Leadership and Management Strategies at Marks and Spencer: A Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and management practices within Marks and Spencer (M&S). It begins by differentiating between the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers, highlighting their functions in planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. The report then examines how leaders and managers function in different situations, including stable, fast-changing, and slow-moderate environments, and during workplace conflicts. It explores various leadership styles, such as directive, supportive, participative, and achievement-oriented styles, and discusses different leadership approaches, including contingency, situational, and system leadership styles. Furthermore, the report delves into key approaches to operation management, such as Six Sigma, TQM, and Just-in-Time inventory, emphasizing their importance in achieving organizational goals. The report also discusses factors impacting operational management and decision-making, and the application of HRM practices. Overall, the report offers valuable insights into the leadership and management strategies employed by M&S to enhance its performance and achieve its objectives.

Management and Operation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3
TASK 1......................................................................................................................................3
P1 Different roles and characteristics of leaders and manager.........................................3
TASK 2......................................................................................................................................5
P2 Roles and function of manger and leader in different situations.................................5
P3 Different theories and models of approaches..............................................................6
TASK 3......................................................................................................................................7
P4 Key approaches to operation management..................................................................7
P5 importance and values of operation management.......................................................9
TASK 4....................................................................................................................................10
P6 Factors that impact upon operational management and decision making by leaders and
mangers...........................................................................................................................10
P7 Application of HRM practice ...................................................................................12
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
This report will explain the different roles of leaders and managers of M&S. As it is
the one of the most famous and big retailer company which is located at city of Westminster,
London it delivers the best quality products and makes a strong reputation in the retailer
market. Leader and manger both plays a huge role in the success of cited organisation. Leader
provides the proper guidance, direction and motivation to the subordinates. On the other hand
manger of cited company has responsibility to maintain all operations of organisation through
the planning, controlling, leading and organ zing. Apart from this report will describe the
different theories and approaches of operation management. Moreover, it also explains the
importance of operation management in the chosen firm. At the end report describes the
different leadership styles which helps organisation to improve their performance in effective
manner.
TASK 1
P1 Different roles and characteristics of leaders and manager
In this section we will discuss about the different roles and characteristics of leader
and manager within the M&S. Moreover, will describe the differences between leader and
manager. M&S is one of the most famous retailer company of united kingdom. In this
context, cited organisation is continuously focusing towards effective roles of leaders and
mangers(Zhang, Shah and Papageorgiou, 2013).
Leadership: leader are those who direct and guide the employees through the tasks
and also motivate them to improve their performance.
Manager: manager are those who manage all the task in the organisation on regular
basis and also manage the activities of or the employees.
Manger functions : manager mainly focuses on the four major function which are planning,
organizing, leading and controlling.
 Planning: it is the first function of manager is planning. In this step the manager of
M&S created effective plan by collecting the important informations about the task.
For the effective planning, manager should be aware from the environmental
conditions facing their corporation(Mohammadi, Soleymani and et.al., 2014.). There
are different steps in the planning process such as environment scanning, which
means manger should have the knowledge about their competitors, customers,

products etc. there are three types of planning such as strategic planning, tactical
planning and operational planning which are used by the manger of M&S.
 Organizing: it is the function of management in which manager represent the structure
of organisation through the chart.
 Leading: in this stage manager has responsibility to motivate and direct his
employees. If manager are effective leader, their follower will be able to provide the
extra efforts in the success of corporation.
 Controlling: in this step manger has responsibility to control all the function of
sanitisation. Effective controlling requires effective and systematic planning.
LEADER: Leader of cited organisation are creative and innovator, he always tries to
motivate his subordinates to enhance their performance. As motivation is very necessary in
the business environment because it helps the organisation to improve the productivity and
growth.
 Interpersonal role: it covers the relationship between the leader and other employees.
Leader of M&S are able to maintain his relation with other employees through the
effective communication skill and positive attitude. With the good relationship leader
are able to understand his followers and can guide them in proper manner.
 Information role: leader have to collect, disseminate and transmit information. Leader
of cited firm are able to collect important informations and also have capabilities to
provide the resources and creativity to the other workers.
Differences between the manager and leader are as following
Both the leaders and mangers are backbone of any successful corporation. Leader has
responsibilities to direct and guide the employees and also has to analysis whole performance
of workers. On the other hand manger has reasonability to maintain all the operations of
organisation with planning, controlling, organizing and leading.
M&S leader plays such kind of role
1. Organisation representative: leader of cited corporation represent their teams in
seminars, conferences and general meetings.
2. Personal goals integrated: leader has responsibility to enhance the performance of
employees to increase the productivity and growth.

Manager of cited company plays following role:
1. Sub ordinate's representative: manger has responsibility to maintain a relation
between to level management and other low level work groups.
TASK 2
P2 Roles and function of manger and leader in different situations
 Stable situations: in this situation firm follow a safety orient strategies without
effecting any major changes in its present situations and operations. At this stage
company focuses on current products and services only(Bahmani-Firouzi and
Azizipanah-Abarghooee, 2014).
 Fast changing situation: at this stage, company focuses on the changes they try to
change the way of their services and also launch new products.
 Slow moderate situations: at this stage company is not able to change its business
environment and they change their business very slowly.
As M&S is one of the most famous retailer company but now days this company not
providing new products and services so this company is categorized in the stable situations.
Due to these employees has pressure to satisfy the customers with the old products
and services. Corporation's situations has effects on company's planning, leading, controlling
and organizing. Due to no changes in the services and lack of development, cited organisation
is not able to improve its growth on regular basis.
 Conflict at workplace: firm many a time faces problems of conflicts at workplace.
This situation will come from the communication gap between top management and
employees. Manager and leader plays a crucial role in the problem solving proves. In
this context, leader of M&S has responsibility to find the reason of conflicts. In order
to resolve the disagreement's leader discuss the problems and also make manger alert
with for same so that they can make better plan to remove the conflicts and minimize
its occurrence again in the administration. Manger has responsibility to check the
situations and provide the plan to resolve the conflicts. At the conflict situation, leader
should have to examine the problems and try to resolve at his own level. If leader is
not able to solve this problem he has responsibility to inform the top level
management(Parisio and Glielmo, 2013). Manger will discuss the problems with

leader and after examining all the situations he has responsibility to give the best
solutions.
Leadership styles: it is a leader's style of providing the guidance, direction, implementing
plans and motivation to people. Leadership process helps an organisation to accomplish their
target and goals in effective manner. There are different types of leadership styles such as
directive, supportive, participative, achievement oriented style.
 Directive leadership style: in this style leader has responsibility to provide the clear
aim and objectivities to his or her employees. This style helps unskilled and
inexperienced workers at a complex situation.
 Supportive style: this style used through the leader to remove the employee's stress
and work pressure. To achieve the target leader should provide his or her support and
give a proper direction to the workers
 Participative leadership style: this style improve the performance of employees at
workplace.
 Achievement oriented leadership style: this style engage the passion and drive
individual and motivates them from inner level.
As cited organisation has chosen directive and supportive leadership style to
accomplish the target. Through these leadership styles, leader of M&S are able to give a clear
vision and objectives to his workers. Moreover, leader provides the best resources and
guidance to the employees. Workers feel motivated through these leaderships styles and
providing the extra efforts to complete the target in effective manner(Sedaghati and Kavousi-
Fard, 2014).
P3 Different theories and models of approaches
There are various approaches and theories which are followed by the leader for the
effective leadership through the different leadership theories and approaches leader can
enhance the performance of employees and can achieve the success in systematic way. In this
process, leader of mentioned administration motivate the staff and give them institutions and
advice to achieve the common goals. There are different type of leadership approaches which
are followed by the M&S which is given below
 Contingency leadership style: this style is based on the internal and external elements
of firm. This contingency leadership style gives motivation to the leader to achieve-

set target in any kind of situations. This styles state that effectiveness of leadership is
dependent on matching a leader's style to exact situations. The main aim of this
leadership style is to build a good relation with leader and employees(Burke, 2013).
This theory provides the motivation to the leader and says that leader has to lead in
different style.
 Situational leadership style: according to this theory same leadership style can not be
applied in all situations as different style is used at different situations. Leader should
use leadership style according to situations. Emotional ties and commitment includes
in situational leadership. M&S also follow this leadership style to enhance their
performance leader of cited corporation lead the workers according to the task and
target as this theory is based on the relation between leader and employees. To
improve the leadership a leader should have experience and knowledge of situational
leadership. The Best leaders are those who are able to change their leadership style
according to the situations and environment. This also focuses on the planning and
directing, motivation etc. this style focuses on the telling and directing, selling and
coaching, participating, delegating and development level.
 System leadership style: this is one of the most and effective leadership style which is
used by the M&S because this approaches focus on the firm improvement. In this
style leader focuses on the overall performance of employees. Moreover, organisation
focuses on he personal skills and knowledge of individual. According to this style,
leader have to focus on the different activities of motivation such as development,
trainings, conference, reward system etc. (Zhang, Wang and et.al., 2016).
TASK 3
P4 Key approaches to operation management
Operation management: it is area of management that is responsible for managing the
goods or services in order to accomplish the goal of organisation. There are various
approaches which used in operation management such as six sigma approaches, TQM, just in
time inventory etc.
 Six sigma approach: this is one of the most effective approach which is used by
operation manager of cited company because this approach is mainly focuses on the
quality of products and services(Baziar and Kavousi-Fard, 2013.). This approach also
used to develop new processes and products. This approach is a success tool of cited

organisation because through this approach M&S area able to removing the cause of
defects and minimizing the variability in manufacturing and business process. As high
quality products helps an organisation to attract more customers towards the
corporation. Cited company used trending chart, potential defect calculations as tools
in six sigma approach. With the six sigma approach, operation manager of M&S are
able to focus on the quality of old and new products on regular basis through this
process cited company providing the high quality products and able to increase the
customer's loyalty level towards their company(Costa, Keane, and et.al., 2013).
 TQM: total quality management approach is used in M&S to bring the efficiency in
the production department. Through this approach cited company is able to provide
the products and services according to customer's needs and desire. When company is
providing the products according to client's interest they can easily gain the high
beneficial.
 Just in time inventory or continuous improvement: this approach is used to minimize
the losses and improve the ratio of productivity. According to this approach manager
should order the products from supplier only at the time of need. In this context, cited
organisation is able to decrease the investment cost and are able to increase the
benefits(Mendis, Muttaqi, and Perera, 2014).
 Continuous improvement process: this process includes extra efforts of employees to
improve the productivity and growth of business. Through the CIP, an organisation
can improve its brand image and reputation in the market which help a firm to
compete with competitors(Mendis, Muttaqi, and Perera, 2014).
Roles of leaders and manger in the operation management
In the operation management leaders and manager plays different roles. In this
section, leader has responsibility to measure the performance of employees on regular basis.
Moreover, to satisfy the employees, leader has to motivate them through the different social
and cultural activities, reward system etc. moreover, principal should use effective
communication skill to build a good relation with employees and customers. In the operation
management sector, manger has responsibility to provide the effective plan and direction to
the employees so they can accomplish the target in systematic manner(Propa, Banwet, and
Goswami, 2015).

M&s are following six sigma and TQM approaches to improve its productivity and
benefits. By providing the high quality products, cited company is able to attract more
customers. Through the six sigma approach company providing high quality products and
with the help or total quality management, it provides the products and services according to
customer's needs and interest. So all these approaches helps an organisation to accomplish the
success in effective manner.
P5 importance and values of operation management
M&S has five main business objectives which are survival, increasing sale,
maximizing profits, satisfying customer and growth. All business has different aims and
objectives and to accomplish them different firms follow different strategies and approaches.
INCREASING SALE: cited company is continuous focusing on its market strategies to
increase the productivity and sell. The main aim of mentioned firm is to get more benefits.
MAXIMIZING PROFITS: another aim of cited company is to increase the margin by follow
the different market strategies and approaches(Fu and Wang, 2014).
SATISFYING CUSTOMERS: customer's satisfaction is main aim of M&S because all
beneficial is depended upon the customers when customer is satisfied with the product
quality and services then organisation can easily complete the target.
GROWTH: it is another objective of cited company, M&S wants to expand its business in all
over the world.
Importance and roles of operation management
Operation management plays a huge role in the success of large firms because this
management helps large organisation to run smoothly it is related to production of goods and
services within the corporation(Kang, Zhao, Li And et.al., 2016). The main aim of operation
management I the cited organisation is to run the business functions and operations
successfully and smoothly by using the minimum resources. The main purpose of this
management is to convert the minimum input such as raw material, labour to maximize
output in the form of goods, services and products. It is the heart of any organisation because
it controls the whole operation system of corporation. To improve the business productivity
and benefits, operational management handles issues, provide the different design and
structures. It also plays important role in the financial and marketing field.

M&S has effective operation's management they focus on controlling, designing,
planning, directing and leading and all these factors are very important for the success of
business. Operation manger of cited company focuses mainly in the following functions it has
mainly two objectives such as customers satisfaction and resource utilization both are
interrelated with each other.
Quality management: the main role of operation manger is to maintain the quality of products
through the effective planing and different strategies. M&S are very much concerned about
the products and services which are given to the customers in the market. As customers are
backbone of any organisation because all growth and benefits are depended upon the number
of customers as number of increases productivity and margin also increases. So to attract the
customers and to increase the productivity, operation manager of cited company has
responsibility to maintain the quality of new and old products on regular basis. As business
environment becomes more challenging so providing high quality and branded products is
one of the best way to attract the customers and to increase the productivity.
Resource utilization: this is another important task which is done by the operation
management. If resource are not utilizing carefully then the investment cost will increase and
benefits will decrease. So operation manger has reasonability to teach a better resource
utilization to his or employees(Liu, Zhuo, Zhu and et.al.,2015).
Customer service: to satisfy the customers, operation manager of cited company analysis over
all performance of employees on regular basis. To improve worker's skills they provide
different trainings and development, through the trainings and different activities employees
can share their skills and ideas with each other and also learn new skills from the
development which help them to improve their performance. Moreover, employees get
motivated through the different activities and provide their extra efforts to satisfy the
customers.
TASK 4
P6 Factors that impact upon operational management and decision making by leaders and
mangers
 Stake holders: they are person who can positively and negatively impact the output of
organisation. They can be both internal and external. To maintain the success it very
important for any organisation to managed the expectations of sake holders. Operation

manger of cited company should take care of the interest of stake holders. Every stake
holder has different expectations and requires so organisation has responsibility to
balance their expectations. Operation management should be able to maintain the
balance with stake holder
 Corporate social responsibility: CSR is business approach that helps company in
development by delivering economic, social and environmental benefits for all
stakeholders.
 Intrapreneurship : this approach is used by big companies to maintain relevance and
keep the company active and customer satisfaction and innovator. Operation manger
has responsibility to examine the quality of products on regular basis to improve the
customer's satisfaction level(Joo, Jung, and Kim, 2015).
Organisation always affected by the environment, it has a hug impact upon the
operation management and decision making by leaders and mangers.
 Competitors: in the current world's economy, competitors have increases in all
sectors. When a new company comes with new technology in the market it will affect
the functions of operation management and leaders as well. New entrant provides the
same products at very low price, this will decrease the number of customers for cited
organisation. That time operation manager and leader has responsibility to over come
this competition with their personal skills and experience. Leadership also affected by
competitors as in presence of high competition at that time they have pressure to
make employee's work effective. To resolve this problem leader should provide
different technologies and new ideas to the employees.
 Employees: as workers are those people who perform assigned task to accomplish
common goal of organisation. If manage and leadership of any firm are managed
properly than success will come in effective manner. Employees also affect the
organisation's operations and functions. If employees are not happy with their job
conditions then they will not provide their extra efforts and this will decrease the
productivity of business. Due to lack of effective leadership style, employees are not
happy with the job conditions and that time employee's turn over increases within the
firm. And due to lack of inexperienced employee's productivity will decease(Jacobs
and Chase, 2017).

At that time leader has responsibility to motivate the employees and provide them right
direction and resources. Through the proper direction and guidance workers feel motivation
and will able to complete the target at complex situation.
P7 Application of HRM practice
Human resource manager plays a huge role in the success of any organisation. The
HR manger of cited organisation has responsibility to recruit the best and high skilled
employees. Moreover, they also provide different system and activities to motivate the
employees because motivations very important in the business environment with the help of
this firm can enhance the performance of employees on regular basis. The main roles and
responsibilities of human resource manger in the cited company are as following
Hire the best employees: hr manager has responsibility to select the high and skilled
employees for an organisation . They used different methods and action plan for recruitments.
They focused on the personal skills of employees such as communication skill, positive
behaviour, creation and innovation because all these skills are very important for the success
of corporation.
Trainings and development: another most important work of human resource manger
in cited company is to provide the trainings and development to the employees. These
process helps in the motivation. Human resource manger has responsibility to motivate the
employees in business environment. Through the motivation organisation can enhance the
performance of employees in effective manner.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that there are difference in leadership
and management but both plays an important role in success of cited organisation. This report
focused on the different leadership styles such as situational, contingency and system. All
these leaderships styles help organisation to enhance the performance of employees in
effective manner. Apart from this, report also explained the importance of operation
management, the person who manage the quality of products and focused on the resource
utilization. Furthermore, it also described the six sigma approaches and TQM which is used
by the M&S to improve the productivity and growth. At the end report focused on the
different factors that impact upon the operation management and its functions.

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