Business Management & Leadership at Tesco: Theories and Operations

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of business management and leadership theories within the context of Tesco, a leading retail company. It explores Tesco's hierarchical organizational structure and examines the roles of managers and leaders, highlighting their traits and functions in various situations. The report delves into different management and leadership theories, such as administrative theory, transactional leadership, situational leadership, system leadership, and contingency theory, discussing their advantages and disadvantages. It also covers the chaos theory and management by objectives, illustrating how these concepts are applied within Tesco. Furthermore, the report explains key approaches to operations management, including business process redesign, reconfigurable manufacturing systems, and Six Sigma, emphasizing the role of leaders and managers in improving operational efficiencies and achieving business objectives. The analysis also considers the impact of the business environment on operational management and decision-making, concluding with insights on how effective leadership and management can enhance operational performance to meet Tesco's business goals. This document is available on Desklib, a platform offering a wide array of study tools and solved assignments for students.

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................4
Introduction of organization and management structure.............................................................4
Role of both manager, leaders along with difference..................................................................4
Role of leader and managers in different situation......................................................................5
Different roles of management and leadership supported by theories........................................5
Presenting different theories of leadership..................................................................................7
Describing the chaos theory and management by objectives within a quoted firm....................7
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................8
Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and managers
play..............................................................................................................................................8
Role and Responsibilities of leader and managers in the key operational function....................9
Importance and value of operational management in business objective achievement............10
Factors of business environment which affect the operational management and decision-
making of leader and managers.................................................................................................11
Impact of decision-making by leaders and managers over the wider business environment
factors........................................................................................................................................11
Effective role of leaders and managers improving operational efficiencies to meet business
objectives...................................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Management is an act of collecting people together in order to attain the desired goals
and objectives of a company through different resources effectively. So, business management is
focuses on the organizing, planning as well as analyzing of business activities that required to
effectively use as well as run a business. The present study also helps to understand the
importance of key personnel such as leader and managers within an organization. The chosen
firm for this report is Tesco which is one of the top company in retail industry who offers range
of products to their customers. The report will explain the roles and functions of manager as well
as leaders. Further, it describes the importance of key approaches within an organization and
with the help of range of theories, study will describe the role of leader and managers in that
particular situations
TASK 1
Introduction of organization and management structure
The study based upon Tesco and it is third largest retailer in the world in terms of gross
revenues. Also, it has established in different countries and that is why, it recognized as a market
leader of groceries in UK. The management structure opted by company is hierarchical
organizational structure where hierarchy structure has been formulated in order to minimize the
error of communication (Chow, 2020). Also, the top management has maximum responsibilities
in order to manage the work and meet the defined aim of a company as well. Through this,
company is able to maintain the dignity of a company so that employees can be motivated.
Role of both manager, leaders along with difference
Leaders, is that who improved the things and also move towards the better of their vision.
Also, they keep motivated the employees to attain the defined goals (Jaser, 2021).
Manager, is that individual who struggle to reach their own personal goals and possesses
the same rights, duties and obligations in order to take an organization to further level of success.
Traits of manager:
Coaching: It is one of the most common trait which helps employees to work in a team and also
ensure that entire problem can be resolved.
Empowering and motivating: It has been identified that managers always makes employees
motivated so that they can manage the work and also feel valued as well as empowered (Okafor,
Yakubova and Westerman, 2021).

Fair treatment: It has been examined that managers treat their employees equally and this in
turn assists to encourage the diversity of thought. Hence, it assists to build a diverse and
inclusive team so that effective results can be generated.
Traits of leader:
Communicator: Leader possess effective communication skills through which they can explain
the problem and solutions so that it does not affect the results in negative manner.
Confident: leaders have strong confidence that assist to make decision and deal with complex
situation so that they can encourage employees for team work (Characteristic of a good leader,
2020).
Inspiration: Leaders always influence or inspire employees so that they can manage the
employees work and let them motivated to attain the defined aim of a company.
Honesty: It has been identified that honesty and integrity is the key trait of leader that helps to
make them inspire to develop effective strategy to meet the defined aim.
Role of leader and managers in different situation
Role Management Leadership
Managing
employees
Manager of the company always
develop employees to manage the
employees
Leaders keep motivate their
employees to gain effective results.
Conflict
management
Manager of Tesco involve
strategies to manage conflicts, if
any (Luna and Renninger, 2021).
To solve the conflict, leader always
tries to implement effective strategy.
Strategist Manager of the company develop
effective strategies in order to
make effective decision
Leader of Tesco keep developing
strategy to generate effective strategy
so that better outcomes can be
generated.
Example In order to implement a new
marketing campaign within Tesco,
Marketing manager of the
company develop effective
strategies and let leader understand
about the new strategy so that it
can be convey to other employees.
To implement the marketing
campaign in Tesco effectively, leader
tries to let employees motivated and
understand about new strategy that
can be implemented effectively so
that best outcomes can be delivered
(Eschenfelder and Coleman, 2021).
Different roles of management and leadership supported by theories
There are different theories as well as concept of management as well as leadership and
these attain to improve the results so that business can be run effectively. Therefore, Manager of
Tesco uses administrative theory of management which is defined by Henri Fayol which assists

to solve the problem effectively and efficiently. There are five key elements of the theory which
are as mentioned below:
Planning: It is the first role of the manager who want to make planning in future. This in
turn assists to make employees aware to participate within a company so that managers can
easily attain the defined task. Also, through this organization can attain the defined aim.
Organizing: It is all about organizing the staff members and offer capital effectively so
that it generates the best outcomes. As Tesco follows hierarchical organization structure and that
is why, managers must have to ensure about organizing the skills in order to manage the things
effectively (Williams and Gooty, 2021).
Commanding: Managers of Tesco also give instruction and order to the leaders so that
they can manage the work and attain the defined aim of a company. Through this, organization
can organize the work effective and remain motivated as well.
Coordinating: Through effective coordination, company can manage the work
effectively and that is why, distortion of communication can be minimized and as a result,
organization can have performed better. Hence, through effective coordination, organization can
manage the work and make discipline pertaining to attaining defined task.
Controlling: It is the last step of management, where manager of a quoted firm can check
whether the activities are performing as per the plan or not. Also, in case of any error, managers
can have managed the work and let employees understand about their plan so effective results
can be generated.
Management theories for a leadership roles:
Within leadership roles, it has been examined that Tesco uses transactional leadership
theory because it helps manager to focused upon the role of supervision, organization and group
performance. Here, leader also implement different style which focused upon the specific task
and also uses rewards and punishment in order to motivate the followers (Kieran, MacMahon
and MacCurtain, 2020). Thus, it can be stated that leaders of Tesco set the goals for their team so
that they can generate the best outcomes. If employees perform poorly, then their leaders also
punish them which might affect the results in opposite manner, but motivate employees to
generate the best outcomes.

Presenting different theories of leadership
Situational leadership: This theory is used by the leader and manager of Tesco where
they opt the style as per the situation. Therefore, it helps to meet the defined aim of a company
and make effective decision as well. For example, to improve the employee engagement strategy,
leaders use participative leadership style to understand their views pertaining to specific
situation.
System leadership: This theory helps the leader to create a condition where employees
can improve the productivity of an organization and this assists to gain as well as derive the
sustainable performance of a firm (Swanson and et.al., 2020). Also, it helps to generate the best
outcomes as well.
Contingency theory: The theory stated that it is based upon specific key element
regard to environment which helps leader to opt the specific leadership style. Thus,
management of Tesco uses this theory to gain the profit margin and make the competition
more stiff within an market.
Advantages Disadvantages
Situational leadership Easy to implement and
understand
Helps to generate the best
outcomes.
focus upon the immediate
need than long term need
Sometime become more
challenging for manager
to opt this.
System leadership  Improve employee morale
 raise the productivity
within organization (Yip
and Walker, 2021).
 Sometimes leader did not
understand the
importance of using this
theory.
Contingency theory  Helps manager to provide
realistic view
 Promote manager to opt
creative management style
 Difficult to implement.
 Reactive rather than
proactive
Describing the chaos theory and management by objectives within a quoted firm
Chaos Theory: This theory mainly helps manager to lay emphasis upon adaptability,
initiative and entrepreneurial activity in order to cope up the situation and manage the work
effectively. This theory helps to manage the change effectively and make the organization to
work effectually.

Management by objective: The theory was adopted by Peter Drucker where managers
and employees can be interacting easily to determine the objectives so that effective results can
be generated. That is why, managers of Tesco uses this method in order to reduce the error of
communication and promote employees to attain the objectives and increase the market share as
well (Okafor, Yakubova and Westerman, 2021). In addition to this, employees raise their
personal skills which will be more beneficial for the company and generate the best outcomes as
well. Through this, they can manage the work and make employees feel motivated that they are
also an important key element of the company as well.
TASK 2
Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and managers
play
Key approaches to operations management
Operation management is a practice involve managing all different functional responsibilities
associated with the business entity. The role of operation management is to mange and sustain
the functional responsibilities of all different operational and functional responsibilities
associated with the business venture.
Business process redesign: is among the core approach associated with the operation
amazement practice. This involves on the basis of the needs and requirements of the business
venture this is about to redesign the whole process of operation management. Process
redesigning involve assessing the functional requirements of company and based on that this is
about to redesign the whole structure (Ma and et.al., 2020 ). This is among the core area of
operation management that support the company to achieve all its various business objectives.
Re configurable manufacturing system: is also one of the core area of operation management
that support the business venture to support the manufacturing practices applied by the company.
This involve reconfigure the whole structure associated with the manufacturing of the business
entity. This allow the company to install and implement the best suitable operation management
practice in such a manner that organization get to meet up all its various business objectives
(Qu and et.al., 2019). The manufacturing is a wide practice that involve different stages. Under
the operation management leader try to assess the budget and availability of the financial
resources at the organization and based on that it is about to structure the whole process of

manufacturing in such manner that company get the cheapest manufacturing outcome at a best
suitable price range. This has supported many companies to promote the most efficient
manufacturing line in against to channelize the business operations.
Six sigma: is another core approach associated with the operation management technique which
involve adopting the multiple stages that can support the business house to deliver the best form
of operation management practice. Leaders try to make the data driven process under this so that
most efficient process adopted to deliver the operations in company. This practice has supported
the business houses to adopt the efficient way of operating the functions. The role of this
approach has been massive as it allows the business venture to support the entire operation
management practice to get linked up with the requirements of company and its target customers
for delivering the best suitable operation management practice. This has created a wide scope for
the business entity to delegate the most advanced level of operation management pracice at the
organization.
Role and Responsibilities of leader and managers in the key operational function
On the basis of above approaches the roles and responsibilities of leaders and managers in the
success and smooth functioning of Tesco Plc. are as follows:
Role of leaders and managers:
 Monitoring and Controlling: The leaders and managers of the company are entitled for
monitoring and controlling the employees and production equipment are working
properly or not (Santoro and et.al., 2019). For example, Tesco leaders and managers
make sure the 100% employees’ engagement in production process.
 Developing Strategy: They are also need to develop the strategy and policies for the
development of employees and business. For example, Tesco leaders and managers
provide day to day training regarding communication to employees of stores and
supermarket in order to bitterly interact with customers.
 Representative of organization: Not only that, the managers and leaders of Tesco are
representative of the company that conduct seminars and conferences regarding
discussion of customers demand and its taste.
Responsibilities of Leaders of Tesco:

 The leaders of Tesco are liable for providing proper safety such as firm alarm etc. to the
employees of company.
 They also need to make sure that the goods and services offered by Tesco to customers
such as food products are of high quality and not expiry.
 The leaders need to assist that the cost of the goods produced must be lower than the
selling price in order to achieve profit maximization objective (Raut and et.al., 2019).
Responsibilities of Managers of Tesco:
 The managers of the company need to properly manage the financial resources for the
company. For example, they are responsible for acquiring funds for Tesco expansion into
international market.
 Not only that the managers of Tesco are also responsible for other resources management
such as inventory management, purchasing of raw material, production and delivery of
goods and services to ultimate customers (Aithal, 2017).
Importance and value of operational management in business objective achievement
The importance and value of operational management on the basis of its different which have to
be understood by leaders and managers are as follows:
 Total Quality Management (TOM): This is an approach which have unique importance
in operational management of Tesco because it relates to the overall improvement of
process, product, quality etc. For example, operational managers and leaders of Tesco
need to improve its communication, food quality after the 2013 pig meat scandal.
 Just-in Time approach: This is one of the approaches which is already use by the Tesco
company for their inventory management. For example, with the application of these
approaches managers and leaders of Tesco order 90% of stock directly to stores and
supermarket and remaining 10% to warehouse for improving on time delivery and
customer service (Suša Vugec, Tomičić-Pupek and Vukšić, 2018).
 Six Sigma: This is an approach which describe the improvement in the quality of
products. For example, Motorola is a company which is commonly known for six sigma
approaches because their mobile products are 99.66666% are error and defect free. The

application of this approach helps the Tesco operational management in improving their
products quality.
Factors of business environment which affect the operational management and decision-
making of leader and managers
There are four factors of external business environment which is known as PEST that influenced
the operational management of Tesco. These factors are as follows:
 Political: Tesco operates all around the world including UK and one of the largest
retailers in world. The impact of which the different countries rules and regulations and
changing political circumstances affect the its operational management. The US-China
trade war is also affecting the company’s operational teams as their sales are decreasing.
 Economical: The increase in inflation and interest rate of various countries along with
the global financial recession has affect the sales and profit of the company. Thus,
operational management of Tesco have to keep their eye on economic changes.
 Social: The life of the customers along with their taste and preferences are changing on
fast mode. That’s why this factor affects and influence the Tesco operational
management and wants from the company that switched major food products to healthy
and food cum non-food model (Prasad, 2020).
 Technological: Due to fast changes in innovation and technology, customers want from
the company to shift from online to offline. Thus, this factors not only influence Tesco
company but their operational management starts online shopping and payment facility
for their customers convenience.
Impact of decision-making by leaders and managers over the wider business environment
factors
The decision-making by leader and managers of Tesco helps the company to became the
UK second largest retailer and one of the most leading company all over the world. Not only
that, their decisions also help the company to generate finance from the market at low cost with
the help of which the company is able to expand in more than 13 countries. The operational
management of Tesco also identifies the break-even point of their products and services and on
this basis, they take the decision regarding dissolve and continuation of any product line. Thus,

this indicates that operational leaders and managers of Tesco’s decision have put positive impact
over the wider business environment (Aithal, 2017). The company currently take competitive
advantage over its competitors M&S and Sainsbury and this is possible because of the proactive
and reactive decision-making process of company’s operational leaders and managers.
Effective role of leaders and managers improving operational efficiencies to meet business
objectives
The efficient role played by the leaders and managers of Tesco for the improvement of
operational efficiency and meet business objectives are as follows:
 Effective communication: The leaders and managers of Tesco effectively communicate
with its employees and also motivates them so that their productivity and business
operational efficiency get improves.
 Coordination with departments: Not only that, they also make sure that the coordination
between all department such as finance, production, purchase, marketing etc are taken
place for timely completion of targets and reducing wastage (Prasad, 2020).
 Inventory Management: The leaders and managers of Tesco manages their inventory
properly without being outdated and overstock. For this, they use the just-in time
approach of inventory management.
CONCLUSION
Management and operation are about to manage all different functions and operations at
the organization based on the company need and demand. Leaders adopt multiple practices
related to the operation management that include six sigma, lean management and such like of
practices to adopted smoothest operation management practices at the organization.

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