Analysis of Leadership and Operations at Marks & Spencer: A Report

This report examines leadership and operational management within Marks & Spencer (M&S), a British multinational retailer. It explores the distinct roles and characteristics of leaders and managers, highlighting their similarities in communication, motivation, and decision-making, while also differentiating their focus on managing work versus leading people. The report applies these roles to various scenarios within M&S, such as training and development, decision-making, and delegation of authority. Furthermore, it delves into different operational management approaches, including Lean Production, Total Quality Management, Just-In-Time, and Continuous Improvement, illustrating how leaders and managers contribute to achieving business objectives through these strategies. The report also discusses leadership theories like Situational Leadership, System Leadership Theory, and Contingency Theory, providing a comprehensive overview of leadership and management practices at M&S. The assignment provides a detailed analysis of leadership strategies and operational management, offering insights into how M&S aligns its practices with its goals.

Management and Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Different roles & characteristics of leader and manager.......................................................1
P2 Application of role of leader & function of manager in different situations.........................3
TASK 3 ...........................................................................................................................................1
P3 Role of manager and leader towards different approaches of operation management..........1
P5 Importance and value of operation management towards achieving business objectives.....4
P6 Impact of business environment upon operational management...........................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Management is related to managing all the tasks and functions in an organisation in
planned and systematic manner. Operations are related to the activities that involves in
transformation inputs into final goods or products (Baldwin, Allen and Ridgway, 2010).
Operations Management refers to an area which is related to creating and controlling the process
of production and redesigning business operations in manufacturing of goods and services. This
function plays an essential role in accomplishing all the objectives and goals of organisation. In
the present assignment, chosen company is Marks & Spencer which is a British multinational
retailer in United Kingdom. The firm is headquartered London and serves its products
worldwide. The report covers various roles and characteristics of manager & leader and their
applications in several situations. Some theories and approaches of leadership is also explained.
In addition to this, important approaches to operations management and its significance in
attaining goals & objectives of company are include in the assignment.
TASK 1
P1 Different roles & characteristics of leader and manager
Leadership is defined as an art of motivating individuals or group to act towards
accomplishing a common goal. Leaders possess combination of leadership and personality skills
that influence others to follow their direction. They have the ability to influence others by their
thoughts and actions.
Management is a process of managing all the activities and functions of the company in
systematic manner. It refers to an art of getting things done by others. It includes function of
planning, organising, directing, coordinating & control.
Marks & Spencer follows simple management structure in which limited levels are
present between administrative and front line staff members. It is followed to encourage
employees more to take participation in process of decision making. It basically follows in order
to decrease bureaucracy & make workforce more skilled by providing them authority to make
decisions (Barratt, 2015).
Roles & characteristics of manager and leader:
Similarities:-
There are many similarities between managers and leaders which are defined below:
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Communication skills: They both have good communication skills which helps them in
communicating important information to employees or team members in better way.
Motivators: Both managers as well as leaders are good motivators. They motivate and
encourage them to attain goals and objectives of firm in effective way (Choi and Li, 2011).
Decision makers: Leader and manager are good decision makers. They both are known
for their good and effective decision making skills which contributes in growth of the
organisation.
Positive attitude: They both carry positive attitude towards work which facilitates them
in attaining organisational objectives effectively and efficiently.
Differences:-
Manager Leader
 Managers have the responsibility to
manage all the activities & functions
of the firm in systematic way.
 They explicate plans and strategies in
order to make teams.
 They participate in decision making
process of company related to all the
functions & activities.
 They emphasize on managing work.
 Managers focus on results.
 Managers have sub ordinates in
organisation.
 Leaders are the individuals who have
the ability to influence others by their
actions, views and way of
communication.
 They look on issues & draws effective
solutions.
 They make effective decisions
regarding timely completion of
activities and tasks.
 They emphasize on leading people.
 Leaders focus on achievements.
 They have followers.
Both managers and leaders plays various roles in an organisation for attaining goals and
objectives of the company. They understand and determine the needs and requirements of its
staff members and fulfil them so that they stay happy and satisfied. They have common interest
and work towards attainment of those organisation's goals (Chiarini and Vagnoni, 2015). They
provide training to employees in order to enhance their skills and knowledge in effective manner.
They administer them guidance so that workers are able to work in better way.
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P2 Application of role of leader & function of manager in different situations
Managers & leaders plays crucial role in every organisation and perform various roles
and responsibilities in order to attain goals and targets of the firm. Major decisions are taken by
them so that business can attain growth and gain sustainability in the market place. Various
strategies are formulated by them in order to gain competitive advantage (Fernie and Sparks,
2014)Both leaders and managers apply their skills and knowledge to accomplish predetermined
objectives of Marks & Spencer. Below defined are some situations in which roles and functions
of manager and leaders are applies. These are.:
Training and development: Both managers and leaders plays and important role in
providing training to employees. They assess the needs of workers and conduct appropriate
learning programme for them so that their skills can be enhanced and they are able to work in
well manner. In Marks & Spencer Ltd., leaders have the responsibility to identify training needs
of employees and managers need to formulate appropriate programmes in order to provide them
learning. This assists in enhancing skills and abilities of manpower and enable them to work
properly in effective manner.
Decision making process: Managers and leaders plays important role in decision making
process of the company. In Marks & Spencer, managers completely involve in decision making
procedure related to all the activities of the firm whereas leaders play facilitative role in taking
decisions. They take decisions related to particular project and provide innovative ideas to
company. They make strategies in order to ensure timely completion of task and attaining short
as well as long term goals of the firm. Managers formulate appropriate plans and policies and
ensure their proper implementation. All these helps the managers and leaders of refereed
organisation in achieving objectives in effective and efficient manner.
Delegation of authority: It is necessary for both, manager as well as leader to divide their
works and responsibilities among all the team members so tasks are performed with cooperation
and coordination. It assists them to complete all the activities on time and attain goals and targets
of the company (Galindo and Batta, 2013). In Marks & Spencer, managers and leaders delegate
their authority between their team members in order to complete the tasks successfully and attain
set objectives effectively and efficiently.
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TASK 3
P3 Role of manager and leader towards different approaches of operation management
Operation Management can be defined as an area of management that mainly deals in
controlling the production process and redesign business functions & operation. It is concerned
with generating highest level of effectiveness and efficiency within an organisation (Grunig,
2013). In simple words, it means converting raw material into finished products or services that
satisfies the needs of potential buyers and ultimately increase the revenues and profitability of
the firm. Managers and Leaders of Marks and Spencer contributes effectively towards various
approaches of operation management which are discussed below:
Lean Production: Under this approach, company can easily eliminate waste concerned with
production department without compromising productivity. Here waste is created via overburden
& crinkled work loads. They focuses on developing product or services that creates value for the
customer. Lean is basically done by companies in order to attain maximum consumer satisfaction
and attain higher profitability. Leaders of M&S are require to provide training to its employees in
terms of optimally using resources and increasing their overall efficiency and productivity which
is beneficial for its future growth and success.
Total Quality Management: This management approach states that company can attain long
term growth and success via satisfied and loyal customers. It consists of organisation's efforts
towards delivering high quality goods and services to its target audience. Managers ensures that
all members of the company contributes equally towards improving product, processes, services,
culture and environment in which they all work. Both managers and laid stress on eliminating
error related to production, supply chain, streamlining & enhancing consumer experience.
Manager of M&S ensures that all workers work towards common goal that lead to maximise
their profitability and generates sales leads.
Just In Time: This method focuses on decreasing the flow time within manufacturing process
and dealing with customer and suppliers effectively within time frame. Under this system,
company usually manufacture product when there is demand for them in order to avoid
inventory turnover (Haksever and Render, 2011). This strategy emphasize on improving the
efficiency of personnel and eliminate waste by producing goods only when it is demanded by the
buyers. Managers of M&S are require to determine the needs of target audience so that they can

start manufacturing according to that. Leaders of M&S are require to motivate their workforce so
that they can work more effectively and efficiently.
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Continuous Improvement: This is also known as Kaizen Improvement Process. Basically this
approach focuses on improving the quality of product, services and processes. It is an ongoing
efforts of manager and company towards delivering high quality product to its potential buyers
that ultimately increases its sales and revenue figures (Jacobs and Chase, 2017). Managers of
M&S uses this approach in order to control its inventory cost by eliminating or reducing error.
Under this, Managers of referred firm take valuable feedback from its customers and then they
pass this information to production department that modify their product as per the requirement
of buyers.
Above mentioned are the following approaches in which both leaders and managers of referred
firm contributes equally towards attaining business objective within specified time-frame.
Different theories and models of approaches in aspect to Mark and Spencer:-
Introduction:-
Marks and Spencer is a major British multinational retailer headquarter in London. It
provide exclusive range and varieties of women swear, beauty, kids, food, wines and gifts. It has
largest retail outlets in various countries. Following are the theories, models and approaches of
leadership are:-
Situational leadership:-
Leadership is a quality of influencing the behaviour of others. And one of recognized model
is situational approach. It is developed by Hersey and Blanchard (1969,1972) based on life cycle
theory of leadership. It is based on leader member relationship and it can be redefined several
times. It is also called contingency theory that depend upon the need of the situation. Further, it is
divided into four category I.e. personal characteristics of leader, nature of job, nature of
organisation and control the followers. So in Mark and Spencer the traits, skill, ability and
knowledge of leader help their follower in respect organisation decision making. In Second
dimension company provide their employees job according to their speciality in respective fields
(Krajewski, Ritzman and Malhotra, 2013). Third dimension related to work culture of company
and Mark Spencer known for team work that help in achieving organisation objectives. Forth
magnitude is very important under which leader influence team member to become flexible I.e.
change according to external environment and ensure full control over followers.
System leadership theory:-
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This leadership consider as a collaborative leadership of different network in different
departments in such a way that ensure cooperative environment for significant change. It is not
easy for leader or manager to fit in such an environment where frequent political, legal changes
are done (Peng and Lai, 2012). The main thing under this approach is that it is different from
those that have often succeeded within a single organisation or limited project but it has to deal
with multiple players and Mark Spencer is a UK multinational retail outlet and diversified its
business in different place where all the leaders of different department guides the team who to
deal with with customers in distinct country for the purpose of sustain market place in that
country.
Contingency Theory:-
This theory moves beyond the behavioural and traits approaches suggest that no signal
psychological make up or set of personality traits leads to effective leadership. Moreover, there is
a interaction between individual's psychological profile, individuals traits and external condition
leads to effective leadership. In case of Mark and Spencer company focuses all the above three
conditions in order to gain competitive advantage and improves productivity.
Rose leadership Model:-
In this approach main focus is given on fundamental changes, change from bureaucratic old
leadership into modern dynamic force and implement the missing shared values in order to
complete above two measures. M&S was low employee morale so this theory focused on
rebuilding employee loyalty and commitment towards organisation.
Strength and weakness of these model in relation to business environment:-
Strengths Weakness
In situational style,leader empowers followers
to be responsible for their own action and
decisions. So in M&S leaders allows
subordinate to put idea into action and any
failure should be solved by them only
Although they have authority to take actions
but they take bad advantage because of low
intervention and due to this result are not upto
expectations.
In second theory, promote team work.
Coordination among different department in
order to face the challenges of external players.
Sometimes it create confusions and ambiguity
because of ineffective communication between
leader and followers.
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Third theory enhance all the factors I.e.
physiological, work culture and external
conditions.
Sometime not fit according to external market
environment leads to various problems.
Assessment of whole theory:-
The submission of whole theory guides company leaders who to adjust organisational culture
according to external challenges.
P5 Importance and value of operation management towards achieving business objectives.
The term operation management deals with redesigning and controlling the
manufacturing department that results in producing goods and services in more effective and
efficient way. It is chiefly related with transforming input (raw material, labour) into finished
products that satisfy the needs and desire of end consumer. It has been believed that when
operations of company are managed in a systematic manner it affects on the functioning of other
department as well (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2010). Following are the importance of
Operational Management:
 Operation management focuses on improving the quality and standards of product,
services and business process.
 The main responsibility of every business enterprise is to effectively meet the
requirement of target audience. Thus, operation management focuses on satisfying
customer in an appropriate manner.
 It is useful for investors as they get a sense of security related to its investment, market
return, good image and creditability in the marketplace.
 Assist in making strategic decision related to company's growth and success which
enables the firm to take the benefit of higher competitivenesses level over their rivals.
With the help of affective operations management, organization can achieve their goals
and objectives in a structured and thorough manner. M&S is taking the advantage of high
competitiveness over their competitors by providing them quality products or services within the
specified time. This means that they are fulfilling the demands and desire of target buyers in an
effectual manner. Leaders of M&S provides adequate training to its personnel that motives them
to work hard which ultimately results in enhancing their overall efficiency and productivity
(Stadtler, 2015). On the hand, managers gather information related to likes and dislikes of
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customer and they pass on this information to production department that assist them in making
or altering product or services as per the requirement or demand of potential buyers or
consumers.
P6 Impact of business environment upon operational management
Environment is affected by two factors i.e. external and internal components. Internal factors are
within organisation and company has control over it. External factors are outside organisation
within which they have no control. Some internal components are:- Corporate social responsibility:- CSR simple means doing something social that value to
organisation. Section 135 complies all those organisation who come under prescribed
limit and Mark and Spencer come under this limit and do various CSR activity which
include enhance towards sustainable business and tell customers about how they went
profitable in just two years from their plan to invest pond 200m over 5 years that helps
company in enhancing goodwill and also help in operational decision making
(Subramanian and Ramanathan, 2012). Business ethics:- These are ethical values that define the working culture of organisation.
In other words adaptation of professional ethics and applied ethics in organisation
civilization in respect to their product price, quality built loyalty in eye of customers. Stakeholders:- they are another internal components that expect good returns from the
company they invest. M&S make sure about the return they given to their stakeholders at
every year because ignorance leads to loss to the financial position and brand equity of
company.
External business environment:-
These factors external to organisation within which organisation has no control and some of
the important elements are:-
 Political legal dimension:- It include all the political factors and legal rules that must be
adhere by company. The viability of business depend upon political stability, government
intervention and laws of land so M&S has to clearly all factors so management operations
and decision making is rational.
 Socio-cultural factors:-these factors include all the cultural and society related factors
which affect the company strategies related to price, promotion policy so there is a need
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to make such price policies decisions which are beneficial for external customers that
help in effective operational management (Tang and Musa 2011).
 Technological factors:- M&S need to use various new technologies in order to carry
business effectively. Company recently adopt digital culture I.e. providing products at
online stores so thousand of customers reach over there, availability of digital payment
system instead of cash. Online marketing promotion help in effective operational
management and decision making.
 Economical factors:- Mark and Spencer required to concerned all the economical factors
like inflation, BOP policy, fiscal measures and foreign policy in order to get effective
decision making and operational management of all divisions (Zurich, 2017).
CONCLUSION
In the above report it has been stated that, management and operation is the important
aspect in organisation as this help in reducing cost and utilising resources in effective manner.
Although various situation are there which bring changes in environment which also affect the
needs and wants of firm. Management and operation help business to satisfy their needs and
wants by producing quality products and services for customers. Leaders and managers the two
pillars of entity who are responsible for management working and overcoming every thing.
Various leadership style are there which help in getting out from different situation and key
approaches made firm to produce their goods in effective way. Apart from all such report also
included that how operation and management convert their efficient working into achieving goal
and objective of business. Moreover, internal and external factors also affect company process of
working and how entity face such and provide solution to those. Hence, management and
operation help organisation in achieving higher profits as well.
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