Analysis of Leadership and Management Roles at Marks & Spencer

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Management and Operations
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................. 3
LO1 Differentiate between the role of a leader and the function of a manager...........4
LO2 Apply the role of a leader and the function of a manager in given contexts........8
LO3 Demonstrate an appreciation of the role leaders and managers play in the
operations function of an organisation......................................................................10
LO4 Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between leadership and
management in a contemporary business environment............................................13
Conclusion................................................................................................................ 16
Reference List...........................................................................................................17
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Introduction
Management can be defined as the process of formulating plans, managing,
organising, and controlling business operations effectively and skilfully for achieving
the targets of the company. Effectiveness in management is achieved when the
employees help the organisation to pursue their desired goals. On the other hand,
efficiency in management is achieved when the employees perform the right tasks
for the benefit of the organisation. In this report, the various roles of the leaders and
managers will be discussed that is needed for the development of an organisation.
The study will be carried out on Marks & Spencer.
Marks & Spencer is a renowned multinational retail organisation that is successfully
carrying out its business operation all over the world. The organisation has its
headquarters in UK. Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer founded the organisation
in the year 1884 (Marksandspencer.com. 2019). In the context of this company,
various management, and leadership, roles will be discussed that has been
experienced in different situations. Moreover, various behavioural theories and
classical theories will be discussed that will help the organisation to enhance their
performance and attain sustainable growth.
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LO1 Differentiate between the role of a leader and the function of a manager.
P1 Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a
manager.
In order to differentiate between the role of a leader and function of a manager, it is
necessary to understand the meaning of leadership and management. Leadership is
quality that should be possessed by every leader of the organisation. The capability
of influencing the behaviour of a human being for accomplishing the desired targets
of the organisation through a leader is known as Leadership. The main roles of an
effective leader are:
 The leader should posses the quality of directing a group of employees for
achieving the common goal for the organisation
 In order to influence the subordinate employees of the company they should
apply effective leadership attributes
 They should create enthusiasm and enhance commitment within the employees
so that they work hard for the company to achieve profitability
 They have to attain it through effective communication and interaction with the
team members and other subordinate staffs who follow them
Figure 1: Roles of a leader
(Source: Salazar and Lant, 2018)
 They should posses the influencing power to convince the employees
 They have to integrate and reunite the individual goals of the employees with the
goals of the organisation
 They are responsible to provide a purpose of their job
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 They have to develop a strong and effective team with highly motivated and
enthusiastic employees
 They have to develop the potentiality of the team members with proper training
 They should lead their team in every kind of situations whether it is a good one or
a challenging one
 Formulate strategies for the organisation
 Allocate the job responsibilities to the team members
 Analyse the performance of the employees and assist them
Leadership can be reinforced with the application of several leadership theories.
There are several leadership theories that help to understand the traits of an ideal
leader in a better way. Some of them are Behavioural Leadership Theories,
Participative Leadership, Trait Theory, Situational Leadership Theory,
Transactional Leadership Theory, Contingency Theory, and transformational
Leadership Theory.
Behavioural Leadership Theories are those that consider the reactions and
observations of leaders throughout a given situation. The situations many be several
conditions where the nature of interaction is vital in case of a leader. The leaders
who follow the behavioural theories of leadership believe that their behaviour shapes
the set of actions performed by the employees of an organisation.
Scholars like Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard proposed the Situational
leadership theory, which states that there is no specific leadership style that should
be followed by every leader. The leadership style should be adapted in accordance
with the situation that is faced by the organisation. Situational leadership best helps
the leader to take actions and set plans when an unexpected challenge arises
(Thompson and Glasø, 2015).
Figure 2: Situational Leadership
(Source: Meier, 2016)
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Another effective leadership theory is the contingency theory. It falls under the
category of organisational theory. The contingency theory is quite similar to the
situational leadership theory as it states that there is no particular way of leading the
employees of an organisation. The leadership style is contingent or dependent on
the internal as well as external situations (Fiedler, 2015).
Transactional leadership can be defined as the particular style, which is much
focused with the maintenance of the regular organisational operations. The leaders
following the transactional leadership theory are concerned about maintain the
discipline and decorum of the company; they regularly motivate their employees to
enhance their performance levels. Transformational leadership theory is much
similar to the transactional theory. The transformational leader mainly manages the
daily operations of the organisation (Dartey-Baah, 2015).
On the other hand, the functions of a manger can be categorised in four different
categories. The four categories are namely planning, organising, leading, and
controlling the business operations of an organisation. Manager plays a vital role
within the organisation. He has to conduct all the business operations for achieving
the objectives of the company. Their main functions are:
Planning- The managers need to analyse the factors affecting the organisation and
according to it plan the set of actions to attain the desired goals. The action of
gathering the information, assuming the outcomes, and formulating strategies are
the key components of the process of planning.
Organising- The following function of the managers is the organising process. They
create a set of responsibilities, allocate the job of the subordinate employees, and
define the goals of the organisation.
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Figure 3: Functions of a Manager
(Source: influenced by Li et al., 2017)
Leading- The managerial functions itself comprises the roles of a leader. In the
course of leading, they motivate the employees to work with more enthusiasm for
increasing the profitability of the organisation.
Controlling- After successfully planning, organising and leading, the managers need
to control the business operations. Their function is to monitor, rectify the errors
made by the employees in their work, and enhance the productivity of them to
facilitate the process of development.
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LO2 Apply the role of a leader and the function of a manager in given contexts.
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a
manager apply in different situational contexts
The chosen organisation in this report is Marks & Spencer. They have a worldwide
business operation. In the course of development of their business functions and
expansion, they have faced several situations where their market position was at
stake. However, the organisation has a huge reputation in the retail industry the main
reason behind their huge success is effective leadership and management prevailing
within the organisation. The leaders and managers play a vital role in the
development of the organisation. They are the ones who drive the business
operations of the company to achieve their key objectives and goals.
The affectivity of appropriate leadership and management is evident from several
issues faced by M&S in their business operation. Recently it was reported that
Marks & Spencer is facing a sharp drop in their annual profits. The reason of such
downfall is the falling of sales in the clothing and food products of the organisation.
Marks & Spencer has taken a closing plan that will be effective by the year 2022.
They are about to close 100 of their stores in the future. It is due to the closure plan,
the bill has reached to a high amount of £321m (Wood, 2018). The impact of the bill
amount was the reason of the downfall of apparel and food products. This will lead to
the closure of three fashion garments shops of the organisation in the upcoming four
years.
Effective leadership and management can handle the problem faced by the
organisation. The leaders previously followed transactional leadership that dealt with
the evaluation of work on a daily basis and leading the business operations of the
organisation. However, it seems that the transactional form of leadership is losing its
affectivity and now the present leaders should shift to contingency theory of
leadership. The leadership should be dependent or contingent on the aroused
situation. Accordingly, the leaders and managers should take steps to overcome the
critical situation. They should reform their strategies and formulate new plans to
overcome the situation. This would help them bring out the organisation from this
problematic situation. The new steps taken should be affective enough that the
employees get motivated to work whole-heartedly for the organisation to attain
profitability.
Marks & Spencer faced another issue in the past years. The issue was quite linked
with the issue mentioned above. It was reported when the organisation first faced the
problem due to low annual returns. The closure of stores had just begun to meet the
returns. It led to a huge loss of employment all over the world. Many of their stores
were closed without any notice. The organisation started losing its brand value in the
market. Their position in the market was at stake. Everything was going out of the
hands. The main thing that was needed is effective leadership. A responsible leader
has to drive out the organisation from this problematic situation. At this point of time,
a new leader took over the charge of Marks & Spencer. The newly appointed leader
was Archie Norman. He was appointed as the new chairperson of the organisation.
He took over the charge and made sure that they have to cut down the rate of
closing of stores. He claimed not more than 100 stores will be closed in future
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(Wood, 2018). He guided the employees accordingly to work for the betterment of
the situation.
P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational
leadership, systems leadership and contingency
The problematic situations mentioned above regarding Marks & Spencer can be
resolved by bringing in change in their leadership styles and management models.
The leaders and mangers need to improvise their way of leading and organising the
business operations of the company. They need to change their way of leading and
the point of view as then only the employees follow them. Several management
models can better help them to reformulate their business strategies. It would also
them to achieve the organisational objectives. Among various management models
like Scientific Management Theory, Human relations theory and others,
Bureaucratic Management Theory can help them the most.
Max Weber formulated the Bureaucratic Management Theory, which had great
influence of the Frederick Taylor’s scientific management theory. The model states
the idea of maintaining a hierarchy in the organisational system. The employees
should be allotted specified roles in accordance with the hierarchy. The leaders and
managers dictate the roles and responsibilities of the employees in the organisation.
It implies that the employees will work based on the instructions provided to them.
The leaders have to deal the situation in a very strong way.
Moreover, other the management models the organisation can improvise their
leadership styles for betterment of the situation. The leaders can shift to situational
leadership. In this type of leadership, the leaders have to act according to the
situation. They have to reframe their strategic plans and organise their activities to
deal with the situation (Thompson and Glasø, 2018). The employees following them
will execute the plans formulated on the situational basis. It increases the affectivity
of the processes taken for handling such situations. The employees work for their
own benefit as well as for increasing the productivity of the organisation.
The leaders and managers can also shift their leadership style to the contingency
theory of leadership. Contingency theory has quite relevance with the Situational
Leadership. The theory states that none of the leadership styles is perfect. They
have to improvise their leadership styles based on the required situation (Antonakis
and Day, 2017). The leadership traits are dependent or contingent on the situation
the organisation is facing.
Other than Contingency theory and Situational leadership theory, the managers and
leaders of the organisation can incorporate the System Leadership theory in their
way of leading the business operation. The Systems Leadership style allows a
leader to create favourable conditions for the employees so that they can work with
full dedication towards their work. The leaders following this style of leadership
shows ideal leadership qualities through their work (Macdonald et al., 2017). They
maintain a healthy working environment throughout the organisation. They provide
opportunity for the employees to develop their skills. They design the policies and
plans in accordance with the welfare of the employees. It helps in developing an
effective working system in the organisation that ultimately enhances the profitability
of the company.
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LO3 Demonstrate an appreciation of the role leaders and managers play in the
operations function of an organisation
P4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that
leaders and managers play.
Contemporary organisations regardless their size and scopes have huge
responsibilities to their different stakeholders and in order to avail the pinnacle
position in the market, such companies introduces number of strategies through their
operation management processes. Main motive of operation management of
organisations such as Marks & Spencer is to acquire more efficiency in different
business operations in order to deal with high demand across different markets.
Operation manager of Marks & Spencer properly manage different aspects such as
skills of employers, introduction of new technologies and implementation in the
organisations and involvement of the labour in productivity of the company.
There are different types of approaches, which are business approaches, which are
being used by both small and multinational companies in order to mitigate different
functional challenges to gain their position in the competitive markets. Six Sigma is
one of such approaches, which are being used by leaders, and managers of Marks &
Spencer to achieve financial targets to prevent certain issues. It was mentioned in a
recent report that the retail crisis of 2018 had hit the company very hard, as the
company had to cut more than five thousand jobs to maintain economic balance in
the company. Through Six Sigma model, managers and leaders of M&S understood
the core of issues as financial statistics of latest years have helped them to introduce
new strategies. The company has faced 2.7 percent fall in the clothing sector and the
company to instigate improvement is introducing new strategies. New technologies
and new stores designs are being introduced as managers properly analyzed and
measured the root of the problem in contemporary markets.
Figure 4: Six-Sigma Approach
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(Source: Laureani and Antony, 2017)
On the other hand, Business Process Redesign is one of the most used approaches
of operation management through which a company can focus on design of the
workflow. Main motive of BPR is to restructure different functions of an organisation
in order to mitigate contemporary challenges of the company. In the context of Marks
& Spencer, the company has taken both cost cutting and shop renovation strategies
in order to improve the fashion section of the company and these operation
management approaches are hugely helping the company.
P5 Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving
business objectives.
Operations management is an effective way of management that enables an
organisation in fulfilling its desired targets and attain profitability in future. The
activities taken into action by the operational managers maximises the number of
shareholders of the organisation. Marks & Spencer should incorporate operational
management within the organisation. In order to sustain the operational
management, quality management should be enhanced. The importance of
Operational management is to maximise the profitability of an organisation by all
round development (Khanna, 2015). The significant components of operational
management are just like the same of usual management functions that are
planning, organising, staffing, monitoring or controlling, leading and motivating the
employees.
The main aim of operational managers who follow operational management is to
provide on time delivery of products and services of the organisation. Through
operational management, they turn the collected raw materials into final products
with less wastage of materials. The importances of maintaining operational
management within the organisation are:
 It will help the organisations like Marks & Spencer to manage their day-to-day
activities with effective utilisation of raw materials, employee activity,
organisation’s fund, and other important resources (Reid and Sanders, 2015)
 It helps in improving the productivity of the employees. It helps in measuring the
effectiveness of the employees as well as the higher officials of the company
 It takes an active role in aligning the requirements of the customers with the
products offered by the organisation; in this case, it is Marks & Spencer. It plays
a core role of maintaining all the operational activities of the organisation
 It helps in optimising the usage of raw materials and drives the organisation
towards earning profitability in future (Hitt et al., 2016)
 The effective usage of skilled employees and high quality raw products is a part
of organisational management. It influences the designing, operating and
maintain the systems of the company (Heizer et al., 2017)
 It also plays a vital role in maintaining the functioning of the business operations.
For Marks & Spencer, it will maintain the collection of products from service
providers, retailing them in various stores and finally distributing them to the
customers at any corner of the world
From the importance of the operations management in an organisation, it is evident
that it will help in increasing the efficiency of Marks & Spencer. Previously, the
challenging situations faced by the company have dropped down its market share in
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