M&S Operations: Leadership, Management, and Operational Efficiency

This report provides an overview of leadership and management within Marks and Spencer (M&S) operations. It explores the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers, comparing their functions and evaluating different leadership theories and approaches, including system-based, contingency, and behavioral theories. The report also examines how leaders and managers can improve operational management efficiencies to meet business objectives, focusing on key operational approaches like lean production and total quality management. Furthermore, it discusses the impact of the business environment on operations management applications, considering both internal and external factors affecting M&S.

MANAGEMENT AND
OPERATIONS

INTRODUCTION
Operation management is all about conversion of raw materials into finished products which
means it deals with the production process in the organization. Basically M & S is one of the
famous organization which deals with the production of clothes and food products to satisfy
their customer needs and wants. In fact M & S is a retail shop in all over the world which try
to manufacture all the basic needs for the customers (Pandey , 2012). Mainly the major task of
the management and operation is to manage and control all the operational and administrative
activities of the enterprise effectively and efficiently. In other words operational management
believes in converting inputs into output to maximize their profit by minimizing their losses. So
the term operational management describes the overall production cost and expenses of the
organization to work effectively and efficiently by fulfilling their customers’ needs and wants.
TASK 1
P 1 Roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager

M & S is a one of the famous retail enterprise which produce all the basic products for
their customers like they manufacture clothes, home products and all the luxury products to
satisfy their customers’ needs and wants. In fact Mark and Spencer main motive is to establish
their business in all over the globe to attain their enterprise goals and targets.
Leaders are the head of any group member and team it means leaders have the ability
to control their teams. Basically leaders is the term which describes the skills and talent of a
person to reduce their organization risk to attain their team goals it means leaders shows an
individual capacity to lead any formal or informal team. Whereas manger is the term who have
the ability to handle or manage all the formal formalities in any particular organization. In fact
every organization have their manager to coordinate all the activities which means the major
role of the manager is to assign right job to a right person (Lindstorm ,2012).
Role and characteristics of a manger and leader.
 Risk taker :- One of the main and foremost role and characteristics of the leaders
ands manager is to have the ability to take risk at any level.
 Problem solver :- Leader and manger must always ready to face all the instant
and upcoming problems so they must know how to solve the problems.
 Act as a motivational tool :- leaders and manger both act as motivational tool for
their subordinates because they learn from them only weather right or wrong.
Some of the theories of the leadership styles are system based theory, contingency theory,
behavioral theory which main motive is to deal all the situation and activities of the enterprise
according to applicable theory. In fact these theory plays a major role in the functioning of a
manger and role of a leaders in an organization because they are liable for everything whatever
is going to happen in cited company. Last but not least these management theories of
leadership is a very effective tool for the betterment of an organization.
M 1 Comparison between role of leader and function of a manager
Role of a leader and function of a manager differentiate from each other at different
extent because of their skills and talent . Leaders plays a very effective role by controlling all the
risk and uncertainty which was going to happen in the organization. Whereas manager
performs all the essential functions for example planning, controlling , staffing and coordinating
which is very useful for the betterment of the organization. In fact leaders and manger both are
a very essential part of the organization to meet all the business needs and wants of their
customers by6 achieving their company objectives( lofstrand ,2012).
).
D 1 Evaluation of theories and approaches to leadership

Theories of leadership plays a major role in the management of operation because to
deal with all the upcoming problems and risk an organization must follow these theories.
Theories are especially made for the betterment of the business it means it shows the various
paths to solve all the different-different problems which comes while performing all the task
and activities occurs to meet the objectives of the business. Mainly theories consist of various
appropriate substitutes to deal with business issues.
TASK 2
P 2 Role of a leader and function of a manger in a various situation
Leader and manger plays a very vital role in organization because somehow they are the
head of following team in an organization. In fact both have the responsibility of handling all
the situation which may occur in the enterprise.
Role of leaders
 Control their team by guiding them toward correct and appropriate path which
means leaders have the responsibility of showing correct path to their team
members.
 Try to solve all the upcoming and instant problems which may occur in cited
company
 Motivate their employees and team member to learn something new and
innovative to attain their organization goals and use the available opportunity.
 Act as inspiration for their team members by achieving awards.
Function of the manager
Manger plays a very effective function in an organization because they are liable for the
activities occurring in the organization.
 Planning is the first and foremost task of the manager through which they can
plan all the present and future plan to avoid mistakes
 Staffing means to assign a right job to a right person.
 Controlling means try to control all the upcoming risk and challenges which
coming in the organization while achieving their target.
 Coordinating means to coordinate all the activities happening in the organization
by doing a fair treatment between all the employees. Basically coordinating is
the term which describe the environment and a effective relation between
higher authority and supervisor.

Various situation which may occur in the organization:-
 Natural calamities :- natural calamities are uncertain thing which may happen
anytime so the major role and function of a leader and manager is to know how
to handle these natural disasters
 Availability of competitors :- Due to the advancement of technology there is a
lot of competitors may emerge to earn more and more profit which also one of
the major challenge for organization.
 Capital issue :- Capital is the backbone for every business that’s a company must
have sufficient fund to build their organization.
M 2 Strengths and weakness of the different approaches
All the essential approaches which was available in the business environment consist of
various advantages and disadvantages which might be occur( Karlsson , 2012). In fact
approaches are somehow very useful to meet all the needs and wants of their customers by
using various innovative ideas with the help of drastic reforms. In fact sometimes these
approaches have a negative impact on the business because of their inappropriate use which
may harm their customer as well as business also. In fact approaches are also act as a very
effective tool for the organization to achieve their business objectives.
D 2 Evaluation of applications of operations management and factors impact on business
environment
Business environment have a greater impact on the applications of the organization due
to their wider concept as it requires a lots of factors due to the emergence of various
competitors in the market. In fact to meet the business all the external and internal factors for
example some of the external factors are political factors, legal factors, socio-cultural whereas
some of the internal factors are stakeholders, shareholders, employees etc. which have a
greater impact on the business environment because of their wider concept.
P 3 various theories and models including situational, system, and contingency leadership
Theories are mainly made just to learn the leadership style more deeply or its just
substitute for M & S organization to handle the situation occurring in enterprise. Basically the
main motive of the theories is to describe the various path of leadership or different style of
leading any enterprise smoothly . Role of leadership and management functions have a very
drastic matter of every organization because of their broad nature. In fact with the help of
management theories an enterprise can easily learn how to deal with various situation which
may occur in cited company . For example emergency situation like any sudden accident of any

employees , natural disasters, fund issue etc. basically management theories consist of very
broad nature due to which challenges are also very broad.
Various management theories of leadership style are
 Situational theory :- Situational theory describes the overall situation of an
organization before taking any decision regarding any incident or activities. It
means that situational management theory is the term by which a manger can
take decision according to the situation . In fact situational theory covers all the
situation occurring in the enterprise.
 System based theory :- System based theory basically depend upon the policies
of the organization which means decision are taken on the basis of policies of the
cited company either bit was strict or lenient. So the major motive of this theory
is to deal with upcoming risk and uncertainty by following the rules and
regulation of an enterprise.
 Contingency theory :- Contingency theory is one of the main and foremost
theory of leadership style which describe the specialized skills of a leaders. In
fact this theory explain that leaders are made according to the situation which
may occur which means that contingency theory focused on the expertise in
solving a particular situation or task. In other words this theory express the skills
and talent of laeder to deal with particular situation.
Last but not the least contingency theory act as a very effective in the management leadership
style because of their broad nature.
M 3 Leaders and mangers can improve efficiencies of operational management to meet
business objectives
Leaders and managers can easily improve all the efficiencies of operational
management by adopting various techniques of improvement with new and advanced policies
of the organization. In fact these leaders plays a very effective role in fulfilling all the needs of
the customers with the help of their team members by motivating them towards their
particular goals and targets.
P 4 Key approaches to operations management and the role of leaders and mangers
Key operations of the organization is the various useful things which are available in the
achieving of the organization goals and targets which means the effective process to produce
any product. To manufacture the essential goods and services an organization must go through
various indispensable paths to attain their organization goals.

Some of the important inputs which may required while producing goods or product for
their customers are :-
 Land :- Land is a one of the major key input which act as a very essential tool
while producing a product for their customers. It means that before producing a
product an organization must require an appropriate location to establish their
factory.
 Capital :- capital is a backbone for every organization because to arrange all the
essential resources fund must require as capital is a first resource to buy all the
required things. Before establishing any organization fund is a mandatory part
for their bright future.
 Labor :- labor is also one of the major key inputs because all the activities are
mange and control by the personnel management only so they are the basic of
the organization.
Leaders and mangers have the ability to do things differently to attain their organization target
which means these above key inputs are same for all organization but M & S believes in use
these key inputs in a different and unique style which is the major quality of this famous retail
enterprise.
Key operational approaches are lean production, total quality management which describes the
overall quality of the production process of an organization by which they can differentiate
their qualitative product from others. Other key approaches are just in time explains the
production of a product just in one time with full of quality, and the last approach is the
continuous improvement which shows the reforms which may occur in the products to attract
their customers with their creative ideas.
P 5 Importance and value of operations management in achieving business objectives
Operation management is a very useful for M & S or for every organization to achieve
their organization goals and target because of their broad nature as it consist all the relevant
factors which comes under this management. In fact the main and foremost task of the
operational management is to handle all the upcoming challenges and risk by making effective
strategies for their business (Mill, 2007). As due to their various advantages operation
management act as a very effective for their bright future.
Some of the advantages of operation management are
 Creates awareness about new and innovative ideas of the products.
 Explain the appropriate procedure of making goods to satisfy their customer
needs and wants.

 Make available various substitutes.
 Main focus is to identify the taste and preferences of their customer to meet
their needs by earning more and more profit.
Some of essential and attractive value it adds to the success of the business by producing
qualitative product with the use of innovative and creative ideas which attract millions of
customers towards their products. Basically due to the operation management all the task are
arranged and assign in a appropriate manner to avoid wastage of fund and time which is very
essential for their business. To run their business smoothly M & S believes in reforming their
existing policies just to earn profit and goodwill as soon as possible.
To meet their business objective a cited company try to improve their operational
efficiencies by changing the present scenario by reforming their previous plans and actions by
making new and result oriented technique. Basically leaders and mangers plays a very effective
role in improving their operational efficiency to achieve the business objectives by adopting
new ideas to meet their customer needs and wants. The main and foremost tool of the
business to produce all the product according to the taste and preferences of their customer so
that the product was liked by the customers the main objectives of an organization is based on
society
P 6 Factors within the business environment which influence operational management and
decision making by leaders and mangers
Due to the broad nature of operational management an organization influence by all the
existing internal and external factors within the business environment which means the
decision of the mangers and leaders have a greater impact because of these available factors
(White , 2016). Basically it describes the overall impact of the factors within business
environment.
Some of the internal factors within business environment which have a greater impact
are
 Employees :- Employees are one of the major internal factors within
environment because they are the resources which can pursue all the task and
activities to achieve their business goals.
 Higher authorities :- Policies or rules and regulations are made by the higher
authorities
 Investors :- Investors are also comes under the internal part of the business.
External factors are within business environment are :-

 Political factors :- Due to the changes in the ruling parties or amendment of
various acts business get affected.
 Legal factors :- legal formalities are mandatory for every organization before
establishing their business .
 Socio-cultural :- society plays a major role in the growth of the organization and
have a greater impact on operational management of an enterprise as most of
the business depend on the society only.
Some of the other external factors are
 Corporate social responsibility :- Corporate social responsibility express the
overall duty of a corporate world before manufacturing their product for the
final consumption. Social responsibility in corporate world explains the
completion of necessary things before dealing with other competitors.
 Business ethics :- mainly business ethics means complete all the possible
activities and task of the business by following all the relevant norms made by
the enterprise. In fact business ethics express the appropriate paths and route of
running business smoothly.
 Stakeholders :- Stakeholders are the members who invested their some of the
shares with existing business as investor for them to become a part of that
particular business. For example all the investors of the M & S enterprises are
their stakeholders.
M 4 Factors affect the business environment and wider community
All the factors have a greater impact on the business environment because of their
broad nature and broad concept. As every factors have some sort of positivity and negativity
which influence the business environment in every manner as all the things are a part of the
existing business . Due to the emergence of new and advanced ideas the concept increase day
by day with the extra quality and opportunity in response to the business. In fact all the factors
plays a very eminent role in business environment.
CONCLUSION
This report consist of all the essential factors and matters which comes under operational
management and shows all the available techniques to solve the upcoming or instant
challenges which may occur in the business. In fact operational management have a broad
concept due to the availability of appropriate data and information which may require while
production process. It covers all the qualities of leaders or managers and their effective role or
characteristics to handle all the situation. In fact this report shows the key approaches which

useful while producing the product and describes the key inputs which may require while
conversion of inputs into outputs. In other words this report is all about explanation of all the
things whatever is indispensable while performing all the task and activities of the operational
management
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interconnected and configured for management and operation as a single virtual switch . U.S.Patent 8,
194,534.
Lindstorm J., lofstrand M., and Karlsson L., 2012 . A Development process for functional
products :hardware ,software , service support system and management operation. International
journal of product development , 16 (3-4),pp.284-303