Leadership and Operational Management at Marks & Spencer's

This report examines the roles of leaders and managers within Marks & Spencer, a multinational retail company. It defines the differences between leaders and managers, highlighting their responsibilities and characteristics. The report explores various leadership theories, including system, contingency, and situational theories, and their application within the organization. Furthermore, it delves into operational management approaches such as Six Sigma, Just in Time, Total Quality Management, Management by Objectives, and Lean Production, emphasizing their importance in achieving business objectives. Factors impacting operational management and decision-making are also discussed, providing a comprehensive overview of leadership and management practices at Marks & Spencer.

Management
&
Organization

Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................................................4
P1 Definition of leader and manager in Marks and Spencer’s organization............................................4
P2: Role of a leader and function of a manager in different situation – ..................................................6
P3: Different theories & leadership approaches at Mark & Spencer........................................................6
P4 Various approaches & theories of Operational management..............................................................8
P5 Importance of Operations Management in achieving business objectives and goals..........................9
P6 Factors within an Organization Impacting Operational Management and Decision making............11
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................13

Introduction
Manager is a person who manages whole operational work and large team of an
organization. There are different role of a leader and manager. They play the role in different
situation according to required. In order to understanding of leader and manager, there are
different theories and model of approach. In the company most and important role is manager
and leader, which are working and handle a team of numbers of employees. A manager lead a
team with accomplishes the work and provide motivational factors to their team. An organization
environment based on a leader, who fulfills the requirement of the company (Clements-Croome,
2004). Its impact on business environment and operational management. The company we have
chosen here is Mark & Spencer’s. Mark & Spencer’s is a multinational firm working in retail &
clothing sector. In this report we will discuss all the roles & responsibilities of a manager at
Mark & Spencer’s. Also, we will discuss various theories & models of approaches leadership &
role of leaders or managers at Mark & Spencer’s.
P1 Definition of leader and manager in Marks and Spencer’s organization
A manager is a person who manages the entire operational work and a large team, which
can be two people or more than that. A leader is a person who lead a team with involvement and
manage the entire team in professional way .Leader are that person who able to taking a risk but
managers are that people who control the risk and manage the all team. Both are the valuable for
the companies and there are different roles of the leader and managers (White, 2016).
Comparison between leader and manager –
 Leaders build relationship and manager build system and process – Leader focus on
stakeholder, who Can able to give what they want. They know who their stakeholder are
and spend lot of their time them. They build loyalty and trust by delivering on their
promise. Manager focus on the structure necessary to set and achieve goals. They focus
on entire business and system are in place to attain desired outcomes in the Spencer
organization

 Leader create fan managers create employees – Leaders spend their almost time with
people or stakeholder and the able to build trust and loyalty of their people and through
these all thing that all people become fans of the Leader. Manager has lot off operational
work and also they want to build up of employees , that why they make employee in the
system.
 Leader take risk, managers control risk – Leaders are willing to try new things even if
they may fail sometime. They know that failure is a first step of success. Manager work
in less risk, so they avoid and control problems rather than embracing them.
Roles of a leader
Leaders are change the agents , managers maintain the status quo. Leader create a vision,
managers create a goal in the Spencer organization Managers making plan or strategy, set
goals and operation plans, leaders provide direction to their team. Leaders motivate to
their team, managers organize and coordinate the team (Mill, 2007).
Characteristics of a manager –
Leader is unique, managers are copy. Leaders are in it for long haul, managers think short
term. Leaders grow personally, managers rely on, proven skills. Leader has capability of
lead and build trust and loyalty, managers build employee and system. Managers
coordinate their team in professional way and leader fulfill the requirement of their
customers and people. Leader manage the entire work for achieve the target and satisfy
their stakeholder and people or customers, managers manage the entire work for achieve
company’s goals and meet the target with motivate their employee and build the team.
Leader build relationship, managers build system and process. In any of the organization
leader’s and manager’s role is the most effective toward work. Company need the best
leaders and managers for accomplish their target. Manager’s importance is in company
and Leader Company is in market, where they provide their services and build the trust
and loyalty. Command the People under them by giving instruction and managing change
encouraging change and driving change. Managing activities are resources on time, to

budget and meeting quality required and Control activities and people by measuring and
correcting them to enable performance to fit the plans in Mark & Spencer’s organization
P2: Role of a leader and function of a manager in different situation –
In order to achieve the goal, there are providing role and functions to the leader and
managers. There are different types of roles for a leader which required by company.
Leaders create a vision for achievement and managers create goals as required by
organization. Both are different from one another, but role of both are very important in the
industry. Leaders paint a picture of what they sees as possible and inspire their people in
turning that vision into realty. Managers focus on setting and achieving goals (Kim, Kim Roy
Moon, 2003). They control circumstances to reach or exceed their objectives of Mark &
Spencer’s organization.
When organization require the fulfill of target, they will pressure on manager and then manager
will set the goal and they will start the make a plan and through that strategy, he get the goals as
required by company. In the situation of origination, when company need to start their business
in another place, they hire a leader and they will guide them for work and build the business in
another location. Leader will get the information and knowledge from that place and build the
relation with people and stakeholder, which beneficial for him and the company. After that they
build the loyalty of that people and then company will able to start their business in another
place. So they both are most important role and function. Leader and manager will provide their
skills to the company at work place (Hofmann-Wellenhof, Lichtenegger and Wasle, 2007). So in the
business risk is important but manager’s goal also important in Mark & Spencer’s organization.
They are the valuable employees of the company and they can give their best in order to achieve
target, which required by the Mark & Spencer’s organization. Leader and managers has abilities
of solving employee’s problem and they provide best of solution to the workers, which beneficial
for the organization. Company allot their target to manager and they fulfill their target through
their role and skills.
P3: Different theories & leadership approaches at Mark & Spencer
Leadership approaches are implemented in the companies to maintain the functionalities
of an organization. Manager or leader will look out that all the departments of the company to

ensure the productivity. At Mark & Spencer’s, the managers of various departments will ensure
that the productivity of the company is been maintained, company is powered with efficient &
motivated employees, having sufficient funding’s, marketing department is working efficiently,
sales are been carried out well & production is maintained. Apart from this, the leader or
manager will sort out any sort of issue among the team or company & will solve it (Nelson, 2011).
Regular training sessions & workshops will be held by the manager to improve the working
skills of the employees. Besides this, they will also look after the motivational level by giving
appraisals & rewards to the employees. This will give employees a job satisfaction & self-
esteem. Also, it will manage a healthy employee-company relationship.
It includes the following approaches or theory:
System theory: They are the one who seek to affect change for the social good across
multiple interacting and intersecting system. For example, frequent changes need to be made in
the behaviour so as to adjust with the change. It states that the company is a single unit or a
system which is either close or open depending on the external conditions of the Mark &
Spencer’s. The system is either affected by the internal factors of the company or the external
factors that have the major impact on the conditional existence of the company.
Contingency theory: This theory claim that there are no appropriate way for organizing
or to make decisions. For example, different person have diverse set of perception and
understanding for different situation will differ. Contingency theories are a class of behavioral
theory that explains that there is no one best way of leading and that a leadership style that is
effective in some situations may not be successful in others.
An effect of this is that leaders who are very effective at one place and time may become
unsuccessful either when transplanted to another situation or when the factors around them
change.
Situational theory: In accordance with this type of leadership, manager need to adjust his/her
style so that they can fit development level. For example, a manager may be aggressive in
some situation but as per the requirement of the department he may not be able to do so. It
states that the management of an organization is highly based on the situation of the

surrounding of the company. The best action of the manager or leader depends on a range of
situational factors of Mark & Spencer’s such as:
 Subordinate effect: Impact that is been laid by the employees of Mark & Spencer’s
operational plan.
 Employee’s ability & role allotment: In this the employees are been selected by the
manager for the task & are assigned by the management for better operationally function of the
management.
P4 Various approaches & theories of Operational management
Various approaches are been involved & put to ensure the better productivity at Mark &
Spencer’s. The manager’s & leaders will ensure the better productivity & profitability of the
company (Israel, R. and Specht., 2004).
The Six Sigma Approach: It is a set of tools and techniques that is helpful enough to make
improvement in the operations. It applies the functionality that ensures better functioning &
execution of the business plan at Mark & Spencer’s which ensures that better functioning is been
held at the company by better functionality of the employees who are motivated by the
employees.
Just in time: This is a type of strategy that is helpful to increase the efficiency and in reducing
the rate of wastage. It is used by Toyota so that the rate of wastage can be eliminated.
Total quality management: It is a management approach for long term success for customer
satisfaction. All the members within the business have to participate so that improvement is
possible in services, products, etc.
Management by Objectives: This helpful enough to improve the performance of organization. It
is done by clearly defining the objectives that are agreed by employees and management.
Learn production: This is method for waste minimization that is applied within manufacturing
system.
Queuing theory: This is a mathematical study for waiting lines.

It includes the following factors:
 Project Plan Development, Scope Planning, Scope Definition - "Necessities
disappointments" are a standout among the most well-known issues experienced in venture
arranging. Six Sigma's conveys a rich tool-set to address these issues, including Kano
arrangement, needs/setting refinement, examination, and other dialect preparing instruments that
assistance to uncover idle and implicit prerequisites – sound arranging starts with a reasonable
comprehension of the voice of the customer.
 Project Time and Cost Management – Six Sigma devices likewise help to avert "desires
disappointments" caused by poor assessments and lacking investigation of prioritization and
highlight choice issues. Six Sigma brings devices, for example, expository progressive system
process, conjoint investigation and idea determination scorecards that advance certainty based
discussions between the undertaking group and the customer (Simpson, 2002.). Appropriate
utilization of this arrangement of Six Sigma instruments will decrease the event of political
choices about calendars and budgets.
 Quality management - Six Sigma's accentuation on foreseeing and overseeing "ability"
together with apparatuses, for example, imperfection regulation scorecards advances
understanding and dealing with the financial outcomes of got away deformities. Six Sigma
devices, for example, combination strategies and Markov chains can be connected to change of
testing forms.
 Risk Management - This approach includes the following factors which says that if
operational factors not already being used, then it can find application within the context of
professional project management.
P5 Importance of Operations Management in achieving business objectives and
goals.
Operation Management can be defined as that area or part of an organization, which focuses
on the transformation of a range of inputs into a required output or result. This output can be a
product or service. Operations management can be stated as a set of various management
activities involved in organizing, planning, leading and controlling an organization’s operations
or functions. Earlier the operations management was considered as waste and dirty management
activities but with the time this perception has been changed a more and more managers realized
that operations management helped their organization in surviving in the competitive market (Tu,

Hsu and Yeh, 2003). There are various benefits Operation management provides to an organization.
But the two main aspects of the Operations Management are as follows –
 Operations Management Helps in improving the Production capacity – Productivity
refers to the ratio of the output of the resources to the resources implemented. Operations
management by focusing on the proper functionality of the various operations within an
organization helps them to increase the productivity which is the main motive of each and
every organization. The operation management focuses and ensures that the efficiency
level within an organization is increasing or improving. Due to increase in the level of
efficiency the organization gets an improvement in the productivity and output of the
products or services. The efficiency helps the organization to make the best possible use
of the resources available and with an effective process or operations (Mill, 2007). The
increase or improvement in the productivity helps the organization to enhance its
profitability which is the main objective of an organization to meet success in the
industry or markets.
 It can help an organization to improve quality and to meet customers’ priorities – Every
organization needs to make a positive image in the market or among the customers. The
customers will only build a positive image of an organization if they are satisfied with the
products and services an organization offers to them. The main element of satisfaction of
an product or services it’s the quality. Operations Management ensures that the output of
the organization, the products and services are best in quality to meet the customer’s
priorities in the competitive market (Lindström, Löfstrand, Karlberg, and et.al., 2012).
Marks and Spencer should focus on the Operations management in order to meet their
objectives and success. Proper management of the operations of the organization can help
The Marks and Spencer to improve the productivity as well as the quality of its products and
services which can help them to obtain their organizational objectives.
Below given are the objectives that are set by cited firm:
 Raising customer's satisfaction level
 For raising employee's performance level.

 To reduce that rate of wastage.
 To increase quality of services.
In order to attain these objective, operation management is helpful enough to make sure that they
determine the total cost that will be included. When there are lack of management, then it
becomes difficult for the business to achieve them in effective manner.
P6 Factors within an Organization Impacting Operational Management and
Decision making.
There are various internal and external factors or elements that impact's the operational
management and the decision making process by leaders of an organization. Some main
factors which have an influence on operation management and decision making considering
Marks and Spencer are as follows –
 Objectives – Every organization needs to survive in this market which is full of
competition. Therefore, they often need to change their corporate objectives to adapt the
changes in the business environment as well as the changes in the market. The Marks and
Spencer adopt these changes as well, which affect the operational management of the
organization as they also need to change their objectives and operations according to the
new objective that the organization has to achieve.
 Finance – this is another important factor that influences the operational management and
the decision making. The operation's management involve important or significant
investments as well as cost. The financial position of every organization directly have an
effect on the operations and the decision making of the leaders or management.
 Human resources – The Human resources of every organization have the main role in
achievement of the organizational goals and objectives. Human resources includes the
employees, managers, labors etc (Mill, 2007). For example if there is a conflict or an issue
among the employees it will definitely affect the operational management as the
employees are the one who are responsible for the operations that are practices in an
organization which results in the achievement of the goals, if the operations are not going
properly the organization will fail to obtain the organizational goal which needed to be

achieved. The decision making process of the organization is also affected due to the
conflict or availability of the human resources.
 Marketing issue – The operational set up of every product is determined by its nature.
The rapid changes in the marketing strategies of a particular product have a great effect
on the operations of the organization. The decision making regarding the marketing of the
products or services is directly related to the products the organization is producing or
introducing in the market to compete with the rivals (Lindström, Löfstrand, Karlberg, and et.al.,
2012).
These all factors affect the operational management and the leader’s decision making
within the Marks and Spencer.
For all the above, given factors it influences decision making from the side of
mangers and leaders as there are negative impact over the decisions that are made. It is
important for the managers and leaders to understand the preference and all the
conditions should be considered so that decision made are not changed.
CONCLUSION
The above report concluded that a leader plays a crucial part in an organization to guide
the employees or followers to perform in a very effective way to achieve the
organizational objectives. Leaders within the Marks and Spencer various special duties or
roles which are included in the assessment. The report also includes the different models
and theories of leadership such as the situational leadership and system leadership, there
importance and impact on the Marks and Spencer. Furthermore, The study focuses on the
key roles of a leader in an organization and the importance of these roles or values. The
report states the different aspects of the internal factors in the organization which affect
the operational management and decision making in the Marks and Spencer.