Management and Operations in M&S: Leadership, Roles, and Approaches

This report delves into the management and operations of Marks & Spencer (M&S), examining the roles of leaders and managers in different situational contexts. It differentiates between leadership and management, highlighting their distinct approaches and responsibilities within the organization. The report explores various leadership styles, including situational leadership and contingency theory, and their application in M&S. It analyzes key approaches to operations management, emphasizing how these strategies contribute to achieving business objectives. Furthermore, it discusses the relationship between leadership and management, the impact of the business environment on operational decisions, and provides a comprehensive overview of how M&S utilizes effective management and leadership to drive its success. The report also covers theoretical models and approaches related to organizational leadership and management, including their strengths and weaknesses in conflict resolution.

MANAGEMENT AND
OPERATIONS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
Difference between the role of leader and function of manager.................................................3
LO2..................................................................................................................................................6
Role of leaders and manager in different situational context-.....................................................6
Theoretical models and approaches.............................................................................................7
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................9
Key approaches to operations management and the role played by leaders and managers.........9
Importance of Operations management for achieving the objectives of M&S.........................11
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................13
Relationship between leadership and management...................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Operations Management mainly deals in planning, supervising and organising in all the
operations of the company whether it is manufacturing, production and provision of services.
This is mainly focused on the delivery of products ensuring that the inputs can be effectively
converted into outputs in much efficient manner. This also deals in administering of the business
practices for creating the maximum level of efficiency which can be possible to achieve in the
organisation (Hänninen, Smedlund and Mitronen, 2018).
Marks and Spencer is multinational retailer having its headquarters in London, England. It deals
in specialisation in selling of home and food products along with the clothing. All its products
gave label of the brand on them. It performs its operations in different countries across the world
in more than 959 stores (Marks and Spencer, 2020.). It mainly deals in selling of food products
but also it sells food and beverages. The company is also known for its effective managers and
leaders for their effective leadership and management along with the online food delivery service
(Welcome to M&S, 2020).
The report will shed light on the difference between the role of leader and the function of
manager by applying various theories. This will be followed by applying the role of leader and
function of manager in different situations in Marks and Spencer. Various models and theories of
approach will be highlighted which will include the system leadership, situational leadership and
contingency. Furthermore, various approaches to operations management will be described along
with the role of leaders and managers in managing the operations of Marks and Spencer. Also, it
will highlight the ways in which the operations management help in achieving the objectives of
business. At last, the impact of the business environment on the operations management and the
decision made by the leaders and managers will be discussed.
LO 1
Difference between the role of leader and function of manager
Leadership is basically a skill whereas management is a discipline. The person who are
responsible for possessing the abilities of leadership are referred as leaders and the practitioners
of discipline of management are known as managers (Wesley, Jackson and Lee, 2017). Leaders
and managers play a major role in the organisations where the leader plays the role of inspiring,
encouraging and influencing the people for working willingly and on the other hand the
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managers plays the role of linking the firm with its stakeholders such as the customers,
employees, shareholders, suppliers, society and government. The leaders and managers of Marks
and Spencer also perform their duties effectively which is becoming the reason for the rapid
success of the company as well as its enhanced performance.
Basis for Comparison Leaders Managers
Concept Leaders are the people who play the crucial
role of influencing the subordinates for
achieving the specified goals (Li and Chen,
2018).
Managers are the people who are
responsible for managing the
organisation along with carrying out
the activities for planning, directing,
coordinating and controlling.
Attribute The attribute chosen by the leaders are
foresightedness.
The attribute chosen by the
managers is the mind.
Approach Leaders use the approach of setting the
direction.
Managers use the approach of
planning the details (Rahdari and
et.al., 2020).
Subordinate The subordinates who follow the leaders
are the followers.
The employees are the people who
follow the managers.
Style The main style used by the leaders is
transformational style.
The style used by the managers is
the transactional style.
Decision The leaders facilitate the decision. The managers make the decision.
Aim The main of the leaders is growth and
development of the teammates and the
employees.
The main aim of managers is
attaining and accomplishing the
required and desired result.
Focus The main focus of the leaders is the people
of the organisations.
The main aim of the managers is the
process and procedures.
Conflict Leaders basically use the conflicts
happening in the organisations as an asset.
Managers usually avoid the
conflicts.
Change Leaders help in promoting the change. Managers normally react to the
change.
Strives Leaders of any organisation or group strive
hard for effectiveness.
Managers of any organisation or
group strive hard for increasing the
efficiency.
People The leaders align the people working in the
organisations.
The managers organise the people in
the organisation including the
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employees and the workers.
Managers: Managers are the people who are responsible for managing the organisation as they
carry out the activities such as organising, planning, directing, controlling and coordinating.
These are the people who get their work done by the workers and employees through various
methods and also the managers have the authority of hiring and firing the employees. There are
many types of managers such as the project managers, functional managers etc.
Leaders: These are the people who influence their followers for achieving the specified goals.
They are having particular vision and also contribute in the organisations and teams by inspiring
the followers such that the leader’s vision becomes the vision of the employees. This also helps
in developing the strategies for possessing good foresightedness along with qualities such as
making teams, bringing innovation, motivating subordinates, maintaining trust among
stakeholders (Grewal, Motyka and Levy, 2018). The leaders are considered as the
representatives of the organisations like Marks and Spencer who acts as guider or philosopher.
Marks and Spencer ltd. is considered as the retailer shop of clothing which is running the
business worldwide. It is also considered as one of the most successful companies of UK as the
company has successful leaders and managers. The managers of the company help in developing
various strategies of the business and the future plans for the company and on the other hand the
leaders implement these plans according to the plans made by the managers. Leaders of M&S
interact with the employees and also contributes in increasing the productivity along with
guiding their minds for fulfilling the goals which are mainly designed by the managers of the
company. The managers of M&S contribute in improving the standards of the workers
performance and the leaders strives hard to implement the guidelines for bringing out the best
results from the employees. The interpersonal and effective communication is observed between
the leaders and the employees for converting the policies developed by the managers which help
in the betterment of the companies.
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LO2
Role of leaders and manager in different situational context-
Organizational leadership and management has to make sure that organizational activities are
done in a proper systematic way and company is able to achieve its organizational goals.
However, manager and leadership have different approaches for problem solving according to
different organizational situations at Marks & Spencer (Damirchi, Etebarian and Rashidpour,
2017). Following is the leadership and manager approach for different situational contexts like
implementation of change in organizational working process of Marks & Spencer which is done
in order to increase the work productivity.
Roles of leadership in implementation of change
Organizational leadership is responsible for motivating organizational employees to learn new
skills and implement changes in their working process through which leadership can make sure
that company is able to achieve increased work productivity and also high creativity in problem
solving (Bendell, Sutherland and Little, 2017). Through this action leadership tends to increase
employee's loyalty with Marks & Spencers and also tend to fulfil company's requirements of new
talent and skills by increasing the work productivity of existing organizational employees.
Functions of manager to implement change
Management has to develop organizational working strategy on the basis of company's existing
working capability and expected market requirements through which it can make sure that
employees are empowered to concentrate their efforts for improvising the weak area which is
making negative impact on their working procedure. Manager influence employees to implement
change in their working procedure by which they can achieve a higher organizational position
because of which employees can be self-motivated to implement changes in their work
productivity.
Leadership and manager have different approaches for different organizational situations and
which can be seen in the case of solving organizational conflicts. Following are the leadership
and management approaches for resolving organizational conflicts.
Leadership approach for resolving conflicts-
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Organizational leadership tends to utilize its communication with the employees and try to reach
the core prime factor which is the source of conflicts and then can concentrate its efforts in such
a way that it is able to resolve the core issues. Through this action of utilizing effective
communication leadership can make sure that employees are able to collaborate their working
procedure and also at the same time leadership has to make sure that no biased decision are
made.
Management approach for conflicts-
Management has to develop effective organizational working process in such a way that it is able
to minimize the threat of conflicts for the organization because it makes negative impact on
employee's engagement with the organizational activities (Vu, 2019). Thus, if the conflicts arises
then management can communicate with both the involved parties and try to implement
compromise. With the management can also change the employee's department through which it
can avoid the conflicts within the same department. This is an effective way of problem solving
and also through this activity it can make sure that employees are able to regain their engagement
in organizational activities of Marks & Spencers.
Theoretical models and approaches
Situational leadership-
Situational leadership is the leadership style in which organizational leadership tend to change its
working condition according to the situation. Through this improvisation of changes in working
strategy leadership can make sure that company is able to work according to the market trend by
which it can increase the chances of goal achievement. This is an important step because
organizations have to improvise their working strategy in such a way that it can achieve a
efficient competitive edge because which it becomes important for employees to change their
working accordingly (Spencer, 2018). Therefore, situation leadership is often utilized by
leadership to make sure that it is able to improve the present condition.
System leadership-
It is the leadership style in which organizational leadership tend to act in areas which are outside
its consultancy area and can motivate employees to collaborate their working process in such a
way that they are able to achieve a common challenge which is making negative impact on
organizational working process and because of which through this leadership style leaders can
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make sure that company is able to achieve a high work productivity because of which chances of
goal achievement are increased. Leadership can influence employees to work outside their
working area irrespective of the employee's position within the organization because of which it
is a effective leadership style.
Contingency theory-
The contingency theory describes that while effectively running an organization there is no fixed
procedure but rather than it is completely based upon the situation which are affecting
organizations working capability. Since there is not fixed procedure for effectively running
organizational activities because of which it makes a negative on employee's working capability
because they are not able to analyse the work rate at which they have to perform their actions
because of which this theory has to face limitation in utilization by organizations like Marks &
Spencer (Yilmaz and Flouris, 2017). This happens because of long chain of command because of
which if this is implemented then it will make unsystematic departmental working between
different branches and thus will make negative impact on customer's experience with the
company.
Strength and Weaknesses of different approaches for situations
Management Strength and weaknesses for conflicts-
Strength-
In order to remove organizational conflicts management tend to discuss the issues with the
employees and if not able to implement compromise then tend to change the employee's
departments by which it can reduce the chances of quick occurring conflicts.
Weaknesses-
Through this approach management reduce quick arising of conflicts but on the other hand this
makes negative impact on employee's engagement with the organization because their problems
are left aside due to this change in department. Thus this also in conducted in their reduced
working capability.
Leadership strength and weaknesses for conflicts-
Strength-
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Leadership tend to use their communication skills with the employee's and tend to analyse the
situation through which it can provide effective solution through the reason for conflict can be
resolved. Due to this it can make sure that employee's engagement is also increased and with that
high work productivity can also be achieved.
Weaknesses-
Leadership tend to resolve the arising problem through the process of discussion which is a
effective way but also is a time-consuming process because of which organizational activities
and work productivity is affected.
LO 3
Key approaches to operations management and the role played by leaders and managers
There are various different approaches which can help in managing the operations of the
company and also the managers and the leaders play their roles in the different approaches. The
leaders and managers of the company M&S also play their role in managing the operations of the
organisation and the approaches are as follows:
Total Quality Management
This approach is used by many multinational companies for ensuring the production
process’s efficiency. The main concentration of the approach lies in improving the quality of the
product and service for meeting the actual demand of the customers who are mainly targeted.
The capital needed to implement this approach is very less as compared to others. The
satisfaction of the suppliers and the customers is the main objective of this strategy. The leaders
and managers of Marks and Spencer if use this approach strives hard for encouraging the
employees so that they can become able in providing the product and services of better quality to
the customers (Nguyen, de Leeuw and Dullaert, 2018). This will help M&S for enhancing the
customer base as well as fulfilling their demands.
Six-Sigma
This process or the approach is that method in which the main focus is on the efforts of
the team for completing the task as well as managing the performance. The managers of the
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companies like M&S aims at making plan which can help in ensuring that the resources are best
utilized globally or not. This helps in making various policies and strategies for all the employees
and the management. The leaders on the other hand keep in mind the strategies made by the
managers and lays emphasis on the bonding between the members of the team in the
organisations (Mou, Robb and DeHoratius, 2018). The leaders while using this strategy also
ensures that the team binding can be enhanced and the employees work and perform the tasks
effectively.
Just in time inventory
This strategy is also a very popular strategy of inventory in the environment of business
in which the main process is to order the raw materials just in prior to the process of production.
It must be ensured that the inventory is used effectively and along with this it is also ensured that
none of the inventory sits idle for more than longer time (Ramanathan and et.al., 2017). This
strategy or the approach helps in saving time and also the production process. The main role of
managers in this situation is placing the order to the suppliers just in time and the leaders
evaluate the performance of the employees of maintaining the inventory schedule along with its
use in the right order.
Continuous improvement process (Kaizen)
The meaning of the word Kaizen is change for good which means the improving the
performance of the company. The theory can be used by the leaders and managers for increasing
the efficiency of the process of production. For using this strategy and the approach, the
managers of M&S strive hard for developing the effectiveness and efficiency strategy so that the
improvement can be build in the product (von Briel, 2018). The leaders in this case always focus
on the workplace by ensuring that the employees in the organisation work in healthy and
motivated environment soc that the employees can be encouraged and better results in terms of
better products which can help in satisfying the needs and demands to the people.
This is how, the significance of the operation management approaches in the Marks and
Spencers can be examined and evaluated. The leaders and managers of M&S follow the above
mentioned approaches for being great in front of all others and also for performing their
activities freely without being in stress or something else.
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Importance of Operations management for achieving the objectives of M&S
Operational Management plays a very important role in achieving the objectives of the
business and organisations. This must be maintained properly. Becoming a well known brand of
retailers in UK and performing operations in many other countries, Marks & Spencer aims at
satisfying the customers by fulfilling most of the things so that they can be attracted towards the
company increasing its customer base and overall profitability (Teller and et.al., 2018). The
various reasons behind the operational management for the achieving the objectives of Marks
and Spencer are as follows:
Improvement in the quality of the products
The company Marks and Spencer is very much conscious about the quality of the
products they provide to the customers. This is why the company always strives so hard to bring
improvements in the quality of their products and services so that they can be better and are
preferred by majority of the customers. This is the major concern of the operation management.
This helps in achieving the objective of M&S to attract the customer sthropigh its great quality
products.
Efficiency of Production
The production is the main area in M&S which helps in cost minimization from the
company’s side. If the company makes use of this function of operation management and
implement the proper marks of cost calculation, high costing can be avoided and the product
efficiency can be ensured and measured (Madani and Rasti-Barzoki, 2017). This will help in
achieving the company’s objective of increasing the production efficiency.
Customers’ satisfaction
More happy and satisfied customers mean more successful and satisfied company. The
main goal of M&S is to make its customers satisfied and happy. This is achieved by managing
the operations of the company efficiently so that the overall sales can be increased. The company
must provide the desired varieties of products by implementing the proper operation
management.
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Maximization of profit
The profit maximization is the major concern for all the businesses and so M&S also
manages its various operations so that it can earn larger profits by increasing the customer base.
The company also gives various types of offers, promotions and discounts on its services and
products so that the customers get attracted by it and decides to make purchase from the
company. This will help in achieving the objective of the company to increase the profit by 40%
till the end of 2021.
Effective Resource utilization
Operation management helps in using the resources available to the company. The
resource utilization is used in the every process especially processes of production and operation.
The resources invested must be monitored and evaluated correctly so that the operations of the
company can be managed. This will contribute in achieving the objectives of M&S.
Inventory Management
The managing of operations deals in using the inventories. The company M&S must
ensure that the company is able to make best use of the inventories. The inventory strategy of
Total Quality Management (TQM) can be used by M&S so that the resources can be saved and
also effective production can be ensured regarding the clothing production and the time of selling
(Vieira, Perin and Sampaio, 2018).
Capacity Management
The operation management also manages the capital investment. M&S must ensure that
the capital and the resources must be used properly in the different processes of working in the
company. If the company manages the operations of the company effectively, then the wastage
of the unused capital can be reduced and also there can be safety for the use of capital in the
future.
Development of strong operational skill
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