Report on Leadership, Management, and Operations at Marks and Spencer

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership, management, and operations within Marks and Spencer. It begins by defining the characteristics and roles of leaders and managers, contrasting their responsibilities and priorities within the organization. The report then examines how leadership and management functions are applied in various situational contexts, such as employee grievances, budget cuts, interpersonal conflicts, and employee requests, as well as risks, managing the unknown, coaching, time management, and team building. Furthermore, the report evaluates different leadership theories and models, including Situational, Systems, and Contingency theories, discussing their respective strengths and weaknesses. Finally, the report explores the importance of operations management, factors affecting it, and provides an evaluation of different approaches to improve efficiency within Marks and Spencer. The analysis highlights the practical application of leadership and management principles in a real-world business context, offering valuable insights into organizational effectiveness.

MANAGEMENT AND
OPERATIONS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................1
P1: Characteristics and the roles of a leader and a manager in context of Marks and Spencer. .1
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................3
P2: Examination of how the role of a leader and function of a manager is applied in various
situational contexts......................................................................................................................3
P3: Application and evaluation of different theories and models of approaches of leadership
and their Strengths and Weaknesses...........................................................................................5
P4: Evaluation of different approaches to operations management and the role of a leader and
manager to improve their efficiency within Marks and Spencer................................................7
P5: Importance And Value Of Operations Management............................................................9
P6: Factors Affecting The Operations Management And Decision Making............................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Every organisation needs effective management to run its operations and a good team to
achieve its set goals and objectives. It is important for an organisation to have a leader that takes
the organisation further and motivates the overall team to make the organisation one of the best
within the competition and its consumers as well. The below report explores the importance of
management and operations and within an organisational environment. Also, it explores how
operations management are used within the context of Marks and Spencer. Along with it, it
evaluates what measures can be taken to solve the problems that appears within an organisational
environment and how operations management helps to solve such problems. The report puts light
on various issues that appears within the context of Marks and Spencer and how the organisation
manages to deal with these issues of management and operations.
Task 1
P1: Characteristics and the roles of a leader and a manager in context of Marks and
Spencer
A leader in Marks and Spencer takes the organisation further and achieve its goals and
objectives. The characteristics of a leader in an organisation includes maintaining good
communication, achieving organisations goals and objectives, motivating its employees,
delegating tasks to its team members and managers, observing the overall organisations'
management etc. The leader explores various strategies and creates different visions to ensure
that above mentioned responsibilities are being taken care of.(Abeyratne and Monfared, 2016)
A manager in Marks and Spencer manages the departmental tasks and the tasks provided
to him by the leader.(Bilgihan, Kandampully and Zhang, 2016) The managers major
characteristics includes managing the team and assigning them tasks as per the requirement of set
goals and objectives, guiding the team, creating an environment that makes the team more
comfortable working in the organisation etc.

Below explained are the various roles that a leader and a manager plays within an
organisation:
Leader Manager
The leader of Marks and Spencer provides a
vision to the organisation. The employees
cannot take part in any practice if the goals and
objectives are not clear to them, or they are not
aware of them. The leader is responsible in
providing the necessary vision to its overall
team and also provides motivation along to
keep them inspiring. The leader ensures better
guidance of the team under his command.
The manger in Marks and Spencer directs its
employees or team to a certain task that needs
to be achieved in a certain time period. It is
also one of the manager's responsibility to
guide the team and provide them with
necessary tools to achieve the desired goals.
The manager tends to act accordingly to the
instructions provided to him by the leader and
reports him the results as well.
The leader's main priority is set on the needs of
the organisation. Also, the needs of the task,
the needs of the team and those individuals
who makes up the overall team. These needs
are identified by the necessary feedback,
observance and guidance.
The managers main priority is to make the
team take actions. These actions are defined by
the set goals of a particular time etc. Also the
manager tends to explore more options in
which its team can improvise and make itself
better.
The leader of Marks and Spencer is result
oriented. He tends to set up necessary
requirements for the team in which the team is
going to perform and asks them to bring him
with the desired results.
The manager of Marks and Spencer prepares
budgets and allocates its team with the set
tasks. These budgets are based the
organisations needs and requirements of a
particular time.
The leader motivates and guides its team in
making efficient decisions to perform better in
the organisation and inspires them to work
The managers tell his employees about what
needs to be done. Also, what he thinks is best
in terms of performing action as per the

better. requirement.
The leader of Marks and Spencer takes risks
for the growth of organisation and from which
the organisation can be made better.
The manager of Marks and Spencer avoids
risks because taking risk within the
organisational environment might prove bad
for the organisation's growth.
A leader controls the organisations team and
the management to lead in the way he wants
them to lead.
A managers set the team free as the team
would perform better within the organisational
environment if they are not limited by
anything.
Task 2
P2: Examination of how the role of a leader and function of a manager is applied in various
situational contexts
Situational contexts and the role of a manager;
11 Employee Grievances: There are various complaints that employees have within their
workplace in Marks and Spencer and it is the job of the manager to listen and understand
these issues and solve them accordingly. The manager asks for the feedback of
employees when required along with it, he looks for options that makes the situation
better and employees satisfied.(Bolton, and et.al., 2018)11 Cuts in budget: The organisational departments sometimes might need to face the cuts
in budgets. These budget cuts can make the department and departmental manager suffer.
To cope up with the manager of Marks and Spencer tends to create different strategies
that makes the department reach it goals within the given circumstances.11 Interpersonal Conflict: There are times when an organisation faces interpersonal
conflicts such as employee fights, usage of bad language etc. A manager ensure that he

takes necessary actions to solve such issues within Marks and Spencer and keep the
environment comfortable to work.(Bowen, 2016)11 Employee requests: The employees of Marks and Spencer have different requests such
as emergency leaves, promotions, etc. These requests are handled by the manager and he
completes the requests of employees if they deserve it. He uses traits such fairness,
clarity, understanding etc. to make sure that the organisations employees are getting what
they want.
Situational contexts and the role of a leader:
11 Risks: The risk factor determines the efficiency of a leader and how efficiently he
manages the risk environment. The leader of Marks and Spencer tends to create situations
in which if there's a risk and a chance involved where the organisation can suffer, he
might be having another idea in mind to replace the after effects of that risk. Risk taking
is an important skill of a leader, it is important for every organisation to ensure that the
leader is made aware of the circumstances which he is working into and the level of risk
which he is allowed to take.(Breidbach and Brodie, 2017)11 Managing the unknown: There are times when Marks and Spencer recruits new
managers and employees. In this case, the leader can suffer in leading these people who
are unknown to him. An effective leader creates an environment where he tries to know
these employees and makes an environment where they are comfortable in knowing him
and his fellow employees.11 Coaching: In Marks and Spencer there are times when the team requires necessary
motivation and coaching as well to stay inspired and perform better in the workplace. The
leader provides them with necessary training and coaching to keep them updated and
inspired.11 Time management: There are times when a leader works under heavy pressure and
tends to get weak and inactive if not supported well. In this situation, the leader of Marks

and Spencer tends to delegate the tasks and uses effective time management with setting
up priorities to do them first. It ensures that his time is being managed well and there's
nothing leaving out.(Breidbach and Maglio, 2016)11 Building the team: To achieve desired goals and objectives the leader of Marks and
Spencer needs to build a team. He might choose different teams for different tasks, in
which he needs to ensure that only capable employees are being chosen for a particular
task for its efficiency.(Breidbach, Antons and Salge, 2016)
The above points demonstrate how leaders and mangers of Marks and Spencer work as per their
set of skills and requirements in different situational contexts.
P3: Application and evaluation of different theories and models of approaches of
leadership and their Strengths and Weaknesses
In Marks and Spencer different leadership theories are needed and applied to determine the most
effective leadership style. Below mentioned are the Situational, Contingency, and System
leadership and their strengths and weaknesses:
Situational Leadership: This style of leadership is known as one of the most flexible leadership
style that exists. The Situational style of leadership tends to adapt to the work environment which
is existing already in Marks and Spencer. It is not based on a leader's specific skills, instead, the
leader modifies the management style as per the organisation's requirement.(Chandler,
and Lusch, 2015)
Strengths Weaknesses
It works with four leadership styles such as
telling/directing, selling/coaching,
participating/coaching, and delegating
It is difficult for some leaders to work in the
environment of situational leadership. They
might feel struggling as their specific set of

observing. (Chengzhang, Minghui, and
Xuchuan, 2018)
skills might not get in light etc.
Systems Leadership: The system's leadership allows the leaders to operate freely within their
working environment. The style of leadership allows the leaders working in an organisation to
advance such conditions in which people of all levels tend to work as per their potential and skill
set. The leadership styles uses principles which are based on human behaviour to create models
of a good leadership, designing of systems, organisation strategies etc. Below mentioned are the
Strengths and Weaknesses of Systems Leadership:
Strengths Weaknesses
The system's leadership enhances the ability of
an organisation to adapt in environmental
changes.
The system's leadership might not prove itself
as always practical and it leads to decision
making delays.
The leadership tends to focus on achieving
individuals as well the overall organisational
goals.
It can prove itself as counter productive, if the
classification of interrelationships in not done
properly.
Contingency Theory: The theory of contingency states that the effectiveness of leader is
contingent upon how the leadership style matches to the given situation and a leader needs to
find out the kind of leadership style he thrives into. In approach Marks and Spencer observes that
there is no best style of leadership exists or a leadership is efficient the style of leader fits in the
given situation. Below mentioned are the Strength and Weaknesses of Contingency Theory:
Strengths Weaknesses
The style has been found reliable and trusted in
understanding how a leadership can be
The leadership style has failed to explain that
why leaders with certain leadership styles

achieved. performs efficient in some situations.
This style has a wide understanding of
leadership in which it forces the
comprehension of the impact of situations or
leaders.
The contingency approach fails to explain what
Marks and Spencer should do in a situation
when there is a mismatch between a leader and
a workplace situation.
P4: Evaluation of different approaches to operations management and the role of a leader
and manager to improve their efficiency within Marks and Spencer
The operation's management are necessary to create a good level of efficiency within the
environment of Marks and Spencer. The operations' management deals in transforming raw
materials in finished good efficiently to maximise the profit of the overall organisation. It also
helps the organisation in achieving its goals and objectives in terms of better management and
growth. The team of operations management balances costs with revenues to gain net operating
profit possible. Operations management tends to involve utilizing the resources from technology,
equipment, materials, and staff etc. (Debo and Kremer, 2015)It obtains, delivers, develops goods
as per the needs of consumers and to the abilities of Marks and Spencer. Below mentioned are its
key approaches and that roles that a leader and manager of Marks and Spencer plays:
Business Process Redesign (BPR): BPR was incorporated in 1993. It is a strategy of business
management which is focused on designing and analysing the business process and workflow
within a company. Marks and Spencer's leaders while using this strategy always ensures that the
right principles has been implemented along with it. The managers of the organisation observes
its efficiency and right working environment.(Kostami and Rajagopalan, 2014) The BPR has
ensured the organisations overall workflow is smooth and operating as per the requirement. Also,
it has made the managers and leader to manage their team without putting much effort in their
guidance as well.

Reconfigurable manufacturing: In reconfigurable manufacturing the production systems are
the type of systems that are designed to bring acceleration in structure change, the changes in
software and hardware components etc. It allows the systems to rapidly adjust as per the capacity
in which they tend to continue their production. (Li, Guo and Lian, 2016) The reconfigurable
manufacturing functions efficiently in response to the system changes which are intrinsic and the
market response. The leader and manager of Marks and Spencer both observes its efficiency and
management while adopting reconfigurable manufacturing.
Six Sigma: Six sigma mainly focuses on quality. The approach was primarily developed in 1985
to 1987. In this approach, the six standards deviations are placed at six different places. The six
sigma within Marks and Spencer has managed to increase its profits, reduces its costs etc.(Nair,
Wierman and Zwart, 2015) The manager on different levels of Marks and Spencer observes that
these Six standard deviations are performing well and the leader tends to gather report its overall
performance. Six sigma emphasizes on quality and it makes the organisation produce goods
which are of the best quality. Along with it, the organisation has seen various improvements in
its products and strategy development after the adoption of lean management.
Lean Manufacturing: Lean manufacturing is one of the most effective methods of eliminating
wastage in Marks and Spencer within its manufacturing process. Its theory accounts for wastage
that is generated through uneven workload or overburdening. The mangers of Marks and Spencer
observes that the approach is working as required and maintains if efficiency. The leader tries to
find more ways in which the lean manufacturing can be made better and satisfactory for the
organisation. Lean manufacturing is an effective approach that has helped the organisation in
reducing its wastage to the minimum. Along with it, the overall organisation has seen a rapid
growth in profits and less wastage. The production process of Marks and Spencer is becoming
more clear from the adoption of lean manufacturing.

The above mentioned key approaches explores the importance of operations management within
Marks and Spencer. The role played by a leader and a manager to ensure its smooth operations
and its efficiency within an organisation.
P5: Importance And Value Of Operations Management
Operations Management refers to performing complex and typical set of management
activities that are completely involved in planning; organizing; leading and controlling with the
motive of achieving the objectives of organisation in an effective manner. The importance of
operations management is as follows:-
Operations Management is the one that is having obligation on Marks And Spencer in the
respect of managing the daily activities and functions of the organisation. With the help of
operations management only, Marks And Spencer, is able to make the best use of its resources
that include:- labour; raw materials; money and other factors that contributes in the growth of
organisation. The ratio of input to output is defined as the productivity of an organisation's
effectiveness.
Operations Management, is playing a very crucial role in enhancing the productivity of
Marks And Spencer. It also, keeps a strict eye on measurement of efficiency of the manager as
well as of that of employees. The discipline of the operations' department, lays emphasis on
making the best use of all the available resources in the best possible ways with the motive of
achieving the desired goals of organisation. So, in this way operations management helps in
improving the efficiency as well as productivity of the organisation.
Takes strict action on the various business activities that are prevailing in the
organisation. Along with this, it also contributes in the production of all those products that are
required to be produced by the organisation in an effective manner and with the motive of
satisfying the needs of the consumer in the most effective and efficient manner. Marks And
Spencer is laying its focus on meeting the needs of consumer. This department is playing the role
of heart of Marks And Spencer. By the score of, operation department is somehow interrelated
and is also having effect on the performance and functioning of various other departments.

Operations Department simply lays its complete focus on the optimum utilization of all
the available resources. The resultant outcome here is that, it leads to the generation of enormous
profits and occupying a large market share. It is all possible when, Marks And Spencer will win
the hearts of its consumers. The efforts made by the employees in the using the raw materials in
the effective and efficient manner when finally gets converted into finished goods then only the
organisation would be able to satisfy the needs and demands of the ultimate consumer.
The operations' department enhances the capacity and ability of theemployees in respect
of performing the assigned tasks at their best level. It also ensures that the assigned task has been
completed by the employees should meet the set standards in Marks And Spencer. The
operations' department allows the employees to evaluate and keep a tight check on the technical
and production capacity of the available resources in the organisation.
Although, it's quite a complicated process to manage the operations of an organisation. Marks
And Spencer, is handling and managing this department by hiring the best candidates at the
workplace.
P6: Factors Affecting The Operations Management And Decision Making
There are various factors that affect the decision making process and operations
management within the working environment of Marks And Spencer. In this organisation, the
decision making process is affected because of following reasons:-
Certainty, refers to the situation in which the decisions taken by the managers and the
business leaders are being affected because of the information that has been given to the manager
or when the manager is having enough information in the respect of outcome that will be arising
as a result of that decision in the organisation. In business, there is a lot of risk involved at each
and every step that has to be taken by the manager in the respect of taking the organisation at the
apex in the industry and with the motive of capturing more and more market share. In the
business each and everything is completely uncertain. There are a lot of uncertainties in the
business. It is such a situation where no one is familiar with the situation that may arise in the