Management and Operations: Leadership and Operations at Pret A Manger

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of management and operations, focusing on the case study of Pret A Manger. It begins with an introduction to management and operations, outlining the roles and characteristics of managers and leaders, and contrasting their responsibilities. The report then delves into the implementation of leadership and management functions, particularly in the context of Pret A Manger's introduction of a new online sales service, examining the roles of managers and the CEO in facilitating this change. Different leadership theories, including situational, system, and contingency leadership are explored, with their applications in Pret A Manger. The report further examines key approaches to operation management, the advantages of effective operational strategies, and potential improvements to enhance business efficiency. Finally, the report conducts a PESTLE analysis of Pret A Manger, evaluating the impacts of various external factors and ethical considerations within the company. The report concludes with a summary of the key findings and recommendations for improving management and operational strategies.

MANAGEMENT AND
OPERATIONS
Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Characteristic and Roles of Managers and Leaders..........................................................3
M1 Evaluation of role or managers and functions of managers by effective applications of
theories and concepts..............................................................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P2 Implementation of Role and Functions of Leaders and Managers....................................5
P3 Application of leadership theories in Pret A Manger........................................................6
M2 Analysis of strengths and weaknesses of different approaches for leadership................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P4 Key Approaches of Operation Management ....................................................................9
P5 Advantages of Operation Management...........................................................................11
M3 Improvements in operations management for increasing efficiency of business and
successful achievement of aims and objectives of company................................................13
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................13
P6 PESTLE analysis of Pret A Manger................................................................................13
M4 Evaluation of impacts of PESTLE factors, ethical and unethical practices of Pert A
Manger .................................................................................................................................15
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Management is process of managing affairs of an organisation irrespective of their size,
nature, type or structure (Operations Management Theory, 2019). It is guide for workforce of
company to coordinate their actions according to predetermined attainable goals (Heizer, Render
and Munson, 2017). Operations are ways through which inner mechanisms of business is
maintained for smooth functioning of company. Operations are present on every strategic level
or ground. Operation management is establishment created to increase and bring highest level of
efficiency in company. It concentrate on converting raw material into goods as fast as possible to
earn more and more profits.
Pret A Manger was founded in 1980's in London, now it has 130 shops around UK and
other places in world. Pret A Manger is a food company one of best of its kind, it believes in
providing fresh and best quality food to its customers without using any chemicals or
preservatives. This report cover characteristic, roles of managers and leaders, application of
different leadership\management styles, key approaches of operation management its importance
and brief evaluation on how managers and leaders increases efficiency in operations of business.
TASK 1
P1 Characteristic and Roles of Managers and Leaders
Managers and leaders plays vital role in managing and smooth running of operations of
Pret A Manger. Both are different from each other having unique roles:
Managers- Individuals who are responsible for certain tasks in organisation or who manages the
company. Every manager has some staff reporting to them as they allot work to employees
according to their skills in order to accomplish goals of organisation (Reid and Sanders, 2015).
They can be managing different department or whole business depending upon company's
structure and size.
Characteristic:
Good communication skills- Manager have good communication skill, they listen to
employees working under them and communication needed information for effective operations.
Problem Solving ability- Every manager has this ability to identify problems faced by
employees, accordingly bring out some temporary or permanent solutions to those problems.
Roles:

Resource allocator- All managers are responsible for allocating resources to staff or
employees working under them for effective functioning of business.
Negotiator- Manager also plays a role of negotiator for representing its company in
different market situation or for employees working under them in organisation (Gibson and
Parkman, 2018).
Leader:
A person who hold a dominant or superior position in business is leader. They have high
levels of controls in their hands to and influences staff in direction of goals or organisation.
Characteristic:
Honesty- Leader are honest towards work and follow some core values to be successful
and to be called a great leader.
Inspire Others- Leader has followers and that's only possible when a leader is inspiring
others by there actions and principles followed for work.
Roles:
Coach- Most important role leaders perform is coaching others so that they perform
given jobs with full potential to obtain organisational objectives.
Strategist- This is not just a role of higher level leader, all leaders on every level should
think strategically to keep bigger picture in their mind for benefiting company's operations
(Slack and Brandon-Jones, 2018).
Comparison between Manager and Leader:
Basis Managers Leaders
Definition One basic difference between
Managers and leaders is, Managers
have staff who works for them.
On the other hand, Leaders have
people who follow them.
Duties Managers create business goals to be
fulfilled.
Leaders see bigger picture and create
vision of organisation.
Risk Managers are one's who control risk
existing or approaching organisation.
In other words, they are risk avoiders.
Whereas, Leaders always try new
things and ready to take risks.
Leaders are risk seekers.
Objective Managers direct employees by Leaders know capabilities of there

assigning tasks towards company's
goals.
people, so they coach them towards
organisational objectives.
M1 Evaluation of role or managers and functions of managers by effective applications of
theories and concepts
Management by Objectives is a strategic model which is used by managers of an
organisation to increase the performance by clearly stating the objective and aims of company.
These objectives are agreed by both the management and employees.
Advantages and disadvantages of Management by Objectives
Advantage Disadvantage
This theory works in order to motivate staff as
involving employees in decision making and
goal setting, makes them feel important.
As opinions of many people are taken this
creates confusion and misunderstandings in
organisation.
Classical Management theory is based on the belief that staff or workers only have
physical and economic needs, ignoring other potential desires and wants of employees.
Advantages and disadvantages of Classical Management theory
Advantage Disadvantage
Single leader makes all the decisions reducing
conflicts and misunderstandings amongst the
staff and organisation.
Only two needs of employees are considered in
this theory which demotivating for staff and
harms the company.
Behavioural Management theory address the human dimension of work, understanding
the behaviour of personnels in better manner and motivating them accordingly.
Advantages and disadvantages of Behavioural theory
Advantage Disadvantage
This is used to shape the behaviour of workers
which will gradually help in developing better
skills.
This theory fails to look at underlying causes
and problems of staff, just focuses on their
behaviour.

Transactional leadership style is a method which is used by leaders by which they
promote compliance by followers through rewards and punishments. Leaders motivate staff by
transactional leadership style for short-term.
Advantages and disadvantages of Transactional leadership
Advantage Disadvantage
This leadership style will help leaders to
achieve organisational goals effectively and
efficiently, that too in given time frame.
Through this leadership method managers
motivate staff but fails to encourage creativity.
Transformational leadership style assist leaders in motivating and inspiring staff to
innovate and be more creative.
Advantages and disadvantages of Transformational leadership
Advantage Disadvantage
This leadership style helps in reducing
employee turnover and retaining skilled labour
for longer duration.
Leaders have to continuously collect feedback
and perform monitoring activities.
TASK 2
P2 Implementation of Role and Functions of Leaders and Managers
Introduction of new online sale service
Pret A Manger has introduced new online portal for customers to place their orders online
and get their food delivered at their desired location. This portal is brought in by Pret A Manger
due to changing working environment in food industry. Technology is taking place of in
everyday life of people influencing customers preferences. Nowadays, people are more
comfortable with getting their food where they are rather than visiting restaurants. Also, these
home delivering services are very helpful in emergency situations giving comfort of food to
consumer at their place without going anywhere removing all hustle.

Many competitors are entering in market with new innovative ideas or technology
affecting business along with presence of existing competitors. This brand-new operation will
bring more sales to Pret A Manger allowing to have competitive advantage over other
challengers sometime before them.
Manager have different function to perform in accordance with new idea introduced in
Pret A Manger which are as follows:
Train employees- Managers are responsible for training employees of Pret A Manager
about how to use the new tool introduced by company (Mahadevan, 2015). Developing
something and working on it or with it are two different things, employees at Pret A Manger are
not skilled to use new portal and manage orders. Managers conduct training program for staff to
give them knowledge on what the new portal is and how to use it in daily operations.
Marketing- Developing new technology is important for regular changing business
scenarios but marketing them well and informing customers about it is also a very important
aspect which function is performed by manager (Ravindran, 2016). Pret A Manger's manager
will make unique marketing strategies to introduce its consumers with its new portal and brief
them about idea behind it.
Role of Clive Schlee (CEO) in Pret A Manger in relation with fresh online portal:
Employees sometimes are very rigid to adopt change because of many factors like age,
skills etc. and to motivate them in favour of company is job of leaders to do (Bromiley and Rau,
2016). CEO of Pret A Manger will be first one to inform employees or staff about new portal in
company's meeting but then some employees can be rigid to change speaking against it. To deal
with these kind of problems is main role of leaders, here Clive Schlee (CEO) will talk with
employees and make them understand need of this change to happen in organisation and
motivate them to learn how to work on it. CEO can adopt various motivational strategies to deal
with workforce, Clive Schlee can plan some unique reward system attach to working with portal.
Some additional benefit can be provided to staff in order to motivate and bring workers to make
effective and efficient use of portal, increasing productivity of Pret A Manger's operations.
P3 Application of leadership theories in Pret A Manger
Many different leadership styles are introduced by researchers in market, organisation are
also using them three of them are explained below:
Situational Leadership:

This theory was developed by Kenneth Blanchard and Paul Hersey. Situational leadership
theory suggest that no theory is best enough it all depends on situation and which strategies are
best-suited in that scenario (Ferguson and et. al., 2016). According to this theory, effective
management takes place when leaders adopts their plan of action in relation to the situations,
nature, size and other factors indulged in completing tasks. It has four stages explained below:
Directing- First step for every new employee starts with some directions. In this phase
leaders tell employees what they have to do and how they have to do it. Employees understands
and get clear picture of what is expected out of them.
Coaching- In this stage employees know what they have to do but some guidance is still
required to improve their skills or knowledge.
Supporting- This stage automatically come after coaching, here leaders focus more on
their relationship with staff rather then tasks. On this step employees have already developed
skills, managers mow start getting them involved in decision making and formulating action plan
to achieve objectives.
Delegating- The job of leaders here is to monitor and supervise employees performance
to see if they are doing give job effectively in accordance with company's goals.
System Leadership:
System theory is developed by efforts of many researchers and therefore, its a product of
hard work of different people. This theory helps leaders to create a atmosphere where workforce
at levels can perform their duties effectively with their full potential to acquire organisational
predetermined objectives.
Contingency Leadership:
Contingency theory was developed by Fred Fiedler in 1958. It states that a leader is
effective when its leadership style matches with situation. It has three different factors:
Leader-Member Relations- This factor includes how managers talks or interact with their
staff.
Task Structure- On what basis jobs are assigned to employee by leaders.
Positional Power- This factor shows how much power and authority managers hold over
employees working under them.
After looking all three leadership style managers can adopt to attain effective and
efficient results by managing employees in appropriate manner. Managers of Pret A Manger can

adopt Contingency leadership style to motivate or encourage employees in such a way to obtain
best possible results (Kopardekar and et. al., 2016). As working environment of Pret A Manger is
friendly, leaders can freely interact with employees about different tasks they need to perform.
Jobs are allotted to staff in accordance to their talent or potential so they can produce best
outcomes for business productivity. Also, managers of Pert A Manger can use situational
leadership for managing personnels and making them work in accordance with the company.
Managers can use different ways for unique individuals for encouraging them and resolving their
problems, in order to motivate them and work with their full potential.
M2 Analysis of strengths and weaknesses of different approaches for leadership
Advantages and disadvantages of Situational Theory
Advantages Disadvantages
This theory recognizes the need for flexibility
in organisation and the way leaders manage
the staff or personnels of their respective
company.
One weakness of this theory is it focuses on
short term needs or requirements. Situational
leadership is more about meeting exact needs
rather than focusing on future needs.
This leadership style develops good relations
amongst employees and leaders bring
bringing ease and comfort in organisation.
Also, situational leadership is only effective and
useful in task oriented environment or where
company follow task directed structure.
Advantaged and disadvantages of System Theory
Advantages Disadvantages
System leadership style helps leaders and
employees to increase the productivity in
order to attain all objectives of company in
time.
Circumstances are not same always in an
organisation, here comes the need for flexibility.
System leadership style is not adaptable in all
scenarios and situations.
This leadership method helps leaders in
understanding the needs of employees and
motivate them accordingly so that they can
work with their full potential in order to attain
their objectives.
Consistent evaluation is required, leaders have
to continuously re-evaluate their leadership
methods for gaining effectiveness.

Advantages and disadvantages of Contingency Theory
Advantages Disadvantages
Most influencing characteristic of this
leadership style is, leaders include employees
in their decisions. Personnels take more
interest in organisation serves in better
manner and brings creativity.
Managers sometimes are incapable or holds
insufficient skills to make decisions and change
according to the regular changing situations.
This leadership style gives full freedom to
leaders to choose their practices and way of
working or dealing with staff.
Constant changes in working environment of
organisation brings huge challenges in front of
staff to work effectively .
Strengths of manager of Pert A Manger:
Managers of Pert A Manger are very effective they manage the staff efficiently which is
one of the main strengths of them. Managers work and lead personnels in very effective manner,
imposing appropriate leadership styles and encouraging them to work potentially.
Weaknesses of managers of Pert A Manger:
One weakness of managers in Pert A Manger is their market research strategy is really
weak they are incapable of conducting research and gaining knowledge about the external
condition. Needs of customers are not properly recognized by the managers and that is a negative
impact managers have on organisation.
TASK 3
P4 Key Approaches of Operation Management
Operations management is the administration of business activities for bringing highest
level of efficiency in operations of organisation. It is performed for converting materials and
labour into finished goods and services as efficiently as possible and earning maximum profits.
Marketing function is the role which enables organisation to identify and source
potentially successful products in marketplace and place them in a unique manner. Marketing
function includes several activities which are performed by marketing managers of every
company. Some activities of marketing function are market research, creating an marketing plan,
and implementing those plans for developing effective product as well as strategically promoting

the developed good in market. Marketing managers in Pert A Manger also perform marketing
activities to promote food items company is offering to their potential customers. Marketing
managers focuses on promoting and advertising offerings of Pert A Manger by highlighting on
the fact that they do not use any harmful chemicals or preservatives while preparing food
products.
Product development function refers to all those stages which are performed for
bringing the product and changing it from idea or concept to end good or service. Several stages
and steps are involved in this function which is considered as entire journey of a product from
very beginning till the end. Pert A Manger's products development managers are also responsible
for developing new products. They take help or marketing function for conducting market
research and according to the information gathered, managers innovate or create a fresh food
item for their menu in order to attract more and more people.
Operations functions refers to all those actions and activities performed in order to keep
the company going smoothly by monitoring all the operations involved in organisation.
Operation function involves all those action which are taking place in an organisation from very
beginning. It is a function which is performed to see that all tasks or activities which are going on
in company are working properly so that predetermined objectives of company are attained
effectively. Pert A Mangers also has an operation department, professionals of operations team
make plans for effective running of different departments and implement changes if required.
Human Resource function is one of the most important functions, as this refers to
bringing appropriate talents and skilled employees in organisation. Human resource is the key
asset or every company, as employees are the on which execute all the plans of company in order
to achieve aims and objectives. Pert A Manger is a food developing and providing firm, in which
they need expert chef's and who can produce food according to company's standards. Therefore,
this is a very important function which is performed by managers.
Some of the key approaches followed in operation management are explained below in relation
with roles of managers and leaders play to have an effective operations management system.
Total Quality Management (TQM)
TQM was introduced by William Deming, its an overall continuous process used by
organisation for detection and reduction of errors in producing goods, improving customers
satisfaction by serving up or beyond their expectations and ensuring proper trained or skilled

employees are appointed for task. TQM process make sure all functions involved in production
process are held accountable for quality of products and services offered. TQM ensures errors are
reduced to minimal level by providing proper guidelines and process standards to manufacturing
department. It has different basic principles as follows:
Continuous Improvement- Using right techniques creative products can be developed
with continuous changes, attracting more consumers providing satisfaction. These slightly
changed good market themselves due to their uniqueness from other present products.
Communication- Strategies for communication are formulated in such a way that it
enhance operations in line with objective along with vision and mission of organisation. Good
communication between employees of different departments will enhance the operation system
made by leaders. Rendering best effective results from with less cost (Venkat, and et al., 2015).
Focus on Customers- While using TQM first think to keep in mind is quality criteria is
fixed by consumers. Therefore, its very important to understand needs of customers and stand
up-to their expectations. More efforts should be made in training employees and improving
processes of company through this function development of new products can also take place
raising company's productivity.
Lean Principle
This principle works on phenomena of continuous improvement in customers
satisfaction and reducing waste. This principle is proven to be best and effective in most
demanding industries, role of this principle is very simple to understand and apply. It has five
steps :
Identifying Value- First step is to identify what actually customers want an what can
create value for them as well as for company. It should be very specific which directly resolves
problems of consumers (Littlefield and et. al, 2016).
Value Stream Mapping- Once value is identified then its time to look at entities workflow
to create and deliver end product to customers. It helps managers to make a base about problems
exist in processes and responsible people which reducing value company can offer.
Creating Continuous workflow- Means improving workflow of each department for
smooth functioning and removing any interruptions occurring in any cross-functional teamwork.
Dividing processes into smaller parts visualizing workflow removes disruptions and bring
efficiency in processes.