Analysis of Leadership and Operational Management at M&S Ltd

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of leadership and operational management within M&S Ltd, a major UK retail organization. It begins by comparing the roles and characteristics of managers and leaders, highlighting their distinct functions in various organizational situations. The report then delves into key management theories, including Fayol's administrative theory and Frederick Taylor's scientific management, illustrating how these theories are applied within M&S Ltd. Furthermore, it explores different leadership approaches such as situational, system, and contingency leadership, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses. The report also examines key operational management approaches like Six Sigma, discussing their principles and tools for process improvement. Finally, it considers external business factors influencing managerial and leadership decisions, providing a holistic view of management and leadership practices within the company and their impact on achieving business objectives. The report is a detailed examination of real-world business practices and is available on Desklib, a platform offering study resources for students.

Management &
Operations

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P 1) Comparison between Manager and leader & their roles or characteristics- .......................1
P 2) Leader role and manager functions in different situation-..................................................2
P 3) Theories and models of approaches & strength or weaknesses-.........................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P 4) Key approaches of operation management and manager or leaders roles-.........................6
P 5) Importance and value of operation management in achieving business objectives-...........9
P 6) External business factors which influenced manager and leader decisions-.....................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Operation management is an area where organization perform their work including
designing and managing the all production process and re-framing business operation in
manufacturing of products and services (Ahuja, 2017). It refers to whole production system that
is a method which change input into output. M&S Ltd is a United Kingdom retail organization,
which sells cloths and luxury foods across the world. Report explain roles and function of
manager & leader in different organizational situation. It describes key approaches of operation
management and impact of external environment on business process.
TASK 1
P 1) Comparison between Manager and leader & their roles or characteristics
M&S Ltd- Marks & Spencer Group plc is the largest British multinational retail
organization. It headquartered located in the City of Westminster, London. Cited company is
London Stock Exchange listed firm. It sells clothing, luxury foods and home products at wide
scale. In 1884, Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer introduced selected organization. Currently,
it has 979 outlets around the world. Mid of 1998, M&S Ltd became first retailer to make a pre-
tax profit of over 1 billion. Cited organization has overseas sourcing office in Malaysia, Hong
Kong, India, Bangladesh, China, Sri Lanka and Turkey.
Management Structure- Organizational structure of M&S Ltd follows flat management.
In this type cited company has limited levels between administrative and front-line employees. It
encourages workers in more decision making process. They are free to give their suggestions
while managers making decisions.
Manager- A person who is in-charge of a specific group of task or subset of cited
company. Manger generally has a staff of people who report to them (Gale and et.al., 2017).
Some departments of the organization designate their managers to be line manager, while others
known staff manager, depending upon department functions.
Leader- A person who holds a superior position in their fields and able to exercise a high
level degree of control on others. The leader of cited company people's group is the individual
who is in charge of it.
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Manager role in M&S Ltd- They play different role in the cited organization. Store manager in
M&S Ltd is accountable for daily operations activities of stores.
Role of leader in M&S Ltd- Leader of selected company play important role at every level of
organization.
Role
Basis Manager Leader
operational Manager of M&S Ltd do not
care about process flow of
distribution.
They are look after the flow of
distribution.
Entrepreneur They can be entrepreneur of
the M&S Ltd.
They are the head of people
group of selected organization.
They both are not only different on their role basis but manager and leader has various
characteristics, which define them separate from each other.
Characteristics-
Basis Manager Leader
Creative M&S Ltd manager not frame
any strategy for company
growth, they just follow
planning (Grant, Wong and
Trautrims, 2017).
Leader of cited company
prepare planning.
Communication They do not like to take
suggestions from employees
while making decisions.
Leader use open
communication method with
team members.
P 2) Leader role and manager functions in different situation-
Leader and manager of M&S Ltd play different role and functions in various situations.
Administrative theory of Fayol- The function of cited company manager are below-
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 Planning- Manager of M&S Ltd must plan and agenda of every work of industrial
processes. Manager frame the planning to operate business properly and leader follow it.
Leader give instructions to followers for implementing all planning. Organizing- Planning of a manufacturing process, manager must also prepare specific all
the required resources like employees, equipment etc. to came together at the
manufacturing time. Leader uses available tools (machines, finance) for manufacturing of
goods. Commanding- Cited organization manager motivate employees and personal activities.
These type of efforts from leader and manager encourage employees to perform well. Coordinating- As per the management theory of Henri, company manager must frame
strategies which personnel works together in cooperative fashion. Leader give their
coordination to employees during production.
 Controlling- It is the final function of manager, to evaluate and ensure that personnel
follow management's instructions. Leader controls all manufacturing activities of cited
firm.
According to this management theory, M&S Ltd manager create planning for company
working process and operate employees effectively.
Management theory of Frederick Taylor- Frederick Taylor's scientific management, also
known as the classical theory, focus on efficiency, much like Max Weber's. According to this
concept M&S Ltd manager rather than punish employees for every silly mistake, they should
rewards them for effective productivity. The main object of cited company management that
keep secure maximum prosperity (development) for manager, coupled with high prosperity for
employees. Below are four principles of this theory- Divided assignments into subtasks- Rather than assign a project to an individual for fix
time limit, manager of cited company break down tasks into small parts (Harrison and
Lock, 2017). Manager distribute projects among leaders and leaders between employees. Delegate responsibilities and train workers- Executives measure the efficient way to do a
task, then delegate subtasks only to those employees who have proper skills and ability.
Workers are trained by management. Leader divide work responsibilities to followers. Monitor performance- Supervisors ensure workers who under them is doing their work
efficiently. Manager and leader keep their eyes on employees' performance.
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 Allocate work between managers and employees- Manager of M&S Ltd has to divide
responsibilities between top management and workers as per their skills. Leader makes
sure that all are performing their job effectively.
Situations- If dispute arise between employees and they refused for help of others, in this
situation manager of cited company will know about whole matter, they give advice to workers
that nobody interrupt others work. Leader divide responsibilities among them according to their
skills and make efforts to manage critical situation. This decision show how can manager easily
solve critical situation through their ability. They create mutual understanding environment
inside the selected company. Leader also manage team members to produce effective or
qualitative products.
Another situation is that team member of M&S Ltd are not happy with their salary, then
leader goes to manager and inform them about workers thoughts and they discuss it with top
management and increase employee’s wages at fix percentage amount to keep them motivated
towards job (Hazen and et.al., 2018). Leader and manager play their own role at respective place
to manage organization image and produce qualitative goods and services with the help of skilled
employees.
P 3) Theories and models of approaches & strength or weaknesses-
Manager and leaders of M&S Ltd use different theories and approaches to increase
growth and performance- Situational leadership- Situational leadership refers to when leader or manager of cited
organization adjust their style to fit the development level of employees. According to
this concept no single leadership style is best from others. It all depends on the situation
at hand and which one is suited to the assign task (Situational Theory of Leadership,
2017). The effective leader of selected organization are able to adapt their style according
to the situation and find clues like the type of task, group nature etc. Hersey and
Blanchard suggested four leadership styles-
1. Telling- In this M&S Ltd leader tells employees what and how to do job.
2. Selling- It involves more back-and-forth between leaders and workers of M&S Ltd. They
sell their opinion and message to get group members to buying process.
3. Participating- Leaders of M&S Ltd offers less direction and allows group to play active
role in new ideas and decision making.
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4. Delegating- It is characterized by less involved, hands-off leadership approach.
Strength- M&S Ltd adopt situational theory because-
 It is well known and frequently used for training leaders.
 Situational leadership is a practical approach according to selected company leaders, it is
easy to understand and applicable on various settings.
 It keeps focus on leader flexibility.
Weaknesses- It has limited flexibility, cited company leader can't adopt it every situation of
organization.
 Situational leader can be deemed inconsistent and hard to predict by team employees.
System leadership- This leadership enables leaders of M&S Ltd to create the situation where
employees at all level can perform productively to their potential. It uses effective principle
about human behaviour to develop models of good leadership, planning, system design etc. It is
helpful to frame strong system which can drive productive behaviour.
Strength-
 It increases M&S Ltd adaptability to environmental changes, it studied as an
entire and not in parts. Decisions are made keeping in mind macro as well as
micro environment.
 The focus is on accomplish individual as well as cited company goals.
Weakness-
 It may not be practical in every situation and leads to delays in decisions from
management hand.
 Nature of inter-dependence is not defined.
 It does not cater specific leadership style of functioning in the selected
organization.
Contingency leadership- This theory focus on effectiveness of leadership which relayed on
matching M&S Ltd leader's style to correct situation. There are two type of leadership-
Task- motivated- It relates to task accomplishment.
Relationship-motivated- It refers to interpersonal relations into cited company.
Contingency theory is concept of situation, which divided by three factors- Leader-members relation- It deals with group atmosphere and feeling like loyalty,
confidence, trust which member of cited organization has for leader.
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 Task structure- It refers to task efficiency.
 The position power- It relates to reward-punishment amount of leaders performance.
Strength-
 It provides data on selected company leadership style which may be useful for
organization for human resources planning (Mays, 2018).
 This theory has been proved to have predictive power in selected leadership style which
is more effective to perform M&S Ltd task.
Weaknesses-
 It is one of the critical method for chosen organization, when leader has short time, they
may like to ignore all above variables.
TASK 2
P 4) Key approaches of operation management and manager or leaders roles-
Operation management of M&S Ltd has different key approaches to perform their work-
Six sigma- It is a methodology for improving the quality of cited company operation
management by eliminating errors or production defects, reducing manufacturing cost and saving
time. Where organization seek “six sigma” quality but it can be adopted for other industries (Six
Sigma, 2016). It is costly to implement, but easy to perform and get the best products.
Principles for operation improvements-
 Senior executive support- It only works if the quality and department managers of M&S
Ltd are supported to employees (Hill and Hill, 2017). This is different from quality
management, where executive leadership is needed. Its initiatives fail due to lack of
proper instructions.
 Top-down training- It may use outside experts, but it cannot depend on them for long
time. Every employee of cited organization get six-sigma training by manager and
leaders.
 Focus on people and process- Manager and leader of M&S Ltd focusing on quarterly
advantages or on defective products will not improve profits or reduce errors.
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Illustration 1: Six Sigma
(Source: Six Sigma, 2016)
Six sigma tools- It can be used to solve management, operation and quality problems of M&S
Ltd. It has few steps-
 Define- Customer’s requirements or executive directives which are to be met.
 Measure- What is required now and needs to change from where cited organization exist
to meet pre-define goals.
 Analyse- In this selected company analyse about problems and adopt appropriative
changes.
 Improve- The manager and leader manage process to accomplish the objectives.
 Control- It is going forward method, the goal is always achieved by manager and leader.
Just-in-time- Just-in-time is inventory system which management strategy aligns raw-material
orders from suppliers with production time schedule of M&S Ltd. Cited company use this to
increase efficiency and reduce waste by receiving products only as per their requirements for
production method which decrease inventory costs (Holmström and Gutowski, 2017). It need
producers to forecast demand accurately.
Advantages- Manufacturers of selected organization can move from goods to another easily. It
reduces costs through minimizing warehouses requirements. Company like to spend less money
on raw material.
Role of manager-
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Resources management- M&S Ltd manager mange all resources through six sigma
method to manufacture qualitative products.
Financial management- Operation manager of selected company distribute budget,
controlling cost and manage financial level of firm with the help of six sigma.
Responsibility-
Support- Manager always ready to give their support to cited company employees to
perform work effectively through six sigma.
Caring- M&S Ltd manager look after for all requirements of employees and create
healthy working culture through JIT approach because it saves time and money of chosen
organization.
Leader role-
Requirements- Company require leaders at all level to perform work effectively with the
help of JIT approach.
As a friend, philosopher and guide- A leader must process three dimensional traits in
them. He can be a friend by sharing the feelings, suggestions etc. Behave like a philosopher by
use of intelligence and guide followers.
Responsibility-
 Conduct training for staff members for six sigma.
 Monitoring of progress in relationship to accomplish assigned goals.
P 5) Importance and value of operation management in achieving business objectives-
Importance of six sigma- It is a methodology which helps improve business processes by
using statistical analysis. In order to meet six sigma, M&S Ltd processes required to keep their
defects to increase opportunities.
Mapping or flowcharting of processes- Process mapping is utilized by six sigma that can be
defined as a process of flowcharting to enable documentation of a cited company business
method. It includes different aspects like workers' role, decision points in work performance
needed for meeting certain client requirements. This charts are usually used towards making
improvement opinion (Ivanov, Tsipoulanidis and Schönberger, 2017). Manager take action to
complete this process.
Elimination of variation and waste- After identification of suggestions these techniques can be
used for elimination of waste and variation in cited company processes. Waste related to
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anything which does not help in manufacturing the products and services that is needed to
deliveres to clients. Leader make efforts to implementation of this step.
Reduced defects- Implementation of six sigma is more important to help’s in reducing defects of
M&S Ltd. Through this technique workers are able to address problem areas as well as recurring
issues which impact the overall quality expectation of products from customer’s perspective.
Through this technique manager remove errors from manufacturing process.
Room for continuous improvement- Employees who trained in six sigma methods have the
require skills and tools to detect problems or bottleneck zone which camps low production and
performance (Lee and Tang, 2017). This process helps workers to address the improvement areas
and perform continuously. In the last it helpful in improvements in existing products and services
and produce high quality goods. This process is must necessary to accomplish business
objectives and make more profit by qualitative products.
Importance of Just-in-time- The most important advantage of just-in-time is the elimination of
raw materials, inventory or storage cost. Inventory and raw material of final goods treat as a
business asset. This notion of M&S Ltd has changed because JIT and inventory is considered as
wastage of investment. It saves cited company money through the amount of warehouse space
for parts. The objective of this approach is to increase the turnover and reduce the holding cost
any other costs related to it. With the help of JIT selected organization can increase efficiency
and decrease waste through receiving goods only as business require them for the manufacturing
method which reduces inventory charge (Jung and et.al., 2017). It is useful to stock manager to
manage the stock of cited firm that kept in storage. It includes receiving products from suppliers
as per their requirements rather than hold a huge stock of inventory. Manager and leader of the
organization take appropriate decision that are good for company and accomplish business
objective which try to increase production and reduce cost of inventory. They both take
important actions to meet two main objects of M&S Ltd.
Manager of the organization look after about quality or dependable goods which meet
consumers desires. Through above two approaches leader frame constant strategies and arrange
or control all activities of production. They scheduling for increasing efficiency of chosen firm.
P 6) External business factors which influenced manager and leader decisions-
The business environment gets influenced by external factors which make impact on not
only operation of M&S Ltd but also decision making part of organization.
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Economic factor- Economic factor of cited company is the overall status of in which
organization is operated. Impact of it on business are inflation, rate of interest or unemployment.
This influenced the demand of product. Leader and manager make decision to manufacture those
products which increase productivity as well as profitability.
Political-legal factor- It related to government law of business, government-business relation
with cited company. Rules gives direction manager and leader to how and what they have to
produce.
Social factor- In this moral, values and demographic characteristics of society in which cited
company is operated. Manager and leader frame such type of strategies that manufacture those
goods and services which maintain value of society (Kerzner and Kerzner, 2017). They both
must have all information about social-culture.
Technological factor- Manager and leader must be aware about technical factor. Investment
should be accurate in adoption of new technology. Operation management of selected
organization use the newest techniques to produce qualitative products and services.
The company is impacted by various factors that may be macro or micro factors. External
environment create negative or positive results and manager and leader both try to reduce
negative effect on firm or increase profitability through qualitative productivity. Political
strategies draw boundary for company. It produces those type of goods which maintain dignity
of society. Manager and leader create objectives for all employees at each level of firm.
CONCLUSION
From the report, it is concluded that manager and leader both are important to operate a
business effectively. They make decision and support the employees to accomplish company
goals. Political, technical, social all are external factors which influenced the organization
productivity. Six-sigma and just-in-time useful approaches to maintain quality and save time or
money. Manager and leader both play different role to manage firm or operation function of
M&S Ltd. For further growth they take employees suggestions while making decisions and
distribute qualitative products compare to others.
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