Management and Operations of Morrisons Supermarket

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UNIT4- MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION
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Management And Operations
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
LO1. Role of Leaders and Managers.........................................................................................5
Difference between leadership and management functions...................................................5
P1. Comparison of the roles and characteristics of Leader and Manager..................................6
M1. Analysis of Role of Manager and Leader using different theories.................................8
D1. Critical Evaluation of Leadership Theories In Given Context........................................8
LO2 Role of Leader and function of Manager in given context................................................9
P2. Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts..................................................................................................9
P3. Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership,
systems leadership and contingency....................................................................................11
M2. Assess and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to situations
within the work environment...............................................................................................12
LO3 Role of leaders and managers in the operation function of an organization....................13
P4. Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and
managers play.......................................................................................................................13
P5. Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business
objectives..............................................................................................................................15
M3. Evaluate how leaders and managers can improve the efficiencies of operational
management to successfully meet business objectives........................................................16
LO4 Relationship between leadership and management in a contemporary business
environment..............................................................................................................................17
P6. Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational
management and decision-making by leaders and managers..............................................17
M4. Analyse how these different factors affect the business environment and wider
community............................................................................................................................18
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D2. Critically evaluate application of operations management and factors that impact on
the wider business environment...........................................................................................18
Recommendations:...................................................................................................................19
Conclusion:..............................................................................................................................20
References................................................................................................................................21
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Introduction
There are two principal factors amongst the myriad range of other factors upon which the
strength and success of the business organization depends largely. These two are
management and operation. These two factors amalgamate together to ensure the optimum
utilization of resources, technologies and equipment. In addition, it focuses on developing
and delivering supreme quality products and services and delivering it to the consumers as
per their demands and requirements.
Founded by William Morrison, in the year 1899, Morrisons supermarkets have acquired the
fourth place among the other largest supermarket chains. The company has about 110,000
workers and it delivers its products to almost 11 million consumers on a weekly basis. The
company has its headquarters in Bradford, England. At present, Andrew Higginson is the
Chairman and David Potts is the CEO of Morrisons. The company has 498 outlets currently.
It offers a wide range of products for the customers- Food, beverages, gourmet, apparels,
stationery, music etc. This report will give an insight to the roles played by the leaders and
managers of the organization in order to improve the efficiency of production in context to
Morrisons. Further, several theories of management and different leadership styles have been
demonstrated in context to management and operation of Morrisons.
FIG 1- Morrisons Logo
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(Source- www.brandsoftheworld.com)
LO1. Role of Leaders and Managers
Leaders- For any business organization to function effectively, it is very crucial for them to
have a good leader. A good leader focuses on the desired goals of the organization, motivates
and guides the entire workforce (Ruben and Gigliotti, 2017) of the organization to work
towards accomplishment of the desired goal. It is important for a good leader to have a lucid
vision of the goals of the organization and excellent communication skills.
Managers- The managers play a significant role within the business organization as well.
The entire designing and work management within the organization in order to accomplish
the desired goal of the organization is (Pousa and Mathieu 2016) taken care of by the
manager. The managers bring up several innovative strategies, policies and trends in order to
orient the employees towards a specific target. The existence of managers is found at every
tier of the business organisation. This is done to ensure the scrutiny of the progress of the
organization at every possible level and within every department of the organization.
Difference between leadership and management functions
There are certain differences between leadership and management functions when it comes to
the approach of solving any issue within the business organization or guiding the workforce
towards a desired goal.Leadership may be defined as the act of directing the entire workforce
towards a specific goal. Leadership is associated some ( Kim et al, 2017) specific attributes
like- inspiring, motivating, supporting and encouraging the entire workforce. On the other
hand, management may be defined as the act of establishing control over things and people. It
is very important for a good manager to be logical and systematic. Management is associated
some specific attributes as well like- planning, organizing, directing and coordinating.
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Fig 2–Attributes of Leadership
(Source- Self-generated)
Fig 3 – Attributes of Management
(Source- Self-generated)
P1. Comparison of the roles and characteristics of Leader and Manager
As discussed above, both the leaders and managers are indispensible for any business
organization. However, the roles and characteristics (Grandy, and Sliwa, 2017) of the leaders
and managers are often used interchangeably. There are some differences between these two
units of the business organization. Here, we will ponder upon the differences between leaders
and managers:
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InspiringMotivatingEncouragingSupportingLeadershipPlanningOrganizingDirectingcoordinatingManagement

Management And Operations
LEADERS MANAGERS
The aim of the leaders is -Providing inspiration to
people.
The aim of the managers is- Managing the task and
the workforce.
The leader is willing to take risk and accept the
changes.
The manager focuses on consistency and stability of
the team.
The leader takes his decision with his instinctive
knowing.
The manager takes every decision logically and
rationally.
The leader has emotional bonding with his team
members.
The manager develops no emotional bonding with his
team members.
The ideas of leader are people-centric The ideas of managers are materialistic.
Table 1- Comparison of Leaders and managers.
In context to Morrisons, it can be found that the company has developed several strategies
that have been beneficial for them in order to generate higher revenues and greater
productivity. The role of the managers and the leaders are well segmented and distinguished.
This intricate distinction between the roles (Ford and Harding, 2018) played by them has
facilitated Morrisons to flourish their business territory and yield superior performance. Some
points of comparison between the role of managers and leaders are as follows-
 Setting Target- The managers of Morrisons set the desired goals to be accomplished
by the company. They consider improvisation of strategies and efficiency of yield
during the process. The leaders of the organization focus on communicating these
strategies to the workforce.
 Resource Utilization- The managers of Morrisons take care of the optimum
utilization of the resources to amplify(Tourish, 2019) their efficiency. The leaders of
Morrisons motivate the workforce to facilitate the process.
 Implementation of Strategies-The managers of Morrisons assesses and implements
the innovative strategies. The leaders evaluate the outcome of the implemented
strategy.
 Directing the workforce- The managers of Morrisons allocate the task to the
workforce. The leaders of Morrisons create the team for maximum outcomes.
M1. Analysis of Role of Manager and Leader using different theories
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Manager-The responsibility of the manager within a business organization is to supervise the
entire workforce, within the business organization. They also focus on the optimum usage of
the resources in order to render beneficial (Dumitru, Motoi, and Budica, 2015) results for the
company.They to understand their workers better by assessing their requirements and
expectations from the organization incorporate the theory of human relation. A range of
different theories is applied by the managers in Morrisons like- X theory, administrative
theory, Management by objective etc.
Leader- A good leader focuses on the desired goals of the organization, motivates and guides
the entire workforce of the organization to work towards accomplishment of the desired
goal.The ideas of leader are people-centric.A range of different theories is applied by the
leaders in Morrisons like- trait theory, behavioural theory, transformational theory etc.
D1. Critical Evaluation of Leadership Theories In Given Context
Undoubtedly, for a business organization like Morrisons, the presence of a good leader is
substantial. Leadership is associated a (Alabdulhadi, Schyns, and Staudigl, 2017) few explicit
features like- inspiring, motivating, supporting and encouraging the entire workforce.The aim
of the leaders is to provide inspiration to people. Some prominent leadership theories are
discussed below-
 Behavioural Theory- This theory illustrates the behavior of the workers within the
business organization. In Morrisons, the behavior and outlook of every worker are
continuously assessed and evaluated in order to comprehend the work culture in a
better and methodical way. Every features, be it physical, psychological or societal,
are studied for improved comprehension of workers’ behavior.
 Trait Theory- This theory illustrates about the importance of having an effective
communication with the employees. Good communication can develop a cordial
relation and a sense of trust and loyalty. The leaders in Morrisons, use this theory to
maintain good relation with the workers and increase their efficiency.
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LO2 Role of Leader and function of Manager in given context
P2. Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager
apply in different situational contexts.
The role of the management and the leaders establishes the improvements and all the
necessary changes in the operations of Morrisons, for the different types of behaviours and
features of leadership for management functions. The theory always agrees with the changes
for the elements that initiate the managerial activity along with the knowledge. There are
several situations, which are focused on the efficiency of the company that comprises the
concept of the results of comprehensive activities to enhance the three different situations. In
these three different situations, the role of managerial functions of the managers and the
leaders are different and applies in the company in different ways. (Gudelj et.al, 2018).The
situations are:
 Slow changing: the growth and development of the company Morrisons is slow or
moderate in this scenario. The slow change in the company causes in delay in the
operations and reduces the profits as, the internal structure of the organization affects
the external changes. Whenever the competition is not affronted this situation of the
organisation will not grow and make the changing process slow, which affects the
factors that needs for the change in business purpose. In Morrisons, the slow growth
in the market was caused by the slow earning of profit, while the situation was
changed due to inflations. (Baru et.al, 2015)
 Stable situation: this situation encompasses the companies, which are prone to
changes and influences the business purposes and maintains the stability. If there are
no major modifications arise in the market, like, recession, inflation, the market will
be uniformed and the situation will be stable without affecting the company. For
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Management And Operations
Morrisons, the minor changes in the market did not affect the business and no major
changes in the company has been carried out. (Lam et.al, 2015)
 Fast changing: this can be recognised as the most rapid situation in a company, for
its business purpose in the fast changing conditions of the market. This situation of
market plays a significant impact in the business that implements new innovation
trends and also can result in wrong decision making. Example: In Morrisons, there
were several rapid changes in the company according to the market fluctuations,
which affected the investors. (Yahaya and Ebrahim, 2016)
Several situations for changes often arise in different internal and external business
environment. The external changes cannot control the business goals of the company, rather
it creates new opportunities and challenges, which needs to be solved to achieve the goals.
The internal changes takes place in the business process, organisational framework,
controlling, leadership, planning and communication according to the changes in market.
Managing these factors results in high profit earning and achieving the organisational goals.
(Smith, et.al, 2016).
Morrisons adopted the slow and moderate situation in the business purpose, because it
includes several methods top handle the business, which are safeguarded with the
precautions according to the purposes of the organisational benefits. Morrison can be
recognised as a popular company in the United Kingdom and thus, all these strategies agrees
with the functions, which are important for the benefits of the organisation. (Guo and Wang,
2019)
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P3. Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational
leadership, systems leadership and contingency.
In an organisation, the leaders analyses the needs and wishes of the employees and
help to motivate them. In other words, leaders evaluate the changes in the external
environment and creates decision to ensure the benefits of Morrisons. There are different
types of leadership which were chosen by Morrisons to maintain effective leadership within
the company. This chapter describes the leadership models of approach, which are related to
the traits of the organisation influences in the effects of the business activities. (Santos et.al,
2015)
1. Situational leadership: this is the type of leadership model, which lets the leaders
assign the activities and works among the employees according to their skills. The
leaders evaluates the market and makes the decision s accordingly. The operations
management of Morrisons can be affected with this approach of leadership because
the leaders adopts different styles of approach in different situations. This approach
helps to find out the optimal solutions to encounter the challenges in the market, thus
this style of leadership is also known as Life Cycle theory. Morrison adopted this
theory to evaluate the different situations so that they can recommend necessary
actions accordingly, to complete all the operation s in time resolving the conflicts.
(Zigarmi and Roberts, 2017)
2. System theory of leadership: this is the leadership model that focuses on the
outcomes, which can be achieved by the activities, instead of the processes. This
includes the occurrence of the organisational purposes in different systems and
actions, which needs to be followed and the type of the business. This theory is
important for the concepts and comprises both active and passive systems. In
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Morrisons, the employees are significantly motivated to the outcomes regarding to the
growth of the business. (Boylan, 2016)
3. Contingent approach: this type of leadership are focused to the different situations
within the business or the organisation. It clarifies the influence of the purposes of the
organisation to make decisions. In this approach, different features of system
leadership influences for the different results and looks for various ways to achieve
the goals. In Morrisons, this approach influences the decision making for the traits
that are related to the current situation. (Blackman et.al, 2018)
M2. Assess and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to
situations within the work environment.
Each of the models of approach has its own objectives and outcomes, which are different
from each other. The objectives and the results rely on the situations of implementation, thus
each of them also have their own strengths and weaknesses while they operates in the
organisational environment. The strength and weaknesses are assessed below:
Situational leadership:
Strength Weakness
The approach is creative There could be lack of funds
It analyses the situation effectively according to
the external market condition.
Resources may not be sufficient to assess the
market condition.
The resources are suitably allocated. Incorrect analysis of the resource may occur.
Trained workers and their skills are analysed. Some of the staff member could be unqualified.
System leadership:
Strength Weakness
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