Leadership and Management Roles in the Austin Fraser Company Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and management practices within the consultancy firm Austin Fraser. It begins by defining the characteristics and roles of both managers and leaders, highlighting their distinct functions and responsibilities, such as motivation, team building, training, and decision-making. The report then explores how these roles are applied in various situations, including decision-making, training and development, delegation of authority, and employee engagement. Furthermore, it examines different leadership theories and approaches, such as situational leadership, system leadership, and contingency leadership, assessing their strengths and weaknesses. The report also delves into key approaches to operations management, emphasizing their value in achieving business objectives and the factors influencing operations management and decision-making. Through this analysis, the report offers insights into how Austin Fraser can enhance its leadership and management strategies to improve efficiency and achieve its business goals.

Management and Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................1
P1. Characteristics and roles of manager and leader..............................................................1
M1. Analysis and difference between functions of manager and role of leader....................2
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................3
P2. Role of leader and function of manager applied in different situations...........................3
P3 Application of different theories and approaches of leadership........................................5
M2 Assessment of strengths and weaknesses of various approaches to situations................5
D1 Critical evaluation of various theories and approaches....................................................6
TASK3 ............................................................................................................................................6
P4 Key approaches to operations management role that managers and leaders play............6
P5 Value and importance of operations management in attaining business objectives.........7
M3 Improving efficiency of operations management to meet business objectives................8
TASK 4 ...........................................................................................................................................8
P6 Factors impact on operations management and decision making by managers and leaders. 8
M4 Analyse the way by which various factors influence business environment ................10
D2 Critical evaluation of applications of operations management .....................................10
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
The term management is related with managing all the activities and operations of an
organisation in a proper way so that targets and objectives can be easily attained. Operations
Management concept is related with the area of designing and managing process of production in
the firm. This department is mainly emphasized on manufacturing of goods and services as well
as their distribution (AbouRizk, 2010). In the present assignment, chosen company is Austin
Fraser which is a consultancy firm. The report covers roles and characteristics of manager and
leader as well as its application in different situational contexts. Various theories and approaches
of leadership and its applications are also defined here. Apart from this, important approaches to
operations management and their significance in attaining objectives of the business are
explained. Besides this, factors influencing operations management and decision making by
leaders and managers are described.
TASK 1
P1. Characteristics and roles of manager and leader
The main responsibility of manager is to manage all the activities of an organisation in a
systematic way in order to attain goals and objectives of the firm. It is necessary for the manager
of Austin Fraser Ltd to carefully evaluate, monitor and control activities of firm. Leaders are
defined as an individual who influence others with their actions. Leader of the company provides
directions to its team members to successfully attain targets of the business. Both managers and
leaders play a significant role in the growth and success of an organisation. Some roles of leader
and manager are as follows:
Role of leader:
Motivator: Leader plays an important role in motivating the employees. They are the
individuals who identify and understand needs of employees and satisfy them. It results in
increased motivation level of employees and they are encouraged to work in a better way and
perform well in order to attain organisational goals (Ageron, Gunasekaran and Spalanzani,
2012).
Team Building: As leaders have good influencing power, they influence others from their
actions, thoughts, way of communication, etc. They are good motivators and believe in team
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work. They put all their efforts in building effective teams and work with coordination and
cooperation with team members.
Supportive: Leaders are supportive in nature. They carefully listen the issues and
problems that are faced by its team members at workplace and administer them solutions. It
increases the morale of employees and they feel happy as well as satisfied with their work. They
solicit support to its team members whenever needed by them (Alderton and Saieva, 2013).
Roles of Manager:
Provide training: It is the responsibility of manager to analyse performance of
employees, identify their needs and administer them appropriate training. The administrators of
Austin Fraser play an important role in providing training to their employees.
Implement plans and policies: It is the main responsibility of manager to formulate
appropriate plans and policies so that goals and objectives of firm can easily be attained in an
effective manner.
Managing activities: The manager has responsibility of managing all activities of firm
and coordinate with all the departments in order to ensure that work is performed in a proper way
and targets of company are constantly attained.
Characteristics of Manager and Leader:
Motivator: Both; managers and leaders are good motivators. They motivate employees
and encourage them to perform well and attain organisational as well as personal goals.
Confident: The manager and leader of Austin Fraser have high level of confidence. It
assists them in taking challenges and handle difficult situations in an effective way.
Positive attitude: Managers and leaders; both carry a positive attitude. Their positivity
helps them in attainment of objectives of the firm effectively. They are able to motivate others
and keep the morale of employees high (Ashby, Leat and Hudson-Smith, 2012).
Effective decision making: They both have good ability to make decisions. This
characteristic of manager and leader highly contributes in achieving the objectives of firm in a
definite period of time.
M1. Analysis and difference between functions of manager and role of leader
Manager Leader
 Managers are risk averse. They try to  Leaders are risk takers. They take
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avoid risks.
 They are completely involved in the
decision making process of firm.
 Managers formulate strategies and
policies to develop teams and ideas.
high risks in order to attain the
targets.
 They play facilitative role in decision
making of the firm.
 Leaders look at issues and device
creative solutions.
So, both managers and leaders plays various roles and responsibilities in the organisation
in order to attain goals and objectives in effective manner. The motivate employees and
encourage them to work towards achieving targets of company. Managers formulate plans and
policies and leaders ensure their successful implementation. They provide direction to its team
members so that they are able to work in better way.
TASK 2
P2. Role of leader and function of manager applied in different situations
Managers and leaders; both play a significant role in performing various responsibilities
and taking major decisions for the growth and sustainability of firm. They apply their skills and
abilities in order to accomplish the defined objectives and targets of Austin Fraser. There are
some situations in which functions of manager and roles of leader are applied (Bozarth and
Handfield, 2016). These are as follows:
Decision making process: Both managers and leaders play an important role in the
process of decision making of Austin Fraser. Managers take decisions regarding formulation of
plans and policies and their proper implementation. It is the responsibility of top management to
take decisions related to all activities and programmes conducted in organisation. Leaders take
decision related to the particular task so that work will be completed on time and goals of the
firm will be achieved. They both analyse the performance of firm and measure it with the set
standards so that goals and objectives of Austin Fraser will get accomplished in an effective
manner.
Training and development: It is the responsibility of manager and leader to identify the
needs of employees related to training and development and provide them. It is necessary for the
leader of Austin Fraser to determine the skill needs of employees and communicate it to the
manager so that they can formulate appropriate training programme. Manager needs to design
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proper training and development program in order to fulfil the needs of employees and develop
their skills and abilities. A good training programme assists in developing knowledge of the
workforce and attaining objectives of the firm in effective and efficient way (Brandenburg and
et.al., 2014).
Delegation of authority: It is necessary for the manager as well as leader to distribute
their work with other members of the team. It ensures completion of work on time and effective
results are obtained. It is the responsibility of both manager and leader to delegate their work as
per the skills and abilities of employees so that tasks are completed successfully and objectives
of Austin Fraser are attained in effective and efficient manner. Proper distribution of work helps
in timely completion of tasks so, administrators and leaders needs to ensure that work is
delegated properly and each member doing their work in proper way (Carter and Liane Easton,
2011). It is necessary for the the management to delegate authorities in proper way in order to
ensure that work is done in systematic manner and targets can be achieved effectively.
Employee engagement: Manpower of the firm is an important resource which highly
contributes in the increasing productivity of Austin Fraser and leads the company towards
growth and sustainability. It is necessary for the manager as well as leader to motivate employees
by satisfying their needs and wants so that feel happy and perform in better way towards the
attainment of goals and objectives of the firm. They needs to emphasize on maintaining healthy
work environment so that all the employees takes active participation in the activities that are
conducted in the organisation.
Sometimes, many types of situations are arise in organisations in which managers and
leaders apply their role and functions. They are the decision makers of company and take
effective decisions regarding growth and success of company. They provide training and
development to employees in order to increase productivity and profitability of firm. They play
vital role in maintaining coordination among workforce and provide them healthy work
environment in order to ensure effective working.
Above described are the various situations in which managers and leaders of Austin
Fraser plays a vital role so that set objectives and targets of the firm are achieve in effective and
efficient way and company attain higher growth and success in the market.
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P3 Application of different theories and approaches of leadership
Different approaches and theories are adopted and applied by business firms so that their
performance can be increased and growth is attained. Application of suitable technique shapes
the function of an organisation. Various leadership approaches are adopted by Austin Fraser in
order to achieve objectives.
Situational leadership theory: It is an effective approach which states that a leader or a
manager should adopt leadership style according to the situation. This approach can be applied in
every situation due to its flexibility. This theory is assistive in encouraging leaders to adopt
appropriate leadership approach (Chowdary and George, 2011). It also defines that the success of
leader relies on their skills of adopting style of leadership. It is suitable approach for attaining
growth of the company.
System leadership theory: It is a comprehensive approach of organisation's development.
It is used by the managers and leaders in order to optimize the effectiveness of the firm. It is
applied to enhance performance and attain sustainability in the market. At the time of strategy
formulation, this theory administers a base of understanding to managers.
Contingency leadership theory: This approach defines that there is no appropriate way to
create cooperation and take decisions. It totally depends on the internal and external situation in
which organisation operates. A contingent leader have the ability to analyse the situation and
apply their own leadership style. The approach also defines business as an open system and it is
necessary for the manager to manage it carefully (Clausen and et. al., 2010).
Application of all these theories or approaches increase motivation level of employees.
This encourage them to work in better way and attain objectives of firm effectively. By applying
these theories, managers and leaders are able to analyse effectiveness of organisation. These
theories are applied in various situations and provide relevant information related to business
activities. Leadership approaches are assistive in attainment of targets and objectives of the
company.
M2 Assessment of strengths and weaknesses of various approaches to situations
Strengths: The theories are effective and assists in administering relevant information
about activities of business (Closs, Speier and Meacham, 2011). Application of these theories
helps in motivating employees and attaining objectives of the firm.
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Weaknesses: Due to complex nature of some theories, these can not be applied in every
situation. Sometimes, it is difficult for the business to determine contingency plan. The theory of
situational leadership is less flexible.
D1 Critical evaluation of various theories and approaches
As per the view points of Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons (2013) application of different
approaches and theories are highly contributes in growth and success of the business. It assists
the managers and leaders in motivating employees and encourage them to perform well. It results
in attainment of higher profitability of the organisation.
TASK3
P4 Key approaches to operations management role that managers and leaders play
Operations management concept helps manager in managing all the operations of
business effectively. It supports production process and ensure its effective implementation. The
important approaches of operations management are defined below:
Just in time: It is an inventory strategy used by the company in order to increase
efficiency of process and reduce wastage of goods as they are ordered at the time of requirement
in production process (Galindo and Batta, 2013). The main advantage of using this process is
that it reduces the cost of inventory.
Total quality management: This approach is used by the organisation in order to manage
quality of the product (Hamilton and et. al., 2011). This process assists in removing unnecessary
hurdles from the process of production. Austin Fraser, as a consultancy firm, focuses on
providing high quality services to its customers in order to satisfy them and gain their loyalty. In
order to maintain quality of their services for long term, it is necessary for the firm to provide
training to its employees on continuous basis.
Continuous improvement: It is necessary for every organisation to made continuous
improvements in its products and services in order to attract large number of customers towards
their firm (Ronen, Pliskin and Pass, 2012). Application of this approaches helps the manager of
Austin Fraser in continuing improving its services and providing high quality services to its
customers. For this, firm takes feedback from its customers on regular basis.
Role of managers and leaders in OM:
Both manager as well as leader plays an important role in managing all the operations of
the firm in proper way. Managers formulate appropriate plans and policies and leaders ensure
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effective implementation of those (Matta and et. al., 2014). They motivate employees and
encourage them to work for the attainment of goals and targets of the firm. They delegate their
responsibilities as per the skills and abilities of employees in order to maximize profitability of
firm. It is necessary for the manager to manage all the operational activities in proper manner so
that higher revenues can be attained. Both managers and leaders plays an important role in
improving productivity and profitability of the firm.
All these approaches helps the organisation in improving operations of firm so that good
quality products can be produced and delivered to customers in order to satisfy their needs and
wants. Managers and leaders allocate responsibilities to workers according to their skills in order
to ensure timely completion of tasks. High quality products are manufactured by applying these
approaches in operations of firm as all these techniques are emphasize on quality.
P5 Value and importance of operations management in attaining business objectives
In present competitive environment, operations management plays an important role in
growth and sustainability of the firm. It helps in cutting down the cost of production process of
the company. It also enable managers of Austin Fraser to optimum utilization of resources and
ensures improved quality of services. Value and importance of operations management can be
understand by following points:
Customer satisfaction: Operation Management ensures production of high quality
products and services. It assists in satisfying customers at higher level and attracts more clients
by fulfilling their needs. It also help managers in achieving higher efficiency in production
process and offering high quality services to the customers.
Profit maximization: The main purpose of every organisation is to earn higher profits and
sales. It is necessary for the manager of Austin Fraser to ensure that they provide high quality
services to its customers. Effective implementation of all the activities ensures optimum
utilization of resources and enhancing performance of the firm. It results in higher profits of the
company.
Administer long term advantages: The main strength of operation management concept
is to assist manager in improving production process and enhancing quality of goods and
services. It helps the firm in attracting large number of customers and provides benefits for long
term.
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Operations Management plays an important role in transformation of raw materials into
end products. It assists the firm in satisfying customers by providing them high quality goods. It
highly contributes in growth and sustainability of by increasing profitability and productivity. It
is the responsibility of operations manager to ensure that operations are performed effectively
and targets of firm are attain on time.
Above mentioned are the value and importance of operations management. It helps the
managers of Austin Fraser in attaining set objectives and targets of the firm and highly
contributes in the growth and success of the organisation.
M3 Improving efficiency of operations management to meet business objectives
Both managers and leaders put their efforts in improving efficiency of operations
management in order to attain objectives of the business. Operations management emphasize on
improving efficiency of process of production (Schroeder, Goldstein and Rungtusanatha, 2011).
It also focuses on reducing cost of production and ensures optimum utilization of resources. It
improves the quality of products which assists in attracting large number of customers. It helps
the firm in providing high quality products and services to the customers and satisfy them by
fulfilling their needs and demands.
TASK 4
P6 Factors impact on operations management and decision making by managers and leaders
There are various factors that influence operations management & decision making
process by managers and leaders. Business environment is dynamic, multifaceted and complex in
nature that keeps on changing. It includes all factors that influences the business' operations. The
internal and external factors which affect the functions of a company includes customers,
competitors, suppliers and social, political, legal and technological factors. It can be classified in
two broad categories as :
Internal environment- It includes factors within the organisation which impact on success of
operations.
External environment-It consists of a variety of factors that don't have much control over in a
business. It further divided into micro and macro-environment.
Micro-environment- It consist of those elements which are under controlled by organisation.
Generally it doesn't affect all organisation in the same way because it uses different strategies
depend on type of companies. Micro-environmental factors include:
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Macro-environment- Macro factors are uncontrollable factors that affecting organisation
externally are known as PESTEL( political, economical, social, technological, environmental and
legal). It is a strategic tool for understanding market growth or decline which defines business
position, potential and directions for operations.
Various factors of business environment highly influence the working of company. It
includes all the internal as well as external factors such as customers, suppliers, stakeholders,
employees, technology, political, legal, socio cultural, ecological and many other factors. Both
these environmental factors put positive as well as negative impact of the company. Manager and
leader of the firm needs to consider all these factors before formulating and implementing
policies and strategies.
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Illustration 1: Micro Environment
(Source: Micro and Macro Environment, 2017)

Political factors describes how government interferes in business that includes tax policy
and laws. Economical factors greatly affect how business operates and make decisions which
includes economic growth and interest. Legal factors include laws for safety of employees.
M4 Analyse the way by which various factors influence business environment
Austin Fraser provide number of consultancy services to its customers in different areas.
Due to operate on a large scale various elements are there which affect the functioning of
company such as political, legal, technological, environmental and economical. In order to
examine these factors PESTLE is a approach which can be use by the managers by Austin Fraser
as this help company in examine all elements exist in business environment and this guide
manager in formulate better strategies for business. In addition to this, there are some internal
factors which affect the business process and the main elements which come under this includes
customers, suppliers, employees, stakeholders and many more.
D2 Critical evaluation of applications of operations management
As per the views of Brandenburg (2014), Concept of operation management helps
manager in get control over various business activities and at the same time help in remove the
obstacles related with the production process. Mainly, this is relate with production process of
enterprise and helps in achieve efficiency in that. This make the enterprise able to offer quality
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Illustration 2: Macro Environment
(Source: Marketing Environment, 2017)