Leadership and Management in Operations: Marks & Spencer Report

This report examines the roles of leaders and managers within Marks & Spencer (M&S), a major retail company. It defines and compares the characteristics of leaders and managers, highlighting their differing focuses and responsibilities. The report then analyzes the application of various management theories, including contingency and system theories, within the context of M&S's operations. It explores the importance of operations management in achieving business objectives and the impact of the business environment on operational decision-making. The report also discusses key approaches to operations management, such as Total Quality Management (TQM), and the impact of leaders and managers on organizational performance and future development, offering recommendations for improvement. The report concludes with an overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the discussed management theories, providing a comprehensive analysis of leadership and management within a real-world business context.

MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P.1. Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager.......1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P.2. Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts.......................................................................................................3
P.3. Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, System
leadership and contingency.........................................................................................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
P.4. key approaches to operations management and the role of leaders and managers of Mark
& sponsors. .................................................................................................................................5
P.5. Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving Business
objectives.....................................................................................................................................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
P.6. Factors within the business environment that impact upon operational management and
decision-making by Leaders and managers................................................................................8
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Management and operations is a part of managerial system that deals with process of
production and transaction of a company. It has major focus on designing and controlling of
operational system so that raw materials can be converted in to finished goods and services.
Marks and Spencer is the cited firm that will be chosen for assessment.
This present assignment will focus on different roles and characteristics of a leader and a
manager. Along with that, Strengths and weaknesses of different theories of management will be
discussed. Furthermore, key approaches to operations management of Marks & Spencer will be
described briefly.
TASK 1
1.Introduction.
Marks and Spencer is a public limited retail company which is listed on London Stock
Exchange. It is British based Company which trade majorly in clothing and home products. It
was founded in the year 1844, and has its headquarters in London, United Kingdom.
2. Description on manager and leader and comparison of their roles and characteristics
Leader is that individual who supports and motivate all employees of an organisation. He
forms teams and gives innovative ideas to his subordinates and develop trust in among all to
complete the task assigned to them.
Manager is responsible for all the five activities of a management system i.e. Planning,
organising, controlling, directing and staffing. Administrator is responsible for letting work done
through all the employees of an organisation. He has the rights to hire and fire workers
(Naarananoja and Takala, 2017).
Characteristics of leader
Effective Communication skills: Leader must be good at communicating messages. He
must motivate and advice employees in such a way that organisational goals can be achieved.
Leader of M&S has effective leadership skills which helps him in performing his duties in proper
manner. This skill will help in motivation of employees and thus it will result in boosting morale
of workers.
Creating a vision: Role of leader has an ability to see future risk and should prepare
themselves in advance for such situations.
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Risk-takers: Leaders always try to do something new. He thinks that failures are path to
success. Leader of M&S takes all the possible risks to accomplish goals and objectives.
Characteristics of a manager
Time management: Managers of an organisation have the ability to manage it time in
such a manner that ha can accomplish all the tasks on time
Versatility: Manager of M&S has the quality of performing all the task of planning,
organising and directing all the employees to the right path (Damert and et.al., 2018). All things
are required to be managed in a company by top level managers, that is the reason they are
versatile in nature.
Builds system and process: Managers ensure that entire system is set in such a way that
it will help in achieving goals and objectives. System building process is followed by manager of
M&S so that organisation can take the best out of employees and attain growth and profits.
Difference between roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager
Basis Leader Manager
Meaning Leader motivates his
subordinate to achieve goals
and objectives
He manages all the activities of
a company.
Focus Focus is on motivating and
inspiring his followers
Focuses on managing all the
business related activities
Risk Leaders are risk taking, they
always try something new for
development of company
Manager minimizes the risk so
that problems can be avoided.
Role Leaders implement ideas into
real situations.
Managers create the ideas for
a company.
3. Differences of managerial functions and leadership roles by applying theories
Contingency theory: This theory is applied when different situation comes in the way of
company. M&S will be changing its strategies according to dynamic environment. Manager of
M&S should focus on reasons behind increasing cost of raw materials and apply theory to bring
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some changes in operations of company. This will result in bringing down high prices of raw
materials.
System theory: It is that theory where situation of organization is communicated to employees
of company and steps are taken accordingly. For example, M&S has to bring change in
manufacturing department and implement this strategy so that activities can be improved to
manufacture products at reasonable price.
Functions of managers are as follows:
Planning: It is the most basic and first function of management system. M&S will make such
planning that it will build a gap between where the company is standing today and where it
wants to reach in the future.
Organizing: M&S manager organize resources of company in the most effective and efficient
manner. It is the duty of manager of firm to guide and motivate employees to make optimum
utilisation of resources (Functions of managers, 2016).
Directing: It is the most important function of management system where the managers directs
and guides to employees of M&S to complete the work allotted to them. It is important to guide
in right direction to achieve the goals of the company (Kong and Luo, 2017).
Staffing: Staffing is a process which is carried out by managers of organisation. In this context,
Manager of M&S provide jobs to those who are capable of performing work. Further, training
and development of employees is also performed by managers of cited firm.
Roles of leadership: Leader of M&S understands the environment of company and plan
strategies that will help in taking to another level. It is the major role of leader to form strategies
and implement them at right time and at right situation.
Leader is the person who will check all the results and make adjustments in their policies
and laws accordingly.
4. Role of manager and leader in different situations
Manager of M&S plays major role at the time of different situation. Many a time, excess
or shortage of raw material is an issue which is faced by operation department. Manager of M&S
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will analyse the complete situation and take actions in such a way which will not affect
production department and operation.
M&S is also facing a situation where price of raw material and cost of handling material
is increasing on rapid basis. In such condition of increasing prices, situational leadership will be
implemented by leader to control the cost of raw material and increasing sales of M&S. To lower
the cost of raw material and manufacturing, the manager will focus on combining efforts of
leader of organisation along with theories of management.
Conflicts between employees and employers are also faced by M&S. In such situation,
leader of M&S will listen to problem of workers and analyse the reason behind itt so that it can
be resolved without harming emotions of anyone.
5. Different management and leadership theories for growth and sustainable performance of
company
There are various theories of management which are described below.
Contemporary Theory: M&S is applying this theory so that it can deal with current
situation of increase in cost of raw materials. Planning of change in supplier is made by
managers of M&S so that raw materials can be purchased at lower cost.
System theory: It is that theory where situation of organization is communicated to
employees of company and steps are taken accordingly. This theory of management is for
knowing the pattern of operations that is followed by M&S.
Leadership theories
Situational leadership: It is that type of leadership which depends on the skills of
employees. Where leader analyses a particular situation in detail, manages and guide its
subordinates accordingly. M&S applies this theory because currently company is in a situation
where it is facing the problem of higher cost of raw material (Akinola and Odesola, 2018). This
will be followed by leader of M&S where he will analyse the situation and take necessary steps
by applying all the traits of situational leadership so that cost can be reduced.
Contingency leadership: This theory is given by Fielder where effectiveness of
leadership is completely dependent on linking situation with leader's style. This theory believes
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that styles of leaders cannot be modified because they have their own personality and nature
which is inbuilt in them . Contingency theory is applied by leaders of M&S in a situation where
groups are required to be closely supervised.
6. Strengths and weaknesses of different theories & approaches.
Contemporary theory
Strengths Weaknesses
 This theory focuses on Valuing ethics
of the company
 It brings out the best from managers.
 Employees are being neglected at
individual basis. As, this theory focuses
on company's well-being rather than a
person.
 Current situations are considered under
theory which results in negelection of
future development.
Situational leadership
Strengths Weaknesses
 Complete situation is kept in mind
and decisions are taken accordingly.
 It is very easy for leaders to
implement this kind of leadership
because different situations are
analysed by them.
 Leaders have the rights to bring
required changes in management
styles.
 Long term strategies are being ignored
under this kind of leadership
 It becomes difficult for female leaders
as equality is not considered in
situational leadership.
 Large amount of pressure is faced by
leaders under situational leadership.
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7. Managers and leaders impacts on the organisation and its impact on future development
Leaders and managers motivate employees to achieve organisational goals. This will help
workers in feeling positive towards their work which is assigned to them. Motivated employees
of M&S will contribute more to company that will result in future development of firm.
Managers are always futuristic. As they analyse current situations and take all necessary
risk for upcoming development.
Recommendations for future improvement:
 M&S should hire experts and qualified new people so that talented human resource will
help in future improvements by giving new ideas.
 M&S should make a proper strategic path for communication internally. It will reduce
errors and gaps, which will result in future development
TASK 2
1.Introduction to operation management and explanation on the key approaches adopted M&S
Introduction: Operational department of M&S is created to design and control production
function. It checks entire system of production system, management of inventory and delivery of
goods. This section of M&S goes through customers’ demand and ensure that need are satisfied
by giving the best quality products.
Principles of Total Quality management
This is a management approach which focuses on satisfaction of consumers. All the
departments under this approach, involves in improving products, process, management,
services, culture etc. Top level management of M&S works on improving the quality of work
they are doing.
There are majorly five principles of TQM which are followed by M&S
Customer satisfaction: Every consumer wants to buy quality goods and services .
Customer is the one who gives final result about the performance of any organization. So M&S
should make quality products and services to generate growth and profits for future (Total
quality management, 2017).
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Continuous improvement: To improve quality of services and products, M&S needs to
make improvement in its work on daily basis. One should not stop in making improvement. This
will result in achieving higher success in the future.
Strategic Approach to Improvement: M&S should adopt such strategic approaches so
that goals and objectives can be achieved, along with improvement in the quality of work should
be implemented in proper manner.
Involvement of all employees: Employees of M&S should be completely involved by giving
particular task and must be treated equally. The manager should ensure that all employees will be
involved completely in decision making process.
Just in time inventory management approach:
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Illustration 1: Total quality management
(Source: Total quality management,2016)

It is that approach which says that goods should be purchased as per the requirement at
the time of production process. It helps in increasing efficiency and reducing cost of handling
inventory. It is an inventory management system which focus on available of stock at the time of
its making final products.
This approach helps in improve in productivity of the company. It reduces waste and cost of
handling raw material also gets reduced (Tepprasit, 2017). Leaders and managers if M&S follow
this approach and handles small inventory and produces only as per the demand in the market.
This also result in no longer need of big warehouses for keeping stock for production.
Concept of continuous improvement (Kaizen)
To improve manufacturing process of M&S, strategy has been adopted where the
employees are required to work together so that waste can be minimized to improve all the
activities and processes (Concept of continuous improvement (Kaizen), 2017).
Kaizen is followed for continuous improvement and a cycle is required to be followed.
It is as described below.
1. Involvement of employees: Identify all the problems and needs of employees of M&S
by asking them individually. This is managed by M&S by creating groups of people and
discuss all things in groups (Hajibabaei and Ghasemi, 2017).
 Find problems. M&S always take feedbacks from its employees so that it can focus on
problems of employees and work on it effectively
 Create a solution. M&S involves participation of employees in giving innovative and
creative solutions. So that problems can be solved easily because every worker of M&S
will be involved.
 Test the solution. Test the given innovative solutions by implementing the same. Top
level management of M&S to worker everyone works on improving the quality of work
they are doing (Nguyen, 2017).
 Analyse the results. At various time interval in M&S, progress of status can be checked.
And result should be analysed properly so that pros and cons can be determined
effectively.
 Standardize. If Results are in favour of M&S it adopt the solution throughout the
system.
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2. Roles and responsibilities of managers and leaders in successful management of the operation
of company.
Roles and responsibilities of managers and leaders
 Mangers are responsible for checking all the task assigned to employees. It is the duty of
manager to ensure that all tasks are being performed on time and in the best possible way.
 Leaders analyse complete situation and take decisions accordingly. They never hurt
emotions of employees rather leaders motivate and guide workers in positive direction.
 Managers plan the future situation and make all the efforts to implement its planning by
guiding employees towards the changes.
 Leaders has the responsibility of representing company in front of public.
3.Importance and value of the key approaches to operations management in achieving
organizational objectives successfully.
Management and operations is a part of managerial system that deal with process of
production and operations of a company.
Importances are described below:
Conversion of raw material in to finished goods: Production department handles
conversion of raw materials in to finished products. It is the costliest part of any firm where stock
of raw materials must be handled in big warehouses. It is the duty of operations manager to
ensure that finished products should be designed in such a way that quality should be maintained
without any wastage of raw material.
Process design: It means understanding the whole process by identifying the
manufacturing process. Main objective of M&S is to give quality products which satisfy needs of
consumers and helps in achieving business objectives.
Capacity management: Managing capacity is to manage the limit of resources that is
required to be set within an organisation. It helps in management of the work that will increase
with time. If organisation will limit its resources properly and give quality output, then it will
grow over time. This will result in achieving organisational objective. There are seven keys for
managing capacity in operations management
Business critical services
 Seasonality and peaks in business activity
 Business growth of M&S
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 Regulatory requirements
 Provisioning lead times
 Cost should be managed in optimum manner by M&S
4.Evaluation of managers and leaders in improving operational efficiencies to successfully meet
business objectives.
Managers and leaders of M&S will follow different strategies so that business objectives
can be achieved. They will use new technological system to reduce labour intensive technique.
This will result in reducing cost of production and improving overall efficiency of M&S.
Leaders should keep in mind that any shortage of raw material will stop the production of M&S.
So it should be ensured that production should not stop. Managers should regular update and
check efficiency level so that it can be improved in future.
5. Impact of external business environment factors on operational management decisions.
There are various external factors which affect the decision making of manager and
leader.
Government Policies: Different tax laws are implemented by government with time to time.
M&S has faced so many changes in tax rules because it has branches in more than 885 countries.
Operation department follow such practices that can accept changes so that company can survive
and give a tough competition to its competitors.
Social factors: Every country has their own traditions and culture which is different from each
other. Leader and manager of M&S should plan after considering ethics and values of people.
Management of M&S should work accordingly so that operation can be carried as per the
demand and needs of consumer.
6.Critical evaluation of operations management
According to Tepprasit (2017), implication of Government taxes on products and services
plays a major role in decision making, Manager and leaders should consider taxes while making
pricing policies and its implementation. It increases the price and makes it difficult for M&S to
lower down its prices for competing with competitors. Whereas, As per Nguyen (2017), Taxes
and external factors has lower impact on M&S because it is required to be adopted by all the
competitive organisation as well.
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