Report on Leadership and Management in Sainsbury's Operations (UK)

This report examines the leadership and management practices within Sainsbury, a major UK retail firm. It begins by differentiating between the roles of leaders and managers, outlining their responsibilities and characteristics within the organization. The report then explores how leaders and managers handle various operational situations, such as decision-making and performance monitoring. It further delves into different operations management theories, including situational, system, and contingency leadership, and their applications within Sainsbury. Additionally, it analyzes key operations management approaches, such as Six Sigma, and the roles of leaders and managers in implementing these approaches to improve efficiency, quality, and productivity. The report provides insights into how Sainsbury utilizes these strategies to achieve its operational and functional goals. Overall, the report provides a comprehensive overview of the leadership and management strategies employed by Sainsbury to manage its operations effectively.

Management and Operations

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION
Operations or functions are the activities which are followed by the organisation which
are undertaken by organisation to have a good accessibility of operations which are followed by
an enterprise. As a range of operations are required to be followed within the organisation, the
productivity and profitability is increased on a larger extent. The present assignment will cover
the details of UK based retail firm, Sainsbury. It is Third largest merchandising chain in UK.
The report is going to cover the roles and responsibilities of leaders and managers with
their characteristics in various situations. The different operation management theories are been
taken in consideration which supports suitable supporting of roles of leaders and managers which
are operating for management of operations. Besides this, the value and importance of operations
management. Other than this, the factors and interrelatedness of operations management and
decision making is been observed and explained.
LO 1
P1
A leader is an individual who leads or commands a group or an organisation. A leader in
simple definitions means a person in a group who posses the combination of leadership skills and
personality which makes other to follow its direction. Manager is defined as a person who is
responsible for administering or controlling a group of staff or an organisation. Manager is an
individual in an organisation who is in charge of certain group or task of company. Different
roles and characteristics of leader and manager of Sainsbury can be defined as below:
Roles:
Basis of comparison Manager Leader
Meaning A manger is an individual who
is responsible for managing
the organisation through
effective planning, directing,
coordinating and control
A leader is an individual in an
organisation who motivates
and influences its subordinates
in order to achieve a specific
goal.
Approach Manager of Sainsbury plans
details for the task
Leaders of Sainsbury sets
directions for its followers.
Subordinates Manager manages the Leader create followers.
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employees
Aim Achieving the desired results
for the organisation.
It aims is growth and
development of employees
(Kim and et.al., 2017).
Decision Manger of Sainsbury is
responsible for making
decisions
Leaders in the organisation
facilitates the decisions.
Conflict Manager avoids the conflict in
an organisation
Leader of Sainsbury uses
conflict as an asset.
Characteristics:
Leader:
 Leaders of Sainsbury are honest and have got high level of confidence in leading their
subordinates.
 Leaders have got positive attitude and are always willing to take risk.
 Leaders of Sainsbury has the ability to inspire their followers towards goals and
objectives of an organisation.
Managers:
 Managers of Sainsbury have got strong communication skills are able to communicate
effectively with employees of an organisation.
 Managers are able to identify the problems and have the ability to solve them effectively.
 Managers of Sainsbury focuses on employees strengths and manages their weaknesses.
Difference between role of leader and function of manager
Basis Leadership Management
Meaning Leadership can be defined as a
skill of leading others
Management can be defined as
an art of controlling and
organising the things
systematically and in an
effective manner.
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Power Leaders role is to influence the
followers towards goals and
objectives of Sainsbury.
Manager rules the organisation
by assigning tasks to the
employees in an organisation.
Formulation Leaders of Sainsbury helps in
formulation of principles and
guidelines (Bush, Bell and
Middlewood, 2019).
Managers of Sainsbury
formulates policies and
procedures in an organisation.
Focus It is the role of leaders of
Sainsbury to encourage change
and help the subordinates to
adapt to the changes within the
organisation.
It is the function of manager to
bring stability within the
organisation after
implementing the change.
Basis Leadership role to gain the
trust of employees in an
organisation.
It is the function of manager to
control the employees in an
organisation.
Strategy Leaders of Sainsbury are
proactive in nature.
Managers of Sainsbury are
reactive in nature.
LO2
P2
The leaders and managers will have a range of functions and roles which will help in
effective planning of service measures which are followed by the enterprise. The retail firm is
susceptible to face a range of problems or operational situations which supports in suitable
management of activities which are followed and planned under the operations in an effective
way. Their functions and operational roles will assist in making proper policies and activities
which are very important (Chiarini and Vagnoni, 2015). As the firm will be operating in a range
of conditions that will affect the overall functionality and establishing of the proper working
environment which supports in enhancing the overall functionality of Sainsbury. Some of major
situational aspects that are undertaken by the organisation with role of leaders and functions of
manager are:
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Making of Decision:
Role of leaders: The leaders see through the suitable management of the decision
making measures which are carried out and managed in an effective way. The leaders will look
after the proper planning of the operational measures which are carried out within the enterprise.
They will interact with people to improve the decision making approaches which are followed
within organisation.
Functions of managers: The manager will create a range of operations which are carried
out within the organisation which are followed by the organisation. They will see through the
proper assessment of the operations which are followed by the organisation. All these measures
which are followed will improve the sales and overall decision making within the organisation.
These measures supports in improving and establishing of the effective decision making ability.
Performance monitoring:
Role of leaders: The leaders will develop the strategies and undertaken suitable measures
to evaluate the working ability and effectiveness of a candidate. As they will be in regular
contact with their team mates and has a keen knowledge of everyone's strength and weaknesses.
It will help in proper planning of the service measures which supports a positive planning of the
service measures which are followed by Sainsbury.
Functions of managers: The managers which will develop a framework which will help
in suitable planning of the service measures which are followed out which helps in suitable
planning of the performance assessment and evaluation measures which are executed by
enterprise. All activities which are followed will support an improvement of overall performance
of the organisation. This will impact operations which are followed by the managers in an
effective way.
All these measures which are followed will support an extensive planning of the work
operations which are followed at the work environment. As the working conditions will be
improved, the loyalty of employees and their confidence level will be raised (Reid and Sanders,
2015). This will support in proper execution of job roles and handle a range of operations which
are taken in consideration by the managers and leaders.
P3
A range of theories and models are been taken in consideration by retail enterprise which
will help in proper assessment of the operations which will help in suitable planning and carrying
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of the operation's management approaches which will help in suitable planning and establishing
a proper controlling of the business operations which are carried out by the organisation. This
supports an effective planning of the operations which will help in establishing the proper
planning and managing the operations at the work place. This will help in meeting the functional
needs at the work place. Some major theories that are followed within the organisation:
Situational leadership: It is a leadership style which states that the leaders or managers
which are carried out that will help in the proper planning of the service measures which are
undertaken within the organisation. The leaders and managers will try to influence the fellow
employees which are undertaken within the organisation. There will be a constant change in the
leadership and this will impact the operations which will help in assessment of the operations
which supports improving functions which will lead to evaluation of the functions which are
carried out by the retailer. This is best suited approach to maintain or handle any sort of
situations however the measure taken to prevent one situation cannot be viable to prevent
another.
System leadership: This is based on the principles and having a good leadership which
will help in enhancing the operations which are followed within the enterprise. As it is based on
the behavioural approach of the organisation. This will help in establishing a proper coordination
which will help in suitable assessment of the activities and this will help in improving the
performance of the organisation to a greater extent. This will lead to an effective planning of the
service measures which are followed by the enterprise. This will turn the organisation into a
system to make the operations and activities which are followed in an effective way within
Sainsbury. This is effective to handle the behavioural and occupational work role of an
employee. However, this is not feasible to carry out the complex operations (Saucedo-Martínez
and et.al., 2018).
Contingency leadership: This theory state that there is no “Specific” leadership or
management approach that can be followed within the organisation. This will assist in the
effective assessment of the operational situations which are followed within the organisation and
adopt the working practices accordingly. The leaders and managers at Sainsbury will look after
the proper planning of the operations which are followed and implemented to execute the
operations which will lead to improve the performance and overall execution of the operational
activities. This will help in the suitable planning of the operations which will helps in suitable
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establishing of the operational measures which are followed by retailer firm. It is beneficial to
handle the range of situations and improves the organisation's flexibility to operate. However, the
fluctuation in the leadership and management approaches may lead to indifferences and
conflicts.
LO3
P4 Key approaches of operations management and role of leaders and managers in it
A range of the operation's management approaches and functions are been carried out
which will help in proper assessment of the activities which are followed within Sainsbury to
operate and increase the efficiency to achieve the activities and functional goals which are
carried out by the firm within the enterprise. These approaches which are followed will improve
the overall functionality of the retail firm. The leaders and managers within retail enterprise
supports a proper evaluation of the actions plans which are followed within the enterprise
(Chiarini and Vagnoni, 2015). Other than this, the operational measures which are carried out
will support an effective growth of the firm. Some major approaches of operations management
are:
Six Sigma: This is a statical and data driven approach of operations management. This is
an approach of improving the quality and enhancing the profitability and productivity of the
organisation. It also helps in the suitable handling of the actions this willl help in the effective
assessment of the activities which will help in enhancing the quality of products and services
which are followed by the organisation. The DAMIC measures which is been followed will help
in defining, measuring, analysing, improving and controlling of the activities. All these measures
supports a proper assessment of the action plans to improve them.
Role of manager: The managers at Sainsbury will see through the proper assessment of the
application of this approach. The feasibility study will be tested and strategic plans will be
developed which are carried out by the organisation in an effective way. Once the strategies are
been developed, managers will look after the proper evaluation of the Six sigma approaches
which are followed out by the organisation (Uhl and Gollenia, 2016).
Role of leader: The leaders at the Sainsbury will look after proper planning of operations which
are followed and hence, supports a positive rise in application of six sigma approach. They will
look after the establishing the essential set up and communicate the activities and other
operations which are followed by the firm.
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Lean approach: This is an inventory approach which is followed by the organisation to
reduce the misuse of resources and raw material which are followed by the organisation. It is a
Japanese approach which are followed by the organisation to save the time and resources which
are applied and utilized for the operation's management approach within the organisation. The
emphasis is laid on the quality of product which is followed by the organisation without
compromising on the productivity of the products manufactured by retail organisation (Slack and
Brandon-Jones, 2018).
Role of manager: The managers will look after the management and implementation of the
inventory that will be used for the manufacturing and other activities which will help in effective
implementation of the products and services which will lead to establishing of the cost effective
action plan and measures undertaken by the enterprise.
Role of leader: Leaders will see through the implementation of these approaches which are
followed within the enterprise to improve the quality of products and services which are
developed and followed by the organisation. This will help in reducing the wastage and improves
the activities or measures which are followed by the organisation to improve the production
capacity of the firm.
Total Quality management: It is an organisation wide operation's management
approach which is followed by Sainsbury to improve the quality and quantity of the goods or
services which are manufactured by the organisation (Heizer and et.al., 2017). This will help in
improving the quality of products which are saved and hence, it will improve the quality of
service measures which are followed by the enterprise. This approach is followed in order to
carry out the production and other organisational based operations on a greater level. This is one
of the widest used operation's management approach which enhances the quality of service
measures which are followed by the organisation.
Role of manager: The managers see through the proper assessment of the operational activities
which are followed by the enterprise in an effective and suitable way (Ferguson and et.al., 2016).
The quality check units will be established on the various levels of the inventory and production
process in order to maintain the quality of operations which are carried out at Sainsbury.
Role of leader: Leaders at Sainsbury will see through the proper establishing of the action plan
which will help in enhancing the quality and assist the enterprise to develop high quality
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products or services which are followed by the firm. Other than this, leaders at Sainsbury will see
through the adoption of these approaches and guide the work force.
P5
Operations management is administration of company practices to make high level of
efficiency possible within business. It is obsessed with converting resources and labour into
services and products as efficiently as possible to increase profit of Sainsbury. It is very
important to have operation management within firm as it helps to achieve business main
objectives and goal of making money and increasing their shareholders through their activities or
functions. QM is very essential to have efficient OM, it helps for continuous development and
improvements in order to gain high profit margin. They are responsible for managing procedure
of creation services or products which is quite beneficial for making money and increasing
financial budget of company. It includes organizing, controlling, resources required to
manufacture organization goods and services. Operation management focus on each and overall
process of manufacturing products, they try to managed each functions and activities under
operations. Operation manager within operation management try hard and give all their efforts
for managing the whole department effectively (Schwarz, Hall and Shibli, 2015.). They assure
company to timely deliver their services or products and to successfully turn materials into
finished input to output. It plays vital role to operate and run any task successfully in firm and
bring many advantages for them as business growth. With the help to managing overall activities
and procedure of production operation management department can be able to achieve company
desired business objectives and aims and also contribute to gain high revenue as compare to its
business competitors. OM help to reduce cost of production and assure that intangible and
tangible resources is not over wasted or stretched in company, it considered as one of the best
personality trait that run business efficiently in marketplace.
LO4
P6
Business environment is a comprehensive system which consists of various internal as
well as external factors which impacts on the over all performance of the business. Business
environment may be considered as all such factors which surrounds the business and impacts on
overall business such as workforce, labour rates, suppliers, customers and technological factors.
In addition internal factors are those factors which directly influence the productivity as
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well as performance of the company such as suppliers and customers such factors can be
controlled and managed by the organization (Akalin and et.al., 2016). On the other hand,
external factors are those which indirectly impacts on the performance of the business such
factors are outside the control of the company. Various external and internal factors impacting
decision making by leaders and managers are as follows:
Suppliers
This is one of the most important internal factor as this directly impacts on the quality of
the raw material. The raw material supplied by the suppliers of the company plays the important
role in meeting the standards of the finished goods and services within the organization
(Ferguson and et.al., 2017).
Customers
This is also one of the most important internal factor as all the organizations generally
produce the goods and services for the main purpose of providing the quality based and
reasonable priced products to the customers.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of the assessment of the operations which are been performed, this can be
said that the suitable assessment of the operations which are carried out within the enterprise.
The evaluation of role and characteristics of leaders and managers and their operational capacity
in various situations is analysed. Besides this, the management and leadership theories like
situational, system and contingency theory is analysed. The key operational approaches of
operations management and its value with importance is been evaluated in order to achieve the
business objectives which are carried out by the organisation. At last, the factors affecting the
operation's management and decision making by leaders and managers are been evaluated to
develop proper understanding of operation's management.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Akalin, G.I. and et.al., 2016. Is Supply Chain Management Replacing Operations Management
in the Business Core Curriculum. Operations and Supply Chain Management: An
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Bush, T., Bell, L. and Middlewood, D. eds., 2019. Principles of Educational Leadership &
Management. SAGE Publications Limited.
Chiarini, A. and Vagnoni, E., 2015. World-class manufacturing by Fiat. Comparison with Toyota
production system from a strategic management, management accounting, operations
management and performance measurement dimension. International Journal of
Production Research. 53(2). pp.590-606.
Ferguson, N.T. and et.al., 2016. Secure management of operations on protected virtual
machines. U.S. Patent Application 15/243,647.
Ferguson, N.T. and et.al., 2017. Secure management of operations on protected virtual
machines. U.S. Patent 9,578,017.
Heizer, J. and et.al., 2017. Operations management: sustainability and supply chain
management, 12/e. Pearson Education.
Kim, A and et.al., 2017. Multilevel influences on voluntary workplace green behavior:
Individual differences, leader behavior, and coworker advocacy. Journal of Management.
43(5). pp.1335-1358.
Reid, R.D. and Sanders, N.R., 2015. Operations Management, Binder Ready Version: An
Integrated Approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Saucedo-Martínez, J.A. and et.al., 2018. Industry 4.0 framework for management and operations:
a review. Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing. pp.1-13.
Schwarz, E.C., Hall, S.A. and Shibli, S., 2015. Sport facility operations management: A global
perspective. Routledge.
Slack, N. and Brandon-Jones, A., 2018. Operations and process management: principles and
practice for strategic impact. Pearson UK.
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