Wilko Retail Ltd: Management and Operations Report - HNC Unit 4

This report delves into the management and operations of Wilko Retail Ltd, examining the roles of leaders and managers within the company. It explores how leadership and management functions apply in various situations, such as introducing new products and engaging employees. The report applies leadership theories like situational leadership, system theory, and contingency theory to the context of Wilko. Furthermore, it explains key approaches to operations management, including operational management, lean production, just-in-time, and total quality management, and assesses their importance in achieving business objectives. The report also evaluates the factors within the business environment that influence operational management and decision-making by leaders and managers, offering a comprehensive overview of the subject matter.

Unit 4 - Management
and Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
TASK-2 ...........................................................................................................................................3
LO2..................................................................................................................................................3
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts..................................................................................................3
P3. Apply different theories and models ...............................................................................4
LO3..................................................................................................................................................6
P4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and
managers play.........................................................................................................................6
P5 Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business
objectives................................................................................................................................7
LO4..................................................................................................................................................8
P6 Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational
management and decision-making by leaders and managers.................................................8
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Management in any company plays major role in the growth and success of a company.
Management of the company focuses on the planning, staffing, organising and controlling of the
activities that are to take place in the company. Both managers and the leaders in the company
helps with the management and the functioning of the company. Both managers and the leader
have different work to which they are obliged (Weiand and Akinci 2019). The main aim of any
business is to achieve growth and earn profit. This aim and objectives of the company are
achieved by the role and the management duties of the leaders and the managers. This report
consist of operations and management of the Wilko retail Ltd, this company founded in 1930 by
James Kemsey Wilkinson. Company is based in England, UK and they have different category
of products such as consumer goods, DIY stationery, Basic Groceries, per supplies and toiletries.
United kingdom. This report helps in examining the functions and roles of a leader and the
manger in the company.
MAIN BODY
TASK-2
LO2
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts.
In an organisation it is very important that the leaders are following their roles and the
manager is functioning all the functions of the company. Wilko company is one of the leading
fashion retailer therefore it is important that the leaders and the mangers fulfil their roles and
responsibilities.
Situational examples in context with the roles and functions of a leader respectively of a
company are as follows:
Situation: 1 Introducing New Products
For any organisation it is important that they come up with new ideas and make
variations in their products and services (Nader 2019). This will help company in increasing its
growth by attracting more customers by introducing new ideas in the market. Wilko company are
focus on attracting more customers by introducing new products in the market. The roles of the

leader and the functions of the managers in the introduction of the new product in the market are
as follows: Roles of Leader: the role of the leader is that they prepare strategies which are to be
followed by the employees that will help them with the introduction of the new product
in the market. They will also motivate employees and give them time frame in which they
have to complete the set goals. Functions of Managers: The company managers monitor that the task are performed
efficiently. They see to it that the objectives set to finish the new product are completed
and up to the mark. The managers manage all the functions starting from the inventories
to the end result of it.
Situation: 2 Engagement of Employees
This is the very important thing which any business organisation must focus upon.
Employee engagement helps in maintaining the efficiency of the employees at the company.
Wilko company are also focusing on the engagement of the employees so that the company give
good results and make sure that the employees are working efficiently. The role of the leaders
and the function of the managers in the engagement of the employees are as follows: Role of leaders: The leaders of the company try to always motivate its employees and
make them feel comfortable at the workplace (Maand Zhang 2017). Leaders guide them
and provide assistance to reach the desired target they are expected to complete.
 Functions of managers: The managers at the company implement policies that helps
employee to know the behaviour which is expected out from them and also how they are
suppose to work in an organisation.
P3. Apply different theories and models
Leadership theories are very important as by applying these theories leaders mange and
function the working of the company in an effective manner. This helps company to easily
achieve its target. Leadership theories with respect to the Wilko company are as follows:
Situational Leadership
This is the type of leadership in which a leader follow no particular style. The leadership
depends on the current situations of the company and there is no fix style which a company
follows. With respect to Wilko company , there are many factors which affect the leadership
style of a leader and upon which the style is dependent. They are:

 Telling: In this, the leaders tell their employees the ways in which they are suppose to
work. The leaders try to provide with the exact details and all the relevant information
which is important for the employees to know. This way Wilko company inform its
employees about the work to be done with its details. Selling: In this the leaders provide the employees with a clear picture of the company.
This helps Wilko company to specify work to be done by the employees. Delegating: this is the style in which leaders delegate their work or responsibilities.
Similarly in Wilko company the leaders may delegate its power so that the employees
feel more responsible. Participating: This is the type in which leaders try to involve its employees and ask for
their opinions. At Wilko company, employees are involved in the decision making of the
company and also they are asked for their opinions.
System Theory
It is that leadership theory in which all the situations at the company is analysed and
leaders do not only focus on single object of the company (Ahmad, et, al., 2021). The leaders
focus on the relationships of the employees and the management with each other and then
accordingly make decisions. This theory develops a hypothesis of the characteristics and then
accordingly decides the ways in which they are suppose to work in the organisation to achieve
the goals and targets of the company. This theory helps in the training of the employees which
increases their skills and the way they think. At Wilko company, the company also use this
theory so that the efficiency of the employees are increased. This also prepare employees to work
in conditions which are demanding.
Contingency Theory
The theory of contingency is given by Fiedldr's. This theory says that the company shall
not only focus on that area of the company which is shoeing more growth. The company instead
should focus on those areas too which needs more work upon them to be done. This helps in
preparation of the employees to face new challenges in the company. The same theory is also
applied at the Wilko company.

LO3
P4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and
managers play.
The operations and the management of the company are monitored and taken care by the
managers and leaders in an organisation. The approaches in which managers and the leaders
manage and operate business are explained below. Operational Management: In this the management and the operations of the company
are planned and strategies are made so that the efficiency of the production increases. A
company in its planning use least and minimum resources available and work in
accordance to the need and preferences of the customers
(Kayikci 2019). At Wilko, the company has trained its employees to use least resources
possible and provide increased production. The leaders and mangers are taking all the
necessary steps required to run and manage the company. Lean Production: This is one of the best method which a company must adopt. In this
method, a company stores its waste which was declined in the process of production and
such declined waste is again utilised by the company (Huang, 2020) . This is very useful
and sustainable process which helps in utilising the resources carefully. At Wilko , the
company is using this method to save its resources and working for sustainable
development. Just-in-time: This process is type of an inventory method and is commonly known as
JIT. This is the method the company make the inventory list which helps them to know
the raw materials used in the company and also of the remaining material left. At Wilko
company, managers and leaders record all the inventories and then plan to use them
accordingly. This method is helping company to utilise all the resources efficiently while
keeping record of it.
 Total Quality Management: This is the method in which a company analyse the quality
of the products and also it analyse the employee abilities to work and give good quality.
This factor is very important for any business and the customers do not compromise with
the quality of the products. At Wilko company, it also focuses on the quality of the
product and by taking help of the employee, company is successfully maintaining its

standards. By this the managers and leaders are motivating employees to work hard
which results in higher productivity.
P5 Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business
objectives.
Operational Management is very important part in any organisation. It helps in achieving
the set goals and objectives of the company by making proper planning and strategies which is
later implemented. The process of managing operations helps a company is planning the
budgets. Wilko company also have good operations management which is managed by the
managers and the leaders. Capacity management: The company with the help of its managers and leaders analyse
the qualities of the employees working at the company in different areas (Celik, 2017). N
order to make the work happen at the company efficiently it is important that the
employees are made capable and more skill in their work. Wilko company is also
managing its capacity of the employees by providing them with proper training and
enhancing their skills. Raising Quality of products: The companies to grow more and be successful, always try
to raise the quality of the products and also the company makes lots of effort in
improving the quality of existing products. For this the leaders and the managers try to
make strategies and planning which help them with the increase of the quality of the
product. The company Wilko is a leading brand which is constantly trying to maintain
and improving its quality and giving best product to the customers. This is helping them
to attract more customers. Resource Utilisation: It is important that the company try to save its resources and utilise
all the resources without wasting. This can be done by the managers and the leaders by
making strategies with relation to the saving of resources and utilising it properly and
making sustainable environment. Similar act is done by the company Wilko. The
company is using its resources in minimum amount and also is giving increased and
quality production.
 Satisfaction of Customers: The main objective of a company is to make sales and
provide satisfaction to the customers buying it. The companies are mainly focused on the
fact that they have to satisfy the needs and preferences of the customers. As customers

are the only people who are helping the company with generation of the profit. At Wilko
company also the company is focused on satisfying the needs of the customers by giving
them best quality they deserve.
LO4
P6 Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational
management and decision-making by leaders and managers.
As being ascertained there are some factors that use to be covered in order to framing of
the operational management there are internal and external factors (de Sousa Jabbour, et,
al.,2018). As throughput by the companies Wilko company in the retail company and it has
certain impacts over the environmental factors:
Internal factors Finance- All the organisation use to create all the factors that are being important for the
production as there has been seen that all the managers use to focus on the growth of the
company by leading and raising much of the funds that can be implied and helps in the
growth. Wilko company raise there finance sector by merging out all the funds from the
stakeholders and banks. Marketing- All the managers aims to promote there product with there growth bas by
making the product thereby being available in the markets. As the company tends to have
various teams that helps in the promotion and development by advertising and marketing
the companies products. Wilko company has a skilled marketing strategical approach as
they tries to enhance there market in various areas by promoting it through different
platforms and making it reach out on all kind of individual.
 Stakeholder- Wilko company reach out to various stakeholders and try to maintain a
good relation with them. As the managers tries to explain and frame various meeting with
the stakeholders of the company and they persuades all the essential areas and elements
that is variably being important for the organisation in its growth and development.
Stakeholders helps out to frame various funds and the equity capital as to reach out to
more customers and people. In all way seems possible.
External Factor
PESTLE analysis is entrusted with the role to analyse the macro factors so that the
company can move ahead towards growth. It consists of six factors which includes political,

social, environmental, legal, economic and technological. In the context of Wilko company, two
important factors they are discussed below : Technological factors- The company normally grow with the support of the external
factors which are essential as the market in today's time is rapidly growing and the
organisations are taken the help of technology which are available in the environment
(Guo, 2018) . Wilko company is using many technologies so that it can beat the
competition prevailing in the market. For instance it uses digital marketing channels to
attract large audience in short span of time. The company have created many teams
which ensure that working is done in an effective manner so that marketing strategies can
help in growth and success of the company.
 Social Factors- It is related to those factors which influences the working of the
company as their offering majorly depends upon the social factors like age, preference,
culture, etc (Edwards, Maitland and Connor, 2017) . As there is change in environment,
the companies are shifting to produce or offer such products or service which attracts the
large customers. Wilko company deals in such product line which can satisfy its
customers and help in customer retention. It uses various strategies like online stores so
that its offering is reached to all.
Hence, these two factors help the company to grow and leads to impact the working of
the company as well as the market. The managers tries to build and maintain their brand image
and the leaders and managers tends identify such areas which can motivate the workforce so that
they can come with such ideas which can check the efficiency of the market conditions.
CONCLUSION
From this above report it is summarised that, Operational management plays an vital role
in the success and growth of the company. He organisations uses many leadership style which
helps in maintaining the growth and productivity. Every leadership style have its importance
like situational or systematic which are important to enhance the efficiency of the company and
gives it advancement. The managers and leaders are very important asset for the organisations as
they play an important role for the success and also trains the workers. Just in time and the
capacity management supports the management in maintaining and leading the company towards
the productivity and efficiency.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aboubakar, et, al., 2020, April. Using machine learning to estimate the optimal transmission
range for RPL networks. In NOMS 2020-2020 IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and
Management Symposium (pp. 1-5). IEEE.
Ahmad, et, al., 2021. Blockchain applications and architectures for port operations and logistics
management. Research in Transportation Business & Management, p.100620.
Celik, E., 2017. A cause and effect relationship model for location of temporary shelters in
disaster operations management. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 22,
pp.257-268.
de Sousa Jabbour, et, al.,2018. Industry 4.0 and the circular economy: a proposed research
agenda and original roadmap for sustainable operations. Annals of Operations
Research, 270(1), pp.273-286.
Edwards, B., Maitland, A. and Connor, S., 2017. Measurement error in survey operations
management. Total survey error in practice.
Guo, S., Choi, T.M., Shen, B. and Jung, S., 2018. Inventory management in mass customization
operations: A review. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 66(3), pp.412-
428.
Huang, S., Potter, A. and Eyers, D., 2020. Social media in operations and supply chain
management: State-of-the-Art and research directions. International Journal of
Production Research, 58(6), pp.1893-1925.
Kayikci, Y., 2019. E-Commerce in logistics and supply chain management. In Advanced
Methodologies and Technologies in Business Operations and Management (pp. 1015-
1026). Igi Global.
Ma, Y. and Zhang, H., 2017. Enhancing knowledge management and decision-making
capability of China’s emergency operations center using big data. Intelligent
Automation & Soft Computing, pp.1-8.
Naderi, et, al., 2019. Sustainable operations management for industry 4.0 and its social
return. IFAC-PapersOnLine, 52(13), pp.457-462.
Sarkis, J. ed., 2017. Greener manufacturing and operations: From design to delivery and back.
Routledge.
Wang, et, al., 2019, September. An sdn-based nat traversal mechanism for end-to-end iot
networking. In 2019 20th Asia-Pacific Network Operations and Management
Symposium (APNOMS) (pp. 1-4). IEEE.
Wang, et, al., 2020, April. OVS-DPDK port mirroring via NIC offloading. In NOMS 2020-2020
IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium (pp. 1-2). IEEE.
Wei, Y. and Akinci, B., 2019. A vision and learning-based indoor localization and semantic
mapping framework for facility operations and management. Automation in
Construction, 107, p.102915.