Report on Leadership and Management at Marks and Spencer (M&S)

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and management practices at Marks & Spencer (M&S). It begins by defining the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers, highlighting their responsibilities in areas such as planning, motivation, team building, and communication. The report then examines the application of leadership and management in different situational contexts, including corporate culture, legal laws, and conflict management. Various leadership models and theories, such as system leadership, situational leadership, and contingency leadership, are explored with relevance to M&S. Furthermore, the report delves into key approaches to operations management, including Total Quality Management (TQM), Just in Time, lean products, and continuous improvement, and discusses the roles of leaders and managers in implementing these approaches. The importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives are also addressed, along with the impact of business environmental factors. The analysis provides insights into how M&S can optimize its leadership and management strategies for improved operational efficiency and business success.

MANAGEMENT AND
OPERATION

Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3
TASK 1......................................................................................................................................3
P1: Role and characteristics of leaders and managers............................................................3
TASK 2......................................................................................................................................5
P2: Role of a leader and the functions of a manager in different situational context.............5
P3: Apply various models and theories including situational leadership...............................6
TASK 3......................................................................................................................................7
P4: Key approaches to operations management and roles of leaders and managers..............7
P5: Importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives.......8
TASK 4......................................................................................................................................9
P6: Business environmental factors that impact upon operational management...................9
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Operation management is formed in an organisation with an objective of operating
business operation through designing and managing manufacturing process in such as
effective manner that will help in maximising the satisfaction level of targeted customers as
well as earning huge profits. Their main focus is to utilising available resources in an
optimum manner so as to minimise the cost of production due to which the company can able
to increase their profit margin. In this, managers with the help of leaders play an important
role in doing all such operation activities in profitable manner with the help of their skills and
knowledge. The present assignment report is based on the Marks & Spencer (M&S) which
deals in producing clothing, home and luxurious food products across worldwide. The project
includes the role and functions of manager along with the importance of leader in achieving
organisational goals and objectives. Management theories and leadership approaches are also
discussed under this report along with their strengths and weaknesses. All other aspects are
also described under this report with the context of M&S (Barratt, Choi and Li, 2011).
TASK 1
P1: Role and characteristics of leaders and managers
Managers: They are the one which bears all roles and responsibilities regarding
managing and controlling business activities through formulating an effective decisions and
plans with the help of their skills and knowledge.
Leaders: They are the one which are liable to follow all plans and police made by
management and accordingly motivate and allocate members in a team so to help them in
contributing maximum possible result in near future.
Therefore, managers and leaders both plays a vital role in supporting business
organisation to achieve lots desired goals and objectives within pre-determined period of
time. They both an important roles and responsibilities which are briefly described as below:
Role of managers of M&S:
Formulation of plans and policies: The prime responsibility of manager of M&S is
to make an effective decision and better plans so as to give proper direction to their
workforce in order to achieve desired goals within limited period of time (Chen and et. al.,
2010).

Monitoring and controlling: This is the responsibility of manager where it is
compulsorily required by them to monitor and control all business activities so that available
resources can be utilised in an optimum manner.
Provide training programs: The managers are also required to evaluate the
performance of their employees in order to find out the high and low skilled employee due to
which effective training programs shall be conducted. This will help M&S in gaining more
skilled and knowledgeable employees that will bring them more profitable result in near
future.
Role of leaders of M&S:
Motivation: The prime responsibility of leader is to find out the ways through which
they can bring motivation and self confidence among workers with the objective of getting
work done from them in an effective and efficient manner (Galindo and Batta, 2013).
Team Building: Working in a team gives always better result but there is need to tell
employees about the importance of team work. Here, leader plays an important role in
allocating workers in a team so as to give them an opportunity to increase their skills and
build healthy relations with their co-workers.
Communication: It is essential to have good relation among the employees so that
adequate support can get from them in achieving desired target. Here, leader act as an
important role in establishing communication platform where the employees can easily
communicate with each other.
Characteristics of Manager and Leader of M&S:
Positive attitude: Both leaders and managers should required to have positive attitude
which help in creating positive atmosphere at workplace as well. Through giving suitable
direction by manager and motivation by leaders help in increasing the capabilities of
employees working in an organisation.
Creative: They both need to be more creative in driving business ahead than their
rivals. After analysing the rivals’ strategies, the manager needs to bring new and innovative
ideas which help them in competing with their rivals in more effective way where as leader
need to find out creative ideas in bringing out the motivation among their employees so as to
perform well (Jacobs, Chase and Lummus, 2011).

Confident: It is important for both managers and leaders to be confident on the
actions and plans so that they can build up confidence among their workers as well. Having
confidence will help both of them in grabbing competitive opportunities that will bring ahead
company from their large number of competitors.
Comparison between leadership and management:
Leadership Management
It refers to an ability of influencing people to
contribute more in the success and growth of
an organisation.
It refers to directing and controlling
workforce to coordinate and harmonise them
to perform well as to achieve desired goals
and objectives of an organisation.
Leadership is people oriented. It is task oriented.
Their main focus is to lead people and get
work done by them in an effective and
efficient manner.
Focusing on managing business activities.
They always consider risk taking in order to
grab competitive opportunities.
They are always considering the ways of
handling and managing risk in an effective
manner.
TASK 2
P2: Role of a leader and the functions of a manager in different situational context
 Corporate culture:- Organisation require to maintain such corporate culture which are
ethical and helpful in maintaining the decorum of business. Further, manager at the time
formulating various policies and tactics on the basis of which culture of company has
been established therefore it is mandatory for business to ensure that whatever the
working techniques adopted by workforce must be fair and efficient. For example M&S
is multinational retail organisation whose workforce has to deal with multiple
management operation problems therefore, it is essential for business to adopt such
practices that help in maintaining good working conditions because fraudulent unfair
trade practices create bad image and dilute goodwill of company..
 Legal laws:- Organisation need to ensure that compliances of rules regulation are
essential for running the business smoothly so that it is essential for the organisation
to adhere with all the legal legislation on the basis of which organisation can perform

their functions in better and adequate manner. It is utmost responsibility of manager to
ensure that compliances of all legal laws are fulfilled so that no issue arises at the time
of implementation of projects. Further those laws which are mandatory to business
enforced by government must be accomplish. For example M&S need to understand
all the mandatory laws applied on them on the basis of which all the strategies made
by company for better productivity and profitability.
 Conflict management:- It is vital for both manager and leader that whatever the
conflicts and disputes arises in business must be sorted quickly so that organisation is
able to accomplish all the task and operations in most effective and efficient manner.
Further it is important for leader that whatever the team work assign to their team
must be accomplish on time and if any disputes arises between superior and
subordinate then in such case their duty is to interact with them and whatever the
problems they are facing must be resolved as soon as possible so that harmony and
peace has been established in organisation which leads to accomplishment of team
work in better and optimal manner. For example M&S is multinational retail
organisation which manage various management operation problems so it is duty of
manager to analyse all the issues facing by customers in respect of their services and
find the solution through which they make improvements by putting new features in
product and services that attract customers which leads to higher sales and
productivity (Bainton and et. al., 2011).
P3: Apply various models and theories including situational leadership
There are various leadership models and theories which need to be applied by M&S in
order to bring motivation among employees to perform well so as to achieve desired goals
and objectives within pre-determined period of time. Such leadership theories are given as
below:
System leadership: It is more useful to adopt in case of resolving conflicts or issues
among the employees working in an organisation. For example, if any conflicts found among
workers of M&S then leader is wholly liable to resolve such conflicts in a systematic manner
that will not harm the interest of both conflicted parties. It is essential for leaders to determine
the elements and components which may affect the business operation and accordingly tried
to eliminate them through following pre-planned resolving systems.

Situational leadership: As business environment are contingent and complex in nature
which creates lots of difficulties and challenges among an organisation to operate business
operations more smoothly thus it is important for leader to adopt leadership style according to
the situations exist at present in an organisation. This will direct leaders to use flexible style
of leadership which are changes according to the situations arises within an organisation.
Contingency leadership: According to this theory, there is no single theory which can
be applicable to match the right situations. It means here leaders are liable to understand such
complex situations and accordingly adopt suitable leadership style that will help in cope up
with the influencing factors in more effective way. It simply indicated that adoption of single
leadership style for every situation will not bring beneficial result to company (Johri, Salvi
and Filipi, 2011).
TASK 3
P4: Key approaches to operations management and roles of leaders and managers
Management of operations is wholly liable to operate business activities in such an
effective manner that will bring long-term advantages to company so that competitive
advantage can be achieved in competitive market. This can be possible only through apply
various key approaches which are described as below:
Total Quality Management (TQM): Such approach mainly focuses on enhancing
quality of products and services with the purpose of maximising the satisfaction level of
targeted customers. Nowadays, more people prefer to buy quality instead of focusing on price
therefore such approach will be more useful for company. As M&S deals in food, home and
clothing products thus it is essential for them to focus on enhancing quality so as to attract
maximum number of customers across worldwide (Park and Jho, 2012).
Just in Time: It is such type of inventory management in which the managers mainly
focuses on maintaining availability of stock in warehouses so as to meet customer’s needs
and requirements. Such approach helps company in having sufficient amount of resources so
that production process are not disturbed and interrupted due to any reasons. For this, the
management of M&S need to first identify the level of stock the company have at present and
accordingly make decision regarding placing an order to suppliers.

Lean products: Adoption of such approach gives proper direction to the employees
working in M&S to minimise the wastage without giving up the productivity while producing
quality products and services. In context of M&S, the employees need to care the ordered
products and services from any damage while delivering it to the targeted customers.
Continuous improvement: Such approach is useful to adopt by company which direct
them to make changes in their existing products and service according to the needs and
requirements of customers. Adding extra value to the existing product will help company in
retaining loyal customers for longer period of time. For example, M&S deals in providing
food products thus making changes in their varieties of food products list will help in gaining
maximum number of customers.
Main roles of leaders and managers of M&S:
Planning: It is essential role which need to be performed by managers in order to
execute business operations in more effective and efficient manner. The managers are liable
to make plans after considering all influencing factor and elements and thereafter directing
leader to follow the same plans and policies for the purpose of getting work done from the
employees (Slack, 2015).
Managing: It is another major reasonability of manager in which all the pre-planned
business activities are managed in such an effective manner that will ensure in getting
profitable outcomes.
Coordinating: Describing plans and policies to the leaders and employees makes better
coordination among each other thus required for both manger and leader to communicate and
coordinate with each other regarding achieving organisational objectives.
P5: Importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives
Management of operation play an important role in growth and success of an
organisation through minimising the wastage of resources used in production process so as to
increase profit margin of company. Their main focus is to produce quality products and
services without sacrificing any unit of output (Operations management, 2017). Apart from
this, there are various advantages as well that company will get through operation
management some of which are as follows:

Improve productivity of company: The management of operation always focusing on
finding new methods and techniques that will help in maximising the utilisation of available
resources used in production process. This will help company in gaining maximum level of
output which results in increasing productivity as well.
Customer satisfaction: M&S deals in multiple numbers of products such as home,
clothing and luxurious food products due to which it must required to provide optimum
quality to their customers in order to enhance their satisfaction level. Therefore, operation
management took all decisions relating to the production process after considering the needs
and requirements of customers.
Reduce wastage: M&S is a retailer organisation which deals in selling large number of
branded products thus it must required for them to deliver ordered products to the targeted
customers without facing any discrepancies. Proper packaging by employees working in
operation department will help in preventing any wastage of products due to which the
customers can received ordered products in expected manner Nakayama and Bucks, 2012).
Increase profits: Providing multiple number of products in the market gives options to
the customers to buy whatever they want to buy without any interference of their employees.
Reaching inventory to the retail store on timely basis will help company in meeting needs and
demands of customers which makes positive impact on the company’s profitability as well.
TASK 4
P6: Business environmental factors that impact upon operational management
Business environment consists of internal and external factors which make huge impact
on the business operations of an organisation either on negative or positive way. It may create
lots of challenges towards organisation which may difficult for the management to deal with
them in an effective and efficient manner unless suitable strategies and plays are formulated.
It includes internal as well as external influencing factors which are briefly described as
below:
Internal factors: These are such factors which exist within an organisation thus can
controllable by the management of M&S. It includes various elements such as:
Employees: They are the important asset of company whose performance decided the
growth and success of an organisation. Therefore, it is important for management to analyse

their each actions and accordingly enhance their skills and knowledge through conducting
training and learning programs for them on regular basis.
Suppliers: They are the one whose adequate support to organisation in terms of
supplying products and services on time will help company in meeting customer’s needs and
requirements. Choosing best suppliers who agreed to supply products on time at effective
prices will help in increasing profit margin of company.
Consumers: They are the lifeline of the business whose needs and requirements decide
the existence of business organisation. Therefore, it is necessarily required for M&S to avail
demanded products at their stores which contain maximum quality. This will help in
enhancing the satisfaction level of customers due to which the company can achieve their
loyalty as well.
Society: There are different types of norms, values and beliefs which exist in every
society thus it is essential for manger to execute all business activities according to the norms
so that the company can achieve good image in society which confirms their long term
existence in market.
External factors: These are the factors which affects business operation externally. It
includes various elements which are as given as below:
Political: It consists of several factors which include political stability and taxation
policy implement by government of different nations. M&S is multinational retailer
organisation which has operates its business functions worldwide thus any changes in
political conditions in country in which they are operated affected their business operations
on large basis. For example, due to changes in political conditions, the tax on clothing
products increases which makes negative impact on the ales figure of M&S. Thus, revenue
may also get affected.
Economical: It is related with economy stability of country which affects the income of
people living in such nations due to which their purchasing power also got affected. For
example, The economy of UK increases which makes positive impact on the income of the
customers due to which they are showing much willingness to buy their products and
services. This will enhances the profit level of company (Goor, Kelman and Tilmant, 2010).

Social: It is related with health and lifestyle of customers which may affects a lot to the
business operation of an organisation. For example, M&S offering traditional and outdated
clothing products due to which the customers are showing less interest in buy their products
therefore, it must required for manager to develop their inventory with the cloths which are
more in trends so that the customers are easily attracted towards purchasing their clothing
products.
Technological: It is related with adoption of technological advancement which is
essentially needed to be acquired by an organisation. For example, giving option of online
payments, using MIS system to store information about loyal customers will help M&S to
maximise the level of satisfaction of customers which further help in attaining their loyalty as
well.
CSR impact on decision making:
Corporate social responsibility may affects and influences the decision making
process of M&S as the content of CSR policy make an organisation to formulate an effective
decision which are ethical in nature and will be beneficial of the stakeholders so the company
can get sufficient support from them in operating business more successful.
Culture also an important factor which need to be considered by the management of
M&S as identifying the culture of different place help company in providing products which
are easily acceptable by particular culture (Nong and et. al., 2013).
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above project report that in order to operating business
operations more successful, it must required to have adequate support from managers and
leaders who have proper knowledgeable about adoption of different approaches and theories
for the betterment of an organisation. There are internal as well as external factors which
affects the business operation thus also must required to consider their impacts and
accordingly make an effective decision and plans in order to deal with them in an effective
and efficient manner.

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