Leadership and Operational Management at Tesco: Theories and Roles

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and operational management within Tesco, a major multinational retailer. It begins by differentiating between the roles and characteristics of managers and leaders, emphasizing their functions in achieving organizational goals. The report then explores various leadership theories and models, such as situational, system, and contingency leadership, and how they can be applied to address different business challenges and situations, including conflict resolution and change management. It further examines key approaches to operational management and their importance in achieving business objectives. The influence of internal and external factors within the business environment on operational management and decision-making is analyzed. The report concludes with an assessment of how leaders and managers can improve operational efficiency and adapt to environmental factors. This report highlights the practical applications of leadership theories and management strategies in a real-world business context.

Management &
Operations

TABLE OF CONTENTS
LO2..................................................................................................................................................3
P2- Role of leaders and functions of mangers in different situations in organization ...............3
P3- Apply different theories and models of leadership...............................................................4
M2 Strength and weakness of different approaches to the situation in the company.................5
LO3..................................................................................................................................................5
P4-Key approaches to the operational management and role of leaders and managers.............5
P5- Importance of operational management in firm to achieve objectives of their business......7
M3- how leaders and managers of the company can improve operational management...........8
LO4..................................................................................................................................................8
P6- factors within business environment and their impact on operational management and
decision-making..........................................................................................................................8
M4- Analyses of the factors which affect business environment and wider community........10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Leaders and managers play a vital role within a company that helps to sustain business
within the market they operate in (Furtner, Maran and Rauthmann, 2017). Effective leadership
and managerial strategies help an organization to successfully expand their business. Main
purpose of this assignment is to understand difference between manager and a leader.
Organization on which this assignment will focus on is Tesco. Tesco is a British multinational
retailer who’s main headquarter is in England, UK and was founded in 1919. In terms of revenue
Tesco is the ninth largest retailers of the world. This assignment will lay emphasis on
characteristics and roles of a manager and a leader, different theories and models of leadership,
operation management key approaches, importance of operation management and business
environment factors that can impact decision making and operation management by managers as
well as leaders.
LO 1
P 1 Compare characteristics and roles of a manager and leader
Leadership is an ability which helps an individual to lead a group of people or an
organization in a better manner towards a common and desired goal and objectives (Buch,
Thompson and Kuvaas, 2016). Leaders develop a common vision which helps them to lead their
followers or employees. Whereas, management is a kind of an act through which managers
coordinate and organize organizational activities towards desired mission, goals and objectives
that are set by their or organizational leaders.
Leader Manager
Definition Leaders are those persons who
motivates all of their followers and
organizational employees so that they
can move on a correct path and
achieve their desired goals and
objectives. They also help them in
motivating their employees so that
their overall performance as well as
productivity can be enhanced.
A manager within an organization is
responsible for managing all kind of
work in desired format in every format
(Chiu, Balkundi and Weinberg, 2017).
They are also responsible for
achieving organizational aims and
objectives.

Roles Main role of leaders is to focus on
work i.e. whether work is being
carried out in correct direction and
appropriately (Bush, Bell and
Middlewood, eds., 2019). Leaders
guide their employees so that they
can work in an appropriate manner
and accomplish a task on time.
One of the main role of managers is to
manage all kinds of task and activities
of an organization in an appropriate
manner. managers are required to
make sure that all the employees
complete work that are assigned to
them.
Focus Leaders focus on employees Whereas managers focus on structure
and system.
Characteristics Leaders are required to have various
characteristics that helps them to lead
and achieve desired goals in a better
manner. Some of the most common
features of leaders are: confidence,
motivator, caring, excellent decision
makers, commitment towards their
work, creative, innovative thinkers
etc.
Managers are required to have various
characteristics that helps them to fulfil
their responsibilities in a better
manner. Some of the most common
features of a manager are: positive
attitude, patience, flexibility,
accountability, fast response,
reliability and many more.
Perspective Leaders have a long-term perspective Whereas managers have a short-term
view.
Functions of a manager and leaders are as follows:
Leaders:
 One of the main and primary function of leader is to set objectives and goals for their
employees of team members in order to achieve a task. Goals and objectives set by leaders
of Tesco helps them to motivate their employees to achieve or fulfil their roles and
responsibilities in a better manner.
 Leaders organize all the activities and resources of a task so that all the resources are made
available to right employees whenever required.
 Leaders take initiation and take decision whenever required without depending upon
anyone.

 Leaders get involved with the team and direct them in order to perform all the task that are
assigned to them.
Managers:
 One of the main functions of a manager is to plan all the needs of an organization.
 Organizing all kinds of management control is another important feature of a manager in
order to maintain organizational functions and carry out all the day to day organizational
activities in a proper manner.
 Managers monitor and control all organizational activities so that every this is carried out
according to the plan and desired format.
 Managers direct all the employees of an organization so that they can fulfil their desired
goals and objectives.
All kinds of managers have some Hard management Skills so that they can fulfil their roles
and responsibilities in a proper manner as well as leaders are required to have some soft
leadership skills.
Hard management skills of managers:
Managers full domain knowledge because without it they cannot make their employees
understand main requirements of the task or action.
Managers have complete knowledge of the organizational structure so that they can take proper
and appropriate decision (Little, Gooty and Williams, 2016).
One of the most important hard skill that managers have is to have proper knowledge of their
customers so that company can understand their potential customer’s needs, desires and
requirements in order to design products and services for them.
Managers also have performance management skill so that they can measure their employee’s
performance and evaluate their employee’s performance and productivity.
Soft leadership skills of leaders:
Self-awareness is an important and desired skill by the leaders to have so that they can evaluate
strengths and weakness of the organization and take required decisions accordingly.
Leaders should always be keen on learning from their past experiences so that they can
understand and evaluate their mistake and make sure that they do not repeat that mistake in
future.

One of the most important soft skill leaders have is emotional intelligence. This skill helps them
to understand their employees demands and needs in a better manner.
Leaders also motivate their employees so that they can engage themselves within their work in
an appropriate manner.
M 1 Analyse role of a leader and function of a manager applying effective theories
Managers: Managers role within an organization is to manage working of all the employees so
that they can fulfil their duties in a proper and effective manner. In order to manage working of
all the employees they manage all the resources of an organization (Little, Gooty and Williams,
2016). According to theory of human relation, managers understand their relation with their
employees by analysing their needs, requirements and desires in a proper and effective manner.
There are many other theories that can be used to understand role and functions of a manager
like classical management theory. As per the theory, employees only have economic and
physical needs. So according to this this theory, managers focus on improving output of
employees by rewarding their performance. For example by providing employees with additional
rewards for achieving their target can help them motivate their employees and enhance their
overall performance.
Leaders: Leaders role within an organization is to focus on enhancing their employee
performance by leading their team effectively, motivating them in order to increase their
productivity and performance. There are various kinds of theories that can be used to explain role
and function of a leader such as contingency theory, behavioural theory, trait theory and many
more. In organizations like Tesco they use behavioural theory as they analyse behaviour of their
employees, use different kinds of motivation techniques in other to motivate them. According to
employee’s performance and their behaviour, leaders shows their employees a path to move on
(Bush, Bell and Middlewood, eds., 2019). According to contingency theory leaders be contingent
i.e. their leadership style is according to the situation. Leaders find a way to match their
leadership style according to the situation so that they can show proper and correct path to their
employees.
LO2
P2- Role of leaders and functions of mangers in different situations in organization
Leaders and mangers are responsible to control all the situations and provide necessary
support to the employees and company both for achievement of specific goals (Wagner., 2018).

There are some situations such as conflicts, change management, operations, management issues
etc. where both managers and leaders of Tesco perform different-different roles to handle the
same
Conflicts situation
Leaders have good communication and negotiation skill, they listen each issue carefully
and find out adequate solution to resolve it. Conflict in the TESCO can take place because of
cultural difference. TESCO is multinational company and employees come from different culture
, places etc. this can create such situations in the workplace. During such situation leaders help to
solve their problem through listing both the sides and encourage them to work in team. Mangers
provide group activities in the workplace so employees can understand each other help others to
complete task (Ceri-Booms, Curşeu and Oerlemans., 2017). They understand the situation and
use their knowledge to fix the such condition in the organization. Mangers conduct negotiation
session so that such conflicts can be avoided.
Technological changes
Leaders of the TESCO lead team to achieve operational goal for the company. They
make the aim and target for their team members and encourage them to achieve those goals.
They motivate people so that they accept such changes. Managers of the company direct them,
and help them to guide employees. So that they understand new techniques na can use it
properly.
P3- Apply different theories and models of leadership
There are different theories and models for the leadership that managers or leaders of a
firm use to handle business problems especially for managing operations. Some of the theories
include situational leadership, system leadership and contingency etc. which are applied as per
situation (Nawaz and Khan_ PhD., 2016).
Situational leadership
Situational leadership is one of the best leadership style which is used by many leaders
and managers to lead their employees effectively. If there is conflict situation in the company,
then leaders can react normally with both involved persons, it will help in resolving issues soon
with systematic manner. On other hand if people are not focused towards work then leaders can
react strictly so that employees be focus towards work. this aids in handling each situation
effectively in the organization (Scott, Jiang,Wildman and Griffith., 2018). This is beneficial

approach in dealing with each situation in proper manner. But it is difficult to find out needs of
each person in firm hence sometimes leaders of Tesco may fail to change their leading style in
each different situation.
System leadership
System leadership is the appropriate leadership in which leaders of the company enable
all the level of the department to work productively to their potential. It is also a set of the skills
and capabilities which TESCO leaders can sue to catalyze, enable and support the process of the
system level change. This leadership model combines the coalition – building, collaborative
leadership and system insight to mobilize and action across a large decentralized network. If
there is high workload and people are feeling heavy workload, then leaders of Tesco can use this
style of leadership where they can build a collaborative working culture. By this way everyone
will support each other and workload will be managed effectively. This is beneficial approach in
getting positive results.
Ccontingency Leadership
This theory explains that effectiveness of leaders is high depended upon the capabilities
of leaders to handle each situation. Leaders of Tesco have to find out the best approach to deal
with several conditions. If people are demotivated, then leaders of Tesco have to build relations
with them so that they feel happy and complete task on time. In such condition leaders have to
implement people oriented approach whereas if people are causal towards work then they have to
adopt task oriented approach, this is beneficial in getting positive result to the firm.
.
M2 Strength and weakness of different approaches to the situation in the company
Situational leadership
Advantage of this approach is that it helps in analyzing need of flexibility in workplace. It
is also beneficial in developing comfortable environment where all people can work together. It
enhances capabilities of leaders to deal effectively different conditions in business unit. But there
are some limitation of this theory is that it is not appropriate when it comes to task because it is
also essential to complete the task on time rather than managing people only. It focuses more on
needs of employees and everyone has different needs hence it is difficult to meet needs of all
people.
System leadership

This style is beneficial in enhancing adaptability capacity of company, by this way
changes can be implemented effectively in Tesco. It majorly focusses on end results hence it is
strength of theory. But over conceptual is the drawback of this theory. Sometimes it gives
unpractical results.
Contingency leadership
Strength of this approach is that it focuses on various leading styles as per the
requirements of situation. It is helpful in managing people well. But behavior of workers is
unpredictable hence leaders sometimes fail to handle sudden situations well.
LO3
P4-Key approaches to the operational management and role of leaders and managers
There are different types of approaches which is used by the many organizations to
improve their operational management in the workplace, or they used to provide better quality
product to the customers (Seidel and et.al., 2019). It is also helpful to improve the productivity of
the company and enable to achieve the high growth in the market. For managing and improving
efficiency of operational management, a number of approaches are used by leaders and managers
of Tesco, as described below –
Lean manufacturing
This approach is mainly used to minimize waste from the manufacturing and other
operations effectively. It also helps to make quality product without wasting resources as per
customer needs and preferences (Ramos, de Morais and Barbosa-Póvoa., 2018). In context with
TESCO, as it deals in retail sector and offers a range of products like books, clothing, furniture,
electronics and more, so, its managers use lean manufacturing approach for managing
inventories in appropriate manner. Managers of the TESCO will provide training to the
employees for the lean manufacturing, so they can gain skills to run lean manufacturing process.
Six sigma
Six Sigma is the process which helps to provide organizational tools to improve
capability of business. This increase the operational performance and decrease in the process
variation helps to lead to the defection in their products and also improve the company's
profitability, quality of the product and services and also increase moral of the employees.. This
approach first define problem and then analyses it. Once problem is analyzed then measurement
is done to resolve that issue. Leaders of the organization ensures that proper measures are find

out to rectify problem. Managers control over operations so that statistical solutions can be find
out to resolve issue.
Just in Time
This approach is helpful for the TESCO company to achieve specific goals of the
company for example return on the investment, cost reduction and improvement in the company
services. This is helpful approach to control over inventory and ensure smooth production
operations. (Reid and Sanders., 2019). By using this method company can reduce connected cost
to great extent. Leaders ensure to get innovative ideas to deal with employees well so that
workers support management and be focus. Managers keep records of each activity so that cost
can be controlled.
P5- Importance of operational management in firm to achieve objectives of their business
Operational management helps to improve overall productivity of the company. It also
involves organizing, controlling, planning, supervise the companies production and the
manufacturing process of the company (Jeong., 2019). Operational management work on daily
basis so company can achieve daily tasks and it is responsible to manage all the goals of the
company so company can achieve high growth in the market (Mitra and Karathanasopoulos.,
2019).
Transformation of raw material into desired quality goods
Operation management is helpful tool that helps companies in buying the high quality
raw material and implementing right process to turn into quality finished goods. This helps
Tesco in ensuring that adequate raw material is available to meet the demand. Effective
operation management is helpful in transforming raw material into high quality goods that help
the organization in satisfying consumers.
Effective inventory management
Operation management is important to manage inventory effectively, as six sigma, lean
manufacturing ensure that no wastage take place in organization. This is helpful in ordering
adequate raw material as per the demand. By this way entity can keep clear records of stock
hence wastage can be minimized this helps in reducing cost of the organization to great extent.
Process deign
Operation management plays significant role in process design because by implementing
six sigma and other approach Tesco can get to know problem in existing designing hence can

make changes or can design effective process through which enterprise can raise operational
efficiency and can meet its desired goal.
Control and distribution system
This is another benefit of operation management, By using effective operational process
Tesco can control over the entire operations and can improve its distribution process. By this
way Tesco would be able to deliver goods to consumers on time.
Scheduling
This is beneficial in order to arrange activities in smooth manner and schedule each
activity properly. By this way production can be completed on time and enterprise can fulfill its
target (Pereira and et.al., 2018).
M3- how leaders and managers of the company can improve operational management
Six sigma approach helps the firm in minimizing wastage by improving operational
efficiency. Leaders ensures that all workers are aware with their duties and managers ensure to
give them training so that people can work better. Leaders and mangers have ability to improve
operational management by their skills and knowledge. Leaders can improve operational
management by making vision for the employees who are working under their team (Saleem.,
2017). They will lead their employees to achieve daily target and help company to achieve the
goals and objective. Leaders can motivate them to produce some result in the task and effective
leaders have effective communication skills which can used to motivate their team members.
Lean manufacturing approach explain to minimize wastage. Managers can manger
people and provide them training to improve their skills and perform better in the daily
operations. Mangers also provide right direction to the employees, so they can able to achieve
objective and goals of the business. Managers make the strategies for the operational
management so company can produce better result and increase their productivity in the
workplace.
LO4
P6- factors within business environment and their impact on operational management and
decision-making
There are several factors which can affect the business environment of the TESCO
company and it has also impact on the operational management and decision-making

process(Ilić, Stefanović and Stojanović., 2019). Some of them influence directly to the company
and other indirectly. Here are some factors which affect the business environment-
Corporate social responsibility
This is most essential factor that influence overall working of company and influence its
business environment as well. If Tesco fulfill its CSR duties, then it will help in raising brand
image which will raise its profit. By this way entity will get more funds to improve its operations
and raise production abilities. If it is not there, then enterprise will fail to manage cost that will
badly affect operational efficiency of business. Managers and leaders of Tesco take the decision
of ensuring that its CSR responsibilities are fulfilled. That help the organization in gaining
competitive advantage in market.
Culture and values
This is the factor that influence operation management of Tesco, if culture of company is
not good then it will fail to retain talent because people will be dissatisfied and they will leave
the job soon, In such condition operational efficiency will be badly affected. On other hand if
culture and values of the Tesco is good then it will help business in managing people well and
satisfied people will work better to raise operational performance of organization. Leaders and
manager ensure that they create healthy culture which support in raising company’s performance
and improving its image in the market.
Ethics and sustainability
This is another important factor that impact on business environment, Tesco ensures to
work according to ethical guidelines. It uses natural resources properly and ensure that wastage
is minimum. This helps the firm in reducing cost and raising its net profit. Managers s and
leaders take decision of monitoring each activity and if there is any unethical activity then they
make immediate changes in that practice. This helps in maintaining operational efficiency of the
organization to great extent.
Stakeholders
It is essential for the Tesco to meet expectation of each stakeholder, it has to take care of
investors, employees, customers etc. hence managers and leaders ensure to implement such
practices that can help in managing people well and getting high return over investment. By this
way enterprise can satisfy its stakeholders and can retain them in business which gives positive
result to the organization.