Management and Operation: Leadership, Management, and Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of management and operation, focusing on the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers within the context of Marks & Spencer. It defines and compares leadership and management, exploring their application in various situational contexts, including structural changes, strategic shifts, and the opening of new branches. The report delves into different leadership theories, such as situational, strategic, and transformational leadership, and applies them to the business scenarios. It also examines key approaches to operations management, the importance of operational efficiency in achieving business objectives, and the impact of the business environment on decision-making. Furthermore, it assesses different management theories, including chaos theory and Theory X and Y, alongside situational, systems, and contingency approaches. The report concludes with recommendations for organizational improvements, providing a well-rounded view of leadership and management in the retail sector.

Running head: MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION
MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION
Name
Institution’s Name

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Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................4
P1 Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager...........................5
Give introduction to the organization you have chosen and describe its management structure..............5
Note the command verb ‘Define ‘& ‘Compare’. Define Leader and Manager........................................5
Compare the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers...............................................................5
Analyze the roles of leadership and function of manager through different management theory and
practices...................................................................................................................................................6
Be critical in analysing and evaluating the different theories and approaches to leadership in the
business context chosen by you...............................................................................................................6
P2 Examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in different situational
context.........................................................................................................................................................7
Different decisive situations of the business............................................................................................7
The managerial function related to the proposed situation.......................................................................8
The role of leaders and explain how a leader could do things differently in such situations....................8
P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, System leadership
and contingency...........................................................................................................................................9
The different leadership approaches with reference to the proposed business situations.........................9
Roles of leadership and management functions have developed through different theories of
management..........................................................................................................................................10
The leadership and management functions in the situational, system based and contingency approach 10
The strengths and weaknesses of different approaches mentioned above to the situations within the
given business environment...................................................................................................................11
Assess the different approaches in different situations..........................................................................12
P4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and managers play
with reference to the chosen organization..................................................................................................12
An introduction to the key operations of the organization.....................................................................13
Details of each of the key operational functions....................................................................................13
Explain the key operational approaches to operations management......................................................14
Explain the roles played leaders and managers in your chosen organization to apply the key operational
approaches listed above.........................................................................................................................15
P5- Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives with
special reference to the chosen scenario....................................................................................................15

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Explain the importance of operation management.................................................................................15
What value it adds to the success of the business..................................................................................16
How operational efficiencies can be improved to successfully meet business objectives using
appropriate management and leadership approaches.............................................................................16
Evaluate how leaders and managers can improve efficiencies of operational management to
successfully meet business objectives....................................................................................................16
P6- Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational management and
decision-making by Leaders and managers with reference to the chosen organization.............................17
An evaluation of the impact of external business environment factors on your chosen business...........17
Evaluate how leaders and managers should account for the above factors in making operational and
management decisions...........................................................................................................................18
Analyze how these different factors affect the business environment and wider community................18
Critically evaluate application of operations management and these factors on the wider business
environment...........................................................................................................................................19
Make appropriate recommendations to be taken by the organization for future improvements.............20
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................21
References.............................................................................................................................................22

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Introduction
Operational management is very crucial in the business environment. It can be said that the
operations in the business environment is as much effective as any other crucial factors of the
business. It is the operations of the business that can be decisive in having the success in business
field.

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P1 Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager
Give introduction to the organization you have chosen and describe its management
structure
Marks & Spencer has been giving its servitude in the retail sector for many years. It is mainly a
UK based company with over eighty thousand employees and more than eight hundred stores
only in UK. The company has many branches in different part of the world.
Note the command verb ‘Define ‘& ‘Compare’. Define Leader and Manager
Leaders: The leaders are the one who motivates and takes care of the employees in the field of
work. They are the one who show the correct path of work as far as the working field is
concerned.
Managers: They are the ones who manage the changes and create new ideas for the sake of the
company. They are not concerned about the employees; they are concerned about their works
and results of the outcomes.
Compare the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers
There many differences in the roles of the leaders and the managers and they are as follows,
 Leaders have followers and managers have employees
 Leaders lead and the mangers suggests
 Leaders build teams whereas the managers build reputations.
 Managers make changes and the leaders implement the changes.

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Analyze the roles of leadership and function of manager through different management
theory and practices
The roles and responsibilities of the leaders can be described by situational, contingency, system-
based or strategic management theories. The leaders have to take the decisions and motivate the
employees based on the theories in order to be effective in the field.
Be critical in analysing and evaluating the different theories and approaches to leadership
in the business context chosen by you
 M&S may have different situations where the new branches are going to take place.
Transformational leadership theory will be appropriate to control the environment of the
new business branch.
 If the company decides to change the structure of the business then structural or system-
based theory will applicable in that particular situation (Belenzon, & Tsolmon, 2015).
 If M&S want to make new strategies, strategic theory will best to describe the situation.
They will be able to build the strategies based on the theory.

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P2 Examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in different
situational context
Different decisive situations of the business
Marks & Spencer is a renowned company in the retail business environment and has been giving
its servitude for many years. The organization has faced many marketing situation depending on
which they have brought many changes in the business environment. The changing situations in
this case can be considered as the decisive situations. The decisive situations are as follows,
Change in the structure of the business: There is a structure for every single business
depending on which the business builds their particular strategies. The business needs to change
its structure when the scenario of the market is changed. The departments of the organization are
needed to be rebuilt and the process of work also gets the necessary changes (Bhuiyan, 2014).
Decision to change the business strategies: The business strategies are mainly taken depending
on the market research and market condition. The demands and needs of the customers also play
decisive roles in the field of the business. This is the place where the business actually plans to

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set the strategies. Sometimes the changes in the needs and demands affect the strategies and the
organization changes the strategies depending upon the conditions.
Decision to open new branches: This is the situation where many customers in different places
of the country demand to get the servitude of the company. Marks & Spencer must consider the
demand of the customers and they must approach to open new branches where the demands and
needs of the products are very high.
The managerial function related to the proposed situation
The managers of the company play vital roles in order to handle the above mentioned situation.
There are three situations that can be decisive in the field of the business. First of all when the
business approaches to change the structure of the business the managers take all responsibilities
in order to develop the new structure of the business which suits the changes in the market.
Secondly the managers are the one who design the new strategies of the business if the old
strategies stop working in the marketing field. The managers are the one who make the decision
to open up new branches in the places where the demand of the products of the company is high.
The role of leaders and explain how a leader could do things differently in such situations
The leaders are the ones who take care of the organizational works and the employees of the
company. It can be said that the role of the leaders are very crucial in the field of the business.
They are the ones who actually motivate and help the employees to survive different change
situations. It is the capabilities of the leaders that help the employees to work under tremendous
pressure (Brüning, 2010). It doesn’t matter whether it is a structural change or a strategic change,

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the leaders always set a path of work and the employees reach their business objectives by
following that particular path.
P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership,
System leadership and contingency.
The different leadership approaches with reference to the proposed business situations
There are different styles of leadership theories among them three theories are perfect to describe
the different situations of the business. The theories are as follows,
Situational leadership: To handle the changes in the structure of the business the leaders always
tend to follow the situational leadership theory. In this theory the leaders always decide the
movements depending on the situation of the organization. Of the organization wants to change
the structure of the company then the leaders will also take necessary steps that suit the structural
change.
Strategic Leadership: This leadership theory tells a leader to take the decisions based on the
strategies of the company (Jankowska, 2012). It can be said that the leaders must make the
necessary movements but the movements must be linked up with the strategies of the company.
Transformational leadership: In this leadership approach the leaders always try to divide the
responsibilities and the duties with the eligible employees of the company. In this case if M&S
tends to open a new branch where the demand is high then the leaders must give responsibilities
to other experienced employee. That particular employee will act as a leader in that new branch.

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Roles of leadership and management functions have developed through different theories
of management
There are various types of management theories starting from the traditional theories to modern
theories. The leaders of the organization sometimes follow the theories in order to develop the
leadership and the management function in the working environment. The theories are as
follows,
Chaos Theory
This theory actually tells about the change of the company or the organization. It says that the
change in the organizational environment is inevitable. The leaders and the managers of the
company must take the decisions and control the environment based on the change of the
company.
Theory X and Theory Y
These two theories see the organizational activity from two different points of views. Theory X
actually says that the workers of the company are automatically motivated to work in the
organizational environment whereas Theory Y suggests the leaders and the managers of the
company to motivate the employees or the workers in all new ways in order to maintain the work
flow (Media, 2014).
The leadership and management functions in the situational, system based and contingency
approach

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Situational Theory
This management theory actually says the leaders and the managers to take the decisions and
build the strategies based on the situation of the company. It is obvious that the situations of the
organization keep on changing depending on the market surroundings so the leaders and the
managers must take their decisions based on the situations only.
Systems Theory
In this theory of management the managers and the leaders are always aware of the situations of
the company and they always keep a close look that how the changes in the systems are affecting
the workers. Based on this they take their decisions.
Contingency Theory
This theory of management actually tells the leaders and the managers to take new decisions for
new situations. The theory does not say to take the same decision for different situation so the
leaders and the managers of the company must follow the trend of the theory (Media, 2015).
The strengths and weaknesses of different approaches mentioned above to the situations
within the given business environment
Strengths
 The theories always aware of the situations of the organization so these theories are very
handy in the changing situations.
 Helps the leaders and the mangers to take their decisions.

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 The workers and the employees of the company get all the assistance from the leaders
and the mangers that follow these theories.
Weaknesses
 The theories are old and conventional. Sometimes these theories do not fit the modern
companies, so are not as much effective as they are likely to be.
 The employees and the workers sometimes are told to take their own decisions and that is
where the main problems rise.
Assess the different approaches in different situations
Situational theory can be very effective if the organization is making any changes in the
strategies. It means that the theory and its suggestions will help the company to make effective
decisions in the changing situations (Nomination of Elaine C. Duke, 2009).
Contingency theory helps the organizational leaders and managers to take new decisions for new
situations. It has many effects in terms of the success of the organization.
System theory actually helps the organization in taking important decisions to rebuild the system
and its structure. It can be said that the theory is very effective and can play decisive role in the
part of building the system.
P4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and
managers play with reference to the chosen organization