Leadership and Management in Operations: Marks and Spencer Report

This report comprehensively examines leadership and management within the context of Marks and Spencer. It begins by differentiating between the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers, outlining their respective aims, focuses, and decision-making processes. The report then delves into leadership theories, including situational, system, and contingency leadership, providing practical examples of how these theories can be applied to address challenges within the organization. Furthermore, it explores key approaches to operation management, such as Total Quality Management and Just-in-Time systems, and discusses the roles of leaders and managers in implementing these approaches to achieve business objectives. The report highlights the importance of operation management in enhancing productivity and profitability, while also considering factors within the business environment that impact operational management and decision-making. The report concludes with a summary of findings and recommendations for Marks and Spencer to improve its leadership and management practices.

MANAGEMENT AND
OPERATIONS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
LO 1 ...............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Different roles and characteristics of leader and a manager.............................................1
LO 2 ................................................................................................................................................3
P 2 Examine examples of How the role of a leader and function of manager apply in different
situation..................................................................................................................................3
P 3 Different theories and models of approach, including situational, system and contingency
leadership ...............................................................................................................................4
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................5
P 4 the key approaches to operation management and the role that leaders and managers play 5
5. The importance and value of operation management in achieving business objectives ...7
LO 4.................................................................................................................................................9
P 6 Factors within business environment that impact upon operational management and
decision making by leaders and managers ............................................................................9
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Management and operation is related to managing the various activities of organisation to
achieve the organisation objectives effectively and efficiently. Operation management assist in
managing various operation to enhance the productivity of organisation and improve their
performance. It is important to manage the operation as it is important for the growth and
success of business. This report will provide differentiation between the role of leader and a
function of manager. Moreover, this assignment will provide understanding about different
theories and models of leadership. Furthermore, it will explain various key approaches of
operation management and the role of leader and managers. Also, it will provide information
about various factors which affect business environment. For this study Marks and Spencer will
be consider to complete various task. It is organisation operating in retail sector and providing
various products and services such as home products, food products, clothing etc.
LO 1
P1 Different roles and characteristics of leader and a manager.
Leader : A leader is a person that influences the followers to achieve a specific goals and
objectives. It is the person that motivate and encourages the followers to improve their
performance to achieve the objective (Brandon-Jones and et.al., 2016).
Manager : Manager is a person that is responsible for managing various operations of
organisation. It is responsible for planning, organizing, direction, coordination and controlling.
Difference between leader and manager
Difference Leader Manager
Meaning It is person that influences its
followers to a chive the
particular goals and objectives
set.
Whereas, manage is a [person
that is responsible for
managing various operations
of organisation.
Aim The aim of leader is growth
and development
On the other hand, manager
aim to attain the required
result.
Focus people Process and procedure

Change Leader promoted change Managers react to change
Decision Leaders facilitates decision Managers are responsible for
making decisions.
Role of leader
 It is a representative of organisation.
 It integrates and reconcile the personal goal with organisational goals.
 It motivates the followers to achieve desired result.
 It provides job satisfaction to employees by providing them various benefits.
Characteristic of a leader
 Leader has a good influencing power.
 It has good communication skills which are required to coordinate with followers.
 Leaders are innovative.
Role of manager
 It is the duty of manager to formulate various policies and strategies to achieve
organisational goals.
 It monitors the work of subordinates to identify their performance towards achievement
of organisational goals.
 It allocates resources such as human, physical and monetary resources.
Characteristics of manager :
 It makes effectively decision s for organisation to achieve the goals effective and
efficiently.
 A manager have to acquire managerial skills.
 Managers have the ability to manager the operations effectively and manage the time.
Functions of managers
 Planning : managers is responsible for making various plans and strategies regarding
future goals and objectives. It means selecting future goals and objectives (Gillen,
Jacquillat and Odoni, 2016).
 Organising : It means organising the various activities in proper order. It means
delegating the authority to the subordinates.

 Controlling : It means measuring the performance of employees to identify if they are
working according to the planning or not and if there are any deviation in the
performance they must be control to achieve the organisation objectives.
 Directing : managers have function to provide direction to subordinates to achieve the
goals and objectives. It means providing them knowledge and understanding about the
business objectives and the way through which they can achieve those goals.
LO 2
P 2 Examine examples of How the role of a leader and function of manager apply in different
situation.
There are various problems face by leadership of Marks and Spencer due to the following
reasons.:
 There is lack of communication between the subordinate and the leaders due which
affect organisation operations.
 There is lack of training provided to the employees due to which there is reduction in
their performance level of employees.
 Leaders face problems in Marks and Spencer due to lack of clear vision.
Problems in management :
 The manager face problems in managing the time for performing various operations.
 There is lack of planning towards achievement of future goals and objectives.
 Poor management is another reason organisation have to face difficulty.
In order to solve these problems marks and Spencer can adopt the theories such as management
by objective and chaos theory :
 Management by objective : It is the process in which management clearly defines the
goals or objectives of organisation to provide direction to employees. This theory assist
employees in identifying their duties. It aims to improve performance or organisation by
clearly defining objectives that are agreed by both management and employees.
Management of marks and Spencer can apply the theory to solve the problems of
management by clearly defining their goals and objectives and communicating them to
employees.

 Chaos theory : This theory incorporates the principles of quantum mechanism and
present them in complex system environment. Marks and Spencer by using the chaos
theory can solve the problems in organisation management and leadership.
Marks and Spencer by following the role of leader and function of managers can solve
the various management and leadership problems. As per the role of leaders, it the duty of leader
to provide training top the subordinates to improve their performance and provide them
motivation. Marks and Spencer by providing training to the employees is able to improve
organisational performance (Hitt, Xu and Carnes, 2016). Moreover, Marks and Spencer through
involving the employees in decision making process can improve communication process which
will assist in engaging employees. Furthermore, Managers by performing their function properly
such as planning, organising, controlling and directing will be able to achieve their business
goals or objectives effectively and efficiently. Also, Marks and Spencer can provide the
employees with job satisfaction by proving their rewards based on their performance which will
assist in reducing their employee turnover and retain the employees for a long run in business.
P 3 Different theories and models of approach, including situational, system and contingency
leadership
There are various theories of leadership which can helps Marks and Spencer in improving
their performance.
 Situational leadership : It is a leadership style which is adopted by leaders in different
situation. Leaders of Marks and Spencer can change their leadership style as per the
circumstances. As per this theory, leader must analyse the situation and on the basis of
the situation must adopt leadership style (Saucedo-Martínez And et.al., 2018). As per this
theory there are four leadership style which can be adopted by Leaders of Marks and
Spencer to solve various problems :
Telling : This leadership style is adopted by leaders to instruct the followers and provide them
various information. According to this style of situational leadership, the leader can use this style
to inform subordinates regarding various goal and objectives (Chiarini and Vagnoni, 2015).
Selling : In this the leader sell their ideas to subordinates to provide them direction to achieve the
goals effectively and efficiently.

Participating : This style is adopted by leader in which they participate with the subordinates to
complete the task. The leaders participate in order to provide understanding to subordinates
regarding how the task should be performed.
Delegating : As per this leadership style, the leaders delegate various authority to subordinates
to carry out various operation. This provide the subordinates with motivation .
Marks and Spencer in order to engage employees to achieve their common goal of
organisation can adopt this leadership style which will assist in providing motivation to
employees and provide them better understanding about organisational goals and objectives (Uhl
and Gollenia, 2016). Marks and Spencer can solve its various problems by using this leadership
style because the leaders can adopt various leadership style as per different situation existing in
organisation.
System leadership : It enables the leaders in an organisation to create conditions where
people at all levels can work productively to their potential (Slack and Brandon-Jones, 2018). It
uses sound principles about human behaviour to create models of good leadership. It provides
leaders with tools to identify the behaviour of people in an organisation. Marks and Spencer with
the help of system leadership can identify the behaviour of employees which will assist them in
satisfying their employees by providing them job satisfaction. It collaborates the work by
engaging employees to work in a system.
Contingency theory : As per this leadership theory, the effectiveness of leaders is
contingent on the basis of leadership style adopted (Ferguson And et.al., 2017). As per this
theory there is no best style of leadership. The leadership is effective when the style of leadership
fits with the situations. Marks and Spencer can use this theory where it can adopt the leadership
style which set fits in the situation.
Marks and Spencer by adopting this leadership theories is able to solve various problem
by choosing the leadership style on the basis of situation exiting in the organisation. It will assist
in improving performance of employees and achieving organisational goals and objectives.
LO 3
P 4 the key approaches to operation management and the role that leaders and managers play
Operation management refers to management of various operation performed by
organisation. It includes operations such as finance, management of inventory, transformation of

raw material into finished goods, selling and distribution function etc. Operation management is
important as it assists in the growth and success of business. Through operation management
Marks and Spencer can increase its productivity and profitability. Finance is responsible for
managing the cash inflow and outflow for the business. There are various approaches to
operation management which consist of the following:
 Total quality management : It is a structured organisation management approach that
focus on continuous development of quality of products offered by organisation. It is
process of detecting and reducing or eliminating errors in manufacturing , streamlining
supply chain management, improving customer experience (Total Quality Management
(TQM), 2018). Marks and Spencer by managing the quality of its products and services
can attract more customers towards organisation and can improve its brand image which
will assist in increasing their profitability (Harrison and Lock, 2017). Organisation by
adopting the TQM approach is able to improve their customer satisfaction. Marks and
Spencer by providing the customers with high quality products can improve their
performance in the industry and will be able to attract more customers towards firm.
 Just- in – Time : It is an inventory management system which can be used by Marks and
Spencer to manage the flow of inventory at the time of requirement. Organisation use this
approach as it assist in increasing efficiency of firm and reduce the wastage of inventory
by providing the inventory at the time it is required (Just-in-Time System, 2017). It is a
type of lean methodology designed to increase efficiency, cut cost. There are various
benefits of this approach such as lower inventory holding cost. Moreover, it improves
cash flow. As per this approach, the inventory is brought as the time it is demanded by
customers. It is a system where, the material or products are produced and acquired just
hew hours before they are put to use. It increases inventory turnover (Mahadevan, 2015).
Role of manager in this is to maintain good relation with suppliers in order to ensure that
suppliers supply the desired amount of goods.
 Kaizen theory : Kaizen theory aims at improving efficiency of organisation and reducing
the waste. It is based on continuous improvement of all the function of organisation to
increase the profitability and profitability of organisation. It includes elements such as
teamwork, improved morale, personal discipline etc. As per this theory there is slow but

ongoing process of improvement. Role of manager in this is to identify the scope of task,
measuring the success of Kaizen team.
Managers and leaders of Marks and Spencer in order to improve the operational function
of organisation can leader can provide motivation to employees in order to improve their
performance to increase the operational efficiency of firm. Managers make effective decision to
improve the organisation function to increase the productivity and profitability of firm. Marks
and Spencer by following the Total quality management approach is able to provide the
customers with high quality product which will increase their customers base and will lead the
firm towards growth and success. Moreover, Marks and Spencer by following the Just – in –
time approach is able to manage the flow of inventory. Organisation can increase their
efficiency through using this approach. Managers and leaders play an important role in
operation management as they provide direction to employees regarding various operation
performed by firm to provide them knowledge and improve their skills through proper training to
improve their performance (Asam and et.al., 2015). Moreover, leader can motivate and improve
the performance of employees to manage the various operation by providing them rewards and
appraisals. Managers in order to manage the operation can monitor the performance of
employees. Moreover, the organisation can involve employees in decision making process and
can take their suggestion and ideas to improve the operation and manage the various functions of
marks and Spencer.
5. The importance and value of operation management in achieving business objectives
Operation management is required to manage the activities of organisation in order to
achieve the business goals and objectives effectively and efficiently.
Importance of operation management :
 Operation management is important as it improves the product quality. It ensures proper
quality management in the organisation which assist in providing high quality products
and services to customers.
 Operation management is important to reduce the wastage. It is an important component
of operation management. It includes lean manufacturing system to effectively reduce
waste.
 It is important to achieve the objectivities of firm effectively and efficiently.

 With the help of operation management organisation is able to utilise its various
resources properly such as labour, raw material and other.
Operation management is important for
 Control and distribution system : Marks and Spencer in order to increase the efficiency
of its control and distribution system can use operation management Which will help the
organisation managing its various distribution channels(Corbett and et.al., 2017).
Distribution system refers to a system relating to movement of goods.
 Transformation of raw material into finished goods: Operation management helps the
organisation in transforming the raw material into finished good (Importance of Effective
Operations Management, 2018). Marks and Spencer with the help of operation
management is able to undertake its various activities in proper manner and will be able
to manage the activities to provide the customers with better experience wroth the
organisation.
 Process design : It means designing the process of production for providing the products
and services to customers. With the help of operation management marks and Spencer is
able to deign the process in proper manner to derive the results. Operation management
ensure that organisation is following the design in most efficient way and if there are any
modification required inn the process that can be identified through the help of operation
management.
Value of operation management :
Operation management create value for the firm as it helps the firm in increasing their
productivity and profitability by managing the operation in proper manner to derive effective
results (Bazargan, 2016). The following are the values created for firm through operation
management.
 Ability to increase productivity : Marks and Spencer with the help of operation
management is able to increase its productivity which will be beneficial for the growth
and success of firm.
 Better quality products and services : Operation management assist in utilising the
resources in the best possible way which will helps the firm in providing the customers
with better products and services.

 Improved working conditions : Operation management assist in creating better work
environment for the employees as it helps in engaging employees in various activities
through which there is positive work environment in organisation.
 Better job design and employee participation : Marks and Spencer with the help of
Operation management is able to create better job deign which will assist in attracting
potential candidate for the job roles in organisation. Operation management assist in
involving employees in various activities of organisation due to which there is increase in
employee participation which help firm in retaining employees for the longer period in
organisation.
LO 4
P 6 Factors within business environment that impact upon operational management and decision
making by leaders and managers
Business environment is affected by various external factors as they have their influence
on various operation of business as well as the decision making process of firm is also affected
by these factors. There are various external factors which consist of political, economic, social,
legal and technological factors.
Corporate social responsibility : It is business approach that contribute to the
sustainable development by delivering economic and social benefits to all its stakeholders. The
CSR policy assist in growth of organisation. Marks and Spencer by Adopting a CSR policy is
able to fulfil its responsibility towards local community and gain their trust and loyalty. CSR
policy affect decision making because it contains requirement where the decision made by
organisation must be ethical in nature and will be beneficial for stakeholders.
Culture : It is related to ideas, customs, behaviour of people of a particular place. The
culture of place affect the business environment (Bromiley and Rau, 2016). During the operation
process the culture of a workforce are taken into consideration and accordingly strategies are
formulated. The culture play and important role in decision making as decision regarding
products are made by considering the culture of particular place where the product will be
offered. Managers and leaders must focus on developing proper culture to provide proper work
environment to employees.

Values : These are the principles or standards of one's behaviour. Marks and Spencer
provide value to their customers by developing the products and services according to their
demands. In operation management, values assist in developing standards of the production
(Schönsleben, 2016).
Ethics : Marks and Spencer in order to follow the corporate social responsibility and
ensure that activities of organisation does not harm the stakeholders. Ethics helps in providing
better work environment to the employees.
Sustainability: It is an approach which focus on meeting demands of present generation
without compromising the needs of future generation. Managers and leaders of an organisation
have to effectively fulfil all the demands of the stakeholders and take care of their welfare.
CONCLUSION
From the above study it has concluded about management and operation which is related
management of various activities of business. This study has provided with different roles and
function of management such as planning, organising, controlling and directing. It has provide
understanding of different leadership theories such as situational, system and contingency.
Moreover, it has provided with different approaches to operation management such as total
quality management, just in time etc.