Analysis of Leadership and Operations at Marks and Spencer

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and operational management within Marks and Spencer (M&S), a leading UK retailer. It begins by differentiating between managers and leaders, highlighting their roles, characteristics, and similarities, and then delves into the application of Fayol's five functions of management (planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling) within the context of M&S. The report further examines various leadership theories, including situational, system, and contingency leadership, assessing their relevance and applicability to M&S's operational environment. Task 2 of the report explores different approaches to operations management, the role of a store manager at M&S, the significance of operations management, and external factors impacting operations. The report concludes with recommendations for M&S, emphasizing effective communication, situational leadership, and the implementation of Fayol's principles to achieve organizational objectives. The report also highlights the importance of considering external factors in decision-making.

Management and Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
SCENARIO 1...................................................................................................................................1
Overview of a company..............................................................................................................1
Differences and similarities between managers and leader........................................................1
Presenting the functions of manager according to Fayol............................................................3
Presenting different leadership theories......................................................................................5
Recommendations.......................................................................................................................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
SCENARIO 2...................................................................................................................................7
Different approaches of operations management........................................................................7
Role of a store manager in M&S.................................................................................................8
Importance of operations management.......................................................................................8
External factor that affect operational management in M&S...................................................10
Presenting how these factors impact upon decision-making....................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Management is a process which is dealing or controlling things as well as employees in
the company on the other side operation management is that area which is concern with the
process of production and redesigning business operations for production of goods and services.
The chosen company for this report is Marks and Spencer which is one of the leading retail
company in UK. Currently the company has 979 stores and also offers different variety of foods
as well as clothes to their customers at low and affordable price. Report present the differences
and similarities between leader and managers and further describe situational, system and
contingency leadership of M&S. It also describe the importance of operation management and
characteristics of store manager as well as different key factors that affect operation management
of M&S and how these factors impact upon decision-making as a store manager of a company.
TASK 1
SCENARIO 1
Overview of a company
Marks and Spencer is one of the major multinational retailer company in UK and it is
specializes in selling of clothing, home products as well as food products. Company follow flat
organizational structure under which it has limited levels of management between administrative
level as well as front line employees. This management structure helps to encourage employees
in more decision-making process. M&S has more than 900 stores in all over world in which 600
stores only sell food products.
Differences and similarities between managers and leader
Basis Leaders Managers
Characteristics  Leaders are always honest to
their work and they also have
the ability to delegate.
 Strong confidence that helps
them to lead a company in
positive direction
(Characteristics of leader,
 The manager of M&S must
have the experience in
professional environment and
also in leading a team.
 Manager also have good
communication skills which is
actually required for producing
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2018).
 Their positive attitude
towards a work also help
them to lead a team in right
direction.
 They also have the ability to
inspire others so that it will
help to achieve all defined
goals in prescribed time.
 They also have good
communication skills which
aid them to easily influence
others.
 They have a strong vision
which makes them differ
from other peoples.
 They always motivate the
employees for their extra
outstanding performance.
best results.
 Time management is the
another characteristics which a
manager of M&S posses and
they also be reliable to lead a
team in more specific way.
 They should also respect their
employees and communicate
with them in proper way such
that it helps them to fulfil the
demands of their employees
(Battaïa and et.al., 2018).
 Organization is another
characteristic which manager
of M&S also have and they
also have the ability of
delegation.
Roles  Leader are the representative
of an organization and they
have to represent the concern
at seminars, conferences and
general meeting.
 They also develop strategy
which the team can use to
achieve the defined goals.
 Provide training to their
employees whenever they
needed.
 Also listen to team members
 Manager of M&S assign job
responsibilities of their team
members and also monitor
whether the work is completed
or not.
 Also hire the staff and fire if
the employee is not work
accordingly.
 Monitor the performance and
also initiate the action in order
to strengthen the result.
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and take feedback
 also manage the flow of the
day to day operations.
 Motivate their employees for
better performance.
 Tracking and reporting
scorecard results to senior
management.
Similarities: The main aim of leaders as well as manager of a company is to attain all
defined goals and objectives of a company and that is why they both perform their function in
different ways. They both supervise the groups or teams and also evaluate the working
performance of their employees and also responsible for results too (Shiffman and et.al., 2018).
Have good and effective communication that further helps to convince their employees for well
performance. Both manager and leaders of Marks and Spencer provide training sessions to their
employees in order to raise their working performance and helps to attain all defined goals.
Presenting the functions of manager according to Fayol
According to Fayol, managers of M&S should have these five functions and this are
mentioned below:
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Planning: As per henry Fayol, it is the first function which managers of M&S should
have. Planning with respect to time and implementation and it should be linked with proper
coordination at different levels of planning. Even the planning can be taken with organization's
available resources and flexibility of personnel into considerations (Cárdenas Escorcia, Valencia
Ochoa and Acevedo, 2018). Therefore, management of the company must be plan and schedule
every part of industrial process.
Organizing: It means that all parts of a company must work together and after proper
planning, the effective authority of M&S relationships among selected work and work place in
order to work together in a group in an effective way. Organizing is the function key of managers
and organizational structure with a good divisions of functions is also important. If the function
of a company is increases then the organization also expand into horizontally as well as
vertically.
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Illustration 1: Function of Fayol
Source: Five Functions of Management (Fayol)

Commanding: If proper orders and commands will given to their employees, then
employees of M&S should also come to know what exactly is required by the company. For
example, if managers of a company will guide properly to their employees then they will do the
activities accordingly. The manager of M&S have integrity, communicate clearly and take
decision on the basis of regular audits. Therefore, they are able to motivate their employees for
their better performance.
Coordinating: a better communication will help to take better decision for the company
and if the activities are harmonized then M&S will function better (Carnall, 2018). Coordination
main aim is to stimulating motivation and discipline with the group and it further requires
communication and good leadership strategy that will help to attain all defined objective.
Controlling: It is the last function according to Fayol by verifying whether the activities
are run as per the plan or not. Control process is taken up in four process:
 By establishing performance standards which are based on the objectives.
 Comparing past and current performance
 measure and report on actual performance
 take corrective actions as per requirement.
Management Principles of Fayol
Division of work : In this first principle of Fayol suggesting that, employees are
specialized in different areas and they have different unique skills. M&S divides their employee
work according to the needs and wants of the individual person. Different number of specialise
person can help to make the better growth of development.
Authority and Responsibility : Management has authority to work in full of authority
and in effective manner to make the long term result goals. According to the best management
approachable target performance goals. Overall, it helps me to bring new development areas and
best approachable target market performance.
Discipline : This principle defines the importance of obedience it also focusses on core values of
a mission and vision in the form of good conduct and respectful interactions. This management
principles is essential and is seen as the oil to make the engine of an organisation run smoothly.
 Unity of Command
 Unity Direction
 Subordinates of individual interest
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 Remuneration
 The Degree of Centralization
 Scalar Chain
 Order
 Equity
 Stability of personnel
 Initiative participation
 Esprit de corps
Presenting different leadership theories
Situational Leadership: This theory states that there is no single leadership style is best
and it all depends upon the situation that leader opted which leadership style as per the situation.
According to this theory, the most effective leader of M&S is that who is able to adapt their style
to a situation and also look at evidence, such as type of task and nature of group (Álvarez-Santos
and et.al., 2018). As per this, there are four basic leadership style and this are:
 Telling: In this style, leader of a company will tell that what people have to do and how
to complete the assigned work because individual lack of specific skills for the job in
hand.
 Selling: Leaders of a company will sell their ideas in order to get their team members to
buy that idea into a process. Through this, the members of a company will start
interacting with each other and perform.
 Participating: In this approach, leaders of a company will offer less direction and also
allow their team members to take more active role so that they will come up with more
innovative ideas and better decision-making process.
 Delegating: Under this, group members of a team will involve themselves and also take
most of the decision by their own without any permissions. Therefore it is not used by
M&S.
System Leadership: In this, organization structure is consider as a complex system in
which the organization function have been carried out accordingly (Gijo, Palod and Antony,
2018). This types of leadership enables the leaders of an organization to creates the condition in
which the people at all level can do the work in more productive way. According to this theory,
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the leaders of system leadership theory, is implies a more collective act from people in multiple
organization as well as variety of levels.
Contingency Leadership: According to this theory, the leaders' effectiveness is actually
depended upon how his or her leadership style is actually matches up with the situation and this
will also help to attain the defined goals in prescribed time. According to this theory, the
situation is defined into three factors such as: this theory can also be more helpful and productive
for the development growth of M&S.
Leader member relation: It is measure in the hierarchies and if the subordinates have
trust, confidence then it is positive.
Task Structure: It is measure upon the clarity of the task and their methods to achieve
the end products and there should be clear guidelines to follow and progressed ().
Positional power: It is a measure of amount in which the leader has to influences the
productivity of the followers whether he can be reward or punish.
Recommendations
 Marks and Spencer have an effective leaders and they should have good communication
skills that help to convince their employees in order to attain all defined goals of a
company.
 Company's management structure should be effective and leader must follow situational
leadership style so that it will help them to opt best leadership style as per the situation.
 It is also recommended to M&S that Managers of a company should follow Fayol
principle so that it will help them to achieve the objectives of a company.
TASK 2
SCENARIO 2
Different approaches of operations management
Operational Management: It is an area which is actually concerned with the designing
and controlling of business operations. OM is the process which help to convert the input into
output. There are many approaches of operational management and some of them are as follows:
Six Sigma: This is one of the most common approach that is also used by M&S. It is a
set of techniques and tools which is used to improve the quality of goods which are produced to
the customers (Noori and Latifi, 2018). It is an approach that is actually help to improve the
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quality of output by identifying as well as removing the cause of defects and minimizing the
variability in manufacturing and business process. If M&S will use this approach then it will help
to remove all the causes of a company. This style or approach of operation management is very
much useful to enhance the quality performance of product and services. This can be useful for
M&S by creating customer loyalty and faith on the brand.
Lean production: It is another most common approach which is actually focus on
cutting out waste in order to enhance their quality. It is based upon five process such as:
 Identify the value from the customer's perspective
 Map the value stream
 Create flow
 establish a pull system
 Monitor the perfection by continual process improvement (Lean Production, 2018).
By using lean production, M&S will control excess inventory, over production of the
products and defects which require efforts and cost for corrections. Therefore, this approach will
help to reduce the waste and maximizes the production that further help to raise company's
profitability. Lean approach of operation management can easily develop the logistic
management of approach to full fill the best management deal and long term target performance.
More apart it also helps to sustained the long term goals to make the best outcomes.
Total Quality Approach: It is an operational management approach that is also used by
M&S for long term success by using customer satisfaction. This is also based upon some
principle such as customer focused, total employee involvement, process centered, integrated
system, continual improvement and communications (Muruganantham and et.al., 2018). This
approach is help to improve the quality of offered products to the customers. If this system is
uses by the company then it will help to improve the system in well and effective way.
M&S uses lean production approach for operational management because it will help to
cutting out waste in order to enhance their product's quality. Through this approach, M&S will
easily enhances their quality of products and also maintain the inventory of the company that
further help to reduce the over production. Total quality management can improves the overall
performance and loop foals of M&S by evaluating the best technical growth services.
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Role of a store manager in M&S
Store manager of M&S have their own importance such that they are responsible for the
following such as:
 Store manager must have the skills related to customer service such that they must know
how to deal with the public and they should also have well communication skills that
makes different from others.
 Also have the experience of sales so that they can easily convince the customers and
realize their needs (Argenti, 2018).
 The store manager of M&S must have the employee management skills and they should
also provide employee operations manual and also provide training when necessary. They
also responsible and be able to accurately estimate the needs of each store and solve the
conflicts and also assess that scheduling needs are met or not.
 By making effective inventory which is also a part of operational store manager and
should forecast sales figure and inventory requirement. This analysis is used to determine
how much each product is used and which product is help to maximizes profit the most.
 Store manager is only responsible for maintaining the overall image of the store and by
keeping the store clean and managing the things in an appropriate way will help to attract
wide range of customers towards them.
 Store manager is also responsible for managing the assets of the store and even the safety
and security is also monitor by store managers (Store manager responsibility, 2018). It is
the responsibility of store manager to make their customer feel safe and comfortable in
the store.
Importance of operations management
Operational management have their own importance in M&S such that it helps to convert
the inputs into output. The main purpose of operational management is to run the business
operations in successful manner by using minimum resources and meeting customer
expectations. Therefore, it is the most important factor that helps to increases the company's
profit. The importance is as follows:
 Operational management mainly handles the issues like design, operations and
improvement of the system and it has clear management responsibilities such as
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