Comprehensive Analysis of Starbucks UK's Operation Management Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of operation management within Starbucks UK, examining various leadership styles such as situational, system, and contingency leadership, along with their strengths and weaknesses. It explores the application of these leadership models in different situational contexts, particularly in the face of market saturation. The report delves into key approaches to operation management, including Six Sigma, Total Quality Management, and Lean Management, highlighting their importance and value to the organization. Furthermore, it discusses the roles of leaders and managers in improving operational efficiency and addresses the environmental factors that influence operational decision-making. The report provides an overview of how Starbucks UK utilizes these strategies to improve productivity and efficiency. The document is contributed by a student to be published on the website Desklib. Desklib is a platform which provides all the necessary AI based study tools for students.

Management and Operation

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................5
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................5
P1. Role and characteristics of leader and manager ...................................................................5
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................5
P2. Application of role of leader and function of manager in different situational context .......5
P3. Application of different theories and models of leadership...................................................6
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................7
P4. Key approaches to operation management ...........................................................................7
P5. Importance and value of operation management ..................................................................9
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................10
P6. Factors within the business environment which affect operational management and
decision making ........................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Operation management can be simply defined as a process of transferring goods and
services to the final customers successfully. The study has explained the various leadership style
such as situational; leadership, system leadership and contingency leadership has also been
explained in the study along with the strength and weakness of this approaches. This has been
explained by taking a UK based company name Starbucks. Starbucks UK is first setup in year
1971, It is an American coffee company and coffee house chain. The report has also discussed
about the various approaches of operation management such as total quality management, lean
management and six sigma along with their importance to the organisation. The role of leader
and manager in improving efficiency of operation management has also been discussed in the
study. The reason behind, why operation management is important for an organisation has also
been explained. The various environmental factors which can affect the decision making of an
organisation has also been covered in a study.

Task 1
LO 1
P1. Role and characteristics of leader and manager
Covered in PPT
LO 2
P2. Application of role of leader and function of manager in different situational context
The leader plays an important role in an organisation but with the presence of proper leadership
it is also necessary that manager perform the necessary function in order to fulfil the organisation
objectives. The situation can be of three types i.e., slow, stable and fast.
Slow : Where the growth of a company is slow. The slow change within an organisation results
in reduction of profit.
Stable : The stage at which development of a company is stable. This type of market does not
suffer from many changes.
Fast : This type of market affects the company very much. This type of market faces rapid
changes. This type or rapid change in market may result in wrong decision making by the
organisation(Metz and et.al., 2017).
Currently Starbucks UK is facing market saturation. The Starbucks UK stock has been
gone down by 11.38 % in last three months. The company is facing market saturation. The
reason behind this is that the company has its store in almost every region or area. Therefore as a
result of this the company has no opportunity to open new store. The implementation of proper
leadership style can help the company to come out such situation. The proper management of a
company will help the company to make new strategies which can handle such situation and
build possible plans to deal with this problem. In order to deal with such situation currently
company is using supportive leadership style in order to perform the work in an efficient
manner. Supportive leadership style lay emphasis on providing proper support to the employees
so that employees come up with new solutions to the problem and discuss it with others so that
best possible solution can be used in order to deal with this situation(Cherry. and Jacob, 2016).
Based on the skills, knowledge and talent employees are assigned with work and responsibilities.

Secondly the contemporary theory of management is used by the management in order to deal
with the current situation. The mangers of the organisation can make various strategies such as
the company can plan to start online store and to increase their market i.e., starting their business
in other countries or region where the company is not currently operating.
P3. Application of different theories and models of leadership
Leader plays an important role within the organisation. They motivate employees and analyse
their needs and desires. The leaders also analyse and evaluate the changes in the external
environment and make the decision accordingly. The Starbucks UK has chosen the following
leadership approach in order to manage the work within the organisation and enhance the
productivity of organisation(Nawaz and Khan, 2016).
Situational leadership : It was first developed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard according to
which the managers of the organisations adopts the leadership style which the current situation of
needs. In situational leadership style the employees of an organisation has been assigned task
depending upon individuals skills and knowledge. Proper analysis of a market is done by leaders.
Situational leadership theory helps in getting the best possible solution of the problem.
The situation varies in the organisation from time to time accordingly leadership style
should also be changed. This model helps in organisation to deal with every type of situation and
also helps the company in decision making process.
System leadership : this approach basically focuses on getting results. It does not focus on
process or steps. The theory lay emphasis on meeting the goals. This theory helps the Starbuck
UK as the it is very large company which consist of wide number of departments which has their
own goal and objective. This theory helps the company to reach departmental goal which align in
order to achieve organisational goal.
Contingency leadership : This theory runs on a concept that there is no one best possible way in
order to deal with the situation, lead a company and make decision. Decisions are made as per
the situation. This type of leadership help Starbucks UK to make changes with leadership pattern
as per the requirement and handle the situation accordingly(Rawat and et.al., 2019).
By application of this theory by company helps them to increase the productivity of
employees and developing work culture.

Democratic leadership style : The Starbuck UK use democratic style of leadership under which
all the employees take part in decision making. This style helps the organisation to meet the
organisational objective in a best possible way.
Strength and weakness of different approaches
The theories which has explained above has certain strengths and weakness such as
Situational leadership :
Strength :
It creates a flexible environment for the employees.
The leaders can move from one style to other as per the situation.
The environment within the group remains comfortable and this approach also helps in team
building
It enhance awareness among employees as the employees in the organisation closely analyse and
experience the situation of the organisation which provide them an idea about type of leadership
to be adopted
Weakness :
Such type of leadership may deviate the leader focus from long term goal as much emphasis has
to be made on immediate needs.
Contingency leadership :
Strength :
This is an innovative approach
It helps in providing variety of solutions
Weakness :
A high cost on research has to be incurred
The process take to much time in order to reach at the result
LO 3
P4. Key approaches to operation management
Six sigma : Six sigma is a method of operation management. This method or approach is used in
order to improve the quality and eliminate error in operation management. This method also
helps in saving time and reducing cost in the business process.
The basic principles of operation management which the Starbucks UK follow are :

Top down training : Everyone in the Starbucks UK at every level and every department is
provided with six sigma training. As it helps the executives and senior managers to understand
the value of business.
Creating infrastructure in order to support success : The Starbucks UK motivates its employee
and provide friendly environment to its employees so that they can discuss about errors and
defects in order to maintain high quality production(Limousy and Zorpas, 2019.).
Focus on people and process : If a organisation has a team of efficient and motivated employee it
will help the company to achieve high profit. Therefore Starbucks UK ensures to give more
importance to its people and make them feel valued.
Total quality management : It is an approach which is used to gain long term success. Long
term success can be achieved by an customer satisfaction. In the total quality management
process all the members of the organisation tries to improve the process of services, products and
culture of the work environment.
Starbuck UK is customer oriented. The company assures to maintain the quality of its
products. The company involves its employees and motivate them in order to participate which
gives a sense of responsibility to the employees and employees also feel valued in the
organisation. It helps the company in customer satisfaction, reduction in cost, building morale
etc. The employees are given proper training to maintain a high performing culture within the
company.
Lean management : The lean management of focuses on delivering value to their customers,
continuous improvement and eliminating waste(Lean management, 2019).
Their are basically five principles of lean management :
Identify value : It helps the company to identify the value they need to deliver to the customers.
Value stream mapping : It is a step at which company should analyse the workflow in a
company. It includes people as well as actions involved in order to deliver product to end users
or customers. This step helps the company to remove undesired resource and activity.
Create continuous workflow : This step helps the company to ensure smooth workflow within
the organisation. In order to create continuous workflow the activities are break into smaller
batches which will help the company to detect roadblock and remove at early stage.

Create pull system : A stable within the work environment ensures a fast work with less effort.
Therefore the organisation should ensure to built a stable workforce in order to make pull
system.
Continuous improvement : The above steps discussed help an organisation to built the lean
management system. Problems may evolve at any step therefore it is necessary for an
organisation to continuously monitor and improve process.
It helps Starbucks UK to focus on activities which are essential are eliminating those
activities which is unnecessary in order to reduce waste. It helps the company to improve the
productivity and efficiency as the company make assures to provide clear task means to provide
clear understanding of task to all the members of a team. The lean management helps Starbucks
UK to become more flexible and respond to the requirements of a customers. It helps the
company to run a stable production system and improve overall performance of a
company(Bhasin, 2015).
Role of leader and manager in operation management
Leader and manager are the one who are totally responsible in order to maintain and
successfully run various business operations in the organisation. The leader knows that
employees are the most valuable resources of an organisation. Therefore the leader of Starbucks
UK give high importance to its employee. The company listens to the concerns of employees and
try to solve it as early as possible in order to going the trust of its employees. Similarly manager
of a company tries to decrease the cost by eliminating waste, the manager tries to sell the product
at lower cost so that company can gain huge share in a market.
P5. Importance and value of operation management
Operation management is a process which involves managing, controlling, producing,
supervising, planning and organising. The main function of operation manager is to ensure
timely delivery of products and services.
Operation management make the company to utilize its resources properly and efficiently.
It also helps the business in improving the quality of products and services. A proper operation
management helps the company to generate high amount of profit with less resources. It helps
the business to carry out its daily operations. With the operation management company is able to
make proper use of human resource, money, raw material and other resources.

The managers of an organisation needs to carry the various functions of an operation
management efficiently in order to benefit the organisation. The managers of Starbucks UK
monitor and control activities through observation. The main purpose of operation management
is to maintain the quality of company’s products and services. As quality is one factor which can
help the company to gain strong position in the market even with a high rate. The operation
management is important to an organisation as it helps in making proper use of available
resources.
The manager at Starbucks UK tries to perform all its function well in order to improve
the overall productivity of the company. Operation management is of great value to Starbucks
UK as it helps the company to make efficient use of its resources. It serves as an main part of an
organisation. The success of business lies on the efficient operation management. Operation
management within the company handle various issues such as operation. Maintenance and
design of products.
No business can be successful without operation management. The main role of operation
management is to built a strong supplier relationship.
LO 4
P6. Factors within the business environment which affect operational management and decision
making
Starbucks UK is currently trying to focus on maintain a value, sustainability and ethics within the
organisation so that relationship with their customers can be improved. Along with this their are
several various other factors within the business environment which affects operation
management can be analysed using PESTEL analysis
PESTEL analysis :
Political factors : Political factors generally deals with the politica system of different countries.
As Starbucks UK operates in various different countries therefore political factors of various
countries may affect the decision-making and operational management.
As due to impact of Brexit the economy of a company is slowing down as a result of this
political desciion the company has affected badly. The company has losses its market structure
and also result in loss of shares. (Wang, and et.al., 2016).

Environmental factors : Environmental factors is concerned with the activities of company which
does not cause negative impact on environment.
The environmental factors affects decision-making and operational management the
reason behind this is that the company has to take decision regarding including such activities in
the business process which does not cause loss or harm the environment.
The company has to use the proper waste management system and recyclable system in
order to manage waste.
Sociological factors : Sociological factors include belief, attitudes, value and lifestyle of people.
The company has to produce or make such product which is in current demand in the
market and satisfy the needs and wants of customers. The company needs to properly analyse
the market and understand needs of customers. The products made and activities used in order to
promote the product should not hurt any gender, religion or belief.
Technological factors : Now a days technology is rapidly changing thus creating a threat to a
business. With the advent of advanced technologies the production process are becoming costly,
technology mainly affects the products who has short life cycle(Aquilani and et.al., 2017).
Starbucks UK should keep an eye on the latest technological developments.
Economic factors : The company working may get affected if any sudden changes happen in the
economic factors. Here economic factors refers to interest rate, inflation rate, exchange rate etc.
Change in this factor may affect the companies process.
Starbucks UK decision making may get affected if economic factor of a country or the
regions in which the company is operating will change. It may cause company to change its
business process in order to become stable.
Legal factors : The various rules and regulations imposed by the government may also affects the
decision making of a company. As the Starbucks operates in various countries legal factors may
cause company to make changes in its working in order to run business in different
countries(Song, Sun and Jin, 2017).
The leaders and management should posses the problem solving skills. It will help the managers
and leaders to deal with problems within the business such as problem related with disagreement
between staff members.

CONCLUSION
Operation management deals with the managing and leading of various business
activities. Operation management helps in controlling and operating production in the business.
A proper operation management within the organisation result in excellent results. The study has
also evaluated various performance management techniques such as total quality management,
lean management and six sigma. Various organisation use this approaches in order to enhance
the performance of the organisation and its employees. The managers and leaders are different
from each other but they work in order to make the organisation successful. The companies use
various approaches, theories and style of leadership and management in order to achieve goal of
organisation. The report has help in understanding of the decision-making process. The report
evaluates the various factors which affects the process of decision making. The various factors
both internal as well as external factors affect the company decision making process. Therefore it
can be said that it is necessary for manager as well as leader to take into account various factors
while making a decision.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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success factors and the identification of new avenues of research. The TQM
Journal, 29(1). pp.184-213.
Bhasin, S., 2015. Lean management beyond manufacturing. New York, NY: Springer.
Cherry, B. and Jacob, S.R., 2016. Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends, & management.
Elsevier Health Sciences.
Hafey, R., 2017. Lean safety: Transforming your safety culture with lean management.
Productivity Press.
M., Limousy, L. and Zorpas, A., 2019. The Application of Analytical Hierarchy Process in
Combination with PESTEL-SWOT Analysis to Assess the Hydrocarbons Sector in
Cyprus. Energies, 12(5). p.791.
Metz, I. And et.al., 2017. The manager as employer agent: The role of manager personality and
organizational context in psychological contracts. Personnel Review, 46(1). pp.136-153.
Nawaz, Z.A.K.D.A. and Khan_ PhD, I., 2016. Leadership theories and styles: A literature
review. Leadership, 16. pp.1-7.
Psomas, E. and Antony, J., 2017. Total quality management elements and results in higher
education institutions: The Greek case. Quality Assurance in Education, 25(2). pp.206-
223.
Rawat, P.S. and et.al., 2019. Women Organization Commitment: Role of the Second Career &
Their Leadership Styles. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 54(3).
Song, J., Sun, Y. and Jin, L., 2017. PESTEL analysis of the development of the waste-to-energy
incineration industry in China. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 80. pp.276-
289.,
Unit, B., 2015. Corporate social responsibility.
Wang, H. and et.al., 2016. Corporate social responsibility: An overview and new research
directions: Thematic issue on corporate social responsibility.
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Total quality management. 2019. [Online] Available through
<https://asq.org/quality-resources/total-quality-management>

Lean management. 2019. [Online] Available through < https://www.kanbanchi.com/lean-
management>

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