Report on Management and Operations at Morrison Supermarkets: Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of management and operations within Morrison Supermarkets. It begins by differentiating between managers and leaders, exploring their roles and characteristics, and then examines managerial functions according to Fayol's principles. The report further delves into various leadership approaches including systems, situational, and contingency leadership styles, illustrating their application within the company. The second part of the report focuses on operations management, outlining different approaches and their practical uses within Morrison. It assesses the role of the store manager, highlights the importance of operations management, and identifies key external factors impacting operations. Finally, it explores the effects of these factors on the store manager's decision-making process, offering a holistic view of Morrison's operational strategies and leadership dynamics.

Management and Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
A) Various similarities and differences between managers and leaders ....................................1
B) Different managerial functions according to Fayol...............................................................3
C) Systems, situational and contingency leadership approaches uses in Morrison....................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
1.Different approaches of operation's management and its uses in Morrison.............................5
2. Role of the store manager in Morrison...................................................................................6
3. Major importance of operation's management in Morrison....................................................7
4. Assessment the key outside factors that can have an effect on the operation's management
for Morrison................................................................................................................................8
5. Impact of these factors upon the decision making process of the store manager...................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Operations management is a special branch of a company, which carry a business and
control the process of designing or production of all services and goods. It focuses on the entire
management and activities for distribution and selling (Ahuja, 2017).
This report is based on Morrison Supermarkets PLC that was founded in 1899 and
situated at Hilmore House, Gain Lane Bradford, United Kingdom. It offers various types of
services and products; for example cloth, food, drink, magazines, books and many more. It
includes differences and similarities in between managers and leaders that are based on their
roles and characteristics. It describes functions of a manager according to Fayol and different
leadership approaches.
Further, it discusses about approaches and importance of operations management and role
of a store manager. Lastly, it includes different external factors that can have an effect on the
management of all operations related to activities and decision-making process of store manager.
TASK 1
A) Various similarities and differences between managers and leaders
Those persons who are Leaders and managers, important for every company and they
play an essential role in managing employees and activities of an organization. The Morrison
Supermarkets Plc offers goods, fresh food, and various products to their potential customers
(Akalin, Huang and Willems, 2016). It also provides different kind of leasing and insurance
services. There are many leaders and managers in various departments.
Manager – Managers are responsible for completion of various tasks of a company and work
with their staff members and employees. They are emphasizes for maintain the culture and
environment of organization. They work for organizational activities with the help of workers.
They make plan, organise staff members, order them and check their work for getting the best
results.
Leader – Leaders are lead their team members and provide proper inspiration to them that are
useful is the process of achievement of common goal. A leader has many skills, qualities and
talents that will help in order to gain common goals (Asam and et.al. 2015). Leaders create a
vision that seen as inspiration and possibilities for their supportive team members. They must
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take a great deal in the success of their fans and followers. They also guide and provide better
inspiration in order to success.
Differences between managers and leaders according to their functions and characteristics:
Base Managers Leaders
Meaning Managers create vision and
create a successful plan.
Leaders work for the common
goal with their team members.
Supervision They supervise people and set
their responsibilities to do
work.
They contribute to individuals
and guide every person in the
right direction.
Goals They have different goals and
objectives. They also focus on
each task for growth and
development.
Leader and his or her team
work for a common goal with
his or her team (Baxley and
et.al., 2016). He or she leads
team members to achieve those
objectives.
Vision Managers create a strategic
vision and make a road map.
They involve their team and
make future path or direction.
Work Manager organizes all types of
functions and divides into
employees.
Leaders are tends for
innovations with new ideas
and creativity.
Reliable They are reliable on
employees, management and
control (Chang and Seely,
2018).
Leaders create trust between
organization and employees.
Decisions Managers create own decisions
without any help by staff
members.
They make decision and
facilitate to every team
members.
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Similarities between leaders and managers based on their roles and duties:
Basis of similarities Leaders Managers
Encouraging Leaders encourage their team
members and instruct them.
Managers also encourage
every employee that work in
an organization.
Work for company They must work in order to
achieve organization's goals
and objectives (Chiarini and
Vagnoni, 2015).
Managers also work to carry
the business at certain height
of success.
Qualities Leaders have talent and they
promote business.
Managers are good
communicators and have many
skills.
Personality They have personality and
charisma to influence the
behaviour of team members.
They also have procedures
about completion of work.
B) Different managerial functions according to Fayol
In the Morrison, there are many managers for several departments and they do their work
for gaining competitive advantages. Managers have different type of functions that are useful for
company. In this context, a French engineer Henri Fayol made a theory that is Principles of
Management (Dekker and et.al., 2018). This theory describes functions of a manager that are
important in every organisation or situation. He developed the major five function that are
compulsory to conduct by every manager to solve issues and achieve the target in different
organisational situation. These are describes as below:
 Planning and Forecasting – It is the first main function of a manager and it decides
what will be done in the future. In this process the manager set and determine the
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objectives and make special procedure for cover up those targets. It is an intellectual
process and based on availability of alternatives.
 Organising – It is the second most important task of manager that will demonstrates all
activities of the business. In this stage, a manager classifies his or her work and divides
into employees or staff members. In this context, the structure of company is playing a
significant role in this process. Manager organises all tasks and give it to the right person
who is responsible for that job.
 Staffing – This is use for establish position of each staff members at their respective
stage and it also defines their functional relations to the staff members (Fisichelli and
et.al., 2016). Staffing demonstrates several positions in an organisation and it provides an
adequate, qualifies and competency environment at the all level. In this process, it also
measures every individual and determines performance of the entire organisation.
 Directing or Leading – It refers as lead to the whole team in the right direction to reach
height of success. The manager must guide and counsel their staff members and
subordinates in their occupation. In this process, manager also influences everyone in
order to attain organisational goals.
 Controlling – It is an important function that ensures about performance and standards.
Every manager must check whether the work is going in right direction or not.
Controlling provides power to maintain discipline and control over employees to solve
their conflicts (Fu, 2015). There is a possibility of action to devote constant monitoring of
actual performance. Therefore, for this reason, every manager should take appropriate
steps to confirm about the work of employees.
C) Systems, situational and contingency leadership approaches uses in Morrison.
In the Morrison Company, there are many leaders that having separate team and many
employees who support leaders. Every leader work with his or her capabilities and use different
approaches to conduct several functions. These approaches contain greater beliefs about
expectations and needs of employee at the work place (Gillen, Jacquillat and Odoni, 2016).
Leadership styles influence to the attitudes and behaviour of followers and it will also impact to
the leaders. In this context, these approaches are too much useful in different situations of
Morrison company. These leadership styles are describes as follows:
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Systems Leadership Style – It is refers to the environment in which a leader operate his
or her team towards the achievement of goals. It is describes as the hierarchy structure of an
organisation that how its system will work in different situations. Today's market is too much
competitive and it will difficult to stand with earning profits. So, this approach suggest to the
leader to give inspiration and lead their supportive team in order to achieve targets and
objectives. The leader of Morrison’s group will plan according to their aims and objective which
is helping them to compete with their rivals and then work based on their planning. There will be
no definite style of leading the team it is just when there is high competition into market it will
lead to change in leadership to system style. In this given scenario leader being more and more
motivational and leading their team will help employees in their goal achievement.
Contingency Leadership Style – In this approach, the formal structure of a company
demonstrates the roles and duties of its staff member so that they can lead their behaviour to
certain degree of work of management (Rouvari and et.al., 2016). It is a class of behavioural
theory that there is no best method to lead an organisation that is effective in some situation. It is
useful for the leader so that he or she can lead their team member in any contingency situation.
This is describes by two major leadership personalities that are human relations oriented leaders
and task oriented leaders. As per this leadership style there is no type of leadership which is fit in
all situations rather each and every condition would be having different kind of leadership. So if
there is negative working environment within Morrison’s and employee turnover is higher than it
is required that leaders of team are leading according to their situation. They are employing
tactics which is helping their employees like motivational meetings and giving them proper
training so that they are retained intro the company for longer duration of time.
Situational Leadership Style – It is produced by Ph.D. Holder and director of research
and development department, Fred E. Fiedler in early 20th century. According to Blanchard and
Hersey, the leadership is not based on personality, it is depended on the skills and treats
(Saucedo-Martínez and et.al., 2017). It emphasizes the behaviour of the leaders in several
specific situations. In the Morrison, the leader uses this style in various critical situations. As all
the leaders are having different behaviour which is making them different from others working
into company. So each of the employee could be having their own leader who is different from
other and guiding or leading them in differentiated ways so there is no specified type of
leadership style. The critical situation in Morrison’s like if every employee is not motivated or
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not performing well then swapping their job roles and organising recreational activities for them
will be very good option for this time.
TASK 2
1. Different approaches of operation's management and its uses in Morrison.
Morrison is a UK based retail store company that provides different types of food, drink
and breakfast. It also involves in services related to leasing and insurance. In this company, the
management of operations serves different functions of managing the process of production of
several outputs. It must use raw material, electricity, plant, machineries and labour to make new
products and fulfil the requirement of its customers (Song and Parola, 2015). In this context, it
will make sure about the operation's management because it plays an essential role in the work of
all other departments. Approaches of operation's management use as the growth and
development of the company. These are describes as below: Six sigma – This is systematic approach of operation's management that describes as
improving process that use in data driven. It is useful for existing and new process and
defines new methodology. The main goal of this theory is to provide profits as much as
possible by eliminate all defects and variability of wastages. It is focuses on the clients
and manage whole process of flow. It also removes loss and non value added steps. Lean manufacturing – It is known as systematic production process in order to reduce
waste material of resources (Wang, Huang and Liu, 2017). In this context, the Morrison
company's management is capable to reduce the wastage amount and increase production
to achieve different organisational goals and objectives. Reconfigurable manufacturing systems – It is a possible method use for effectively
changes in the market. The Morrison's production department used with different
functionalities within the product and services. This method makes various adjustments
in the production department that is cost effectively.
 Total quality control – It defines as achieving the long term success through satisfied all
customers. It is concise as the management system that work for consumer satisfaction
and it contains improvement strategies in the employees.
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2. Role of the store manager in Morrison.
In the Morrison company, the retail store manager conducts various tasks and works for
operation's Management. Manager must supervise the store's activities and organises employees
to meet the customer's preferences and achieve targets with timely (Jacobs, Chase and Lummus,
2014). He also creates plan and coordinate all functions for example budgeting, sales &
distribution and merchandising. In this organisation, the store officer also work for variety of
retail's activities that concludes apparel, food, domestic products and electronics. In this context,
major work and role of a store manager is describes as below: Recruitment, training & development – It is the duty of every store manager to select,
hire and provide training so that they are able to do organisational activities and work.
Manager also make sure about their efficiency and capabilities. It is useful in arranging
various training and development programs. The manager has a power to render different
benefits to their supportive team and employees. Responsibility division – Every store manager has a huge number to employees or
subordinates who works at each level of structure of the organisation for example
deputies, assistants, key holders and supervisors (Ahuja, 2017). So for this reason it will
the duty of the store manager to give them their responsibilities and define them about
their work to be an operation's manager. Increase Sales – It is an essential work of every store officer that he or she works for
generating more sales as much as possible. In this process, it can conclude set the
individual goals and manager also offer different type of contest and awards to increase
organisation's turnover. It is beneficial for earning more profits for the Morrison. Maintaining overall image of store – It is the main work for manager to maintain the
environment cleanliness and keep every appliances at its right place (Akalin, Huang and
Willems, 2016). It will help to find anything in the store department and helpful for
become an operation's manager. Maintain store's assets – This is recognises as, it will make sure about all assets and
equipments are placed at their right place with proper repairing and maintenance.
Manager also handles the cash at the store with proper security and safety.
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 Other work – In other work, the store manager must manage the staff members, create
proper budget and forecast about expenses, implement several marketing plans, build
teams and many more to be an operation's manager.
3. Major importance of operation's management in Morrison.
Operation Management is the heart of Morrisons which contributes in the business
activities of the company. It is the important part of the organization. It helps in to improve the
overall productivity of the company or business (Asam and et.al. 2015). Operation management
helps in utilize the resources of the company like man power, raw materials. It plays critical role
in the organization and achieve their business goals and objectives. It is important for a service
or goods to be effective and affect profitability of the company. Operation Management helps in
to maintain the quality, cost and flexibility of the goods and services of the Morrisons. Operation
administration ensure the satisfactory services to their costumers. It includes relation
management to provide the best quality service to the consumers and meet their needs and
demand. Morrisons used operation strategy for the long term plan for their company. It gives the
competitive advantage to their business. It is the complicated process for the company to manage
the organization operations (Baxley and et.al., 2016). It plays crucial role in the administration. It
controls the entire management according to the needs of customers. It contributes making goods
and provide services to align with consumers requirements. The main target of the operation
manager is to ensure the delivery of the goods and services on time. It focuses on using the
available resources of the company. Operation administration includes the customer service is
the main objective for the company. The customer service helps in the retention of their clients
and consumers. The operation administration of Morrisons also focuses on the turn of raw
materials into finished goods. It is used for the planning, organizing, coordinating and controlling
in the organization. The key of operations management are ; Product selection and design – It includes the accurate kind of the good designs on the
basis of market demand (Chang and Seely, 2018). Selection and design is crucial for the
success of Morrisons. Process selection and planning – Morrisons operations includes decisions concerning
choice of technology, machines, mechanization and machines.
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 Production planning and control – It helps in to control the quality and ensure the
manufacturing of the goods and services in the stated manner. Inventory control – It deals with the parts, finish goods, spares and suppliers to ensure
their availability with minimum capital. It helps Morrisons in to reduce inventory. Quality assurance – It is the important aspect for the company. It is the assurance system
which helps business to ensure the quality standards, inspection of the quality of the
goods (Chiarini and Vagnoni, 2015). It controls the quantity and quality of the products. Maintenance and replacement – It helps Morrisons to ensure superior quality of the
goods which required minimum maintenance and replacement cost for the company.
 Cost reduction and control – Effective operation administration ensure minimum cost of
production and helps in to increase the sales of Morrisons.
4. Assessment the key outside factors that can have an effect on the operation's management for
Morrison.
To operate the business activities of Morrison is not an easy task of its managers. There
are many difficulties and critical situations that may come in front of management of Morrison.
It will affect to the organisational environment as well as influence to the productivity and
capabilities of employees and staff members (Dekker and et.al., 2018). So for this reason it is
essential to look at those elements and factors that can affect and profits of company may reduce.
There are many external factors that can huge impact on the operation's management of this
organisation. In this context, major external factors that have impact to the operation's
management of Morrison, are describes as follows : Governmental regulation – It is major external factor because the government of UK
makes many laws and rules related to the retail sector that will influence the
organisational activities and effect to the management of Morrison (Fisichelli and et.al.,
2016). The whole legal environment is especially tricky for this company. Many taxes
policies, health care mandates and laws related to govern the company's organisational
culture may also influence. Feedbacks and supply chain defects – There are many customers that give their
feedbacks and demand for after sale service that will also affect to the management of
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this company. In the supply chain management of this company, there may be some
issues generate and influence the employee's productivity (Fu, 2015). The supply chain
management is cover a big area of organisation so for this reason it is also considerable
for management. Competitors – In its market segments, there are a huge number of competitors in the
retail industry that can reduce its potential customers and decrease the sales. Competitors
provides many offers and conduct several promotional programs to increase their sales.
So for this reason management must considers this factor and increase their turnover and
attracts new customers in order to achieve desire targets and goals.
 Innovations in technology – in today's scenario, there are a huge change in technology
advancement. Many changes will be come in front of management in day to day life and
it will also affect to the management of operation's in Morrison company. There are a
many advantages and disadvantages for digital technology (Gillen, Jacquillat and Odoni,
2016). For example if a computer operator wants to be apply new software or technology
in his or her workings then it will duty of management to provide him or her better
facilities to him/her.
5. Impact of these factors upon the decision making process of the store manager.
The store manager is responsible for managing all things at the store department and he
or she also liable for conducting all improvements in order to gain competitive advantages.
Every store manager must work for growth and development of the store as well as company and
make profits by increasing sales. The store manager has play a significant role in finance,
marketing, human resource, technical and legal department and work effectively (Rouvari and
et.al., 2016). In the organisational external environment, there are several factors for example
inflation rate, recession, income of people etc. that have impact to the decision making process of
store manager. In this context, impact of such factors are discusses as below : Impact to sales – There are many factors and elements that have power to reduce the
organisational sales and influence the efficiency of plant and machineries. In such factors,
preferences of client's, weather condition may affects to the sales and turnover of
company.
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