Leadership and Management in M&S: A Unit 4 Report Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and management practices within M&S Ltd. It begins with an introduction to operation management and M&S's business, including its history and core operations. The report then delves into the comparison between managers and leaders, highlighting their roles and characteristics, and explores the differences between managerial functions and leadership roles based on various management theories like Henri Fayol's administrative theory and Elton Mayo's human relations theory. It further examines the strengths and weaknesses of these theories, including situational, system, and contingency leadership. The report also covers M&S's operational management, key approaches, and the importance of these approaches. Finally, it discusses external environmental factors influencing organizational decision-making.

UNIT 4 MO

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Background of study ..............................................................................................................1
LO1..................................................................................................................................................1
P1&M1 & D1 Manager and leader comparison on the basis of their role or characteristics-1
LO2 .................................................................................................................................................2
P2 Role of leader and function of a manager-........................................................................2
P3 Differences of managerial function and leadership role (based on management theories and
concepts).................................................................................................................................4
M2 Strength and weaknesses of theories and approaches-....................................................6
LO3..................................................................................................................................................7
P4 Operation management of M&S Ltd and key approaches-...............................................7
P5, M4 & D2Importance and values of approaches of operation management-....................8
M3 role of manager and leader in improving efficiencies-..................................................10
LO4................................................................................................................................................10
P6 External environment factors which influence organization decision making-..............10
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Operation management is the administration of any company practices generating the
highest level of efficiency within an organization. This change raw material into products &
services and satisfied customers through final goods or make profit. Operation department is one
of the main part of any organization (Ming, Song and Yuejin, 2013). M&S Ltd is a United
Kingdom located organization which specialises in the selling clothes, home products and luxury
foods goods. It has 979 outlets across the UK including 615 food products. Company was
founded in 1884 as a partnership firm. The main aim of organization to maintain its products
quality. Report will explain about role of manager and leader in company, managerial function
through the various management & strength or weaknesses theories. It will describe key
approaches of operation management, leader's responsibilities, impact of external environment
on business.
Background of study
M&S Ltd (also known as Marks & Spencer Group plc) is the largest British retailer
headquartered in Westminster, London. It specialises in distribution of selling, home product,
expensive luxury food goods etc. Organization was founded in 1884 by Marks and Thomas
Spencer. It started to sell branded products like Corn Flakes in 2008. Company has 979 stores
around the whole United Kingdom and including 615 outlets for sale food goods. M&S Ltd
became the first retailer of British, to make a pre-tax profit in 1998. By 2013, organization
clothing division had an 11% market share in the home country. Its head office in London hires
almost 3000 employees, each of them have a certain role.
LO1
P1&M1 & D1 Manager and leader comparison on the basis of their role or characteristics-
 Manager- A person who is in charge of a certain tasks or team and specific subset of an
organization. Manager has a staff of people who report him/ her (Baboli, Shahparasti and
Mohamadian, 2014). Some department of a company designate their managers to be line,
while others known as a staff relaying upon the function of department. Leader- A person who lead a group of people, called leader. They hold a dominant or
superior position within its field and able to exercise a high degree of control.
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Comparison according their role-
Basis for comparison Leader Manager
Approach M&S Ltd leader sets direction Making details
Style Transformation M&S Ltd manager follow
transaction style.
Subordinate Followers Employees
Aim M&S Ltd leader main aim is
growth & development
Attainment of the required
result
Risk M&S Ltd leader minimize risk Manager takes risk
Focus People M&S Ltd manager focus on
process and establishment.
Characteristics basis comparison-
Basis Leader Manager
Vision Leader has their own forge
vision
M&S Ltd manager follow
vision.
Focus M&S Ltd leader focus on
progress (Cruz and Marques,
2011).
They focus on process or
results.
Reference Internal frame of reference External frame of reference
Planning M&S Ltd leaders plan
effective strategy.
They make plan for goals,
projects efficiency.
Preference People are more important for
M&S Ltd leader. They prefer
them first.
M&S Ltd manager prefer task
more important than people.
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LO2
P2 Role of leader and function of a manager-
M&S Ltd organization faced conflicts between employees. They all are not agreed with
each other’s views. Everyone like that management appreciate their ideas. This situation creates
a critical environment in the company (Brennan, Gibbons and Barton, 2011). In this case, leader
of M&S Ltd organized team members meeting and listen them one by one. They understand
employees’ problems and give proper solution. Leader take suggestions from everybody and
apply them according to situation. In this condition, leader play an effective role rather than
manager. Manager discus with leader about the team issue or provide their support to them and
conduct meeting with employees.
In Annual General Meeting of M&S Ltd, manager play an important role. It is their
responsibility that they listen employees issues or take suggestions and provide a right direction
to them. Without interaction management never come to know, what kind of challenges worker
have to face (Caniani, Esposito and Mannina, 2015). Manager announce company strategy or
planning. Leader of organization give suggestion and try that employees understand their
responsibility towards job or do well behave.
In situations such as making strategies for organisation, A manager uses his skills and
abilities with respect to the welfare of business, profitability and performance. On the other hand
a leader thinks about his or her follower while making any decisions,. Therefore, leader will
make plans which will be beneficial for the follower such as employees or colleagues.
P3 Differences of managerial function and leadership role (based on management theories and
concepts)
Management theories are set certain rules which guide the managers to manage their
organization. Administrative theory by Henri Fayol and Human Relations Theory by Elton Mayo
are those concepts that help manager to run business.
Henri Fayol theory- It is a simple model of how management interacts with employees. Henri
theory includes 14 management principles and in this manager communicate with personnel in 5
ways to control production.
Planning- In this management M&S Ltd plan and schedule every industrial process part.
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Organizing- M&S Ltd management planning a manufacturing process and raw material or
personnel come together at production time (Ming, Song and Yuejin, 2013).
Commanding- Management of M&S Ltd encourage personnel to perform.
Coordinating- M&S Ltd management must sure that persons works together in a cooperative
fashion.
Controlling- In this last step M&S Ltd manager evaluate and sure that employees follow
management commands.
Elton Mayo theory- This theory is a researched belief that people desire to be a part of M&S Ltd
supportive team. If they get special attention and are encouraged to take participate and become
more productive. The researchers realized that organization productivity increase due to
relationship.
Differences-
Basis Managerial function Leadership role
Focus Bringing stability Encouraging change
Perspective Leadership requires goods
foresightedness.
Management has short range
perspective.
Strategy Proactive Reactive
Management and leadership theories for managing organisation effectively in planning
function.
Management theories- Management theories are set of rules which guide the managers to
manage organization. Some management theories are below-
1. Bureaucratic theory- It entails structuring a company into hierarchy and secondly
organization and employees are clearly defined rational legal decision making rules.
M&S Ltd hierarchy arrange the level of authority (Chen, Duan and Hu, 2011).
Management circulate their power up to down level. For situation such as making new
plans or strategies.
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2. System theory- This theory is especially effective for identifying and leveraging the
specific pattern which M&S Ltd follows to accomplish goal and targets. Features include
recognizing the overall goal of the company, and accomplish objectives or get results.
3. Leadership- It is the ability of an organization management to set and accomplish goals,
beat competition, take action or inspire others by good performance. Leadership has
different theories; few are below-
4. Situational leadership- This suggest that no individual leadership style is good. It all
depends on situation and leader choose appropriate style to manage condition. For
organization growth M&S Ltd leaders adopt their leadership style relevant to situation
such as making new plans or strategies. (Weining, Linjiang and Fan, 2010). Most
effective leaders are those who understand type of task, nature of group and apply plans
according to condition and accomplish goal. For situation such as making new plans or
strategies.
5. Systems leadership- In system leadership, leader has to follow set guild lines for their
role. M&S Ltd leaders follow organization system and make efforts to achieve goals.
They use available resources to achieve organization target and maintain productivity.
6. Contingency leadership- This is closely related to situational leadership. It emphasizes
the importance of leaders’ personality and situation. This based on two styles one is task
motivated and second is relationship- motivated. M&S Ltd leaders accomplish their task
and maintain interpersonal relationship into the organization (Cruz and Marques,
2011).For situation such as making new plans or strategies. Contingency theory is
concept of the situation, which defined by three factors-
1. Leader-member relation.
2. Task structure.
3. The power of position.
M2 Strength and weaknesses of theories and approaches-
Strengths- Strengths of different theories and concepts-
Situational theory- According to Burke, (2013), situational theory provides the correct solution
about the situation. It helps to understand people nature and type of task and save time or energy
of M&S Ltd leaders.
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System theory- As per Lindström, Nilsson and Ylinenpää, (2015), this theory follows
organization system and set an example in front of other employees that rules are necessary to
get success. Individual of M&S Ltd give their potential to accomplish pre-define goals.
Contingency theory- According to Rani and Moreira, (2010), this theory related to internal
relation of organization employees. M&S Ltd employees understand the values of each other’s
efforts.
Bureaucratic theory (Management theory)- As per Neck and Manz, (2010) employees follow
hierarchy of organization and perform to achieve goals maintain the dignity of M&S Ltd
authority. It supports the hiring of specialized officials who have the education background and
expert in their task.
System management theory- According to Baboli, Shahparasti and Mohamadian, (2014)
system management theory identify the company goals and perform to achieve them.
Weaknesses-
Situational theory- According to Cruz and Marques, (2011), a leader faces a significant amount
of pressure to analyse situation before taking any actions (The Situational Leadership Theory,
2016).
System theory- According to Ming, Song and Yuejin, (2013), in this theory nature of internal
dependence is not clearly defined. M&S Ltd face delay in the decision-making and does not cater
particular style of functioning.
Contingency theory- As per Brennan, Gibbons and Barton, (2011) contingency theory is
reactive in behaviour. It is complex concept, present problems in testing the precepts of this. It
has not adequately spelled out various types of actions which can be taken into different
conditions.
Bureaucratic theory (Management theory)- According to Caniani, Esposito and Mannina,
(2015) employee is the factor which affect the productivity of organization. Bureaucratic theory
can hamper achievement of M&S Ltd results in set time.
System theory (Management)- As per Chen, Duan and Hu, (2011) this theory does not offer
certain equipment’s and techniques for practising M*S Ltd managers. It is criticized as being too
abstract or vague, so it can't work in critical situation.
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LO3
P4 Operation management of M&S Ltd and key approaches-
Operation management is an area of management which design and controlling the
product production process or manage business operation of goods and services. It utilized the
raw material and reduce the wastage. M&S Ltd operation include management inventory level,
work in process level, quality control etc. (Smith, Rahn and Wang, 2010). It is responsible for
finding vendors who supply the products at best price and deliver them according to their
demand. Company supply their products in the market when they are highly demanded from
customers.
Roles and responsibilities of managers and leader-
1. Role and responsibility of manager- M&S Ltd managers plays different role in the
company. They hire and provide training to new employees of the organization, conduct
training for new joining, dealing with performance issues and employees attrition,
measure their performance, monitoring and controlling expenses or budgets etc. (Burke,
2013). Company managers care about workers’ happiness or provide all important tools
which influence their performance. Translating organization goals and objectives into
functional and person’s targets. Manger have to take one on one employee's session and
try to find out their issues in organization.
2. Leader role and responsibility- M&S Ltd leader play important role in the company
and fulfil many responsibilities. A leader is responsible for guiding a group of employees
as they complete a project or task. They also have the responsibility for developing and
implementing a timeline that will be used by their team to achieve its final goal or aim. A
leader provides direction, instructions and guidance to a group of individuals for the
purpose of achieving a specific goal.
3. Required at all level- Leader is important at every level of M&S Ltd to manage their
team and motivate members to achieve goals. He or she is required for interpretation and
execution strategy made by top management of organization. On the other managers are
required at each and every department or section of an organisation to develop,
implement and monitor management strategies for the entire department. There managers
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in every department of the organisation such as in Marks and Spencer such as accounting,
operations, human resource department etc.
4. Solicits support- They are managers and besides that leader is a person who support and
coordinate with team members (Lindström, Nilsson and Ylinenpää, 2015). They solicit
support to those of workers who perform to get best results. Manger monitors the
performance of employees in his or her department, there is a dominant role of a manger
in the organisation whereas Leader is supporting each and every member of the team for
examples employees of all departments in an organisation. Leaders are not dominant they
understand and assist their followers in the best way possible.
5. Representative of the organization- M&S Ltd leader is a person who represents his or
her followers or group of employees . They organize or present seminars, conferences
etc. and give motivational speech to employees. On the other hand managers are
representing a department of the organisation and provide information regarding its
performance to the CEO or directors of the company to develop more effective strategies.
Key approaches-
Six sigma- It is the methodology for improving the quality of manufacturing process of operation
department by eliminating errors, reducing products costs or save organization time (Ming, Song
and Yuejin, 2013). M&S Ltd use this approach for producing qualitative products or services to
satisfied customers demand and increase revenue or save time for production.
Lean approach- It is a systematic process for waste minimization within a producing system
without decreasing the organization productivity (Cruz and Marques, 2011). M&S Ltd follows
this concept to increase product productivity or minimize the waste during production.
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Just in time- This is a management planning which align raw material order from suppliers with
production schedules. M&S Ltd uses these concepts to increase efficiency and decrease wastage
by receiving products as they require them for manufacturing process and reduce inventory costs
of organization (Just-in-Time (JIT) Inventory Management, 2016). Advantage of this approach
that company spend less amount on raw materials and like to buy just sufficient resources to
make ordered goods and services.
P5, M4 & D2Importance and values of approaches of operation management-
External factors affect business environment. Economic, political, social, technical
factors of country influence M&S Ltd. According to Baboli, Shahparasti and Mohamadian,
(2014). Interest rate, tax policy, business law, government rules & regulations, social status of
customers, their income level effect company products and services. They have to take such
decisions which are more beneficial for M&S Ltd services. They produce those goods that are
not only good for business profit but also make positive impact on society. It is not compulsory
that these factors make positive impact on business, when recession situation arise in country
they make negative results on products and services of business. Operation management reduce
their quality during manufacturing process. According to Cruz and Marques, (2011) in this
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Illustration 1: Just In Time Inventory
Source: (Just-in-Time (JIT) Inventory Management,
2016)

critical situation management of company to reduce theses negative impact on business make
new policies which is more profitable for goods. They divided work according to employees’
skills or give them deadline to accomplish assign task.In accordance with the report, it can be
stated that leaders and managers play vital role in order to make workers understand their set of
responsibilities and in making them perform with their full efficiency. There are certain set of
expectation that employees have towards their work and it is important for leaders or managers
to understand them and make satisfied for their work. To develop healthy environment, it is
essential that management have strong communication with their workers and as per the issues
identified initiatives should be taken. By carrying out this study, it can be recommended that
leaders and managers should monitor their employees and the areas in which they lack needs to
be determined. Apart from this, goals that are set by the business should be communication so
that employees develop path through which it can be attained.
1. Six sigma- It is a methodology which is helpful to improve business process through the
use statistical analysis. Its data driven and approach that make sure elimination of defects
in any organizational process (Rani and Moreira, 2010). Its objective is to reduce the
variability in business and manufacturing method. It has come with a long way and
widely implemented in various industrial sectors. Process mapping is utilized by this that
can be defined as a process of chart flow to documentation of business method. This is
important for improvement of production process.
2. Lean approach- Lean approach is more effective for management of M&S Ltd
organization and manage their task.
3. Everyone has one source for information- Email is best platform for reminders, but it’s
a source of truth. Everybody is on the same stage because they all are looking for same
information, not email messages (Neck and Manz, 2010).
4. It is available for 24*7 from anywhere- Lean involve physicals artifices which exist at
workstation. This tool work well for industry work and other types of work which tied to
the place, workers’ information, employees who work from home etc.
5. Management system support improvement culture- When M&S Ltd implements lean
software solution which support the team for improvement of organization productivity.
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M3 role of manager and leader in improving efficiencies-
M&S Ltd managers and leader play important role in operation activities, which are
below-
Set objectives- Managers and leaders of company set employees targets and goals, fix deadline
and give instruction to them to accomplish their goals (Baboli, Shahparasti and Mohamadian,
2014). Workers give their best to achieve organizational goals and improve their own skills.
Provide efficient tools- It is the responsibility of manager and leader that they provide require
resources to every employee which are necessary for production of products and services. M&S
Ltd manager and leaders are more aware about employees’ requirements and they always ready
to give their help to them.
Create healthy environment- M&S Ltd manager and leader are responsible to create healthy or
safe working environment for employees. They believe that a good working culture is useful to
get the best performance of workers. Employees give their 100% efforts to accomplish
organizational goals just because of a safe working culture of the organization (Cruz and
Marques, 2011).
Communication- A open or transparent communication between employees and management
increase organization productivity. M&S Ltd manager allow worker to share their views to each
other’s, that is a good approach from management to improve their skills. Workers also like to
discuss their opinion with colleagues or become a part of decision making team. Communication
is the only way where individual can express feelings, thoughts, ideas and get improving
outcomes.
Financial management- Operational management of M&S Ltd play important role in
budgeting, controlling expenses and prepare sales report, financial statement which inspire
employees to accomplish organization goals and objectives (Ming, Song and Yuejin, 2013).
LO4
P6 External environment factors which influence organization decision making-
Organizations have an external and internal environment which are explained below-
External environment of organization- External factors of an organization called macro
environment. Company has no control on these factors. These factors are divided into two types-
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General environment- This environment considers those factors which make impact directly on
operation management but don't influence organization activities (Brennan, Gibbons and Barton,
2011). Dimension of general environment-
Economic factors- This factor affects the demand of products and service. During the time of
inflation M&S Ltd pay more for available resources and cover the high range cost. When loan
interest rate is high, consumers are not much willing to borrow money from market and it is not
good for business purpose. For example - Leader and mangers in M&S create effective
economic strategy which is beneficial for business and customers. Increase the interaction with
consumers to satisfied them and fulfil their demand. This factor improve decision making power
of managers.
Technology factors- It shows that method is available for changing resources into goods and
services. Organization should be careful about technical factors. For example - Technologies
wants investment at large scale and adopt them to increase M&S Ltd productivity. Leaders and
managers decided to adopt new technologies and this make impact on investment decision of
them.
Social-cultural factor- Manager of organization do study about social status. Business vary
from culture to culture and understand the value of products or services in society (Caniani,
Esposito and Mannina, 2015). For example - M&S Ltd organization produce those goods which
satisfied customers. Leaders and managers produce those products which maintain value of
society. This have impact on production decision of them.
Political- legal factor- It refers to the law of government, business law, relationship between
government or business and legal situation of the country. For example - M&S Ltd managers
and leaders frame new policies and follow laws formed by the government. This element
influence their different policies like tax policy decision, trade relation with other countries.
They all factor affect business productivity, profitability, customers taste at large scale.
Organization produce products according to country culture and norms (Chen, Duan and Hu,
2011). Leader and manager formulates company policies according to political or legal
environment of country. Plan their investment budget after the study of economic factors.
Technology use is the main aim of them to increase productivity but expensive techniques make
negative impact on their financial statement. Business widely influence by these factors and they
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make impact on community. If government change their business law which are not good for
organization, then these rules make impact on product quality. May be M&S Ltd decrease
quality of their goods and services and minimize the use of expensive technologies during
production. Low quality products and services never satisfied consumers.
CONCLUSION
Above report concluded about role of operation management in the organization. Internal or
external environment of company influence their productivity. Manager and leader manage
organization activities or earn more revenue and increase employees’ skills.Managers and leader
are the important part of every organization. Leader leads a group of people in the company
while managers have their focus on process and results. Manager set objectives, divide work into
managerial activities and assign them to relevant employee, motivate and communicate with
worker and listen their issues or suggestions. Leader is required at all level of company
(Weining, Linjiang and Fan, 2010). They guide team member how to accomplish their goals.
Without manager or leader an organization can't function properly. For the future growth they
both have to communicate with employees’ time to time and encourage them to achieve
company objectives. Changes in their working style according to situation, open communication
with followers will give them effective results.
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design, management and operation of wastewater treatment plants for the reduction of
greenhouse gases emission. Water, 7(10), pp.5599-5616.
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Cruz, C.O. and Marques, R.C., 2011. Contribution to the study of PPP arrangements in airport
development, management and operation. Transport Policy, 18(2), pp.392-400.
Lindström, J., Nilsson, K. and Ylinenpää, H., 2015. Sustainable management of operation for
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excellence. Pearson.
Rani, D. and Moreira, M.M., 2010. Simulation–optimization modeling: a survey and potential
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