Management and Operations Report: Leadership and Business Context

This report delves into the core concepts of management and operations, examining the distinct roles and characteristics of leaders and managers within an organizational context. It differentiates between leadership and management by applying relevant theories and models, such as situational leadership, systems leadership, and contingency leadership, and analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. The report uses Tesco as a case study to illustrate how these concepts apply in real-world scenarios, including product launches, employee performance analysis, and conflict management. Furthermore, it explores the factors within the business environment that impact operational management and decision-making, emphasizing the significance of operations management in achieving business objectives. The analysis covers how leaders and managers can improve operational efficiencies, providing a comprehensive understanding of effective management practices.

Management and
operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Different roles and characteristics of a leader as compared to a manager.............................3
Differentiate between role of leader and manager by applying theories and concepts..........5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in different
situational contexts.................................................................................................................5
Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency....................................................................................................6
Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches............................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
Explain the key approach different factors affect the business environment es to operations
management and the role that leaders and managers play.....................................................8
Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives.
................................................................................................................................................9
Leaders and managers can improve efficiencies of operational management.....................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational management
and decision-making by leaders and managers....................................................................11
How different factors affect business environment..............................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
A leader is the one that is responsible for binding up the whole process and the team
together. Leader acts as the small thread that binds the organisation and the team together. With
the help of the good leader the organisation is able to make their effective as well as the
ineffective team more and more competent and with the help of the leader they are able to make
them work with their full potential. The organisation that is selected for the completion of this
project is TESCO. TESCO was founded in the year 1919 and since then they have seen many
ups and downs in their business and they have overcome all of them with the help of effective
management and an effective leader. They are now the largest supermarket retail store in United
Kingdom and they have more than 6,000 store across the globe. They were only able to make
themselves this large was because of the fact, that they were having an efficient and effective
management to guide them.
This report includes the role and the type of leaders. This report will also throw some light
on the importance of management and on the models and the approaches that they are using in
order to remain the largest supermarket store in United Kingdom (Chapman, and Ellinger, 2019).
This part of report focuses on understanding importance of operations in organisation and how
effective operational management help organisation in achieving its goals and objectives. This
report help in understanding about different factors which affects business environment and help
in understanding about influence of these factors on organisation performance.
TASK 1
Different roles and characteristics of a leader as compared to a manager.
The success or the failure of the company is depended on the efficiency and the
effectiveness of the leader. So a leader is the one that is playing the most important role in the
organisation. A leader is the person who is having a different vision for seeing something. The
way the leader is doing the task is different because of the fact that the main aim of the leader is
to do the task with effectiveness and with efficiency. With the help of the effective leader
TESCO was able to make them the largest retail supermarket chain in United Kingdom. A good
leader is the one that can make the ineffective team to also work with their full potential. Leader
can make the team member to work with their full motivation and when only the motivation is

not enough, the leader can make connected with each other so that the work or the task that they
are in can be easily achieved (Chiarini, and Vagnoni, 2017).
Role and characteristics of a leader
 provide direction – leader in an organisation acts as the direction for them they are doing
the task that the radar is doing for the ship. Leader is the one that is guiding the whole
team to work together to achieve the organisational goals. With the help of the same the
TESCO was able to grow this big, as with the help of a leader they were able to achieve
their goals. A good leader can make the whole team goal oriented and can make them all
work effectively and efficiently toward achieving the goal.
 Communication – the things that make the difference between the effective and the
ineffective team is the communication that is happening in between the teams. It is the
responsibility of the leader to establish a good relation between the team, as with the help
of better communication the chances or the probability for making a mistake will be less.
With the help of effective communication Leader is able to bind the whole team together
(Cui, and Lu, 2021).
Difference between a leader and a manager
The role of the manager is similar to the role of a leader, but there are a few things on the
basis of which they can be distinguished. The few factors are as follows:
1. creation – the first and the most important thin g that distinguishes between the manager
and a leader is the thing that they are creating. A good and effective leader creates vision
within the teammates where as a competent manager creates goals for the team.
2. Originality – leader is the one that are having their own style and own method for
implementing something. The quality of Leader is original whereas the the methods and
the way used by the manager is copied.
3. Perception – leaders are the one that like to take risk and they also do their task keeping
in mind the long term objective and long term growth. Whereas the managers are the one
that do not like to take big risk and the decision that they make or the action that they
implement are all done in order to fulfil short term goals.

Differentiate between role of leader and manager by applying theories and concepts
Often roles of managers and leaders are considered same but there is a difference
between function which are performed by leaders and managers. Different role of leader and
manager are mentioned below:
Managers Leaders
Managers role is to set objectives of company. Leaders persuade objectives developed by the
managers.
Managers communicate policies and strategies
to leaders.
Leaders communicate and influence team
members to work according policies and
strategies.
Give direction to groups. Provide direction to team.
Focus on process Focus on people
Role of managers is planning in the
organisation (Diwas, 2020).
Role of leaders is to motivate employees to
work.
TASK 2
Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in different
situational contexts.
In an organisation there are different function and different department so there are also
various situation that arise during the functioning of them. During this time the difference
between the manager and a leader comes out. TESCO being the largest supermarket chain in
United Kingdom is having different department and there is various instance during their
function when the role of a leader and the function of the manager saves TESCO from having
losses. Some of the instances are as follows:
Launching a new product
during the launch of a new product there are various thing that are to be kept in mind like
the vision, which is been provided by the leader. Leader is the one that is responsible for the
creation of vision in the minds of the teammates, he is the one that lays the foundation of the new
product or lays the blueprint of the new product in the minds of the team mates. The function of

the manager starts from that point onwards as manager is the one that will assign the role to
different personal. Manager will be responsible for the attainment of goal with efficiency and
effectiveness (Hasle, Madsen, and Hansen, 2021).
Analysing employee performance
TESCO being a very large organisation, is having more than 600,000 employees working
for them, so for that they also have to give them appraisal from time to time and from period to
period and this can only be done with the help of analysing the performance of the employees.
For that the role of the leader is that, leader guides the management about the framework
whereas the manager is the one that will be under doing the task. Manager will perform the
analysis part and will provide the appraisal according to that.
Conflict management
TESCO being a large organisation might be having various situation where there was
conflict or difference in the opinion, so during this problem leader will be the one that will be
solving the problem from the root cause and the through this the leader will be able to again
establish a god communication between them. Leader can also solve this problem sample latest
through informal way. Whereas the manager will be the one that will make a proper process
regarding the conflict. Through this manager will be able to solve the problem and can also make
them achieve the organisational objectives. For solving the problem manager will proceed
formally (Huang, Potter, and Eyers, 2020).
Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency.
All the task or the things that the leader undertakes is all based on different types of
situation and the leader applies these theories on the basis of different theory and model. Some
of the theory and models are as follows: different factors affect the business environment
1. situational leadership- according to this theory, there are no special universal style that
can be applied everywhere, but what this theory or the model suggest is that the style or
the action can only be taken or can only be applied when the situation arises. This type
of leadership focus on the current situation.
2. System leadership – according to this theory there a set of skills and capability that the
individual or the organisation uses in order to catalyse, enable and support the process of
system level changes. It is the combination of different types of leadership.

3. Contingency leadership – according to this theory it states that not all leadership styles or
the leader are good at all the situation but the real effectiveness of a leader comes out
when a situation arises. This theory suggests that the effectiveness or the ineffectiveness
comes out when the situation changes. For instance, the leadership style of the leader
might be good during the conflict management but it is ineffective during operation, this
shows the effectiveness of the leader during contingent.
There are different type of leadership styles and leadership theory but the leaders of the
groups of TESCO are using the situational type of leadership and contingency type of leadership.
As with the help of these they were able to make themselves this large and they were also able to
change their type of leadership during the unforeseen circumstances.
Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches
Both leaders and manager have their own strengths which are useful for organisation and
it also help leaders and managers in understanding their strengths and help in self-evaluation for
their own growth and development. There are different strengths and weaknesses of managers
and leaders which are mentioned below:
Manager Strengths
Reliability
Managers work strengths includes work ethics and organisation reliability on manager
regarding solving issues and problems. Manager strengths includes getting the work done
without creating any problem and achieving goals and objectives which are expected by
organisation from their managers. It also helps in building trust between organisation and
manager. Reliability and dependability is based on trust between organisation and manager
because it is necessary to create trust between organisation and manager.
Organisation
Managers have capability of getting work done by organising and managing them
effectively and efficiently. Managers have skill to connect people in order to complete desired
goal and also have great understanding of work process which can contribute in achieving
desired goals and objectives.
Manager Weaknesses
Near-sightedness

Sometimes managers can have caught up in details that they get stuck and forget to look
for solutions and innovations which can assist organisation in achieving their goals and
objectives. Sometimes, managers forget to look for effective solutions to achieve desired goals.
Resistance to change
If managers get comfortable with system, managers tend to resist change to system.
Managers attitude regrading new changes in organisation sometimes can prevent organisation
growth and development which can organisation productivity and profitability
(Edwards,Maitland and Connor, 2017).
Leader Strengths
Inspiration
Effective leaders are focused towards their goals and objectives. They tend to be focused
about their ideas and values. It can help in motivating people to follow and also inspires them to
achieve goals and objectives which are expected of them. Inspiration is also necessary to
generate new ideas and thoughts which is very important in market which is focused on
innovation (Samson, 2020).
Brainstormed
Effective leaders focus on taking new approaches and focuses on making innovation by
new ideas and thoughts. Effective leaders also focus on solving problems by new ideas.
Leader weaknesses
Underestimation
Leaders often jump into new ideas and without doing much planning and it sometime
happens due to overconfidence of leaders or underestimation of situation or task. Effective
approach is needed to achieve goals and objectives of organisation which is sometimes ignored
by leaders.
TASK 3
Explain the key approach different factors affect the business environment es to operations
management and the role that leaders and managers play.
In an organisation the most important task for the manager or for the leaders is to
effectively manage the resources so that they can minimize the wastage and can make sure to
maximize the profit. This is where the term operation management comes up and this is the

administration of business practices to have the highest level or the maximum level of the
efficiency in the organisation. With the help of operation management TESCO was able to make
full use of their resources and was able to maximize their profit. TESCO applied various
approaches to operation management through which they were able to open so many outlets and
they were able to maximize the utilization of the workforce employed. The managers are the one
that checking that whether the goals were being achieved or not. Managers and the leaders are
responsible for the effective utilization of resources and leader is the one that will be making the
different factors affect the business environment roles clear to all the personal in the society and
they will also make sure that the team members are having a clear vision of the roles or the
objectives or not. The approaches of operation management that TESCO is using are as follows:
business process redesign – according to this approach the redesigning of all the current
process so as to attain a jump in the performance measure and to attain cost reduction
with quality of service. It was adopted by TESCO so that they can make the change in
their process and in their ways of action and though this they can also easily reduce the
overall cost. With the help of Business process redesign TESCO was able shorten various
process and cut the resource wasting tasks. Although this approach was costly but the
manages and the leaders were able to see the return on that investment that they will be
doing.
Six sigma – this is the approach that was used by TESCO so that they can find the defects
and that through this they can rectify them. The six sigma methodology is used in order
to to improve the mistakes that are being made in the current process. The role of the
managers or the leaders in this methodology is that they have to analyse all the process
and after analysing they have to discover the defect or the problems in the process. After
discovering they have to make the respective changes. Through this they find the root
cause of the problem and can rectify them with the help of innovative solution.
Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives.
Operations management is a very important task in an organisation as this will help them
in getting higher profits. Operation management is a type of theory so that the company can
increase the efficiency of their operations and can make them, more productive. Through the
help of operation management TESCO was able to achieve their current fame. The importance of
operation management are as follows:

 Better output – the operation manager of the firm is is having a very heavy impact on the
process of the organisation. Through the help of operation management the manger is
able to make better output of the firm. Operation management will eliminate all the
wasteful activities in the process of production. With the help of reducing the task they
were able to yield higher productivity . When they are able to make the full use of the
resources they are also making higher output. The higher production that they will be
doing is with the lower rates and lower defects.
 Higher profits – when the organisation with the help of operation management they are
able to produce more and more at cheaper rates then their profit will also be increasing.
Through the help of operation management TESCO was able to maximize the profit and
they were also able to reduce the overall cost.
 Competitive advantage – when the firm is able to make better output and are able to
increase their profit, so they will automatically gain the market share. They are proving
their customer’s better product at a cheaper price so most likely the customer will switch
from one particular brand to theirs. At lower cost they will be able to gain the competitive
advantage in the market.
 Minimize the errors – another most important task of operation management is that with
the help of operation management the organisation is able to minimize the defect in the
process and through this they will be able to make full utilization of their resources.
Through the help of operation management TESCO was able to cover up the losses and
turn them to their profit.
 Control – through the help of operation management TESCO was able to have better
control over ll the process. When the wastage is minimized and the process are
redesigned the manager is and the organisation is able to have better control over all, the
process and they are able to make all the process in an effective and efficient manner.
Leaders and managers can improve efficiencies of operational management
Leaders and managers can improve efficiencies of operational management by effective
implementation of strategies which includes time management and improve productivity. Leader
is responsible for management of team in an organisation which ensures productivity and
efficiency of team and focus on implementing different management techniques which are
related with reducing employees stress and time management. To achieve organisation goals and

objectives leader focuses on developing diverse leadership approach and it includes several
techniques and modern business operations revolves around several theories which are used by
leader and manager to improve efficiencies and these theories are mentioned below:
 Reconfigurable manufacturing system - This type of production system aims towards
accelerating change in structure, hardware and software components. This system helps
in adjusting with changing capacity of production and maintaining efficiency with system
changes.
 Lean manufacturing - It is explained as method of eliminating and reducing waste during
manufacturing process. This theory states that wastage of resources is result of uneven
workloads. This theory focuses on using resources only for creating value for consumer
and focuses on reducing wastage of resources.
 Business process redesign - It is explained as business management strategy that focuses
on analysing and developing effective workflow and business processes within an
organisation. This strategy helps in restructuring organisation and by developing effective
business process.
TASK 4
Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational management
and decision-making by leaders and managers.
There are various factors that will affect the operation management and the decision
making by the leaders. These factors can me internal or they can also be external, both these
factors are having a very high impact in the decision making and operational management by the
leader or the management. Some of these factors are as follows:
 Environmental factors – there are various things that re to be kept in mind while making
the decision. The main aim TESCO is to operate and of their task with sustainability.
While making the decision regarding the operation management the leaders and the
manager have to keep in mind that they care taking care of the environment. While
making the decision thy have to keep in mind the resources that are available for them
and they have to make sure that during their process they must carefully use the
resources.

 Technological factors – as the world is advancing very fast so is the technology, the firm
using the latest technology is able to make the full utilisation of the resources and through
the help of this they will also sometime have to change their decision. When a
organisation is using operational management they have to make sure that they are
making the optimum utilisation of the resources. When a new technology is entering the
market the technology is having all the means to make the fuller utilisation of the
resource. So the leader and the managers have to decide that they are willing to pay more
price in order to have the fuller utilisation of the resources.
How different factors affect business environment
Business environment involves various factors and every factor affects business firm in own
way and there are various factors which affect productivity and profitability of business. This
part of report focuses on different factors which affects business of TESCO and these factors are
mentioned below:
 Demographic environment - This environment includes different sub-factors such as age,
language, religion etc. Consumer taste and preference help organisation in understanding
their needs and wants to satisfy their consumer. TESCO focuses on understanding
providing products to their consumer according to their preference which help
organisation in retaining their consumer and engage new consumer with organisation.
 Economic Environment - This environment includes important factors such as economic
systems, policies and conditions. TESCO focuses on developing their strategies
according to current economic conditions of UK and focuses on utilising their resources
according to economic conditions of UK.
CONCLUSION
This part of report concludes about the roles and responsibilities of leaders and managers
in organisation and how their responsibilities are different from each other. This part also
concludes about role and responsibilities of leaders and managers in different organisation
situation and how their roles and responsibilities help organisation in achieving goals and
objectives. This part of report also concludes about effect of operations on business performance
and profitability. This report concludes about different business environment factors and how it
affects TESCO and its business and different approaches which are used by managers of TESCO