Leadership and Operational Management at Marks and Spencer

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and management practices at Marks & Spencer (M&S). It begins with an introduction to the importance of management and operations in today's competitive business environment, followed by a discussion of the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers. The report delves into the decisional and interpersonal roles of managers, the characteristics of both managers and leaders, and the key differences between them. It then explores the roles of leaders and managers in various situational contexts, such as training and the introduction of new technology. The report also examines different leadership theories, including situational leadership, contingency theory, and system leadership theory, as well as the consultative leadership style employed by M&S. Furthermore, the report analyzes the key approaches to operations management, the importance of operations management in achieving business objectives, and the impact of environmental factors on operational management and decision-making. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and implications for M&S's management and operational strategies.

Management and
Operation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Definition and comparison of different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager
.....................................................................................................................................................3
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................5
P2 Role of leader and function of manager in various situational context.................................5
P3 Theories and several approaches of leadership......................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P4 Key approaches to operations management and the duty that manager and leader play ......7
P5 Importance of operation management in achieving business objective.................................8
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P6. Impact of environmental factors on operational management and decision making..........10
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1
.........................................................................................................................................................2

INTRODUCTION
In today's competitive business environment, management and operations has attained
immense importance due to consumers being aware and particular for quality. Management is a
process of achieving organisation's goals by working with and through people and various other
resources(Ashby, Leat, and Hudson-Smith, 2012). Operations on other side is associated with
design, operation and enhancement of business system that is responsible for producing and
delivering firm's products and services. Marks and Spencer (M&S) is a British multinational
company founded in 1884 with its headquarters in London, UK. The brand mainly deals in
clothing, home products and luxury food items etc. The project will discuss about the roles and
functions of leaders and managers along with its implication in reference to M&S. Also, it will
discuss several theories and approaches applied by leaders and various factors that impacts
operational management and decision making of the firm.
TASK 1
P1 Definition and comparison of different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager
M&S is a one of the largest and renowned retail brand that is seen as one of the most
coordinated and efficiently managed company. It employees more than 84939 proficient
professionals and 2000 suppliers that are well coordinated and efficient in handling its various
business operations.
Manager: Manager is a person who is solely responsible for unifying efforts of its
workforce and to direct them for achieving company's goals. Also they are accountable for
conducting various business functions comprising planning, organizing, commanding,
coordinating and controlling.
Role of Manager:
Decisional Role: Under decisional role, M&S managers are responsible for carrying out
various functions such as allocation of physical, human and finance resources to firms various
divisions. They are also expected to undertake role of an entrepreneur i.e. to be an innovator and
creator(Ashutosh, Chang, and Mutalik, Actifio Inc, 2016)Fulfilling their decisional role and
responsibilities, mangers of M&S are also expected to negotiate with outsiders and inside staff
on behalf of company on certain issues related to conditions of employment,for receiving various
benefits and facilities for business diversification from government etc.

Interpersonal Role: Under this role, managers of M&S are responsible to maintain proper
cooperation and coordination among its workforce by guiding and supporting them in their work.
Also they are looked upon to be figurehead in introducing changes and alterations in business
operations in reference to changes that are prevailing in market.
(Source: Role of Managers: Way of Doing Business,2017)
Characteristics of Managers
Personal Characteristics: There are certain personal characteristics that managers of
M&S are expected to posses in order to enhance their interactions with its workforce and others.
These desirable qualities helps managers to make their staff to feel comfortable to share their
problems, issues and opinions(Benzarti, Sahin and Dallery, 2013) . It includes managers to be
self motivated to encourage others, optimistic, confident, calm, flexible, reliable and to have
integrity.
Business Characteristics: These characteristics involves manger to posses skills related
to money and time management, to have knowledge related to legal implications, busienss
hierarchy etc. that managers of M&S are requisite to have in order to be effective in performing
their roles and responsibilities.
Leader: A leader is an individual who is having capabilities to inspire and influence its
subordinates or other people to work autonomously together as a team for successfully achieving
their personal and professional objectives.
Illustration 1: Role of Managers:
Way of Doing Business

Role of Leader
As friend, philosopher and guide: These three are most prominent roles that leaders of
M&S are required to have in order to gain support and trust of its workforce. They are expected
to act as a friend with employees so that they feel comfortable to share their feelings, opinions
and desires. They are also to take up role of a philosopher in where they provide directions and
guide their team mates by utilizing their experience and knowledge related to particular area of
work.
Act as representative: Another major role undertake by leaders of M&S is to represent
their departments or company in various business related seminars, conferences and general
meetings etc.
Characteristic of Leaders
Communication Skills: One of the most prominent characteristic that M&S leaders
possess is proficiency in communication skills. It is essential to have command over language
and to be effective in sharing company's vision, mission and objectives with the employees.
Communication plays a major part in this aspect as it helps leaders to clearly provide direction,
share their thoughts and to motivate and inspire their team mates to give their best efforts by
explaining them their role and importance in company and in its activities.
Motivator: Another major role of leaders of M&S is to influence and inspire their
employees by encouraging them to be have faith in their capabilities and to be proactive in taking
higher challenges.
Difference between leaders and managers:
BASIS FOR
COMPARISON
MANAGER LEADER
Roles Role of managers is to delegate duties
and roles to their employees. They also
provide directions and instructions to
adopt a particular course of action for
attaining desired outcomes(Bititci and et.
al., 2011).
Leaders are required to play
the role of motivators who
influences employees and
induce their KSA through
training so that they can work
unitedly towards performing a
specific task within deadlines

Responsibilities managers are responsible for controlling
the entire work efficiency and
performance of functions of business
including planing, organizing, staffing
and to control.
Responsibility of leaders on
other hand is to encourage their
team members to have
confidence in their potential
and to work with zeal together
as a team to complete an
assigned task.
TASK 2
P2 Role of leader and function of manager in various situational context
In M&S, managers and leaders forms integral part in firm's operations as they work
together in collaboration in planing out various strategies and activities consulting and discussing
with each other so that proper synchronization between their strategies and action plans can be
made. This make it easy for workforce to execute their work as per instructions provided without
getting confused about whom they have to follow(Bromiley and Rau, 2016).
SITUATION: M&S is a global brand which maintains a good product portfolio. Thus, it
is of utmost importance for firm to maintain and improve its market share which requires
efficiency in its operations and management. Thus, managers and leaders of M&S belonging to
various department maintain proper communication and coordination for introducing innovation
and to formulate new tactics in context to changes occurring in market dynamics. Out of various
situations where roles and functions of leaders and managers seems to be different yet
complementing to its each other certain most common business situations are explained below: Training: In case of providing training both leaders and managers of M&S have different
parts to play(Galloway, Rowbotham and Azhashemi, 2012). Leaders are responsible for
identifying professional competencies and personal needs of their employees. Leaders
then coordinates with departmental managers who then design and formulate proper
training program for their new as well existing employees. Thus both of them work
together to develop proficient team having right knowledge, skills and abilities to carry
out present and future tasks.
 Introduction of new technology in firm: To maintain quality of its products and
performance and productivity of its business operations M&S remains proactive in

introducing new and advance technology in its process. The function of managers of
M&S in this situation is to analyze its business environment and latest techniques that are
been launched in their and are utilized by its rivals. By identifying opportunities manger
playing figurehead introduces innovation and modification in organization. Leader in
here plays the role of change agent and supports management to implement these
alterations in business system. In here they explains need for firm to adopt these changes
and also their associated benefits. Thus, in this manner they encourage employees to
adopt and absorb these changes by providing them with proper guidance and direction
through training for effectively handling new techniques(Graham and et. al., 2010).
Thus, managers and leaders work together for applying changes without facing resistance
from workforce.
P3 Theories and several approaches of leadership
There are various different leadership approaches and theories that are been implemented
by the mangers and leaders by analyzing a particular scenario, prevailing market situations and
theories that can provide maximum advantage in different circumstances:
Situational Leadership: This theory states that there is no perfect leadership style
suitable for every situation and thus it is the capability of leaders to alter their style according to
employees they are dealing with and the situation present at that moment. Thus, adopting this
style, leaders of M&S self adjust and modify their action plan according to development level of
their employees. Thus, leaders encourages its staff by identifying and analyzing their present
knowledge and intellectual level and then provide them instructions which they can easily
understand and follow. Therefore it helps company to maintain a professional workforce that
ultimately leads to enhancement in firm's growth and productivity levels.
Strength
 It is one of the simplest and easy style to be understand and adopted by managers. Also, it helps in developing cordial relationship between mangers and their workforce.
Weakness
 It create pressure for mangers and individuals to be flexible for adopting various
situations effectively.
Contingency Theory: This theory states that effectiveness and efficiency of leadership
style is directly impacted by situation that is prevailing in current business market. It thus implies

that effectiveness of leadership style is also impacted by capability of a leader to handle a
situation rather than only upon the style adopted for leading by them(Mullins, Walker and Boyd
Jr, 2012). Thus by applying this theory, M&S leaders self analyze their own abilities and
competencies in order to have better understanding of a situation to mange it effectively and
efficiently.
Strength
 It is a flexible approach.
 This method helps in identifying the potential of leaders for a particular group.
Disadvantage: This strategy is reactive not proactive
System leadership Theory : This theory is also known as social system theory that
defines an organization as system having several sub system. The mangers of M&S give special
emphasis to enhance efficiency of their internal department along with developing coordination
with other divisions of an enterprise so that business could achieved more success and growth.
Strength
The main advantage of this approach is that it enhances firm's adaptability to changes in market
dynamics as it studies organization as a whole system rather than just a small unit.
Weakness
This theory is not suitable for smaller company as it assumes and take into consideration big,
open and complex systems.
Leadership Theory
Consultative Leadership Style: M&S follows consultative leadership style where leaders
before implementing any decision ask opinion and view of their employees. Although final
authority for taking any decision stays with the manger/leader. Applying this style,
mangers/leaders organize group meetings take feedback and view of its employees before finally
enforcing them.
M&S follows consultative management style where mangers encourages it team to give
their opinion on a particular business matters before implementing it. For this they conduct group
meetings to take feedback and views of their employees prior applying it. Although the final
authority to execute the decision remains with the manger/leaders. Also, company applies a
combination of the leadership theories where in it switch to implement mix of these theories. For

instance it make use of situational theory to alter its leadership style in accordance to prevailing
problem or scenario besides adopting contingency leadership style where in mangers adopts style
that is most understandable to its employees in accordance with their intellectual and
development level. Thus, company choose a particular theory or style of leadership depend upon
the requirement of its employees and business. This assists M&S to have benefit of having
motivated workforce who are well versed with their roles and responsibilities, having right
guidance and direction to attain their assigned goals effectively and efficiently. Therefore it
ultimately results in enhancing the work performance and productivity of business operations.
TASK 3
P4 Key approaches to operations management and the duty that manager and leader play
Operations management is an effective area of management related with designing and
monitoring the production process and redesigning business operations and activities while doing
manufacture of services or goods. It is valuable and essential concept for the M&S in to
maximise customer base and sales in the organisation. There are different approaches to
operational management and in which leader and manager of the respective firm play vital and
significant role. Some approaches in which duty of administrator and manager are determined
are mentioned below:
Lean production: This is depicted as a systematic process of production to reduce the
waste of resources (Rajan and et. al., 2014). Further, it support the company to maintain services
and product quality which assist them to fulfil basis needs of the customer. The role of leaders
and mangers of M&S in here .
Six Sigma: It is another important approach which is applied to minimise the probability
or chance that a decision taken by administration will be misleading. It is a symbol of risk and
are applied to take an effective decisions or conclusion along with the failure risk. This
evaluation enables the managers or leaders in taking more appropriate decisions.
Continuous process improvement: M&S mainly emphasize on decreasing changeability
from the quality services. In this, manager of the organisation require to predict the output from
the process(Ramasamy and et. al., 2014). An organisation respond speedily to clients demand
and need which means they emphasis more giving training class to their workforce in relation of
making them knowingness the wants and requirement of target audience effectively.

Total Quality Management: It is a process that emphasis on attaining audience
satisfaction by giving them high quality in their service and products. Beside this, leader and
manager of M&S actively involves in enhancing services, process, product and culture in which
are are transacting. It is an effective method that laid tension on integrating the quality
improvement, development and quality maintenance of various group of organisation. Thus, it is
essential for the company to achieve better outcomes.
Just-in-time: It is also known as an inventory method which is applied by the business
manager and leader to maximise effectiveness of production process and reduce wastage of
products. Thus, it is more appropriate and essential for the business to attract large number of
customers and gain competitive advantages within an organisation. The role and responsibilities
of mangers in here is to formulate long and cordial relationship with its consumers.
Roles of leader:
 They provide direction and proper guidance to their subordinates so that they can
perform their duties in right manner and product maximum benefits for company.
 Another major role of leaders of M&S in this regard is to identify the personal needs and
professional requirements and to provide them with requisite training in order to make
them confident and proficient to fulfil their present and future task related requirements.
 They act as representatives and represent their companies in business seminars,
conferences, meetings, etc.
Role of Manager:
 They formulate missions and objectives for their company and brief about the activities
that will be performed by employees.
 They recruit and hire talented people for the company that can maximise their profits and
revenues.
P5 Importance of operation management in achieving business objective
Operational management refers to the management of task in an organisation so that they
can perform more efficiently and effectively. It includes planning, organising, managing and
controlling the production and manufacturing process. It is beneficial in improving the
productivity and on time delivery of goods and services(Importance of operational management.
2018). Operational management help Mark & Spencer in aligning the product as per the

customer's requirement. Following are the importance of operational management within the
organisation:-
Increase the production:- It helps in bringing efficiency in activities and methods that
are used in production process which in turn will enhance the productivity of the
company(Wachtel and Dexter, 2010). Mark & Spencer managers uses different strategies in
order to inspire their employees that help them in identifying new and effective way to perform
operations which help in reducing cost and increasing the quality of products.
Customer satisfaction:- This is the most essential factor of a company as it have a great
impact over the profitability of an organisation. A business always tries to produce good of
superior quality and as per the requirement of users in order to achieve better customer
satisfaction. Mark & Spencer managers provide various benefits and offers to their customers
which help company in creating long term relation with their clients. It assist in development of
the company and in maximizing the profit, they can also get suggestions for improvement from
their customers(Zangiski and da Costa, 2013).
Long term benefit :- One of the major function of operational management is to help
manager in maintaining the quality of product and services which results in higher customer
satisfaction. These customers in turn will assists in increasing the number of customers by
positive word of mouth, as they communicate their experience with their co-worker, peers and
colleagues which contribute toward increasing the overall sale and profitability of Mark &
Spencer. So, it is a primary responsibility of every manager to motivate its workforce in such a
way that they can retain customers for longer period.
Accomplishment of objectives :- The main objective of every organisation is to offer
product according to the customers requirement in order to achieve higher customer satisfaction
which in turn will provide maximum benefit to the company. This can be achieve through
producing quality product and delivering value to the customer. Mark & Spencer managers
formulate various strategies and plan which provides direction to their workforce for performing
tasks assign to them. This help M&S in achieving their goals and objective more efficiently and
in timely manner.
Inter-departmental integration:- Operational management is very essential part of an
organisation as it assist in maintaining efficiency in managerial operations by integrating various
departments of a company. For instance managers of Mark & Spencer formulate various

strategies and ensures that all the functional unit involve in project must know their role and
responsibilities(Bititci and et. al., 2011). The manager assigns work among different department
in order to avoid conflicts among workers, as for achieving organisational goal proper
coordination & communication among different units is very essential.
Thus, managers and leaders work coordinately in improving and increasing the
operational efficiency of M&S by making sure that all divisions are working together having
integrated approach for attaining firms overall objectives of providing customer satisfaction by
maintaining quality of its products and services that are been offered to them.
TASK 4
P6. Impact of environmental factors on operational management and decision making
There are various types of factors that exist in business environment that are internal and
external factors which affects the decision making of business organisation.
Internal factors: There are the components that internally affects the functioning and operations
of an organisation(Benzarti, Sahin and Dallery, 2013). These elements may be managed and
controlled by the manager of company. Some of the internal factors are mentioned below:
 Competitors: This factor of business environment impacts the overall operations of an
enterprise. Competitors of M&S are those companies who are dealing in same product
which are offered by Marks & Spencer. Therefore, if company wants to achieve
competitive advantage then they are required to analyze their competitors and formulate
strategies as per the practices of rivalry firm.
 Customers: It is very necessary for firm to focus on customers needs and wants as they
are considered as king of marketplace. M&S provide quality goods and services in an
affordable price which leads to customer satisfaction.
 Suppliers: They plays important role in an organisation as suppliers provide raw
materials which can be used at the time of manufacturing. So company must pay them on
time and fairly.
 Employees: These are considered to be asset of the company so company must provide
them fair wages, bonuses and incentives. Employees plays important role in the growth

and success of an enterprise(Ashutosh, Chang and Mutalik, Actifio 2016). The
profitability is directly dependent on the productivity of workers so it is very essential to
make them feel valuable and satisfied. M&S engage their employees in decision making
process and also appreciate their contribution.
External factors: These are the factors that affects the decision making of company. It has
indirect control on the overall activities and operations of M&S.
External factors are mentioned below:
 Political factors: The element which is related to pressure that are created by legislative
and government bodies that affects the decision making of tan enterprise. Factors that are
involved in this are tax policies, labour laws, trade restrictions. Political factor has great
impact on the M&S it is because currently in UK, the consumer debt and government
obligation are relatively very high(Bromiley and Rau 2016). This affects the consumer
attitude and company experiences pressure.
 Economic factors: This another element of macro environment that affects the decision
making which is taken by manager of M&S. Economical component influence the
demand, cost, price and profitability of an organisation. As there in economic slowdown
in UK there is growth in unemployment and inflation. So it results in decrease in the
demand of M&S products which results in reduction in manufacturing process.
 Social factors: These elements are related to the demographics, work ethics, attitudes,
beliefs, life style trends, media view of the industry affects the decision making and
operations of the organisation. M&S are providing initiatives supports to the surrounding
communities which helps in cutting down the internal cost.
 Technological factors: It is the one of the major element that affects the organisational
decisions. The factors which are involved in this component are technological aspects,
innovation and various other factors which greatly impacts the company. Up gradation
and using advance technology have a positive impact on the M&S(Galloway,
Rowbotham and Azhashemi, 2012). There may be growth potential in web based and
online operations in business. Online activities allows the company to expand their ability
in the growing demands of their products and services.
M&S efficient operational management system assist firm in successfully handling both
its internal and external factors that are likeable to affect its productivity and sustainability.

Thus , it is critical for mangers and leaders together to make sure that all legislation related to
every aspects of business is being followed, quality of its goods and services are maintained,
CSR policies are designed and implemented and there is use of latest technology in firm's
operations. All this helps firm to cope up with its micro and macro factors in best possible and
profitable way.
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned report it has been concluded that operation management in the
organisation play vital and effective role in the development and growth or organisation. For
achievement of this, leader and manager play effective role in making effective decision about
implementing strategy and policy. There are different leadership theories which assist the leader
to deal with difficult situation easily as well as motivate their entire employees. Along with this,
various key approaches to operational management benefited to the company to maximise their
profitability and productivity ratio. In this internal and external factor within an environment also
impact on the decision-making by leader or manager and operational management. For M&S to
maintain its position in the market it is recommended to pay emphasis on developing its
operation management system through bringing more automation and mechanization in its
process by adopting latest technology.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ashby, A., Leat, M. and Hudson-Smith, M., 2012. Making connections: a review of supply chain
management and sustainability literature. Supply Chain Management: An International
Journal. 17(5). pp.497-516.
Ashutosh, A., Chang, D. F. and Mutalik, M., Actifio Inc, 2016. System and method for
performing a plurality of prescribed data management functions in a manner that
reduces redundant access operations to primary storage. U.S. Patent 9,372,758.
Benzarti, E., Sahin, E. and Dallery, Y., 2013. Operations management applied to home care
services: Analysis of the districting problem. Decision Support Systems. 55(2). pp.587-
598.
Bititci, U. S. and et. al., 2011. Managerial processes: an operations management perspective
towards dynamic capabilities. Production Planning and Control. 22(2). pp.157-173.
Bromiley, P. and Rau, D., 2016. Operations management and the resource based view: Another
view. Journal of Operations Management. 41. pp.95-106.
Galloway, L., Rowbotham, F. and Azhashemi, M., 2012. Operations management in context.
Routledge.
Graham, R. L. and et. al., 2010, May. ConnectX-2 InfiniBand management queues: First
investigation of the new support for network offloaded collective operations. In Cluster,
Cloud and Grid Computing (CCGrid), 2010 10th IEEE/ACM International Conference
on (pp. 53-62). IEEE.
Mullins, J., Walker, O. C. and Boyd Jr, H. W., 2012. Marketing management: A strategic
decision-making approach. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Rajan, S.N. and et. al., 2014. Performing power management operations. U.S. Patent 8,667,312.
Ramasamy, S. and et. al., 2014. Next generation flight management system for real-time
trajectory based operations. Applied Mechanics and Materials. 629, pp.344-349.
Wachtel, R. E. and Dexter, F., 2010. Review of behavioral operations experimental studies of
newsvendor problems for operating room management. Anesthesia & Analgesia.
110(6). pp.1698-1710.
Zangiski, M. A. D. S. G., de Lima, E. P. and da Costa, S. E. G., 2013. Organizational competence
building and development: Contributions to operations management. International
Journal of Production Economics. 144(1). pp.76-89.
Online
Importance of operational management. 2018. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/explain-importance-role-operations-
management-355104 >.