employees are the core part of the business activity. They treated as assets to
the organisation. No functioning of an organisation is possible without their key role. The
operation of the employees helps in making decision (Mahembe and Engelbrecht 2014). The
firm profitability and progress is also dependsdepending on the performance level of them. The

employer should perform their activity in effective and efficient manner. They should have the
enough information about the financial data of the organisation.
Suppliers- The supply function is also important in terms of firm process. They should take
active step in ordering the raw material so other activities can get into process. They should
actively perform in the organisation. The firm activities also get influenced by the working if the
suppliers. Enterprise largely dependent on the performance of the suppliers so they should
perform accordingly (Randeree and Chaudhry 2012).
Government- They are considered as important part of stakeholder. Their working is framing the
rules and legislation of the business and these all are required to be followed. The process,
functioning of the government department largely affected the overall functioning of business
activity. They set code of conduct for the organisation so that system should perform their
activities accordingly.
CONCLUSION
From the entire reportreport, it has been concluded that manger and leader are key
elements in performing the function of the firm. An organisational activity cannot be performed
without their support. The managers work as developing the key strategies, rules and regulation
and making decision of the organisation so firm can achieve their set objective. Leader
implements the whole working framed by manger. The manager and leader play the crucial role
in the activities of M&S enterprise. The key operational approaches of management function like
six sigmassigma, lean production etc. also has been addressed in this report.

REFERENCES
Journal&Book