Unilever Case Study: Comparing Leadership and Management in Operations

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and management practices within Unilever, a leading global consumer goods company. The study begins by comparing the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers, highlighting their distinct approaches and responsibilities in achieving organizational goals. It then delves into the functions of leaders and managers in various situations, such as problem/conflict management, launching new products, and recruiting prospective candidates. The report also explores different leadership theories, including situational leadership, system leadership, and the contingency theory of leadership, discussing their application within Unilever. Furthermore, the report examines the impact of business environmental factors, such as corporate social responsibility, value systems, ethics, and sustainability, on operational management and decision-making processes. The report concludes with a summary of the key findings and their implications for effective leadership and management within the organization. The report highlights the importance of operational management, and how it helps attain the business objectives and brand image in market.

Management and
operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Comparison of roles and characteristics of leader and manager.......................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P2 Role of leader and function of manager in different situations.........................................5
P3 Different models and theories of leadership.....................................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
P6 Impact of business environmental factors on operational management and decision making
of leaders and managers.........................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Management and operations are considered to be the most important approach in business
organisation which focuses on production, distribution of goods and services which provides
efficiency in its operations ( Boyd and Dougherty, 2016). It manages the work in organisation
and has the responsibility of attaining the business objectives and attaining brand image in
market. Operation management is concerned with improving efficiency and removing errors in
the production of goods or services. In this report the chosen company is Unilever which is
world's largest consumer goods company headquartered in London, UK. Its products include
food and beverage and personal care products. This project analyses the role of leader and
manager in different situations in organisation. It also determines the importance of operational
management in contemporary business organisation.
TASK 1
P1 Comparison of roles and characteristics of leader and manager
Leader is an individual in the organisation who has superior power to exercise certain
degree of control or influence on its followers. They have the capability to get work done
through others towards the achievement of goals and objectives.
Characteristics of Leader
 Decision making capability- Leader at Unilever should be able to take decisions within
appropriate time period to avoid any confusion and delay in task operation.
 Communication- Unilever's Leader should be able to properly communicate with its
followers which encourages them to interact with leader at discuss their problems and get
immediate solutions (Ellitan, 2017).
Role of leaders
 Act as a representative- Leader represent the respective company at the seminars,
conferences and meetings. His role is to communicate on behalf of Unilever and act as an
representative of own department.
 Strategy formulation- They are responsible for formulation of strategy in relation to
execution of tasks which helps in attaining goals of Unilever.
Manager is a person who is responsible for management of the company by proper
planning and organising of activities and coordinate effectively with others by a way of proper

guidance. They are responsible for carrying recruitment and selection process in Unilever and
hiring suitable candidates.
Characteristics of Manager
 Knowledge- Manager at Unilever should pose a high level of knowledge to share it with
employees and which helps them to gain proper understanding to complete the task.
 Confidence- To be an effective manager one should have have confidence and
experience in managing organisational performance. They should confidently motivate
the team to achieve better results (Eraki, 2015).
Difference between Leaders and managers
Basis Leader Manager
Approach A leader sets direction for
achieving desired outcomes
Manager of an organization
plans details and provide a
map to achieve desired
outcomes.
Subordinates Leaders has followers as their
subordinates.
Managers have employees in a
workplace as subordinates.
Function Leader motivates and guides
its followers in organisation.
Function of managers is to
plan, organise, staff, direct,
motivate and control.
Change In an organization leadership
promotes change
Managers reacts to change and
make strategies to overcome
those.
Relationship All leaders of a company are
not manager.
All managers are leaders.

TASK 2
P2 Role of leader and function of manager in different situations
Leader in the group is responsible for inspiring and guiding followers to complete the
business operations and attain desired outcomes. On the other hand manager is one who
regulates the subordinates by proper plans and policies and helps Unilever to achieve the
objectives (Idris, 2016).
There are different situation in the organisation where manager and leader have to
perform their functions to manage and achieve the objectives of Unilever.
Problem/ conflict management
Problems or conflicts are inevitable parts of organisation due to some miscommunication
and misunderstanding among the employees and higher authorities. These problems act as an
hurdle in execution of task in respective company. Sometimes problem arises due to cultural
gaps and because when individuals doesn't work for collective interest they work for personal
interest conflict creates that time (Maand and Sun, 2012). Unilever is brand company where
employees work from diverse backgrounds have different languages, beliefs and customs which
are totally different from company's culture. This creates problem in organisation and to resolve
Illustration 1: Difference between leader and manager
Source: Leader vs Manager: Key Traits To Adopt. 2018

conflict managers conducts training sessions and meetings. In that process leader work to solve
the problems of their followers so that effective results should be acquired.
Launching a new product
When Unilever wants to launch new product it generally requires the a lot of plans and
strategies to create a high market share for its products. In Planning phase managers are required
to provide certain suggestions and views of employees regarding the product features. On the
other hand it gives feedback to leader of Unilever that observe different aspects in organisation
and take decisions according to market demand and condition of different situations in
perspective of customers and employees and benefits the organisation.
Recruiting prospective candidates
When Unilever wants to hire prospective candidates for carrying the business operations
it requires the role of managers and leaders to recruit high proficient candidates to meet the
objective of increased productivity with customer satisfaction at Unilever (Nayak, 2015).
Manger should identify the needs of employee in organisation with adequate skills and starts the
hiring process where as leaders are concerned with providing training to the new employees to
carry smooth operations in business.
These are the role and functions of leaders and managers at Unilever in different situations
to maintain smooth flow of business operations. These greatly helps in understanding the role
and functions of leaders and managers in different situational context.
Functions of Managers
In organization like Unilever manager performs five basic functions they are- planning,
organizing, staffing, leading and controlling. These all function are describe below
 Planning- Manager makes plans and policies and makes a blueprint to achieve particular
goals and objectives.
 Organising- They organises the team by proper allocating of resources and task by
assigning authority and responsibility towards achieving targets.
 Staffing- Manager is responsible for proper recruitment and selection process which
leads to providing training which aids to development of employees.
 Leading- Managers leading functions includes providing guidance and coaching to
employees which sets direction to achieve desired goals.

 Controlling- This help in measuring the employee's performance and if any deviations
are found corrective actions are taken to make sure plan is on track (Fan,Liu and Zhang
et. al., 2017).
P3 Different models and theories of leadership
In an organisation there are different traits and theories of leadership that help
management operation to understand the changing environment. The managers of Unilever had
adopted different strategies while operating in dynamic environment. The theories and traits that
are adopted are determined below:
Situational Leadership: A situational leadership is set of values and attitudes in which an
individual or group of people deals with process or activities that are complex nature. It enables
an organisation to build and create a critical condition where people at every phase work in a
productive manner. This approach of leadership help manager of Unilever to develop their leader
as a multitasker so that it can use resources in productive and high based principles. Moreover,
design strategies and social progress in an organisation while operating (Pakistan, 2012). It also
helps to builds effective system that help to bring productive in behaviour of employees and
staff. Hence, this theory suggests that there are two main attributes that an leader should follow
and style them in different situation in Unilever. The approaches are mention below:
Telling: In telling process leader directs its followers so that they can give them the
objectives and goals and they become responsible for their work and deeds.
Selling: In selling phases of leadership takes decision, but in this decision such leader
take suggestion of their subordinates and freely discussed with them before taking a correct
decision.
Participating: In participating, a leader encourages it subordinates and staff to enhance
their skills and knowledge and participate in challenging environment (Parmar, 2014).
Delegating: This helps leader to delegate certain authority and responsibilities to its
subordinates to perform their task and achieve goals.
System leadership: In an organisation system leadership enables organisation to build and
create condition where employees can carry out their work without any difficulties. This style of
leadership uses employees as productive in nature. It helps managers of Unilever to bring out
employees that are helpful for an organisation. Moreover, this leadership helps in achieving

business objectives and goals and create a positive which helps to attain feedback of employees
in organisation too.
Contingency theory of leadership: Contingency theory of leadership states different
types of leadership in a particular organisation. In that concept best leadership style is that best
match with situation. The managers of Unilever found that this is best type of leadership that
helps to match in all types of situation that suddenly appears in an organisation. Moreover, best
leadership styles matches with situation and both organisation and employees can benefit from it.
In this contingency theory of leadership helps to determine three factors which are effective
according to situation (Plesser and et. al., 2014).
Leader member relationship: This factor of contingency theory helps a leader to
maintain a good interaction with their subordinates in workplace.
Task Structure: Task structure helps contingency theory of leadership to allot task and
responsibilities according to employees skills, knowledge and talent.
Positional power: Positional power help leader to distributes it power of authority and
responsibilities to their employees in order to manage staff and carry out their without any
difficulties.
TASK 3
(Covered in ppt)
TASK 4
P6 Impact of business environmental factors on operational management and decision making of
leaders and managers
There are various environmental factors which affect the operational management and decision
making-
 Corporate social responsibility- It is the responsibility of the respective organisation to
behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality
of life of individuals. Unilever should produce products according to the needs of the
society and which gives a positive impact to the individuals and achieve efficiency in its
operations. Leaders and managers should take proper decision regarding the business
operations which produces products which in interest for the society and doesn't harm
them which will automatically increase its production and company will able to generate

huge profits (Yun and et. al., 2018).
 Value systems- Values determine the culture and norms of the business. Regulatory
framework of Unilever should act within the value of the organisation and should
respect culture and values of employees to achieve high set targets. It is the
responsibility of managers and leaders to perform the business operations in regard to
the value of the organisation.
 Ethics- These are the moral principles that govern the individual behaviour or conduct
of activity. It decides the frame work of company to behave ethically and conducts
business to do rights things in right manner. IT is responsibility of Unilever manager
and leader to review that company conducts its operations ethically and not affecting the
norms and ethics of society.
 Sustainability- Manager of Unilever should oversee that company operates its
operations in sustainable manner not exploiting the natural resources and maintains
resources for future use to make a proper balance in the demand of goods and services.
It is the duty of managers to have a check on the resources and helps operational
management in analysing demands of customer in present and future conditions to start
the production accordingly (Fan, Liu, and Zhang, 2015,).
 Corporate culture- It is important for making good business environment at Unilever.
In organisation if manager and leader not proper perform task and responsibilities then it
impacts a lot to organisation and hinders it self interest. As there are specific demands
of the people according to the culture which creates problem for managers and leaders to
identify the varied culture of individuals and helps in attaining efficiency in its business
operations.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that managers and leaders are the very
important to an organisation and plays crucial roles in managing situations at Unilever. This
report covers the situational, system and contingency theory of leadership which determines
leadership qualities according to situation. Operational management helps in achieving
maximum efficiency in its business operations. Leader and manager play a important role in
achieving business objectives of Unilever with the help of operational management.
Environmental factors such as corporate social responsibility, values and ethics interrelates
relationship with leaders and managers.

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