Detailed Analysis of Management and Operations in M&S (Retail)

This report examines the management and operations within Marks and Spencer, a major UK retailer. It begins by differentiating between managers and leaders, outlining their roles and characteristics. The report then applies these roles within specific situational contexts, particularly focusing on building efficient teams. Key operational approaches are explored, including situational, systems, and contingency leadership theories. The importance and value of operations management are discussed, along with factors influencing operational decision-making. The report highlights the significance of leadership in driving organizational efficiency and adapting to various challenges within the dynamic retail environment of Marks and Spencer. The analysis covers aspects like assessing goals, motivating teams, and effective communication, providing a comprehensive overview of management practices.

MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS IN M & S
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Table of Contents
Introduction ...............................................................................................................................................3
Task 1..........................................................................................................................................................3
P1 Differentiation between Managers and Leaders................................................................................3
P2 Applying Role of the leaders and Function of managers in situational context..................................5
P3 Theories and Models of Approach......................................................................................................7
Task 2..........................................................................................................................................................8
P4 Key Approaches of Operations Management.....................................................................................8
P5 Importance and value of Operations Management...........................................................................9
P6 Factors that impact Operation Management and Decision Making.................................................11
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................11
Reference List............................................................................................................................................13
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Introduction
The management and operations in Marks and Spencer is an important factor in the
organisational setting. There are different types of management operations that are required to
conduct various types of operations in organisational setting of Marks and Spencer in United
Kingdom. This particular assignment has been based on the operations and management theories
that help the managers and leaders of the company to fulfil their functions and enhance
performances. Marks and Spencer is a retail company which is one of the biggest companies of
United Kingdom (marksandspencer.com 2017). It is the biggest retailer and the headquarters are
in United Kingdom. Management and leadership styles of Marks and Spencer are quite versatile
and it encompasses various stages of management systems within the organisation.
Task 1
P1 Differentiation between Managers and Leaders
Leader Manager
Definition A leader is a person who is responsible
for his or her team. Leaders are therefore
responsible for setting important goals
and targets for the entire team and set an
example by leading the way. It is the
leader’s responsibility to inspire others
to perform well.
Manager is someone who manages
work and activities of the organisation.
Manager drives work of others in order
to make operations of organisation
efficient. The individual must have
clear knowledge of the area in which
the person needs to manage.
Roles  Motivating employees and staffs
of the organisation is one of the
biggest roles of global business
leaders.
 Building of morale is an
important function as an efficient
morale helps in effective
 Managers oversee working
activities of employees and
people within the organisation.
 They are responsible for
ensuring that proper resources
are given to the employees and
staff members.
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operations of employees.
 Sets a clear vision for the
organisation.
 Guiding employees through
working process and difficult
working environment.
 Leaders are also responsible for
proper communication with
employees.
 They are also responsible for
bridging the gap between
common employees of
organisation and senior
management of the company.
 Leaders do not hire. They
provide training to selected staff
members and employees within
the team to guide them in a
definitive manner.
 They are responsible for
making budget systems and
financial reports for senior
management.
 Managers ensure that all the
departments of organisation
work according to goals and
targets of the company.
 Managers are also required to
provide timely evaluation of
employee performances against
the goals and targets of the
company.
 They are also responsible for
hiring and setting up policies
for the organisation.
Characteristics  A leader must have overseas
experience about conducting
work and activities of
organisation.
 Must have a very good self
awareness about the business
(Bargau, 2015).
 As M&S is one of the largest
retailing companies in the world,
Leaders need to have deep
interest about cultural diversity.
 In dealing with lots of employees
 Managers must be culturally
versed and should be able to
connect with people from
different backgrounds.
 Managers must possess positive
attitude towards business
activities and actions of the
organisation.
 Managers in M&S should be
focused and driven. These
characteristics help in
prioritising work and functions
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and team members in M&S, a
leader must be able to show traits
of humility in his or her work.
 A leader must be cautious and be
honest with team members and
employees.
 One of the most important
characteristics that a leader must
show in global business
environment of M&S is being a
very good negotiator.
 Business leaders need to be well
spoken and must have a strong
hold over language.
 Must be patient in order to be
more efficient and effective in
dealing with management of
organisation.
displayed.
 Must be competent as in a
M&S company which is a
multinational company there
are different types of
competition and competitors for
the business (Zhou, 2016).
 Empathy and accountability are
two characteristics of managers
that are essential for managers
to have.
 Unlike leaders, managers need
to be flexible all the time. As
they are in charge of overseeing
operations of M&S, it is
important for them to be
flexible and be quick in taking
relevant decisions.
 A business manager must also
be patient, but the individual
must work through the
deadline.
 Managers must be clear in their
understanding of several issues
and problems that may arise.
P2 Applying Role of the leaders and Function of managers in situational context
Role of leaders in building efficient teams
Marks and Spencer is one of the biggest retail industries in the United Kingdom. It is important
to note that there are different types of situational context within the organisation. There are
situations when teams and departments within the organisation need to increase their level of
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efficiency in order to achieve target sales of the company. In these situations, the leaders become
very important and significant in guiding the team to build proper performance levels (Carvalho
and Rabechini Junior, 2015). In situational context like this, it is important for business leaders
to create efficiency through their actions. Following are some of the activities of business leaders
in M&S in building efficient teams;
Assessing goals and targets of organisation and departments
Leaders must assess and develop various ways in which goals of the departments would be
assessed. It is imperative that the leader pays attention to setting clear goals through
understanding what is needed by concerned department.
Motivating keeping group on task
Business leaders especially in M&S should apply their role of motivating employees in these
types of situation. It is crucial that they employ their role and skills in motivating staff members
and employees for increasing efficiency in their work and performances.
Clarifying objectives and guiding work based actions
Business leaders build efficient teams in M&S through proper communication with employees
and team members of concerned department. It is their role to guide different team members to
work efficiently. Business leaders must be able to clarify their objectives and team goals
properly to the department. It is significant to also guide team members to work in a definitive
manner to meet team goals and activities.
Proper communication with senior management to drive actions
One of the major roles of business leaders in meeting with department goals and targets is to
communicate with senior management of the organisation. Organisation goals need to be
communicated with team members, so that employee gets a clear idea of what is expected.
Functions of Managers in increasing information based operations
Manager’s role in performing their duties in contextual situation of M&S can be highlighted as
follows;
Monitoring of department
In large companies like Marks and Spencer informational flow is required extensively. It is
significant for managers who are part of M&S to exhibit different roles like monitoring. To build
effective relationship with stakeholders, managers need to seek information and receive
information from periodicals and maintain personal contact with stakeholders.
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Disseminator
Managers must be able to forward their information and data related to business activities to
senior management of organisation and keeping them informed about various reforms. It is
important to note that there are different types of memos, reports and phone calls which is
accepted and processed by business managers to help information based operations.
Acting as spokesperson for the organisation
It is the role of a business manager in information based operations, to act as a spokesperson that
would be responsible for providing different types of information to outsiders of M&S. there are
shareholders and stakeholders of Marks and Spencer, who need relevant information and data to
act effectively. There are different types of information that needs to be transferred to
stakeholders of M&S which is relevant in order to carry out efficient functions for the business.
It is important to note that these information and data are transmitted in the form of reports and
speeches by business managers of Marks and Spencer in United Kingdom.
P3 Theories and Models of Approach
Situational Leadership Theory
This is a crucial theory of leadership in the management of multinational companies and
organisation. In Marks and Spencer whose headquarters are at United Kingdom, deals with a lot
of problems in operations (Salehzadeh et al. 2015). It is important for leaders to conduct
operations which will be of benefit to the company’s situation. Situational leadership theory is
based on leaders, who have to change their style of leadership in reference with the kind of
development and reform that is needed in organisation. Situational leadership is based on
situations. Leaders who work in a specific manner might have to evaluate the situation in order
to change their styles of leadership (McCleskey, 2014). Situational leadership is applied into the
organisation when there is a need for changing the management and operations of M&S. marks
and Spencer needs to avail different services of business leaders in order to create situational
leadership within the organisation. In business environment of Marks and Spencer business
leaders need to adopt different styles to operate within a very competitive global environment.
Systems Leadership Theory
Systems leadership is based on systems thinking. It is an important theory that can be used in
operational sector of Marks and Spencer. As M&S is a retail industrial company, it is important
to note that there are different types of management style of the company. It is important to
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understand that system thinking can be applied to system leadership (Carter and DeChurch,
2014). In cases when there are various kind of complication in management operations, systems
thinking can be applied in order to provide solutions for retail companies like Marks and
Spencer. Systems leaders are influential in order to help people to drive change in society. In
M&S Company, systems leadership can help in guiding change in the social structure for the
company. In terms of M&S, systems leaders see bigger picture and the manner in which to
increase sales (Chappuis et al. 2016). It also takes a look at providing imperative changes to
organisational setting in order to improve social structure of Marks and Spencer.
Contingency Leadership
This kind of theory is based on thinking of contingency mind set and rules. This theory states
that leadership and development of operations of Marks and Spencer are dependent on different
kind of activities and actions of employees and staff members (Mills and McKimm, 2016).
There are no valid or perfect option for these activities and actions and this is the reason
contingency options are crucial. Contingency theory also states that there is no perfect manner in
which to organise a particular organisation. Development and management of M&S is dependent
on internal and external factor of company. Contingency approaches to leadership can be
affected though the internal and external processes of Marks and Spencer. It is important to note
that there are different types of leadership theories which look at contingency theory to map out
various notions of leadership (Long, 2017). In contingency theory, pattern of leadership is
different and when there are high chances leadership outcome, the concerned leaders has to be
accepted and respected by all members of Marks and Spencer.
Task 2
P4 Key Approaches of Operations Management
Operations Management is important to conduct business operations of various sorts. It is
important to note that there are different types of approaches to operations management which
has to be assessed in order to understand the role of managers and leaders in multinational
companies like Marks and Spencer.
Key operation management approach is the six sigma approach. It is an approach that focuses on
the quality of products and services that are provided by concerned company. It is important to
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note that this particular approach is focused with improvement of operations within Marks and
Spencer and help operational functions of leaders and managers. This approach is divided into
different parts to look at different sections of operations of products and resource management of
the company. Leaders are required to look at the operations of the employees and staff members.
These operations are based on the factor of evaluating operations of leaders and employees in
order to understand role of six sigma approach of operations management (Buble et al. 2014).
Six sigma approaches is also crucial for reducing cost of operations, saving of time and
efficiency of workers by minimising errors. It is significant to highlight that leaders and
managers are required to work through Six Sigma in order to achieve efficiency of operations
within M&S. Total quality management consists of organization-wide efforts to install and make
a permanent climate in which an organization continuously improves its ability to deliver high-
quality products and services to customers. The customer ultimately determines the level of
quality. No matter what an organization does to foster quality improvement—training
employees, integrating quality into the design process, upgrading computers or software, or
buying new measuring tools—the customer determines whether the efforts were worthwhile.
Operation management is concerned with business process and controlling of business
production. It is important to note that there are different types of approaches of operations
management that looks at providing several solutions for the company. It is important to note
that operations management is essential. There are different types of management process in
operations that involves management of raw materials, labour and energy. There are different
types of operations of managers and leaders. Managers in accordance with different operations
of the organisation must be able to provide different functions of coordinating information and
data from warehouses. Managers are also responsible for overseeing operations of labour and
other employees within the organisation. It is important to highlight that leaders also have to
abide by the concept and approach of Six Sigma is crucial for understanding different layers of
operations of M&S.
Service based industries approach is also important for M&S. It focuses on service provided to
customers and stakeholders. Stakeholders and customers are the biggest part of retail industries
which is the reason; managers become essential in dealing with stakeholders (Seuring, 2013).
Service based approach deals with internal and external human resource management and also
products and services that are provided to customers. Management of and introduction of new
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options for these products and services and human resources is one of the approach of managers
and leaders in Marks and Spencer.
P5 Importance and value of Operations Management
Operations management is a fundamental part of business organisation. It is therefore important
for Marks and Spencer to create a proper management in terms of operations to enable different
perspectives of dealing with raw materials and maintenance of products. There are two other
factors that operations management of retail industry are concerned with which are labour and
capital of organisation. In retail sectors the importance of operations management can be
assessed in the following manner;
 It identifies different management process of understanding customer needs and
demands. Retail industries like M&S need to effectively assess the demand of public in
order to provide them with efficient products and services. Knowing different needs and
demands of customers and the buying pattern makes it easier to supply them with
effective products and services (Slack et al. 2013). Customers are also retained and new
customers are also attracted to the business of M&S. Marks and Spencer’s operation
management reflect total value towards its customers and providing them with valuable
products and services.
 Operations Management increases profitability and productivity of companies.
Profitability is one of the major aspects of doing business. Business organisation like
Marks and Spencer has a need of increasing their profitability in order to constantly
compete in global market. Operation management provides these companies and
organisation with effective opportunity to increase their profitability which is a result of
increased productivity as well.
 Operations management is a section of organisation which provides the company with
most number of employees. Organisations can choose effectively from the number of
employees and also select the best employees to work for M&S.
 Effective operations management within Marks and Spencer is concerned with
production of assets for the company (Hübner et al. 2015). It is important to note that
there are different types of operations management that is concerned with M&S. M&S is
also concerned with providing various operations and production of assets for the
company which is why it is one of the most important parts of Marks and Spencer.
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 Operations management also helps in understanding the nature of production and
employees that work for the company. An effective management procedure would help
in producing different kind of production design and is also important in dealing with
employees that are responsible for company’s overall operations.
P6 Factors that impact Operation Management and Decision Making
Global Competition
This is one of the major factors that affect operations management of an organisation. It is
important to note that global competition can affect operation management. As there are
different types of competitors for retail industries and management systems, it should be noted
that global competition might affect the general process of operations of products and resources.
With increased competition, organisation like M&S needs to incorporate various layers of
operation management like labour costs, increased production of products, increase in the
number of hiring and employment of employees and staff members of the company.
Rapid expansion of technologies
It is important to highlight that there are different types of advancement in the world of
technologies. Most of the companies have expanded to digital and internet based services to
customers. It is essential to understand that there is rapid extension of technologies and technical
equipments which would affect overall operations management of the organisation. Rapid
extension in technology would result in adoption of these technologies into the organisation
(Patel et al. 2017). In many scenarios, this expansion of technologies would result in possible
ineffectiveness of employees who would not be effective in handling these kinds of
technologies. It would also mean leaders and managers of the organisation have to take effective
steps to train these employees. This would result in more time consuming and money consuming
factors.
Scarcity of capital and resources
In order to produce smooth activities and actions for the organisation, M&S has to provide
enough capital and resources. In a globally competitive environment where all retail industries
are fighting for the top spot, sufficient capital and resources are difficult to manage. Operations
management would be deeply damaged if there are not enough capital and resources for
operating. It also impacts overall operations and functions of leaders and managers of the
organisation of M&S.
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PESTLE is a strategic analysis tool. It is often seen as the most effective analytical tools
to analyze the impacts of external issues. It is an extended version of PEST analysis. Other forms
of this tool are PESTEL, STEEP, and STEEPLE. The acronym PESTLE stands for 6 factors
which affect the business.
Conclusion
This particular assignment is based on different types of operational management functions in
Marks and Spencer. Roles and functions of leaders and managers of the concerned organisation
have also been covered in the assignment in accordance with M&S. Therefore, to assess the key
points of assignment and reflect upon several factors of operational management, it is important
to note that there are different types of management skills that are essential for employees to
incorporate in order to manage resources and products of the organisation. Differentiation
between leaders and managers also focuses on several activities that they perform for the benefit
of Marks and Spencer and the manner in which to improve these activities further to be more
effective.
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