Report on Management and Operations: Unit 4 Analysis

This report delves into the core concepts of management and operations, focusing on the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers within an organization, using ALDI as a case study. It explores how these roles apply to various situational contexts, analyzing stable, moderate, and fast-changing scenarios. The report further examines different leadership and management models, providing insights into key approaches to operations management and their significance in achieving business objectives. Additionally, it discusses the impact of the business environment on operational management and decision-making, concluding with a comprehensive overview of the interrelation between leadership, management and operational strategies to achieve business goals. The report covers topics like roles and characteristics of managers and leaders, their applicability in different scenarios, various models of leadership, and key approaches to operations management and their importance in achieving business objectives.

Unit 4 Management and
Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1. Roles and characteristics of leaders and managers..........................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P2. How roles of leaders and managers are applicable in various situational context...........6
P3. Applying different models and theories of approach.......................................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P4. Key approaches to operations management and role played by managers and leaders...9
P5. Importance of operations management in achieving business objectives......................11
TASK4...........................................................................................................................................13
P6. Factors of business environment affect operational management and decision-making by
leaders and manager.............................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................16
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION
Operational management is defined as that operational area that put emphasis toward
designing as well as controlling the process related with production as well as delivery of
product or services that aims toward enhancing the productivity. ALDI is an international chain
of discount supermarket that maintains around 10000 stores in more than 20 countries
throughout the world. It offer variety of products related with the grocery items, household
essentials etc. This report contains a detail information regarding role and characteristics of a
leader and manager within an organisation(Adebiyi, Oyatoye and Amole, 2016). In addition to
this it also elaborates about the role of manager & leader with several situation with the help of
leadership and management theories. Apart from this it also explains about key approaches
related with operational management and importance that it holds within an organisation along
with the role that manager & leader plays in improving the managerial practices.
TASK 1
P1. Roles and characteristics of leaders and managers
Manager and leader both are consider to be a crucial role within an organisation by
guiding and directing employees toward the accomplishment of its aims and objectives. As
ALDI is planning to expand its business, it is very crucial for the organisation to manage the
employees work effectively so that expansion can become successful (Baxley and et.al., 2016).
Therefore the role of leaders and manager is consider to be a crucial factor that support in
accomplishing the organisational goals effectively.
Leader:- A leader within an organisation is one who hold up the capability to influence
the work and behaviour of employees. They plays a significant role in keeping the employees
motivated toward their job role (Bromiley and Rau, 2016). In context of ALDI, leaders are
responsible to keep on encouraging the employees to perform well and aligning their efforts in
right direction so that organisational objectives can be achieved along with their personal goals.
Some characteristics of a leader are mentioned below:
 Inspirational: - The leaders are considered to be inspirational who have the capability to
inspire its followers or employees to work in a particular direction toward the
accomplishment of organisational goal. The leaders of ALDI are responsible for inspiring

employees to work in certain manner by developing a sense of motivation among them
toward organisational goals.
 Innovative: - The leaders are one who brings up innovation practices within the
organisation to motivate the people and teach them new and better way to perform work.
The leaders of ALDI always try to bring changes in current practices in order to perform
them in more effective manner by regularly innovating the process of work.
 Relational: - The Leaders are responsible for maintaining relationship with employees so
that a better coordination can be presented toward accomplishment of assigned tasks. The
leaders of ALDI are responsible for mainating positive relatisonhip wuith employees so
that they get ideas regardinf the issues they are facing so that proper guidance and
support can be provided to employees for performing effectively.
Manager:- Manager is a person who is responsible for managing all the operational
activities within an organisation and ensuring its execution in such a manner that help in
achieving the aim behind it. In context of ALDI, while business expansion managers can give
instructions to their subordinate for performing task effectively (Burns, 2014). Some of the
common characteristics of a manager are mentioned below:
 Expert at executing tasks: - The managers remains experts over accomplishment for
task assigned to them related with their area of functional specialisation. The managers of
ALDI are experts at performing their task of department and also help responsible to
assign work to its employees and make them perform well.
 Operational experts: - The managers are expert in certain operations and on the basis of
this they are delegated with certain authorities. With the help of this the managers of
ALDI delegate the work to its subordinates and ensure its timely completion.
 Risk mitigating: - The managers are one who always try to mitigate from risk instead of
taking that particular risk. The managers of ALDI mainly formulate strategies or ensure a
regular check over employees work over several stages in order to product the risk in
advance and take action to avoid them.
 Project focused: - The managers only remain focused over a particular project or task
assignment to them instead of being focuses toward overall goal as leader do. The
managers of ALDI are responsible for formulating work strategies and ensuring the their

subordinates get clear understanding of it and perform in certain manner to make it
accomplish.
Hence, manager and leader both are essential for the management of operations
that get performed by its staff members toward set targets and goal that can be achieve on
timely manner. But both have difference in term of their roles and characteristics that can
be understood using following table:
Role Manager Leader
Change Manager is responsible for
formulation of strategy in order to
bring changes within organisation as
per requirement for managing
standard of performance. The
manager of ALDI is responsible for
updating and improving the
performance on regular basis by
developing strategy in order to
achieve competitive edge.
Main role of a leader is to
encourage people for brining
change to their regular practices
in order to enhance the quality of
operations. In ALDI leaders are
responsible for regularly brining
changes to the way they deal
with client to provide better
customer satisfaction.
Conflicts Manager is responsible for resolving
the conflicts among the employees
that get arises while working. On the
other side ALDI managers mainly
work toward assigning the work to
their subordinates as per their
capability and expectations so that
conflicts can be avoided.
Leaders are responsible for
taking conflicts as an asset to
bring up new ideas for improving
the performance of employees.
The leaders of ALDI usually try
to convert destructive conflicts
into constructive one that can
provide maximum benefit to
opposing party.
Characteristics Leader Manager
Risk taker Leaders always try to take risk as they Managers mainly try to avoid

consider failure is a step toward
achieving success. Leaders of ALDI
always focuses toward brining some
new factor in their services in order to
make them stand out of crowd and at
the same time offer satisfactory
services.
the risk and remain more
focused toward controlling the
risks that get arises. The
managers of ALDI focuses
toward avoiding risk as much
possible for ensuring smooth
execution of business
operations.
Visionary Leaders are visionary as they set visions
and then inspire their follower to work
in particular direction. The leaders of
ALDI create vision an then target its
employees to work over it for achieving
success (Chevalier and et.al., 2015).
Managers are one who
formulate plans for
accomplishing the goals set by
leaders. In ALDI, managers set
action plan for its employees
regarding the work toward
attainment of pre specified
goals.
TASK 2
P2. How roles of leaders and managers are applicable in various situational context.
Both leaders as well as manager are responsible for directing the employees in
organisation for achieving the desired outcome out of efforts. They contribute toward directing
over the actions that employees must taken into consideration for accomplishing the goal over
which they are working. There are number of situation that ALDI mainly faces as it deal win
retail industry where the competition is relatively higher and the choice of consumers also
changes on frequent basis (Cucoranu, 2015). These situation mainly hinder the employee's
performance and at that time the role of a manager is to formulate effective strategies that
support in managing the working standard. On the other side, the role of a leaders here is to keep
on motivating its followers to deal with the situation. The type of situation that may be faced by
ALDI while moving toward business expansion is mentioned below:
Stable situation:- It is as the situation in where an organisation has planned for
something new, but the demand of consumer is not changing frequently i.e. there remains a

certainty in situation. This situation can be faced by ALDI when it enter into a new market and
offers the product or services that are comes under the basic grocery items at discount that local
people mainly purchase. In this situation customers mainly attracted toward it due to low price
over their basic need products (Gibson and Parkman, 2018). Role of leader:- In this stable situation the main role of ALDI's leader is to ensure that it
employees remain motivated toward their work and serve customers effectively so that
they can be retained for the time when ALDI add some new products to their store
(Gillen, Jacquillat and Odoni, 2016). This support in achieving the desired performance
which bring maximum profit.
 Function of manager:- Under stable situation main function of a manager in ALDI is to
formulate strategies related with the actions performed by employees for achieving their
sales targets. They are also responsible for creating blue print of actions to be performed
by workers in order to convey them with the roles and responsibilities that each employee
have (Heizer, 2016).
Moderate situation:- This is a situation when some changes are required to be
anticipated within the operations of an organisation due to the changes that get arises within the
external business environment. These changes are not much frequent but are crucial for the
managing the market position of company. While expanding its business in another market,
ALDI may get into this situation if the technology used by new market is different as compare to
current technology of company. Therefore for getting sustainability at that marketplace, ALDI
required to brining changes in its operations. Role of leader:- Within this situation the main role of a leader in ALDI is to regularly
guiding and directing its employees regarding the method they must adopt for using new
technology to perform well. This support in enhancing performance as well as boosting
up the confidence of employees.
 Function of manager:- Under such situation manager of ALDI is responsible for
providing training to its employees in order to develop their understanding regarding the
procedure of using new technology. Another function of manager is to develop a team of
skilled and competent employees that can handle the new technology effectively.
Fast changes:- It is defined as the situation where plans and strategies over which
organisation perform its operations get changes frequently due to changes getting anticipated

within the external environment (Hitt, Xu and Carnes, 2016). ALDI deals within the retail sector
which is operated within dynamic environment where the demand of consumer changes
frequently and at the same time best offers also leads to brand switch due to the competition
which is relatively higher in market. Role of leader :- Under this situation the leader of ALDI is responsible to encourage its
employees in getting adaptable to the changes that are implementing with the
organisational operation as it is required in order to get stable within the marketplace and
deal with challenges.
 Function of a manager:- Under this frequent changing situation the manager of ALDI is
responsible for creating action plan in order to perform well as per the changing customer
demand. In addition to this the manager is also responsible for controlling and managing
the work that get performed by its employees for assessing their performance according
to the planned standard.
P3. Applying different models and theories of approach.
Leadership is defined as the group of activities that a leader perform in order to direct its
employees for accomplishing the organisational objectives. A leaders is mainly responsible for
performing several activities such as setting up the vision for organisation to move action toward
the direction of its success, enhancing the morale of its employees, guiding the employees over
the manner in which actions must be performed (Reid and Sanders, 2015). In order to expand its
business, Leaders of ALDI are required to keep its employees motivated and clear about their
actions to be performed. But for performing these leadership practices effectively, it can make
used of several leadership theory which are mentioned below: System leadership theory:- This theory mainly suggest that a leader must try to promote
an environment in its organisation that keep its employees of all level motivated to work
with their full potential for enhancing the productivity. In this theory leader mainly
focuses toward determining the behaviour of its employees for creating a leadership
model, organisational strategy, system design and social process. With the help of this
strategy the leaders of ALDI would be able to develop an effective system which leads
toward effective realisation of organisational objectives. For example, in order to
improve the sales practices, leaders can motivate its employees to cooperate with one

another while customer visit to supermarket so that they can be assist much effectively.
This help in keeping motivate toward work by developing environment of coordination. Contingency leadership theory:- This theory state that leader's effectiveness is depends
upon how their leadership style matches with the situation. At the time of its business
expansion, ALDI may face several issues, so at that time it must focuses toward finding
out best leadership style which is suitable as per the situation and help in getting positive
outcome (Reid and Sanders, 2019). For example, due to external challenges ALDI have
to bring changes in its operations which sometimes not get implemented by employees
effectively. So, in order to implement those changes effectively the leaders of ALDI can
get strict and adopt autocratic leadership style where their order are being implemented
by eth employees that results into final execution of change.
 Situational Leadership:- This theory mainly suggest that an effectiveness of leadership is
totally depends over the adaptability of leader's style as per the situation currently
present. As ALDI wants to expand its business in new market for further growth, so the
leaders must focuses toward adopting leadership style as per the situation present in front
of them instead of sticking to a common leadership style. As each market is different in
term of its requirement. For example, in order to develop a new culture in ALDI to
effectively comply with its expansion plan, the leader can adopt democratic leadership
style where employees are given with full right to keep tgeir views. This help in keeping
them engaged in work and at the same time help in motivating to work toward main goal.
TASK 3
P4. Key approaches to operations management and role played by managers and leaders
Operations management refers to administration of practices of business in order to create
highest level of efficiency and effectiveness in management. It is concerned with an objective of
maximisation of profits of an organisation. For this proper management has to be done between
costs and revenue so that the operating profit of the company can be increased. The approaches
of operations management which are used managers and leaders of ALDI are-
Kaizen- It is a strategy where workers of a company work together to facilitate
improvements in the process of manufacturing. In other words, it means combining talents of
different people working in an organisation to achieve the goals and targets of organisation.

Events of Kaizen are setting objectives, reviewing and developing plan for improvements,
implementing improvements, reviewing and fixing and reporting results. The managers of ALDI
can adopt this strategy so that it can bring effectiveness and productivity in functioning of the
enterprise (Saucedo-Martínez and et.al., 2018) (Siryani, Mazzuchi and Sarkani, 2015) (Slack and
Brandon-Jones, 2018) (Song and Parola, 2015). The leaders of ALDI can implement this strategy
by properly directing workers and subordinates about the tasks which they have to achieve and
constantly motivating them for the same. They must periodically review the work of employees
pointing out their inefficiencies and mistakes if any. They should give directions to workers on
bringing improvements in their work.
Total Quality Management- It is a process of detecting the regular errors and mistakes
which happen in the process of manufacturing, managing supplies and bringing an improvement
in customer's experience. In the context of ALDI, its managers can use this strategy to ensure
that goods that are being produced are of good quality. The leaders of ALDI can implement this
strategy by supervising the production work personally and ensuring that subordinates are
working properly by following the instructions. Internal standards must be set so that production
occurs according to them. Comparison must be then made by comparison of actual performance
with these standards to find deficiencies which must be rectified. They should ensure that
productivity of workers isn't affected and production process is conducted smoothly.
Six Sigma- It is a methodology which aims at making business processes more effective
and efficient. It has tools and techniques which facilitate decrease in variances in outputs,
removal of defects occurred in manufacturing and identifying reasons of errors. For, ALDI
adopting this method is important if it wants to streamline its operations. The managers of ALDI
can implement this strategy by that the organisation follows its two methods i.e. DMAIC and
DMADV. Use of both these methods will enhance the level of efficiency, effectiveness and
productivity. The leaders of ALDI can use this strategy by setting such goals which can be
achieved, improving the processes in the enterprise and controlling the processes. Also, they can
use Five Whys approach to get to the root cause of problem, CTQ diagram which breaks down
the components of a process (Saucedo-Martínez and et.al., 2018).
Just in time: - It is an inventory management system where the material, labour and
good which is to be used for manufacturing are re-filled or scheduled in order to arrive exactly
when needed in the manufacturing process. It minimises the requirement of carrying the

voluminous inventory and carrying out other related cost with manufacturing. ALDI can adopt
this in its operational process reduce wastage and enhance efficiency in inventory management
by keeping the stock when it is required so that carrying cost can be reduced and wastage can be
avoided.
Lean production: - It is a customer centric approach that work toward improving the
process by eliminating waste and focusing over the value-added tasks. By adopting this startgy
the ALDI would be able to identifying those practices or process that can be eliminated which
are unproductive and involve only such practices that leads to maximum outcome.
P5. Importance of operations management in achieving business objectives
Operation management is consider as the main part of an organisation which work
toward managing and controlling the activities within an organisation. It control all the activities
such as operations, designing and maintenance related with the business system that all
contribute toward manufacturing of products. In context of ALDI, operational management is
main function as it focuses toward maintaining the quality of its offerings and provide it in
timely manner. In addition to this it also support in developing a positive image of ALDI in
market value by ensuring the access of right product as per the requirement of consumer.
Different aspects of operation management are mentioned below:
 Control and Distribution system: - The control system is about collecting information
for evaluating performance of different resources like human, physical and financial.
While distribution system is about overlooking the operations performed by consolidation
of these resource and delivering the final product to consumer. The control and
distribution system are holds importance for ALDI in operation management as it help in
ensuring that there remains full utilisation of resources by avoiding wastage that causes
expenditure of company. Other then this it also helps in assuring that the products can
supplied to the customers as per their need which support ALDI in forming value in front
of consumers.
 Process design: - It is about the formation of a strategic procedure through which eth
operations can be performed in line with the accomplishment of organisational
objectives. The effective process design will be beneficial for ALDI as it help in brining
efficiency within work. This in turn further support in creating value as when the

employees are being guide to perform work in certain manner the repetition of process
will help in reducing the chances of error.
 Capacity management: - It refers to the process of ensuring a business maximizing its
potential activities and production output in all the conditions. With the capacity
management, ALDI get benefited in term of maintaining higher stock to cater the
changing and increasing demand of customers. This capacity management will also help
in creating value among customers by providing services as per their demand.
 Logistics and inventory management: - It is a process of ordering, storing and using the
inventory of organisation at its optimal. This become possible only with the help of
effective logistic management by ensuring timely supply of material. By effective
management of Logistics and inventory, ALDI will be benefited with increase in its sales
and revenue as customers get products as per their requirement on timely manner.
The important value of operation management is mentioned below:
 Management of quality:- The operation management leads to manage quality of
product with total quality management, six sigma, just-in-time, etc. which facilitates in
qualitative products. Managers of Aldi organisation are mostly benefited with quality
management of inventory as consumers prefers to purchase qualitative products at least
cost which results in maximisation of profits.
 Increase production:- The operation management plays a very important role in
increasing production as more consumption of products by consumers. Managers of Aldi
organisation gets benefited with increase in production because of increase in demand
creates increase in supply through more production (Siryani, Mazzuchi and Sarkani,
2015).
 Maximisation of profits:- The operation management creates good results in
maximisation of profits with reduction in cost and improvement in qualitative products.
Managers of Aldi are motivated to have maximisation of profits with increase in sale and
production of products for success by achieving organisational objectives.
 Consumer satisfaction:- The operation management is essentially important for
organisation to achieve its goal with consumer satisfaction. Managers of Aldi have to
focus on the satisfaction of consumers by fulfilling the need, desire and wants of their
customers through product quality.