Tesco's Leadership and Management Styles: A Case Study

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MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................2
TASK 1..........................................................................................................................................................3
P1 DEFINE AND COMPARE THE DIFFERENT ROLES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF A LEADER AND A
MANAGER...............................................................................................................................................3
M1 ANALYSE AND DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN THE ROLE OF A LEADER AND FUNCTION OF A MANAGER
BY EFFECTIVELY APPLYING A RANGE OF THEORIES AND CONCEPTS.......................................................5
TASK 2..........................................................................................................................................................7
P2 EXAMINE EXAMPLES OF HOW THE ROLE OF A LEADER AND THE FUNCTION OF A MANAGER APPLY
IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONAL CONTEXTS..................................................................................................7
P3 APPLY DIFFERENT THEORIES AND MODELS OF APPROACH, INCLUDING SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP,
SYSTEMS LEADERSHIP AND CONTINGENCY.............................................................................................9
M2 ASSESS AND EVALUATE THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO
SITUATIONS WITHIN THE WORK ENVIRONMENT..................................................................................11
LO 3...........................................................................................................................................................13
P4 EXPLAIN THE KEY APPROACHES TO OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT AND THE ROLE THAT LEADERS
AND MANAGERS PLAY...........................................................................................................................13
P5 EXPLAIN THE IMPORTANCE AND VALUE OF OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN ACHIEVING BUSINESS
OBJECTIVES...........................................................................................................................................15
M3 EVALUATE HOW LEADERS AND MANAGERS CAN IMPROVE EFFICIENCIES OF OPERATIONAL
MANAGEMENT TO SUCCESSFULLY MEET BUSINESS OBJECTIVES..........................................................16
LO 4...........................................................................................................................................................17
P6 FACTORS WITHIN THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT THAT AFFECT THAT IMPACT UPON OPERATIONS
MANAGEMENT......................................................................................................................................17
M4 HOW THESE DIFFERENT FACTORS AFFECT THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND WIDER
COMMUNITY.........................................................................................................................................20
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................................22
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................23
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INTRODUCTION
Tesco is among the largest supermarket chains in the world. Tesco started in 1919, as a grocery
stall in east London. Its founder Jack Cohen initiated Tesco with £4 of sales on day one and
never saw behind from that day. In the recent time, tea brand will be launched very soon and
brought a store north London by 1929. By 1936 they had multiple stores in London and by the
end of 1950, launched Tesco's first supermarket (TP, 2019). Since then Tesco had grown
multiple folds, its revenue in 2016 stood at £57 billion. Today, after 100 years it has over 6800
shops and 440,000 employees across multiple countries (TP, 2019). Such a big scale of
operation needs a very well defined organizational structure. Tesco has a hierarchical
organizational structure, a decentralized form of management where authorities and
responsibilities are divided in layer to ensure effective performance of the organization. In
Tesco, Top management consists of a Tesco PLC Board of 11 members led by its CEO. Five
committees comprised of the Audit committee, corporate responsibility committee,
Nominations Committee, Remuneration committee and disclosure committee reports directly
the PLC board (RM, 2019). Such layers of management can be observed in its stores as well;
some of its stores even have a four-layer thick management division. Credit for the success of
TESCO goes to its management and leadership which shaped its destiny. This assignment will
briefly discuss leadership and management in Tesco and will try to present learning from it.
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TASK 1
P1 DEFINE AND COMPARE THE DIFFERENT ROLES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF
A LEADER AND A MANAGER
There is a very thin line that differentiates a leader and a manager. This line can only be
observed and cannot be defined. A leader and a manager can co-exist in a single person,
sometimes the manager can also be a leader and vice versa.
A leader is defined as a person of influence over a defined group. A leader usually follows and
promotes an ideology which is favoured by other peoples, and these people then become his
followers. A leader is chosen by people because they trust him and they trust the path on which
the leader led them. A leader always holds a superior position in the group though that position
is mostly unofficial.
A manager is an administrator, defined by the management to get the work done from a group
of individual. The main job is to ensure that the employees are working effectively and
efficiently and the resources of the organization are optimally utilized. His primary objective is
to ensure firms benefit from the people it employed. A manager can always be a leader by
cultivating some attributes necessary for a leader. Also, they could maintain a balance between
employees and companies benefits by standardizing the process.
A series of different characteristics and roles of a leader and a manager can be observed:
LEADER MANAGER
A leader influences a group A Manager Directs a group
A leader guides a group A Manager controls a group
A leader is a risk taker A Manager is risk averse
A leader finds innovative ways to solve a
problem
A Manager seek for the standard process to
solve a problem
A leader focuses on employees benefits first A Manager thinks about organizational
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benefits first.
A leader requires the trust of people A Manager requires knowledge and authority
A leader has a clear understanding of the
masses and their issues
A Manager has a clear understanding of firms
long term and short goals along with factor
which might affect it.
A leader needs physical attributes to gain that
special status in a crowd
A Manager needs knowledge and past
performance to gain that authoritative status
over a crowd.
A leader doesn’t need any educational
qualification to lead.
A Manager needs educational qualifications
and expertise on the work which others do for
him
A leader has followers A Manager has subordinates
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M1 ANALYSE AND DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN THE ROLE OF A LEADER AND
FUNCTION OF A MANAGER BY EFFECTIVELY APPLYING A RANGE OF THEORIES
AND CONCEPTS
In modern work culture, every manager has to be a leader to successfully run an organization. A
good manager is expected to provide leadership to its employees by the virtue of his position.
This simply means that a manager has to perform leadership roles along with management
functions. A description of the functions and roles that differentiates leaders and managers will
be discussed as per different theories of management.
Functions of a Manager:
1. Planning: Planning is the primary function of management, it involves a future course of
action based on the goals and objectives of the organization keeping other factors into
consideration. It requires foresight of a manager to effectively perform this function.
2. Organizing: Organizing refers to arranging all the activities and resources of the firm.
This function ensures the smooth functioning of all the processes and optimum
utilization of resources. It includes a series of activities like dividing work, assigning and
delegating duties, classification and coordinating groups and activities.
3. Staffing: Staffing refers to availing the effective and efficient man force for
organizational operations. It involves a series of operations like recruiting, selecting,
training and development etc.
4. Directing: Directing is a crucial function of management it refers to guiding the hired
workforce towards the achievement of organizational goals. It involves activities like
supervising, motivating, communicating and providing leadership.
5. Controlling: Controlling refers to the function of assessment of the performance against
the set standard in the planning process and taking actions to correct the deviations.
Role of Leader: Leader plays a pivotal role in deciding the success of an organization. Effective
leadership acts as a guiding lantern in the dark. As stated above, leadership is a part of directing
the function of management. Leaders play four essential roles:
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1. Build Trust-relationship: The build a mutual trust relationship with others that makes
others to follow him.
2. Visionary: A leader should have a clear vision about himself and his group. It helps to
take decisions more appropriately. A leader must know where they lead the group and a
clearly defined shared vision will help in understanding the destination before initiating
the journey (FK, 2018).
3. Executor: A leader must know how to execute a strategy. It helps the whole group to
achieve results with mutual cooperation. It also helps to generate the discipline required
for the task.
4. Coach Potential: A leader should the ability to improve team performance by tapping
the potential of each candidate. It helps in problem-solving, effective decision making,
growing careers etc. (FK, 2018).
Theories that defines Managers and leaders:
1. Human Relations Theory: This theory suggests aligning the needs of employees and
workers to design policies that mutually benefit everyone. It strongly suggests managers
should become the leader for its employees. Tesco keeps the needs of its employees at
a very high place. And layer and decentralizing the power helps employees to form a
closed group which have a superior as their leader.
2. Scientific Management: This theory was proposed by F.W. Taylor and suggests that
dividing work into small groups enhances the efficiency of work. It suggests that work
should be distributed among groups of employees lead by a manager. But in terms of
leadership Taylor believed that leaders are made not made.
3. Great Man Theory: This theory is also aligned with Taylor’s views. It also suggests that
leaders are born and anyone without those birth characteristics cannot develop
leadership.
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TASK 2
P2 EXAMINE EXAMPLES OF HOW THE ROLE OF A LEADER AND THE FUNCTION
OF A MANAGER APPLY IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONAL CONTEXTS
The above-stated management functions and leadership roles can be better understood better
with the help of certain examples of TESCO:
Example 1: Introducing new inventory management in all the stores of Tesco. The system will
upload information on every shelf and section at a server. This information will be available to a
number of people like the salesman of the section, supervisor of the section, manager of the
segment, store manager, regional manager till CEO of Tesco.
Management role in this situation:
1. To ensure proper technical training to every user before implementing the model.
2. To provide technical assistance to the users.
3. Standardizing the process and feed every available product.
4. Generate feedback from users to improve the system.
5. Ensure smooth Implementation of the systems
Leadership role in this situation:
1. Ensure acceptance from employees for this new system by sharing the benefits and
user-friendliness of the system.
2. Understand any shortcomings of the software.
3. Observing any probable risk or fault in the system.
4. Boosting the morale of conservative employees towards technical enhancement.
Example 2: Introducing a new range of products in the Tesco stores and supermarket.
Manager role in this situation:
1. Proper Research & Development of the new segment.
2. Take care of training needs if any.
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3. Prepare a strategy to introduce the product.
Leader’s role in this situation:
1. Present the new opportunity before the employee in view of this new segment.
2. Assist employees in difficulties of the new segment.
3. Collect employees and customers feedback and response towards the segment for
developmental purposes.
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P3 APPLY DIFFERENT THEORIES AND MODELS OF APPROACH, INCLUDING
SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP, SYSTEMS LEADERSHIP AND CONTINGENCY
Situational leadership: This style of leadership suggests that different situations demand
different styles of leadership. The situation in this context could also be a person, physical
constraints, and attitude of a group etc. Such a situation influences the response to a leader and
therefore they must adapt the situation and design a mix of supportive and directive activities
for the group.
Example: A manager in Tesco got transferred to a new store in Malaysia from the UK. Unlike UK
customers in Malaysia are mostly tourists. The situation in Malaysia is entirely different from
the UK, here customers are mostly tourists and cross-cultural interactions were high. The
manager wanted all the customers to be well served and they requested all the employees to
sign up for an English learning course. It was a month coaching of 2 hours daily and Course's
fees were paid by Tesco. But many employees resisted which was affecting Tesco’s
performance. Then, they chose an authoritative leadership and ordered every employee to
attend the classes or else new employees who can speak English well will be hired in their
place.
This example shows how a manager had to change his style of leadership to authoritarian style.
It helped him to meet organizational needs by developing the employees’ skill.
Systems leadership: This leadership model considers that an organization is made up of
different subsystems. These subsystems must work in synchronization for the proper
functioning of the organization. A leader, therefore, must analyze and assess the effects of
various subsystems on the performance of the organization.
Example: A regional manager of Tesco was facing an issue of complaints from customers about
the quality of vegetables in one of their stores investigating to which they found that the
supplier was not at fault and the salesman was also taking care of the vegetables as provided to
him. At last, they came to know that the fault was in the logistics, the transporters are new
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recruits and not using refrigerated trucks for the delivery. The manager then provided
necessary tips and guidance to the transporter about the logistics and care of vegetables.
This example shows how a mistake of a single department affects the working of every other.
Contingency leadership: This theory suggests that leaders have a standard style of leadership
and they will perform best if they are provided with a situation that best fits their style.
Example: A manager of Tesco whose style was delegative leadership was send to a new location
where employees are not responsible enough to be trusted with sensitive work. They had to
work a lot all by him and had to take care of every small thing. This made him unsuccessful and
put a lot of work pressure on him.
This example shows that how a leader and leadership style cannot fit in a situation and he
should have been working in the situation that was working before for best results.
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M2 ASSESS AND EVALUATE THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF
DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO SITUATIONS WITHIN THE WORK ENVIRONMENT
Approach/Theory/Model Strengths Weaknesses
Situational leadership  Specially tailored for a
situation.
 Highly Effective.
 Promote better
communication as per
the situations.
 Provides a change for
the manager.
 Promotes new
learning style in an
organization.
 Involves
experimenting, which
might not result well.
 Requires highly
effective leaders, who
can change adopt a
new style quickly.
 Long-term
effectiveness is in
questions.
Systems leadership  Promotes a broad
vision of the
organization and
managers.
 Focus on the root of
the causes.
 The main aim is to
serve the ultimate goal
and objective of the
company.
 Not effective for small
businesses.
 Decision-making
process becomes slow.
 Chances of failure are
high.
Contingency leadership  Experience of the
leader is highly
praised.
 Availability of
 Find difficult to deal
with exceptional or
modern cases.
 Require strong
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