Report on the Roles of Leaders and Managers at Marks & Spencer

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and management within Marks & Spencer (M&S), a leading UK retailer. It begins by defining the attributes and roles of managers and leaders within the organization, distinguishing between their responsibilities and contributions. The report then explores how leaders and managers adapt their roles in different situations, from stable to rapidly changing environments, emphasizing the importance of adaptability and communication. Various leadership theories, including system leadership, situational theory, and contingency theory, are discussed, along with their respective strengths and weaknesses. The report further examines key approaches to operations management and its significance in achieving business objectives, followed by a discussion of environmental factors influencing operational decision-making. Overall, the report aims to provide insights into effective leadership and management practices within the retail sector, using M&S as a case study.

MANAGEMENT &
OPERATIONS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Attributes and Roles of Managers and Leaders of M&S..................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P2: Roles of leaders and functions of managers in different situations.................................6
P3: Various models and theories of approach including leadership styles...........................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
P4: Key approaches to operations management....................................................................8
P5: Importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives.......9
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
P6: Business environmental factors that impact upon operational management...................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
The organisation and coordination of the activities of a business in order to achieve the
defined objectives of a company. Operations Management is a branch the deals in the
management of various operations and processes performed in an organisation. The company
taken for this assignment is managers and Spencer which is big retail organisation in UK. The
main focus of the report will be on the functions and roles of managers and leaders in order to
improve the performance of a company. Using different leadership thesis, the authority of
managers and leaders has been discussed. It will also include the significance of operations
management and discuss the pros and cons of different thesis and the factors of business
environment that effect operations management and decision making of leaders and managers.
TASK 1
P1 Attributes and Roles of Managers and Leaders of M&S
Marks and Spencer is one of the UK's leading retailers organisation that deals in clothing,
home products, and luxury food products. The company was founded in 1884 by Michael Marks
and Thomas Spencer in Leeds. The organisation believes in delegation of authority as it
delegated the power of taking decisions to lower level employees also so that the greater use of
employees skills can be done. (De Roover 2017). The structure defines that the organisation
believes in their employees and encourage their participation in the working of organisation and
a proper communication is there in between them.
Leader: A leader is the person who has extensive knowledge and who knows how to lead
people in times of need. Leader is the person responsible for designing and managing the work
structure for accomplishing the desired goals and objectives of the company. They monitors the
work and execution of the task by lower level employees. Leaders have their influence on others
that make others to do what the leader wants from them to do.
Managers: They are the persons who directs and controls the operations done by
employees for the achievement of desired goals and objectives of the company. There are a
variety of departments in M&S directed by various managers like project, line, departmental, etc.
They provide guidance and support to team members for the successful accomplishment of the
task given. (Du, Bhattacharya and Sen, 2010).
Distinction between Leaders and Managers

Leaders Managers
Leaders achieve the objectives of M&S with
the help of the people following him.
Managers achieves the objectives of the
company by the people working for him.
Leaders provide uniqueness in their ideas to
their followers in order to complete the task.
Managers simply follow the ideas and way of
working of others in order to complete the
work.
Leader is clearly defines the vision to his
followers and inspires them to work.
Managers focus on setting, measuring and
achieving goals.
Role of Leader:
In order to execute the given task efficiently, leaders plays a important part in an
organisation by following ways:
Motivation: A true quality of an leader is to motivate employees for achieving individual
as well as organisational goals with improved performance and productivity. The main role of
leader is to motivate employees and encourage them to perform in better managers. Therefore it
is must for a leader of M&S to implement necessary policies and techniques to encourage the
members for contributing their maximum efforts.
Communication: Communication and coordination between employees and teams are
necessary for achieving desired goals. The main role of leader of M&S is to enhance the
communication with the team members and upper authorities in relation to tell about the needed
changes or addition in the policies and strategies of working in the organisation. This will help
the employees to work accordingly that will increase their job dedication and the work given will
be perofrmed more effectively.
Team Building: A leader emphasizes on performing as a team rather than as individual
which leads to improved productivity. The role of leader in M&S is to develop team and promote
collective working. Team work enables the working of the employees and also improves the task
performance as they will be able to sort out their doubts with others. They will get many ideas
and may apply the best among them. (Grant, Wong and Trautrims, 2017).
Roles of Managers:

Executing plans and policies: This is the duty of managers to execute effective plans and
strategies developed by upper authorities. Managers should inform employees about such plans
and strategies so that the employees can perform according to the changes made.
Providing Apprenticeships: Managers should evaluate the work of the employees and
degree of accuracy and relevancy in their work. Whenever needed, the employee must be
provided with sufficient knowledge and guidance from them and also various training related to
the changes made are to be provided to employees in order to enhance their skills that directly
helps in achieving the goals of M&S.
Directing and Controlling: They control and regulates all business operations and
activities in a effective managers which helps them in achieving the desired goals and objectives
(Groves, Frater and Stokes, 2011).
Characteristics of leader
Positive attitude: Leaders carry a positive attitude in their words that makes their
followers to owkr in every situation. He influences in a positive way to his followers even in
difficult situations that also motivates which in return provides better results in terms of
productivity and innovation.
Motivator: Leaders are good motivators and inspire his followers and give sufficient
reason for the accomplishment of the task. They communicate with team members to collect
their feedbacks and suggestions so that proper changes in the existing policies can be made.
M&S needs to consider opinions and feedbacks of employees for increasing their motivation
towards the work assigned to them (Hoi, Wu and Zhang, 2013).
Characteristics of managers
Delegation: It is the duty of the manager to take those actions which help in achieving
the organisational goals faster. So accordingly the manager delegates the power to take some
decisions to the employees in accordance with the work provided. This will increase in the speed
of the work as the employees do not need to ask for small things from the manager.
Plan Every Step: A good manager always plan ever step. He decides about the tasks
when to performed and how to perform and from whom to be performed. It shows very clearly
about the steps to be taken in order to fulfil the given work. So the level of confusion decreases
with the help of manager.

TASK 2
P2: Roles of leaders and functions of managers in different situations
These situations happened occasionally within the company. It is the responsibility of the
management to identify such managers in the situations for improving productivity and
performance of the employees.
Stable situation- Managers needs to analyse the situation and evaluate whether the
employees are able to work in the particular situation or not. Leaders should motivate their
employees for working in different situations and be prepared for the harass situations also.
managers and leader of Marks and Spencer should needs to analyse the slow managers in
payment policies particularly at an intervals of some 6-8 months.
Stable to Moderate Situation- These situations come across with the managers very
less. Trends and demands of the people in the clothing segment can be considered as stable to
moderate. It changes frequently for which the managers are needed to take appropriate steps
which should be implemented at operational level. Managers of Marks & Spencers should adopt
suitable strategies that can be applicable in various situations according to the changing
behaviour of people. (Karnani, 2011).
Fast Changing Situation- In fast changing situation, changes occur very frequently in
the organisation. For example- technological managers such as launching of mobile application
or any digital platform should be considered by the managers and leaders of Marks and Spencer.
If employees are not accepting changes than it is required by managers to convey the importance
of changes. Managers must properly and regularly use communication techniques for informing
employees regarding the changes.
P3: Different Theories and Models of Leadership Approach
The use of various theories can be done in order to achieve the goals and objectives of
M&S. The related are discussed below:
System leadership: This leadership style enables the leaders in an organisatin to create
the conditions where people at all levels can work productively to their potential. It uses sound
principles about human behaviour to create models of good leadership. This leadership style is
consist of four major components : an overall strategy, an actionable method, a set of supporting
method strategies, processes, skills and knowledge which rests on the foundation of a model. The

top element of the framework is a strategy which provides an overall purpose and focus for the
methodology. The core of the framework is an actionable development method – the Cognition-
Systems Method (CSM) which links leadership action “in the moment” to individual and
organisation development and ultimately long term performance. Supporting the method at the
next level are an integrated set of action strategies, processes, skills and knowledge. At the base
of the framework are general and specific systems models and methods as well as foundational
assumptions based on a naturalistic world view. By following this leadership style, M&S can use
the potential of its employees to the fullest.
Situational theory: This is a leadership style that influences the behaviour of the
employees. It is a timeless, repeatable framework for leaders to match their behaviour with the
performance needs of an individual employee. It is based on the relationship between the leaders
and followers that inflence the decision making process while accomplishing the task. This
leadership style also helps in creating a common language of performance of the employees.
Contingency theory: The theory emphasizes on the importance of both the leader's
personality and the situation to which the leader is dealing. It means that the success of a leader
depends upon the situation with which he is provided with. Certain factors come across that
define whether a particular leadership style will be effective for the given situation or not. Ity is
affected by factors such as personality of leader, the task with which he is provided and thwe
composition of the group or the followers. In order to succeed, there must be a strong relation
between the leader and the followers. Leaders must clearly define the tasks to be accomplishes
and their outlines in order to avoid the confusion and for the task to be complete in right way.
M&S can take out benefit from this theory by making the communication strong between the
employees and the managers.
Strengths and Weakness:
Every theory have their own strengths and weakness in relation to the situation where
they are applicable. So the strengths and weakness of the above explained theories are discussed
below. These are:
Contingency theory of leadership: Strengths: Contingency theory supplies data on leadership styles that could be useful to
organizations in developing leadership profiles for human resource planning.

 Weaknesses: This leadership style is not flexible in nature and very rigid to apply in the
situations which changes frequently.
System theory of leadership: Strengths: It focuses on multiple dimensions of management of M&S.
 Weakness: The relation between the leader and follower must be clearly defined but this
theory does not define it at all.
Situational theory of leadership: Strengths: This leadership style is very simple and is applied by most of the managers.
 Weakness: As the flexible approaches to leadership creates more focus on the immediate
needs, so the long-term goals of M&S will lack behind, their fulfilment will not be done.
These various leadership theories plays a important role in the development of a leader.
The main theories of leadership are situational, contingency and system styles of leadership.
TASK 3
P4: Key approaches to operations management
Operartions Management is an important area in managing a firm, whether it deals in products or
services. The principles or concepts of management and their implementation differs in these
industries. (Luo, Meier and Oberholzer-Gee, 2012). There are some key approaches of operation
management which are discussed below:
Total quality management: In this approach, strategies are applied in order to
continuous improvement of products or services, business processes and people involved in the
given task. The focus is on the customers' needs by providing them goods at reasonable cost. It
also emphasizes on the team work and mainly focuses on the way the tasks are accomplished.
M&S can also use this approach in order to improve the quality of its products so that it may
capture more market share.
Just in time: It refers to making the availability of the goods as and when needed. This
can be done with the help of maintaining proper stocks so that the demand may be completed
unless depending upon the further production of goods. M&S should also do this by maintaining
proper stocks so that at the time when goods are demanded they can be provided to the
customers. It also encourages the efficiency of the organisation and also the qualities of the
product are not sacrificed.

Lean Production: According to this approach, the organisation must do the optimum
utilisation of resources so that the wastage of the resources can be reduced and the productivity
can be enhanced. In other words, it can be said that producing high volume goods by using the
minimum resources is lean production. It will help M&S as it will reduce their cost of production
and will also increase their efficiency.
Six Sigma: It is a business management technique which aims at improving the quality of
outputs by isolating and getting rid of the causes of defects. The main focus is on process
improvement. This can be achieved with the help of five factors of Six Sigma. These are define,
measure, analyse, improve and control. Working on all these factors can make the organisation
closer to the perception of customers. M&S can also take benefits of this approach as it will
reduce the chances of defects in the products and services.
P5: Importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives
Operation Management helps in ensuring timely delivery of the products and to
successfully turn raw materials into finished goods. It is concerned with various procedures and
methods for implementing strategies and focus on improving performance and results. The
operations management is focused on the development in design and improvement of the
products (Pedrycz and Chen, 2015).
Evaluations: It considers monitoring and bench marking of activities for eliminating
inefficiencies like increased cost of output, no improvement in the performance of the
employees, etc.
Cost minimisation: It refers to reducing the cost while producing products for the
utilisation and allotment of available resources among various activities. M&S should need to be
careful while manufacturing new or improved products because it can cause wastage of
resources and increased cost of output.
Human Resource Management and Financial Management: Financial management is
very important for a business because without it, companies can't execute their financial plans.
Same is with human resource as the managers should need to consider equal management of
managers and managers. M&S company can hold managers opportunity by adopting this
strategy.
Better Performance: The performance of the company as well as its employees can be
enhanced as operation management helps in boosting morale of the employees which will

increase their work productivity through motivating their employees. From this, M&S can
improve its performance and productivity in efficient managers (Renz, 2016).
Time management: Another positive factor of operation management which helps in
managing time as it increases in efficiency and productivity of work. Time management leads to
reducing the time needed to complete a task or it can be said that when less time is consumed as
compared to earlier, it ensures that the level of the productivity is enhanced.
TASK 4
P6: Impact of External Business Environmental Factors on Operational Management
Business Environment refers to the sum total of all the internal as well as the external
factors that affects the organisation whether in a positive or a negative way. Generally all
businesses are effected from these various environmental factors as described below:
Internal environment
These factors lies within the organisation and can be controlled by the top authorities.
These factors mainly controlled by the managers.
Managers: It is the person who has the property rights of the business and the one who
invested in the business. managers can be individuals or group of persons who established the
firm and are sharing the profits among them. So they have the freedom to take decisions which
can affect the internal environment of an organisation.
Board of directors: The top level management of an organisation, is team of people who
jointly oversees the activities of an organisation and interests of the shareholders.
Employees: They are the base of an organisation. It is the workforce without whom the
company cannot sustain. Employees work hard for the success and growth of the company..
Managers need to maintain healthy relationship with their employees due to possibility of
conflicts and issues which may arise among employees and will result in failure of business
(Steurer, Martinuzzi and Margula, 2012).
External environment
These are the external forces that affects the business operations of a firm. These factors
are outside the control of an organisation. Company can overcome these factors by implementing
suitable strategies and policies. For checking the effect of different external factors on the
working of an organisation, PESTLE Analysis is done. The following can be illustrated as under:

Source: PESTLE Analysis, 2016
Political Factors: The government sets some rules and regulations for companies in
order to do business in their country. It is necessary for M&S to follow such rules and standards
in order to establish their business in that country. M&S should chose suitable country based on
stability and political condition of the government in that particular country (PESTLE Analysis,
2016).
Economic factor: Such factors include economic growth, exchange managers, inflation
managers, interest managers etc. which directly or indirectly impacts on the business
performance. M&S should implement suitable price and product marketing strategies for
attracting potential customers where the customers don't worry about their economic conditions.
Social factors: These are the factors that cannot be directly controlled but they affect
M&S and its business strategies. The aspects needed to be taken into consideration in social
factors are age, distribution, cultural aspects on business environment concerns. M&S core shops
typically feature a selection of the company's clothing ranges and food hall.
Technological factor: It includes factors like change in the technology, automation etc.
which affects decreases the efficiency of the organisation. If M&S lacks behind in this factor,
than the cost of production of the company will be more and the company will loose its market
share. Company should update itself according to the changing environment and the technology.
Environmental factors: These involves factors that effects the environment such as
emissions of harmful gas, disposing the wastes etc.. M&S has been able to cut down on carbon
dioxide emissions by about 40 %. The company has also been accredited with efficient
Illustration 1: PESTLE Analysis

electricity usage, reduced gas leaks, and better waste recycling levels. They also encourage their
suppliers to practise eco-friendly techniques and helped them to go green and achieve higher
efficiency. (Vashneya and Gupta, 2017).
Legal factors: These factors include health and safety, consumer rights and laws, product
labelling and product safety. Like any other firm, M&S also had to deal with some legal issues
whenever it may not take into consideration the legal factors in their products. In order to stay
away from the government intervention in the business, it is necessary to mention all the contents
and necessary details about the product on its labels so that the customer may get the knowledge
of the ingredients used in making the product.
CONCLUSION
From the above given information, it has been concluded that operations management is
an indispensable part of an organisation. It has many benefits which are studied earlier so the
business must understand the importance of operation management and work accordingly. This
will increase the improve the productivity level and the costs will be reduced and company will
be able to provide the same goods at low prices to the customer. For achieving this level, the
managers of the company must perform both the functions of managers as well as leaders. This
will increase the morale and confidence of employees and the results will be more clear and in
favour of the organisation. Also, it must be notified that the company can maintain and improve
the qualities of its products and services by using various approaches to operation management
which will also help in producing the goods in a cost efficient manner. Internal and external
factors that surrounds a business affects in both positive and negative way so the company must
work accordingly, identify the opportunities and reduces the threats.

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