Tesco Case Study: Leadership & Management in Operation Management

This report defines and compares the roles of leaders and managers, examining their functions and characteristics within the context of operation management. It explores leadership roles in various situational contexts—stable, slow, and fast—and discusses key leadership theories such as Situational Theory, Contingency Theory, and System Theory. The report also highlights the importance of operation management in achieving business objectives, particularly within Tesco, a British transnational grocery and general retailer. Furthermore, it analyzes the factors impacting operational management and decision-making processes, emphasizing the importance of adapting leadership and management styles to changing market conditions to maintain stability and achieve organizational goals. The analysis incorporates examples from Tesco to illustrate practical applications of these concepts.

Leadership and
management approaches
in operation management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
P1 Definition and comparison among the function and characteristic in between leader and
manager........................................................................................................................................3
Different functions of leader and manager........................................................................4
Different characteristics of manager and leader................................................................4
P2 Leadership roles and managerial function in various situations.............................................5
P3 Leadership and Types of Leadership Theories.......................................................................6
P4 Key Approaches of Operation Management and Role played by leaders as well as
managers .....................................................................................................................................8
P5 Importance of Operation Management in meeting the Business Objectives.........................9
P6 Factors which impact the Operational Management and in Decision-Making...................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Leadership in operation management refers to setting and achieving the objectives of
organization, tackling competition and solving the problems quickly and decisively (Tjosvold,
2019). It helps in providing direction to the organization and to its employees. It involves
guiding the employees in how to perform their duties and responsibilities effectively. On the
other hand management refers to managing and coordinating the operational activities of the
business. This help the organization in achieving its desired goals and objectives with efficient
use of its resources. Thus reducing the costs and increasing the revenue of the organization.
Tesco is a British transnational grocery and general retailer. Its headquarter is situated in
England. Tesco is one of the largest retailer of groceries over the globe. It has over 7000 shops
located over 100 nations. It is the market leader of groceries in the UK. Tesco's management
structure is highly hierarchical due to its size of business. BOD of Tesco consists of 10 members.
There are five committees that report to Tesco board. At store level, there are four layers of
management such as food trading manager, personnel manager, non food trading manager etc.
This report defines and do compare various roles of leader and manager. Its examines the
leader role in different situational contexts. It also shows the approaches to operation
management. It also highlights the importance of operation management in achieving the
business objectives. Also it analyses the different factors that affect the business environment.
MAIN BODY
P1 Definition and comparison among the function and characteristic in between leader and
manager
The leader is a person, completely responsible for ensuring that employees of an
organization are motivated and are committed to achieving the goals of the organization
(Liebowitz, 2020). Leaders shape and mould the behaviour of individuals which helps in
achieving desired goals of organization. Whereas a manager is a person in the company who
direct the activities of others. In other words managers are the people responsible for carrying out
the management process of an organization. He looks after the everyday operations of the
organization, arranges for the resources required and encourages cooperation amongs employees.
There are various function and roles of manager and leader respectively.

Different functions of leader and manager
The four primary function of managers are organizing, planning, controlling and leading.
The first function is the planing, it is the process where the manager formulates and develop
strategies in order to achieve organizational objectives (Ochoa Jiménez and et.al., 2021). They
have to form strategies that help in increasing the revenue of the organization with optimum
utilization of resources. Managers at Tesco are planning to maximize their sales by formulating
strategies that attracts customers. The second function performed by the managers is organizing
that is organising and arranging for resources for carrying out operations of business. Also,
scheduling tasks so that work is completed in sequential manner. The next function of a manager
is leading and directing its subordinates by guiding them, communicating and encouraging them
in achieving their personal goals with achieving the organizational goals. At Tesco, managers
guide their subordinates and motivates them by various incentive schemes. The last function of
manager is controlling. That is managers keeps a check on the activities that are being performed
by employees so that he can ensure that employees are not deviating from achieving the
organizational objectives. Managers at Tesco, uses various techniques such as performance
analysis and budgetary control that helps in analysing the effectiveness and take corrective
actions,
On the other hand, there are various functions of a leader. One of the most important
function of a leader is to create an environment in an organization that is conducive (Samdanis
and Özbilgin 2020). That is an environment that motivates employees and team members in
achieving the objectives of the company. Leader integrates the efforts of employees with the
organizational goals by inculcating sense of collectivity between the employees. They work as
counsellors that removes barriers that affects the efficiency and performance of the employees.
At Tesco, it creates an environment where employees are motivated and have effective
coordination which helps the company in achieving their objectives effectively and efficiently.
Different characteristics of manager and leader
There are various different characteristics of a manger and a leader such as :
 Managers are the one who creates objectives that their main focus is achieving and
measuring the objectives of the organization by making sure that employees are working

efficiently in order to achieve the desired objective (Kalshoven, 2019). Whereas leaders
are the one's creating vision. They engage employees in turning their vision into reality.
 Managers are the one's controlling the risk that is rather than facing the problems they try
to avoid problems. Whereas leaders are the one's who are always willing to try new
things.
 Managers build processes and system that is they focus on building structures that are
required by organization in fulfilling their goals. They focus on the analytics to attain the
objectives of the company. Whereas, leaders focus on people that is they build
relationship of trust and loyalty which helps in achieving the goals of the company.
P2 Leadership roles and managerial function in various situations
Leadership roles are different from the functions of a manager. That is leaders helps the
organization in decision making and helps in motivating the employees (Sjögren and et.al.,
2017). The decisions are being taken only after analysing the market trends and conditions that is
an organization goes through various situations like stable, slow, fast. In different situations the
role and functions of leader and manager changes accordingly. Below are the various situations:
 Stable- This is a situation where there are no changes that will influence the purpose of
organization or hinder the stability of the organization. In this situation, the development
and growth of Tesco is stable and moderate. That is markets are stable and there are no
high changes. This makes easier for Tesco's leader in quick decision making as there are
no major changed made in the business environment. Similarly, Tesco's managers
perform their function in such a way that maintains stability and coordination. In stable
situation the function of the Tesco is to look after that there is seamless flow of work
production through strong and strategic leadership in the organisation.
 Slow- This is a situation where there slow market growth. The slow changes in the
market affect the profitability of an organization by delaying their projects because of
slow growth in market. Changes are made in the internal factors as a result of the changes
which are made in the external environment. For example, if there is a rise in inflation in
the market, there will be moderate changes in the market that will affect the organizations
performance. In such situations the managers performs their planing function in a way
that helps in formulating strategies and plan so that the company is not affected by the
slow market growth that is profitability of the company is not decreased. And also

managers at Tesco entail controlling operations f their internal management which helps
the company in assessing whether the strategies implemented are effective or not. In the
slow situation it is the function of tesco to that there is proper coordination among
the employees and the organisation so that the work done is efficient
 Fast- These are the situations where there is fast and rapid changes in the market. These
rapid changes in the market brings new trends and innovation. The role of leader in this
situation is to direct its employees and guide them so that the new market trends and
innovation can be inculcated with the organization without affecting the efficiency of the
organization (Wolniak, 2019). However, in this situation the function of manager is to
plan strategies that will help in inculcating the new market changes and organising for
resources that will be required for innovation that are being made. Also, managers at
Tesco will be required to guide there employees and motivate them so that strategies can
be implemented effectively and efficiently within the organization. In fast situation the
directing function is one of the most crucial function to be performed by the
company by guiding and motivating its employees for higher productivity.
P3 Leadership and Types of Leadership Theories
Quality of a leadership can be defined in the terms of guiding followers or the group of
members within am organization. They have ability of building up confidence among people and
to create an urge in them to lead.
Leadership theories provide the idea hoe and why the certain people become leaders. It
examines the characteristic as well as the behaviour that leads in effective styles of leadership,
that is being used by other to boost up their own skills of leadership. Theories of leadership are
social science and must be available for discussion, testing as well as analysis (Harrison, 2017).
Modern theories are like Situational Theory, Contingency Theory, as well as System Theory,
gives the wide idea about behaviour within leaders that could be adopted or practiced. Which of
them cam be studied as below:
 Situational Theory: Leadership based on the situational theory suggest that all
leadership styles are equal. Rather than its dependencies upon the types as well as
stretegies of leadership which is suited best according to the task. In situational leadership
,the managers as well as the leaders of an organization adjust his style according to task
or situation, in order to fit the development level. It totally depends upon the behaviour of

the leader to change the respective style but not of the followers to adopt that style of
leader (Thompson and Glaso, 2018).
Tesco is the one of the most successful company dealing within the retails in United
Kingdom. The success of Tesco is the signal of appointing Chief Executive Officer to Terry
Leahy. Under the guidance of Leahy, several leaders of the organization are developed with
visionary leadership who lead the company into number of organizational changes and situations
with an aim to become totally customer focused as well as to develop proper workforce
environment of the company. The success of organization and ease in operations reflects that
strategy formed are capable for handling and facing the situations.
Strength Weakness
 Easy to understand and use.
 It recognizes need for flexibility
 It Focus on immediate need rather than
long term needs.
 Create confusion in the top
management.
 Contingency Theory: It is the appropriate style of leadership dependent on the context
of situation and adopting a single style. Theory supposes that a leader's effectiveness is
contingent on whether or not their leadership style suits a particular situation. (Vidal and
et.al, 2017).
In capturing the change oriented dimension, Tesco mainly not focus on contingency
theory. Organization had changed the business landscape by redirecting it focuses on people-
oriented. Furthermore, for certain particular fixed situations Tesco follow contingency theory of
leadership, but not for large or long period.
Strength Weakness
 It provides a realistic view of
management and organization.
 Universal validity of principles.
 It is complex.
 Reactive rather than proactive.
 System Theory: System leadership include group of skills and capacities of any
individual or organization, which can be used to enable and support the process of system

change. It is combination of collaborative leadership, system insight and coalition
building to mobilize innovation and action for large decentralized network (Beehner,
2019).
Tesco involves the participation of employee's views while decision-making. The skills
and ability of each individual is given importance, and overall it supports in strategies
formulation. The leadership of Tesco motivates the employee and this is the only reason that
organization is continues to provide good services to its customers.
Strength Weakness
 Improve employee morale which result
in loyalty.
 Defines the system in relationship with
environment.
 Fails to provide uniform approach to
management.
 No standard set of principles.
 Trait approach theory- this theory is based upon the traits and characteristics of the
various leader both who were successful and unsuccessful is a theory which is used in
predicting effectiveness of the leader. That is by comparing the traits of the leader with
those of the potential leader and assessing the success or failure of the leader. The core
traits identified are the self confidence, motivation, knowledge of business, and cognitive
ability and many more. It will help the manager and leader in the Tesco in performing
their roles effectively with the use of this theory.
P4 Key Approaches of Operation Management and Role played by leaders as well as managers
The approaches to operation management is the management of conversion of input to
desired output. These are practices performed by companies to increase efficiency in production.
Operation management is concerned with controlling the production process and business
operations in effective manner as possible. There are several approaches which are used to
manage the operation process effectively.
 Total Quality Management: TQM is the continuous process of finding and reducing the
errors in manufacturing or production. It defines the organization quality policy and
procedure for quality management. It helps in cost reduction, cost management, higher
profitability, improve customer satisfaction and focus.

Tesco with a retail chain mainly focuses on maintaining the quality of the product. It
main aim is to serve the customers with quality goods and services. Organization mainly focused
on total quality management approach in reference to reduce the chance of errors and defect in
the goods as well as services.
Both leader and manager are involved in these approach. Leaders with their experience
guide the techniques to be followed and according to that manager go for planning.
Furthermore, manager directs the employee to work and inspired by leaders. Accordingly, both
leader and manager in the organization combine work in order to attain the goal. And their level
of coordination result in successfully maintaining the quality of goods and services.
 Six Sigma: It is the approach that focuses on quality. Every six sigma project within a
organization has a defined step sequence and targets. Tools used are potential defect
calculations, and other ratios. It helps in managing the quality of product and also in
competing with competitors products (Costa and et.al, 2018).
Operations of Tesco are Continuous, In order to reduce its energy bill and carbon
footprint Tesco applied six sigma concepts to cut its energy consumption and to increase
efficiency. Thus, Tesco follow Six sigma approach in its operations. It uses DMAIC, Lean and
various other techniques to focus on quality factors.
Leader of the organization perform the role of gathering the facts and figure with use of
various tools as well techniques. And then those reports are handed over to manager, according
to result manager performs the duty and directs the employee.
 Lean Manufacturing: It is method of reducing the waste caused during the
manufacturing process. It helps in creating the value for customers by eliminating
wasteful resource expenditure as much as possible.
In order to eliminate waste, taking time out of process, and create better flow, Tesco also
focuses on lean manufacturing. Implementing this technique help them in improving production
speed and in operating cost.
In these major task is performed by manager and employee, because it focuses more on
reducing the waste. Both the managers and leaders are main authorities in operations
management. The major role of manager is to do planning and direct the employees to work in
the organization. While leader inspire the employees to work and motivates them.

P5 Importance of Operation Management in meeting the Business Objectives
Operation management is the core field in the business organisation. It helps in effective
management, control over goods and services as well people. Operations management passes
across every sector of the industry. It helps organisation in planning, productivity, quality
improvement and assurance among customers. Production planning is the main important part of
operation management. Overall it results in attaining the organizational goal (Gadwe and
Sangode, 2018).
The value driven concept include various processes and decision related to human
resources, ethics of organisation, employees, environment and several other forms of
communication, information and development processes. Operation management transfer inputs
like labour capital, equipment, land, buildings, material and information into outputs in form of
goods and services. That finished good or service provide value to customers.
Effective operations management positively contribute in achieving the business
objectives in following manner:
 Work Standardisation: Team of effective operation managers result in systematic
determination of work process for each operation. The objective is clearly defined to the
team, and according to that job should be performed. It is important because it ensures
every worker tasks which has to be performed with specific set of rules and procedures. It
helps in reducing the error, waste and risk.
 Continuous Improvement: Improvement are done on basis of customers feedback about
product. It helps in identifying the changes and making those change in production.
Operations management plays a vital role in analysing those improvements.
 Planning: Operation manager and executive take charge of collaborating with other
managers and executive to form long-terms strategy for organization. It ensures all
department in reference to achievement of organizational goal. It leads in ease
functioning for the organization.
 Direction: To make sure that planning is executed in the right direction, operational
management professionals are expected to direct and guide the manager according to
planning. They see that all departments complete their necessary functioning which is
assigned to them.

Operation management impact the overall organisation in terms of profitablity as well as in
operations. It provides measures to evaluate the manager and employees, using them progress of
individual and organisation is checked and improved.
Operation Management of Tesco plays a vital important role in its success. It has two
reasons: first, it improves the financial health of the company by improving the productivity.
Second, by maximizing the customers value in order to attain the goals. Both leader and manager
of Tesco work together more effectively it results in more productivity. The control and
distribution system of Tesco helps to control all the activities and increase in profit in terms of
returns. The positive impacts of operation management is effectively seen in its smooth business
operations.
P6 Factors which impact the Operational Management and in Decision-Making
Their are number of factors or conditions which affect the business operations. These
factors could be within the business or from outside the business. They effect decisions,
strategies and in overall performance of business. The major factors which impact the
operational management as well as in decision-making are Corporate Social Responsibility,
Technology advancement, Legal Consideration and Business ethics (Cepel and et.al, 2019). The
brief study and impact is as below discussed:
 Corporate Social Responsibility: CSR is activity performed by the business
organisation in order to attract the customers as well as society. organisation integrate
social and environmental concerns in their business operations and interaction with their
stakeholders. These are the practices and activity undertaken by organisation to reflect
the positive image in the market (Bhuiyan and Nguyen, 2019).
Corporate social responsibility helps in attracting the customers. Besides this, it impacts a
business ability to attract top talent and affect employee satisfaction levels. Additionally,
business practices are also affected by it. It is important activity which organization has to
performed in order to engage more and more customers. But it also affects in decision-making in
business operations. The impact of CSR on business operations can also be seen in consumer
spending. From past decades, customers prefer to purchase the product of that company that do
good CSR activities. And to keep maintaining relationship with existing customers and in
reference to build new customers manager and leaders have to change or keep updating their
plans and policies, overall it impacts in decision-making.

 Technology Advancement: The era of digitalization resulted as the more up gradations
in terms of technology. Robots are becoming smarter and their use is increasing day-by-
day. Technological advancement impact the company ability to communicate with others.
It is very easy that new technologies bring new challenges. Majorly it impacts the
operation cost of business organization. In order to keep updated with technology and to
serve the customers in rapid way it is important. In current era of digitalization, it is
important to allow the business to serve the customers over large geographical area, but it
impacts in huge investment cost. It results in change in decision-making related to
financial planning and management (Goi, 2017).
 Legal Consideration and Business Ethics: When it comes to makes business decision,
which are legal as well as ethical for the society. There are several facts which has be to
consider, it includes customers, shareholder, society and even employees. Legal factors
also influence business and affect how a company run its operations. There are number of
factors that impact includes, laws and regulation, employment contract, securities and
more. Unethical practices in business operations has serious consequence for both
individual or organisation. Through those practices' business operation can lose their
credibility, morale and also decline in productivity. And this can impact in significant
financial losses. The changes in rules and regulation also reflect a change in decision-
making, and making those change in policies required time and use of human resource
(Iacovino and Daigle, 2019).
CONCLUSION
With the above discussion it is concluded that there is wide difference between the role of
leader and the task performed by the managers. Leader motivates the employees to work and
managers direct the employees to work. But both of them are important authority for the business
organisation. The success and decision-making is possible only when they coordinate in well
manner. Their decision plays a vital role in operations of business. Furthermore, there are factors
which include: Corporate social responsibility, technological advancement, legal consideration,
business ethics, etc within the business environment which affect the operation management as
well as in the decision-making by leader and managers. For ease in operations it is important to
form the strategies and policy in manner that does not affect the organisation at large.

RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended to Tesco that it should use the trait approach theory of leadership to
identify the potential traits of the leader. This will help the company in better leadership in its
organisation with higher level of motivation and integrity among the employees. Also, It will
provide them a detailed understanding about their leaders and their leadership styles.

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paradigms. Springer.
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APPENDIX
2

Tesco uses the situational model of leadership that helps the company in providing
competitive advantage and help in directing their employees with high level of motivation.
3