Leadership and Management Report: An Analysis of TESCO Operations

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and management practices within TESCO, a leading UK retail company. It begins by defining the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers, highlighting their traits, responsibilities, and the authority they possess. The report then explores how various situations, such as staffing shortages, increased competition, and market changes, affect the functions of leaders and managers. Furthermore, it delves into different leadership theories, including the situational leadership theory, and how these theories can be applied to manage challenges such as high employee turnover. The report examines the practical application of these theories within TESCO, offering insights into how leaders and managers can adapt their approaches to improve operational efficiency and achieve organizational goals. The content is based on the assignment solution provided.

Management and Operations

Table of Contents.
TASK 1 (LO 1& LO2).....................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................1
a) Describing the roles and characteristics of leaders and Managers..........................................1
b) How different situation in a firm can affect the role of leaders and functions of a manager. 3
c) Describe different theories and concepts of leadership and how managers and leaders deal
with the situation.........................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
TASK 2 (LO3 & LO4).....................................................................................................................8
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................8
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................8
a) Describing the role of operation Managers in order to improve the efficiency and decisions
which they make.........................................................................................................................8
b) Presenting the key elements and approaches of different operation management system....9
c) Describe different factor and how they impact upon business operations...........................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

TASK 1 (LO 1& LO2)
INTRODUCTION
Operation Management is the management of business practices in order to create
highest level of efficiency in an organization. Therefore, management includes all the activities
of setting a strategy of a firm and coordinating efforts of their employees for attaining objectives
(Arshad and et.al., 2017). The chosen firm for this part is TESCO which is one of the leading
retail company in UK and offers groceries, clothes and furniture at reasonable rates. This part of
report will present the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers, then describe how
different situation in a firm can affect the role of leaders and functions of a manager. Further,
report will describe different theories and concepts of leadership and how managers and leaders
deal with the situation as well.
MAIN BODY
a) Describing the roles and characteristics of leaders and Managers
Leaders: Leader are those person who leads and command the group or organization.
Even they have the ability to influence a group of people to achieve the goal (Role of Leaders,
2017). The role of leaders in TESCO is as mention:
Traits:
Self Managing: leader are actually manages their work in effective manner and self
managing means that they are able to prioritize the goals and also responsible for attaining the
gaols.
Acting strategically: As they having a forward thinking and open minded approach
which is an essential approach for a leaders, thinking strategically is an ongoing process that
involves assessing the business and help to tackle the business unexpected challenges.
Role and responsibilities: Leaders of TESCO are the representative of an organization
and their main role is to communicate the rationale of an enterprise to an outside public. Further
they also provide a vision to employees of a firm to achieve the goal in brilliant way(Moye,
Mueller‐Hanson and Langfred, 2017). Leaders also keep their team members informed and give
timely or specific feedback regarding job performance and make sure that training needs are met.
Their another role is to create vision and then execute strategy using disciplined process. They
always provide back support to their employees through their positive nature and experience,
they also provide positive results as well.
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Authority and Power: Leader of the company have an authority that claims of
legitimacy and justification and right to exercise the power. While on the other side, power of a
leaders mainly lies on how they motivate the group members and complete the things.
Traits: Leaders of the firm are trustworthy such that they are able to build the trust in
their organization and they have an effective communication skills which helps them to influence
others in an effective way. They are also honest towards their work and have good confidence
(Rego and et.al., 2019). Through their strong vision, they execute the best strategy in order to
accomplish the goals of a firm. Consistency is another characteristic of a leader which help to
gain the respect and credibility.
Managers: Manager are that person who is responsible for controlling and
administrating an organization and group of staff as well. The manager of TESCO are special in
their own field and they are a support system of an employee.
Traits:
Coaching: Managers are generally coached the focus on developing the people they
work with well such that they also ensures that they have an regular one to one meeting with the
team and provide training as well.
Communicating and development: they also have a good communication and keep the
team up to date. They show a genuine interest in employee's career development
acknowledgement improvements as well.
Role and responsibilities:Manager of TESCO, basically makes planning the operation
and function of the area where, they assigned the responsibility to their employees to attain goals
(Hunt and Weintraub, 2016). Further, their another role is to organize the production of a work
and provide training session to their employees to raise their working performance. They also
provide direction to their employees and guide them so that they are able to attain their goals.
Another role of manager of TESCO is to assign duties to leaders and keep monitoring their
working performance and then review, assessing the success of a goal as well .
Authority and Power: Authority of the manager is to achieve the objectives of an
organization. Therefore it is the right in which the things are done through other. While on the
other side, power is the ability that helps to manage the things and influence the beliefs and
action of other people.
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Traits:: Manager of TESCO posses leadership qualities which help them to lead a team
and they should possess good communication skills which help to convenience others. Further,
they should be reliable which means that they should support their employees and have the
delegation skills as well. Further, they are also be confident in their work and must possess the
decision abilities that help to take better decision for the welfare of a firm (Qualities of Mangers,
2018).
b) How different situation in a firm can affect the role of leaders and functions of a manager
The role of leaders and manager is quite different in every situation such that there are
various situation where manager must focus on the effectiveness of a firm, such as
Fayol description of manager's function:
Planning: it is the drawing up the plan of action and also require an active participation
of the entire organization and in the same manager of the quoted firm also do the same, such that
with respect to time and implementation, planning is also linked with different levels and
managers only do it in successful manner. For example, in this situation, the role of manager of
TESCO make planning to what changes are implementing in the company and on the other side,
leader mainly develop strategy how to communicate this new changes with an employee.
Organizing: A firm can only function well when it is well organized, such that if it have
sufficient staff, capital and raw material then it can run smoothly and help to build better
working culture. For example, in this situation, the role of manager of TESCO organize different
training session for the employees in order to reach at further level of success, while the role of
leader is to evaluate whether the training session is beneficial for the employees or not.
Commanding: managers of the firm provide employees instruction and order to perform
the task and in the same way they also have an integrity, communicate clearly and through their
regular audit they also motivate their team as well. For example, in this situation, the role of
manager of TESCO is to assign duties to the leaders and employees and at that time, by using
effective communication skills, leader of the firm will motivate their team.
Controlling: The managers also control the place through establishing performance
standard which is based on organization objectives. They also measure and report an actual
performance and then carry out the work effectively. For example, in this situation, the role of
manager of TESCO is to control the negative key aspect of the firm and control the place
through establishing performance standard which is based on organization objectives. On the
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other side, it is the duty of leader to develop strategy and motivate their employees to easily
control negative impacts.
Coordinating: It means that stimulating motivation and discipline within group
dynamics which requires clear communication and good leadership. Proper coordination also
helps to provide positive employee behaviour management that can be intended objectives be
achieved. For example, in this situation, the role of manager of TESCO is to assign the duties
and leaders mainly coordinate with the employees in order to provide positive employee
behaviour management.
3 Real situation:
Short staff:
This situation affect environment of a firm and the productivity level as well. For
example In this situation, the Manager of TESCO have tos develop the strategy to overcome this
situation such that by providing reward system and develop employee retention strategy (Clapp-
Smith and et.al., 2019). on the other side, Leader of TESCO should motivate their employees and
through effective training system the problem of short staff can be minimized.
Tough competition:
As the competition increases, the situation also changes. For example, to increase the
sales, the firm wants to introduce new competitive strategy. In this situation, Manager assign
duties to their employees and on the other side, leader make strategy in order to let their
employees know about this competitive pricing strategy so that it helps to attain the goal.
Further, this situation, helps to increase the competition and both leaders, manager help a firm to
accomplish the defined objectives (Glaeser, Michels and Verrecchia, 2018)
Changes in market trends:
This situation is currently the most rapid situation in the organization purpose as per the
market environment. For example, if there is a sudden change in the economy of the country and
it cause inflation rate where there is a rise in the product or services offered by TESCO. At this
situation, the leaders and manager plays their crucial role and it also affect them as well. As there
is a inflation rate in market, then manager of the company plan strategy to cope up this situation
and assign role and responsibilities to their employees to execute the plan into working area
(Cashman, 2017). While on the other side, leader motivate their workers and raise their working
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performance to execute the strategy and overcome this situation. Thus, in this way, both manager
and leader together work for the welfare of the company.
c) Describe different theories and concepts of leadership and how managers and leaders deal
with the situation
Scenario: TESCO, which faces the challenge such that it is suffering from the high
employee turnover and at that time, the role of leader is to motivate the employee. While on the
other side, mangers of the company make policy to overcome the issues. In the same way, these
theories and style helps to manage the situation in better way.
Situational leadership Theory: This theory suggest that no single leadership style is
best. Instead, it all depends upon the situation that which leadership style is best suited for a task
(Situation Leadership theory, 2018). As per this theory, the most effective leaders are those who
are able to adapt their style for a situation and some other factors which might contribute to
getting the job done. For example, some employees of TESCO function better under the leader
who is more autocratic and directive. Therefore, the theory suggested that there are four primary
leadership style:
Telling: In this style, the leaders tell their employees what to do and how to perform.
Such that In this style, leaders of the firm are directive and authoritative approach.
Selling: in this style, the leaders of the firm are sell their ideas and messages to their
group members. The leader is still a decision maker, but on the other side, they communicate to
carry the employees rather than simply directing them (Thompson and Glasø, 2015).
Participating: In this, the leaders are work together with the members of a team in order
to make the decision better. Further they also supports and encourage them to make their
participation during decision making process.
Delegating: During this style, the leader of the firm assign the decision making
responsibility to their team members and they only oversees the work such that they are less
involved (Lynch, 2015).
Advantages: One of the simple and spontaneous method. It is flexible in nature as well and also
creates comfortable environment for the workers. Using this theory in TESCO will help to raise
awareness of the leaders.
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Disadvantages: It mainly focus on immediate needs than long term needs and can be ineffective
in task oriented environment. Sometimes this theory did not provide an enough information to
leaders.
System Leadership theory: It is a theory that enables the leaders in an organization in
order to create the condition where people at all level can work productively to their own skills
and potential. Thus, this theory builds the effective system which further drive productive
behaviour and also lead to more effective realisation of the organization purpose as well. Further,
in this organization structure is consider as a complex system in which the organization functions
are been carried out accordingly (Senge, Hamilton and Kania, 2015). Moreover, the system
theory also reflect the interdisciplinary system of the results that consist actions. In the quoted
firm, the employees are motivates in order to generate the best results and this also helps to raise
their working performance as well.
Advantages: This theory increases the organization's adaptability to an environmental changes
(Jaques, 2017). It only focus on achieving the individual and overall goals of the firm, it is
adaptive and dynamic in nature.
Disadvantages: It is not always be practical and may leads to delay in decision making. This
theory is not suitable for smaller organization.
Contingency Leadership Theory: this theory states that there is no best way to organize
or lead a company in order to make decisions but the leaders applied their own style of
leadership as per right situation (Fiedler, 2016). Therefore, this theory mainly emphasizes the
importance of both leader's personality and the situation at which the leader is operate. In
addition to this, this theory states that a leader's effectiveness is contingent upon how the leader
or their style matches to a situation and it is also concern that there is no best style of leadership
and the leader is only effective when their style of leadership only fits with a situation.
Advantages: This approach is adaptive in nature and the leader of the company have to consider
all factors and then help to take better decision. Due to this, the scope of leadership is widened.
Disadvantages: Not always suitable for the leaders to take better decision. It is quite complex to
implement the theory into working place (Lewis, 2019).
Therefore, by applying situation leadership theory, the leader of Marks and Spencer will
easily manages the situation and adapt the leadership style as per above slow to moderate
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situation that is when the leader wants to develop the competitive pricing strategy, at that time,
they adopt situational leadership style for better performance and attain the goal of a company.
CONCLUSION
From the above, It has been concluded that management of TESCO is good and effective
and all leaders and managers together plays an effective role for the success of a business. From
the report it has been concluded that role of leader and manager is completely different from
each other but they all work for attaining the goals in defined manner. Further it has been
concluded that by using different leadership theory, the leader of a firm can easily deal with
different situations.
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TASK 2 (LO3 & LO4)
INTRODUCTION
Operation Management is that area of management that concerned with designing and
controlling the procedure of production and turns the input into output (Glaeser, Michels and
Verrecchia, 2018). In the same way, this part of report will shows the importance of operation
management in a firm. The chosen firm for this part is Marks and Spencer (M&S) which is a
leading retail brand in UK whose management and operations is quiet unique from others. In this
section, report will describe the role of operation Managers in order to improve the efficiency
and decisions which they make. Further it present the key elements and approaches of different
operation management system. Then report will describe different factor such CSR, culture,
ethics, SWOT and PESTLE analysis for the firm and describe how they impact upon business
operations.
MAIN BODY
a) Describing the role of operation Managers in order to improve the efficiency and decisions
which they make
Operation Management: It is an area of management that basically concern with
designing and controlling, it is a process that involves planning, organizing managing and
controlling the manufacturing process. It has been analysed that operation management is
important to improve the overall (Operation Management, 2018). That is why, it is considered
as a heart of an organization because it controls overall operations. Further, operation
management plays a crucial role in an organization as it handles issues like design, operation and
maintenance of the system that is used for the production of goods.
Role of operation manager in Marks and Spencer:
Operation Manager in a business are the key personnel in upper level management who
make sure that the company is performing in its best potential. Operation Manager of Marks and
Spencer are responsible for overall well being of the company's operations. The main role of
operation manager of quoted firm is to oversee the creation and administration of budget for each
area of a company (MUTOH and et.al., 2019). Therefore, they also monitor the expenses of
Marks and Spencer and engage in cost benefit analysis that seek to obtain the best price for a
material. Apart from this, in Marks and Spencer, the operation manager makes an important
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policy, planning and strategy decision, further they also help HR with recruiting and promote a
company culture that encourages the top performance and high morale.
In addition to this, they also make sure that all legal and regulatory documents are filed
and monitor the compliance with laws and regulations (Zhang, Wang and Lin, 2019). They also
have the good handle on the staffing requirements of an organization and also help In forecasting
requirement as well.
b) Presenting the key elements and approaches of different operation management system
Operation Management plays an effective role in Marks and Spencer and there are
different key approaches of operation management system such as:
Total Quality Management: It is the continuous process of detecting and reducing the
errors in manufacturing and improve the customers experience and also make sure that the
employees are up to speed with training. Therefore, the main focus of this approach is to improve
the quality of an organization's outputs through the internal practices. The role of leader and
manager in Total quality management is consider a customer focused process that makes sure
that all associated employees are work towards the common goal in order to improve the quality
of offered products and services. The key principle of TQM is commitment from the
management, employee engagement, continuous improvement, customer focus (Ross, 2017)
Advantages: The benefit of using TQM is such that it will increase the awareness of quality
culture in a firm and also leads to commitment towards continuous improvement.
Disadvantages: It takes a long time to implement and required a lot of resources but the result
also takes a long time.
Six Sigma: It is the set of techniques and tools which is used for improvement. This
strategy is mainly improve the quality of output of a process by removing the causes of defects
and also minimizes the variability in manufacturing and business process. Hence, the role of
leader and manager is to develop the strategy and it is the strategy that is used to increase the
satisfaction of customers and profitability by streamlining operations, eliminating the defects in
every firm.
Advantages: The biggest advantages of using six sigma, Marks and Spencer can strategize its
plan of action and also drive revenue increase, cost reduction and process improvement as well
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(Knapp, 2015). Further, it also helps in calculating the process performance and also identify the
root causes of a problem
Disadvantages: It may creates rigidity and bureaucracy which may creates delay the production
level.
Lean Production: It is the systematic process for minimization of waste in a
manufacturing system without affecting the productivity that may leads to cause problem. This
process is mainly based upon the five principles such as, identify the value from a customer's
perspective, map the value stream, create flow, establish a pull system, pursue perfection with
continual process improvement (Douglas, Douglas and Ochieng, 2015). Therefore, the role of
leader and manager, this process mainly minimizes waste such as unnecessary transportation,
excess inventory, overproduction of a product, over processing and defects which require more
efforts and increases the cost of correction as well. Therefore, it has been analysed that lean
production main aim is to cut cost by making the business more efficient and also responsive to
the market needs as well.
Advantages: In Marks and Spencer, this approach is mainly set out to cut out or minimizes the
activities that do not add values in manufacturing process and also remove unnecessary
movement of people and product around the business too.
Disadvantages: equipment and labour failure may also leads to major in consistence in the
production of the company.
Opinion: From the above for Marks and Spencer, six sigma production the best key
approach because it mainly improve the quality of output of a process by removing the causes of
defects and also minimizes the variability in manufacturing and business process
c) Describe different factor and how they impact upon business operations
There are different factors that affect the business operations and some of them are as
mentioned below:
Corporate Social Responsibility: This directly impact a business ability to attract the
top talent and also affect the employees job satisfaction level and retention rates. It has been
analysed that the business who follow CSR policy have happier and satisfies employees. Even
Marks and Spencer practising corporate social responsibility tend to invest more in their
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