Leadership and Operations: A Comparative Report on Tesco's Practices

This report analyzes the roles of leaders and managers within Tesco, a multinational retailer. It differentiates between the characteristics and responsibilities of managers and leaders, providing examples of their functions in various situations, such as product development and crisis management. The report explores different leadership models and theories, including situational, system, and contingency leadership. Furthermore, it examines various approaches to operations management, such as Six Sigma, lean production, total quality management, and just-in-time, highlighting the roles of leaders and managers within each approach. The report aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of leadership, management, and operations within a real-world business context, offering valuable insights into how these elements contribute to organizational success.

Management and
Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
PART- 1...........................................................................................................................................5
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................5
P1 Explain and differentiate roles and characteristics of manager and leader.......................5
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................7
P2 Determine the different situation with defining roles and function of leader and manager . 7
P3 Explain different leadership models and theories in organisation....................................8
PART 2............................................................................................................................................9
LO 3 ................................................................................................................................................9
P4 Approaches of operations management with role of leader and manager........................9
P5 Assess the significance of operations management in attaining the goal of organisation10
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................11
P6 Determine the factors that impact both operational management and decision making by
leader and manager .............................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCE.................................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Management and operations are two terms. Management is defined as process where it
relate to planning and managing all activities in organisation to achieve the goal effectively and
efficiently whereas management utilise their resource in an appropriate manner. Moreover,
operations is defined as converting the raw material into finished goods to increase the profit in
organisation. Tesco is taken as organisation in this report. Tesco is a multinational retailer and
serve their products worldwide. Moreover, they deals in various type of products such as
supermarket, superstore and hypermarket. This report includes the difference of leader and
manager with defining their roles and characteristics. It involves various situation where
manager and leader plays their roles such as managers allocate the resources and leader can set
vision and communicate to employees regarding the mission of organisation. There are different
leadership theories such as situational, system and contingency where leaders can motivate their
employees to perform their work in an effective way. The report also includes various
approaches of operation management and their value in attaining the business objectives.

PART- 1
LO 1
P1 Explain and differentiate roles and characteristics of manager and leader
Introduction of the company: Tesco is a public limited company that deals in retailing
and groceries. Now they are diversifying their products into various areas such as electronics,
software, telecom and financial services and many more. The companies have 6800 shops in
different location and their head office is located in Welwyn Garden city, England and also
presence in United Kingdom. For smooth operation in company, they follow hierarchical
structure because it help them to divide the work in different department to ensure that work is
conducted accordingly.
Manager: Manager plays an important part in organisation and he plan, coordinate
various activities and manage resources so they can achieve organisation goal successfully
(Bianchi and et. al., 2018). He is a person who direct others for performing duties whereas they
perform roles in different department and known by different names such as marketing manager,
finance manager, HR manager.
Leaders: Leader is a person who set the vision, influence other, motivate their team to
attain their target in an appropriate and timely manner. Moreover, he also guide and direct
employees and they build morale so followers can increase there performance and productivity
level of organisation.
Role of manager Resource allocator: The manager is responsible for allocating resources in efficient
manner and help organisation to increase profit and reduce cost that will help them to
maintain demand and supply of product and services. In context to Tesco, they select the
right people and put them that position accordingly so that there will be proper use of
resources.
 Disturbance handler: According to the selected organisation, they analyse the situation
or any circumstances happen then manager take corrective action to solve that problem.

Role of leader Decision maker: The main role is to take decision in different situation in market so that
it help company and employees. In reference to Tesco, the leader communicate with
their follower and take some opinion or ideas while taking decision (Braun and et. al.,
2017). Set vision: The leader set vision, guide and direct them for achieving organisation goal
effectively and efficiently.
Characteristics of manager
 Reliability: Manger has to be reliable for their employees as he have to remain in
contact with them and they have to ensure that they help their team regarding any
concern or issue because they are important for success of organisation.
 Time management: Manager of Tesco, manage all activities or project on time and
allocate time to employees to complete their duties in proper way because this lower
the stress of all staff members in organisation.
Characteristics of leader
 Ability to influence other: In context to Tesco, they influence their employees to
motivate employees and encourage them to share their ideas and opinion for either
modification and introducing any product or services.
 Effective communication: They communicate to their employees about the set
objective and also flow information from one person to another.
Difference between Leader and manager
Benchmarks Leader Manager
Goal Leader goal is to set the
mission and vision of
company. In Tesco, they
influence and motivate their
followers to achieve the set
mission for organisation.
With reference to Tesco,
manager only perform that
roles and responsibility to
attain targets which is given by
higher authority. Moreover,
they do not influence

employees.
Conflict management Leaders of Tesco solve
conflict after listening all
issues and see conflict as an
asset for organisation.
Managers avoid conflict as
they only assign duties and tell
them how to perform and
achieve them on time.
Delegation They do not delegate their
responsibility because they can
only guide and give instruction
to their teams.
They delegate their authority
and responsibility by analysing
skills and competencies of
each employee and delegate
them accordingly.
LO 2
P2 Determine the different situation with defining roles and function of leader and manager
There are many situation which is occurred in the operations of business and this impact
the overall performance of employees as well as organisation. There are various situation that
occur in Tesco with roles of leader and function of manager are as follows:-
Product development: They have analyse in the market and identify that people are now
emphasising on healthy products so they decided to develop the diversified range of their
existing product. In this situation function of manager and role of leader are as follows:- Function of manager: In this situation manager plays an important role because when
they are developing or modifying their product they assign the duties according to skills,
competencies and capabilities (Huang and et. al., 2019). To successfully produce the
product they develop various strategies and implement them effectively.
 Role of leader: The role of leader is to clearly tell employees about the modified or new
product they are launching such as feature, quality, quantity and durability of goods. This
motivate employees to perform activities for the new product.
Crisis management: It states that when any crisis arises then both leader and manager
handle that situation so that it does not impact the operation and performance of organisation. In

context to Tesco, they handle the crisis not on correct time and then this affect the employees
which increase the absenteeism and the turnover rate (Molchanov, 2016). Due to this it adversely
affect the profit and productivity level whereas this also reduces the reputation and performance
in market. In this situation manager and leader perform roles and functions which are defined
below:-
 Function of manager: The manager have to understand the issue from where the crisis
has been occurred and then communicate this situation to the team leader. Moreover,
they have to delegate those roles and responsibility in which the employees are
interested so they can maintain their position for long period of time.
 Role of leader: The role of leader in this situation is to maintain cordial relation with
each employee and motivate them to perform their work effectively. In this situation,
they have to take quick decision then give solution to all staff members in proper way.
P3 Explain different leadership models and theories in organisation
The theories of leadership explain the individual behaviour they adopt to enhance their
productivity level and abilities. The roles of manage and leader changes according to changes in
business environment (Omilion-Hodges and Baker, 2017). Moreover, manager do not involve all
employees during the process of decision and in functions of management such as planning,
staffing, directing and controlling. Due to this reduce the motivation level of employees in
organisation. The leadership theories are explained in detail are as follows:- Situational leadership: This theory states that there is no such style of leadership that is
applicable to all types of situation. In context to Tesco, they take appropriate decision as
per the situation currently arise in organisation, this theory is effective when manager
and leader develop decision for product development whereas it is ineffective when it is
used for long process such as launching of new product. System leadership: According to this theory, Tesco manager and leader create a positive
work environment to influence and motivate them to perform their work to improve
them (Parisio, Rikos and Glielmo, 2016). There are various functions of management
involved like planning, building cordial relationship and planning and many more. In
other words, it means the skills and competencies are used to enable the change in level.

 Contingency leadership: This leadership theory means there are two factor that Tesco
have to focus such as the skills and situation of organisation. This contingency theory of
leadership means that it not only depend on abilities of leader but these should maintain
the balance between the needs and behaviour. In other words, it is said that firstly
leaders have to understand the situation and then adjust their behaviour according to that
situation.
PART 2
LO 3
P4 Approaches of operations management with role of leader and manager
Operation management is defined as operation where it includes various roles and
responsibilities to ensure that business is operating there all activities in an appropriate way and
timely manner (Rawat, Niazi, Gupta and Sharma, 2019). This is because they use their resources
properly and meet the need and requirement of customers so that they can provide them better
quality goods or services. In other words, it also states that managing and converting their raw
material into finished goods. There are various approaches in operation management such as six
sigma, lean production, just in time and total quality management with roles of leader and
manager which are described as under:- Six sigma:- Six sigma is defined as a method where it provide a tool to organisation to
improve their production level and the capacity to deal with various process of business.
With reference to Tesco, it help organisation to enhance the performance and can
improve the quality of goods or services, profit. The role of leader is to adopt and invest
in six sigma resources and training, communicate the importance of this approach to
employees. In this approach role of manager is to eliminate circumstances while making
decision. The decision taken with risk in six sigma. Lean production: This approach of operations management is important because it help
organisation to reduce to eliminate the waste resources so they that produce maximum
output by using minimum output (Rosenbach, 2018). In context to Tesco, they eliminate
waste resources so they can maintain high quality of products or services. The role of
leader is to create the working environment for continuous improvement and the main
role in lean production is to focus on delivering maximum value to there customer. The

role of manager is to develop strategies to improve the operation and manage all
activities in organisation. Total quality management: As per this approach, it states that Tesco motivate and
influence all staff members to perform their work in proper manner and produce the best
quality product and services such as groceries, telecom and financial services and many
more they produce their product in different areas of country. The role of manager and
leader is to give training and development sessions so they perform their work properly.
 Just in time: According to this approach, the strategy used by management so they can
produce raw material directly to supplier according to the schedules of production.
Tesco uses this strategy to enhance the efficiency of production and eliminate the waste
resources. The role of manager and leader is that they should first analyse and identify
which products they want and how many quantity whereas they have to also observe
that the customers need and demand. In respect of Tesco, both leader and manager
should develop and implement strategies that help them to eliminate the waste resources
and accomplish their work in proper time (Schedlitzki and Edwards, 2017).
P5 Assess the significance of operations management in attaining the goal of organisation
It is important to ensure that they have adequate operations management for effective
running of production process even when any circumstances occur. If there is effective
management then it help organisation to engage employees to perform their work by defining
roles and responsibilities, this is to ensure that workflow of employees are not affected.
Operation management is defined as a process that plan, analyse and control various operations
such as manufacturing and production process. There are various importance and value of
operation management which are described below:- Product and Service quality: It is important for Tesco because they can clearly
understand the requirement of customer for goods or services and can introduce them
accordingly. The operations manager of Tesco set a list to determine and check that all
production process are manufactured in the defined way. They also inform all employees
to maintain high quality goods or services so they can meet organisation goals. In this
leadership and behaviour approach is used so that employees can efficiently produce the
product.

 Customer satisfaction: The customer satisfaction is significant for any operation in
organisation as it help to grow their business for future from the present customers they
are dealing with. This approach take care to introduce or launch new product of high
quality in accordance with the demand of customer. This help them to deliver product on
time and this can also enhance market share, goodwill and profit. These elements is to
ensure that customer can purchase their product or use services again and value brand of
Tesco against their competitor such as Sainsbury and Morrisons. In this situation
approach of leadership is used to develop strategies to develop high quality goods or
services. Waste reduction: In context to Tesco, this technique is important because it help to
reduce the operation cost by reducing waste resources. In other words, it is defined as to
increase profit and production level then organisation have to eliminate the unnecessary
cost involve in manufacturing and production process (Shafique and Loo-See, 2018). It
help to improve the overall process of operation within the organisation. According to
waste production, just in time and lean production is appropriate leadership approach. Productivity: According to this approach, the selected organisation can develop strategies
in order to create and design the production process appropriately which can increase the
profit of organisation and can reduce any error or eliminate the waste resources. It is
important for growth of organisation so Tesco can develop product with reducing
expenses and increasing the profit of organisation. Both behavioural and situational
leadership approach is appropriate in this factor of operations management.
LO 4
P6 Determine the factors that impact both operational management and decision making by
leader and manager
There are many external factors of business environment in organisation that impact both
operational and decision making which help management to develop plans and strategies for
effective run of business. In context to Tesco, the various factors that impact the functions of
organisation are as follows:-

 Stakeholders: People included in the business have interest in operation of
organisation because the practices done in business, due to this people get impacted.
There are various stakeholder in organisation like suppliers, government, customers,
investors and so on. With reference to Tesco, the leader and manager take decision on
the basis of view of stakeholder that help to grow business (Van Wart, 2017). This is
because they take their views and opinion while taking any step in organisation. Due
to this, it is important for every organisation to involve stakeholder while take
decision in relation top developing strategies.
 Corporate social responsibility: This is the important factor done by every company
for development of environment and society. Nowadays, it is important for every
organisation to conduct these activities for profit and also for development of society.
In context to Tesco, manager analyse marketing activities to see CSR activities for
society and organisation whereas leader then plan and develop activities to implement
it appropriately.
 Business ethics: It is defined as the study of organisation practices and policies which
include fiduciary responsibilities, discrimination, corporate governance and many
more. It is to ensure the trust between the participants and customers in market with
organisation. With reference to Tesco, the role of manager is to develop policies and
regulation for business ethics whereas role of leader is to analyse that rules followed
by them in proper manner. This is important for organisation to take decision related
to business ethics because this builds the positive business environment and increase
in goodwill (von Knorring, Alexanderson and Eliasson, 2016).

CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it is analysed that it is important for organisation to manage
and operate their activities in proper manner so they can achieve their goals on time. However,
there are many difference between manager and leader such as goal focused as manager's goal is
to delegate roles and responsibilities whereas leader set vision to achieve goal in an effective
manner. It is also analysed leadership theories by which leader can guide and instruct employees
to perform their work, these theories include situational, system and contingency theory.
Operation management is important for organisation as it help organisation to develop strategies
so company can achieve their pre-determined target. There are various approaches of operation
management such as total quality management, just in time (JIT), lean production and six sigma.
In these factors manager and leader play different role in organisation because it help both
company and employees to eliminate waste resources and material and also to plan which
product or services is required by customer. The external environment factor that impact both
operational management and decision making by manager and leader which are business ethics,
corporate social responsibility and stakeholder. It is important for manager to involve
stakeholder while taking decision in organisation.