Comprehensive Analysis of Management and Operations at Marks & Spencer

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the management and operations of Marks and Spencer (M&S), a multinational retailer. It begins with an introduction to M&S's management structure, comparing and contrasting the roles of managers and leaders, and exploring different leadership...Read More

Management and
Operations

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1. Introduction and management structure.............................................................................3
2. Comparison between managers and leaders.......................................................................4
3. Difference between managerial function and leadership roles...........................................4
4. Examples showing roles of managers and leaders.............................................................5
5. Different management and leadership theories..................................................................5
6. Strengths and weaknesses of theories.................................................................................6
7. Impact of managers and leaders on Marks and Spencer....................................................7
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
1. Operation management.......................................................................................................7
2. Roles and responsibilities of manager and leader..............................................................8
3. Importance of key approaches to operations management.................................................9
4. Managers and leaders could be effective in improving operation management system....9
5. Presenting impact of external business environment factor on operational management10
6. Critical evaluation of the factors of operational management..........................................10
7. Suggestion for future improvements................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Management and operations play a crucial role in the business. Operations and
management help in planning, organizing and designing in order for gaining higher profitability.
The entire report deals with management and operations of Marks and Spencer which is a
multinational retailer store in United Kingdom. The report focusses on main roles and
characteristics of leaders and managers of Marks and Spencer with different managerial
functions and leadership roles. It also presents different theories such as situational, system and
contingency leadership theories with its strengths and weaknesses. Report shows the way
operational management of a company help in success and growth. It also identifies the roles and
responsibilities of managers and leaders in successful management of operations and explain the
importance and value of the key approaches to operations management. Report evaluates the way
managers and leaders could be effective in improving operational management to meet the
objectives and also present some recommendations for future improvement.
TASK 1
1. Introduction and management structure
Marks and Spencer is a brand multinational retailer store in the United Kingdom. It has
approx. 85,000 employees and 979 stores in the UK. More than 600 stores mainly sell the food
products. Company’s aim is to provide good quality of products to the customers at lower rate.
Management structure of Marks and Spencer is superior as compared to others; it follows flat
management structure. The management structure of M&S help to encourage employees for
decision making and has limited level of management in between authority and employees which
help to communicate easily which allows fast change with less problem (Jacobs, Chase and
Lummus, 2014). The company does not follow traditional system and follow flat structure
because it has pyramid shape which means that it is having different managers in every
department with head executive management at top.

2. Comparison between managers and leaders
Managers:
 In the context of M&S Managers only manage a company and they are responsible for
planning, directing and controlling.
 The role of managers depends upon the nature of work such as in Marks and Spencer, top
level managers are responsible for mission and sales managers are responsible for selling
the quality products and solve problems related to customers.
Leaders:
 In the context of M&S leaders are those who motivate employees and inspire his
followers.
 Marks and Spencer also have leaders who create team, innovate different products and
develop trust among their employees and authority.
 They take risk in order to gain success for a company and always try to support
employees as well as guide them if they face any problem while managers do not. They
focus more on the growth and development of a business but managers only attain the
required results (Lawrence and et.al., 2015).
3. Difference between managerial function and leadership roles
By applying management theories and concepts, managerial functions and leadership
roles are completely different from each other. Managerial function includes controlling,
Illustration 1: Management structure
Source: (Management structure, 2018)

directing and managing the allotted work while leadership roles include motivating and advising
employees for better performance. Managerial functions depend on managers such as good
communication skills, take proper feedback regarding staff work but leadership quality help to
encourage the employees or staff to do work in order to achieve the targets. Leaders clearly
create vision while managers only achieve the target in a day; they did not take risk (Heizer,
2016). Leadership qualities help to execute strategy and improve performance of a team while in
managerial functions, it only focuses on completing the allotted tasks with a given time.
4. Examples showing roles of managers and leaders
 Marks and Spencer are trying to bring new products in their existing firm such as they
add healthy drink. In that case, leader of a company thinks whether this product will
maximize the profit because they think for future while on the other side, manager of a
company tries to direct new plan and make strategies in order to make the product
successful (Yang, 2016).
 Marks and Spencer want to develop a new management system in its store. In this
situation, leader motivates staff members to learn and understand the management system
while managers plan the way to execute it and what are the different promotional
activities should be done in order to make this new management system successful for a
company (Venkat and et.al., 2015).
5. Different management and leadership theories
Situational leadership: This leadership style helps to adjust the managers or leaders to
face any situation. According to this theory, effective leaders are those persons who adopt their
style to the situation such as type of task, nature of group and many other factors which affect the
growth and performance. By using situational Leadership theory, leaders can take better decision
for a company which help in the growth of a company.
System leadership: In this theory, leaders change their style in order to meet the specific
goal that make progress towards social change. This theory mainly focuses on changes related to
society and leaders to work for the development of society (Chevalier and et.al., 2015). This
theory help leaders in their decision making further aid to company's growth.
Contingency leadership: This theory states that leaders must establish good relations
with staff and customers so that they can change their style according to task structure and if

employees perform well in a company, then they must be rewarded for same. By using
contingency leadership, leader of M&S can easily maintain good relationship which directly
helps in the attaining it’s all objectives and goals.
6. Strengths and weaknesses of theories
THEORY STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
Situational leadership  Simple to understand
 Make good relationship
between managers and
employees
 Not task oriented and
managers /leaders may
struggle to remain
flexible
System leadership  Helps in decision
making
 Focuses on multiple
targets of management
 Not practical and delay
in decision making
 Not applicable for all
types of organizations
Contingency leadership  Most flexible theory
than others
 Employees may give
their opinions
 When put this theory
into action, becomes
complex
 Suffers from less
knowledge of literature
These theories are sometimes helpful for a company and by applying these range of
theories into managers or leaders would help in upgrade the quality of work because this help to
make good relationship between employees and help in decision making but on the other side
sometimes it may be not fruitful for the growth of company as it not applicable in all situations.
For example, Richard Nicolosi who is a general manager of Practer and gamble's paper
product, faces problem regarding new competitive pressure which fell the company down from
present scenario. The customers are now more focus on cost savings and volume which creates
negative impact on the company. As a result, based on above situation Nicolosi stressed the need
for the division and become more creative rather than low cost producer. Nicolosi adopted
strategy with the help of a leader Nahavandi on the concept of self-managed team and tries to

improve and implement their own products in a market. This situational adaptability is applied
by Nicolosi and achieve the goal of a company.
7. Impact of managers and leaders on Marks and Spencer
Effective leaders and managers create high impact on a company and they help to guide
and motivate a team to achieve the set goals and targets. If managers and leaders may adjust their
qualities and style according to situation then it will create the best impact on Marks and Spencer
to maximize its profit and sale (Akalin, Huang and Willems, 2016). By working together in the
field of work place will definitely take a business in next level of success and to resolve every
problem whether it is related to customer of employee should be handle in very polite manner so
that it creates positive attitude towards them and create good environment in business.
Recommendations: For future improvements, leaders should not leave their positive
attitude and always motivate his team in right direction so that they will fulfill the need of
customers by producing good quality of products and managers should make strategies in order
to execute the plan for a business. If they both do their work in an effective way, it will definitely
take business at the next level of success (Fisichelli and et.al., 2016). Manager and leaders of
Marks and Spencer will use the latest technology in order to attract more customer and they
should hire more staff to deal with customers with satisfaction replies. Communication power
should be strong because it will definitely enhance the level of company.
TASK 2
1. Operation management
Marks and Spencer have good operation management as this is one of the leading
companies and fulfil all the needs of customers. Every company have its own operation
management system in order to achieve operation strategies and for Marks and Spencer
operational management activities help to serve all kind of product at high quality in all
convenient locations. It has various department which perform their own role such as food
department: it serves all type of food product and maintain the balance amount of product by
using inventory system which continuously check in and out of product. Technology department:
the company understand the importance of technology on their field that is why it start online
business for convenience of their customers. Selling department: it improves it selling system by
using promotional activities and offer discounts on the purchasing of worth amount. It also has

good supply chain management system which is quite necessary to establish good network in the
market in order to satisfy customer before its rivals do.
Marks and Spencer use various types of key approaches to increase its performance in the
market such as
 Provide the best quality of food product in order to attract more customers and feel them
satisfy by providing item at lower rate (Fisichelli and et.al., 2016).
 It follows hybrid service, which include multiple tasking work and with the best
communication and coordination authority can help to create maximum profit.
 The company, follow autocratic decision making which help to take decisions according
to situation as decisions are made at top and a good decision will help to take a business
in positive direction.
 Marks and Spencer work for make his brand popular in terms of clothing as it basically
works according to demand of customer by providing comfort and fit style.
2. Roles and responsibilities of manager and leader
Manager's role and responsibilities: in operation management, managers play a key
role in marketing, budgeting and cost controlling and always keep the financial status strong.
Managers mainly focus on those resources which help to minimize the cost. Mostly they work on
improving sale system and business forecast and find different ways to minimizes result. They
must have good communication and personal skill which help different department to work
together (Burns, 2014). The managers also help in good decision making and resolve all the
problems between employees and customers. The main responsibility of managers is to set goals
and then establish policies and review the performance of every employee.
Leader's role and responsibilities: Marks and Spencer have efficient leaders and their
main role is to motivate all the employees to achieve the well-defined mission and convert into
strategic plans and then implement it for better growth and development. Organization ability is
clearly reflected from the profit it may earn during a year with the efforts of leaders, managers
and employees (Akalin, Huang and Willems, 2016). As the leader of a company always focus on
company's mission and vision and it’s their responsibility to train the staff and let them motivate
to do work accordingly and then monitor the assigned work is in progress or not. The leaders
must set all the goals with clear identification of its objectives.

3. Importance of key approaches to operations management
Operation management is basically focused on production of goods or services and it is
necessary to done work according to management system. These operation management concert
the input (material, labor) into output or result which can be seen to the customers in order to
make them satisfied. For service-based operations system, many factors related to human
resources and quality of performance are given more importance as compared to others. The
main function of operating system is to make plan and then implement it into the products and
then sell to the customers. Business cannot hope for a success without operating management
system.
Key approaches use resources appropriately to produce product and then serve it to the
users. These approaches are important because the maintain the cost, quality and speed with
flexibility of a product (Baxley and et.al., 2016). They always take cares for the maintaining long
term supplier’s relationship process to supply them best quality of product in prescribed time.
Through operation management system, Marks and Spencer realizes the actual cost of
production and position of a business and make necessary improvements in order to make itself
best among all.
4. Managers and leaders could be effective in improving operation management system
To improve operation management system, leaders and managers take different steps
which are mention below:
 They increase the communication skill with staff and listen their problem and then take
some initiatives to resolve it. To make good relationship between team and managers or
leaders they should keep their mind free, set and alert to solve every type of problem.
 To improve the operation management, leaders should be keeping their focus on the main
objectives and aim of business rather than on different department and external factors.
 They should implement all the plans into a product and motive their employees in all
stages of operations with cross communication power and support them in every stage of
life so that they feel comfortable and do work as assigned to them.
 Leaders should pay more attention towards the quality of work rather than income
because operation management maintain the cost, speed and quality of a product which is
offered to the customers (Stadtler, 2015).

 Operation management help in maximizes productivity and it's the duty of managers to
design and execute the effective supply chain system with minimizing risk. They should
look after whether the product is delivered on time or not and complete all the need of
customers.
 They should encourage all the employees to perform best with their skills and abilities.
5. Presenting impact of external business environment factor on operational management
There are various external factors which affect the business environment of Marks and
Spencer which are described below: Rapid expansion of technologies: The modern business is completely based on latest
technologies and Marks and Spencer too uses all the latest technologies in its business
such as recently it starts online shopping business for the convenient of its customer.
There is wide scope in using such type of digital technologies in the business such as it
decreases the working efficiency of human and completely based or depend on those
technologies. Quality and customer Service: This is the main factor which create impact on the
business environment of Marks and Spencer. Operation management focus more on the
quality of product that is offer rather than income because their main objective is to
provide good services to its customers and establish good relation with them by
continuous flow of cash as well as goods. Economic Environment: This is another important factor which affect the income of
Marks and Spencer. Sudden change in interest rates will affect the environment and
creates negative impact on the financial status of a business. Short term changes may
affect the overall environment of a firm (Schnepp, Vidal and Hawley, 2017).
 Competitor: The company have many rivals because it provides the product in such a
lower rate than other companies with good quality and that is why it is considered the
best retailing store among all. Department fix the cost or price of product and then sell it
to the market; proper operations are done when the product is manufactured till selling.
6. Critical evaluation of the factors of operational management
After analysing all the external factors of business environment, it is critically evaluated
that Marks and Spencer uses all the latest technologies in its production in order to run a business
in successful manner and on the other side it has many rivals which make a tough competition.

As per the rise in global economy it is also evaluated that Marks and Spencer wants to expand its
business in all over the world and sudden change in government policies create a huge impact on
business environment. Increases in interest rate will sometimes affect the financial position of a
business. The company always complete the need of customers and supply them good quality of
product while others do not. The power of customer is totally depending on having numerous
competitors. To satisfy customer it is necessary to let them know about service and product
available in the store and this can be done by using proper promotional activity and use of the
latest technologies in daily routine.
7. Suggestion for future improvements
Marks and Spencer have proper management as well as operational management system
but, in some situations, it is proved that it has weak operational management to improve those,
following suggestion should be consider:
 Keep in touch with customers and try to get feedback from them, it is the best way to
enhance the performance level of a company. Always look for a way to run a business in
right direction.
 Proper marketing and advertising will also help to keep the business successful for long
time. Marks and Spencer should use all the latest technologies in order to enhance the
level of performance and try to develop online business as per convenience of customers.
 Evaluate the price which are offered to the customers and make sure that prices of a
product should not be too low and high, it should be affordable and should be lower from
the competitors (Ways to improve business operation, 2018).
 Note down all the weak point of every department and try to improve each department
such take stock of every operations so that it will help to know the shortage of material.
Also improve all the records which help to maintain the accounts.
 Try to introduce new product in market to attract more and more customer because it
helps to increase the sale as well as profit and make good image in market as compared to
competitor’s companies.
CONCLUSION
By summing up the above report it is concluded that management and operations plays a
crucial role in every business. Marks and Spencer also have its different management system and
operations department. The report defines and compare different roles and responsibilities of

managers and leaders. It also focusses different types of theories and models of approach such as
situational, system and contingency leadership with examples. The report also demonstrates
different roles and responsibilities of manager and leaders in operations function with its values
and importance to achieve the target and objective of Marks and Spencer. It more focuses on
how managers and leaders could be effective in improving operational efficiencies of a business.
It assesses various types of factors that impact upon operational management and decision
making by leaders and managers and also suggest recommendations for future improvement to
be taken by a company.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Akalin, G. I., Huang, Z. and Willems, J. R., 2016. Is Supply Chain Management Replacing
Operations Management in the Business Core Curriculum. Operations and Supply Chain
Management: An International Journal. 9(2). pp.119-130.
Baxley, B. T. And et.al., 2016. Human-in-the-Loop Assessment of Alternative Clearances in
Interval Management Arrival Operations.
Burns, M. G., 2014. Port management and operations. CRC Press.
Chevalier, P. and et.al., 2015. Revenue management for operations with urgent orders. European
Journal of Operational Research, 240(2), pp.476-487.
Fisichelli, N.A. and et.al., 2016. Resource management and operations in southwest South
Dakota: Climate change scenario planning workshop summary January 20-21, 2016,
Rapid City, SD (No. NPS/NRSS/NRR—2016/1289). National Park Service.
Heizer, J., 2016. Operations Management, 11/e. Pearson Education India.
Jacobs, F. R., Chase, R. B. and Lummus, R. R., 2014.Operations and supply chain
management (pp. 533-535). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Lawrence, M. and et.al., 2015. Transportation Systems Management and Operations Benefit-
Cost Analysis Compendium (No. FHWA-HOP-14-032).
Schnepp, R., Vidal, R. and Hawley, C., 2017. Incident management for operations.
Stadtler, H., 2015. Supply chain management: An overview. InSupply chain management and
advanced planning (pp. 3-28). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Venkat, A. and et.al., 2015. Strategic management of operations in the emergency
department. Production and Operations Management. 24(11). pp.1706-1723.
Yang, R., 2016. Economic development impacts of transportation system management and
operations strategies.
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Ways to improve business operation. 2018. [Online]. Available
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