BTEC HND Business: Unit 4 Uber Management and Operations Analysis

This report examines the management and operations of Uber, a technology company offering various services. It defines and compares the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers, highlighting their functions within Uber, including planning, organizing, directing, and staffing. The report analyzes leadership and management roles in different situational contexts, such as product launches, performance management, and change management, and discusses various leadership theories like contingency theory, situational leadership, and system leadership. It also covers key approaches to operations management, including total quality management and just-in-time inventory, and explores factors impacting operational management and decision-making by leaders and managers.

Unit 4 – Management and
Operations

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO1..................................................................................................................................................3
P1 Definition and comparison of the different roles and characteristics of a leaders and
managers......................................................................................................................................3
Various functions of the managers and role of leaders in the Uber.............................................4
LO2..................................................................................................................................................4
Role of leaders and functions of the managers at different situational context...........................4
Different theories and models of approach..................................................................................6
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................7
Key approaches to operations management................................................................................7
Significance and value of managing the operations to achieve business objectives...................9
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................10
Factors which impact the operational management and decision-making by leaders and
managers....................................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Management is one of the most effective strategic approach that undertakes by the company
to manage it’s business operations in effective manner so that it can gain profitable outcomes in
the business. This report is completed based on Uber’ case study. It is a technology company
which offers wide variety services like vehicles for hiring, package delivery, freight
transportation, electric bike and motorized scooter rental. This report will discuss about different
roles and responsibilities managers and leaders that they perform in the business.
LO1
P1 Definition and comparison of the different roles and characteristics of a leaders and managers
 Manager
Manager is the person who has ability to manage large number of people in the business
effectively. They perform various roles such as planning, organizing, controlling and
coordinating in the business to maintain it’s productivity, performance and operations.
 Leader
Leader is the person who has ability to motivate large number of employees in the job place. An
ideal leader always supports the followers to improve their weak areas.
Differences between managers and leaders
Managers Leaders
Managers sets goals for the company in order
to influence growth of the business in its
business market.
As compared, leaders develop objectives for
the employees so that they can follow them
and gains projected goal of the business
(Huang, 2019).
Managers are responsible for formulating
policies in the context of employment policy
and communicates with the leader over these
policies.
While, leaders communicate with the staff
directly about new employment policy and
encourages them to share their views over the
policy, after that they report this feedback to
the managers. Thus, leaders and managers
maintain employee wellbeing in the business.
Managers always focuses on company’s
productivity and performance so they always
On the other hand, leaders always focus on
the employees wellbeing and productivity so
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formulate different strategies so that entire
company can receive profitable outcomes
after implication.
they always conduct employee engagement
program in the company.
Various functions of the managers and role of leaders in the Uber
Managers plays different roles in the organization while leaders support managers to
conduct different function in the business. Functions are described below:-
 Planning: It is one of the prime functions of the managers which conduct at Uber
company to develop and implement different business strategies so that organization can
gain it’s framed goals and objectives on time. For example, managers of the Uber
company has developed and implemented productive strategies through which
organization is achieving wide number of commercial benefits and has gained top brand
image in the technology market.
 Organizing: It is another function of the managers that supports to utilize all available
resources i.e. employees, infrastructure, employees, equipment etc. and others so that
organization can have lots of benefits in it’s business. While leaders helps managers to
allocate all resources at right places in the business which can be utilized accordingly
organization’s needs (Hayes, 2017).
 Directing: Managers delegates different tasks among staff at Uber company while leaders
supports employees to complete delegated tasks in effective manner.
 Staffing: It is one of the most effective function of the manager and leaders that they
perform at Uber company. This function supports organization to gain competitive edge
over it’s competitors in the business market.
LO2
Role of leaders and functions of the managers at different situational context
 Launch a new product
In this context, management of the Uber company plays specific role such as priorly they
develop marketing plan for launching a new product in the business market. In this marketing
plan, managers conduct market research to understand needs and expectation of the customers
over the proposed product and competitive positioning of the business, then sets goals and
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objective of the marketing plan. After that, they formulate strategies and tactics to differentiate
it’s product from others. In last they develop a action plan for implementing all mentioned
strategies and tactics and launch new product in the business market in effective manner (Aleksić
and Bošković, 2016). While leaders support managers in this context to develop workforce high
competent and encourages them to put excellent efforts in their working so that productive
outcomes can be received. However, leaders and managers follow different theories before
performing any role and responsibility in this context. For example, managers at Uber adapt
classical management theory so that they can effectively work at the job place. On the other
hand, leaders at Uber company follows situational leadership style that helps leaders to fit in the
company’s different scenario successfully.
 Performance management
In this context, managers adapt contempory management theory that supports them to identify
best talent among existing ones’ who have capacity to bring high productivity in the company in
the form of commercial benefits. While leaders at Uber perform different roles in this approach
such as to influence individuals to learn new skills and become part of reward strategy. Thus,
leaders assist managers to determine the best talent in the existing workforce and enhances weak
area of individuals. In the performance management context, managers effectively conduct
performance management process such as planning, training, evaluating and rewarding for staff
so that they can make company’s workforce highly proactive. While leaders themselves learns
individuals hwo to improve existing skills. Thus, both leaders and managers assist organization
to stay workforce competent in the job place.
 Change management
It is one of the most effective approach that helps company to be stay long run in the business.
Whenever Uber company is planning to adapt emerging changes to stay competent then
managers follows contingency management theory which helps them to lead change successfully
in the company (KarkVan, Dijk and Vashdi, 2018). While leaders also support managers in this
context such as leaders conducts training and development program for the staff and encourages
them to learn and develop their all-weak areas. Thus, they prepare employees to accept emerging
changes in the business. As resulted, Uber company gets profitable outcomes in it’s business
with the support of management and leaders approach.
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Different theories and models of approach
There are various theories of leadership such as situational leadership, system leadership
and the contingency leadership which are included in different models and are used in various
organizations which helps in managing the operations of the company. Uber also follows the
following models which contains these three above mentioned leadership theories:
Contingency theory: The contingency theory does not focus on the abilities of styles of the
leaders instead it focusses on the various situations which can be faced by the leaders. The main
aim of this theory is to focus on the different situations according to which the leadership style is
decided. This means that there is no best leadership but the style of leadership is contingent on
the situation. There are various models which best describes the contingent theories of leadership
but the best one is the House’s Path Goal Theory (Mango, 2018). This states that the motivations
of the followers are based on the assumptions which are as follows:
A. The goal can be achieved if the suitable effort is given which comes under expectancy.
B. If there is an achievement of the goal, then there is a reward which comes under
instrumentality.
C. And also, the reward is considered as valuable which comes under valance.
Leaders of Uber must facilitate its employees by providing assurance for their expectations. The
differences in the characteristics of the customers, type of circumstances and the style of the
leaders play a major role in the group’s effectiveness in achieving the goals.
Under the path-goal theory, four types of leadership which are followed by the leaders of Uber
according to the situation are described as follows:
Directive under which the direct and authoritative communication is provided by the leaders to
the employees which especially benefits the employees with less knowledge.
Achievement-oriented under which the leaders set high expectations for the employees who
further challenge their subordinates which increase their motivation.
Participative under which the leaders with the employees considering their ideas achieve the
goals
Supportive where the leaders show care and concern for their well-being and needs.
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Situational leadership Model classifies the leaders into four different groups on the basis of the
maturity and particular leadership is assigned to them among which the variables are task skills
and motivation. Task skills in Uber helps in representing the work ability and knowledge of the
employees. It ensures that they have advanced work skills. They must be mature in the
workplace. It also checks that whether they have limited knowledge regarding the work.
Motivation in Uber helps in measuring the desire of the employees for accomplishing a task and
by looking at their psychological maturity. This classifies leadership styles into various parts i.e.,
telling, selling, participating and delegating (Fischer, Dietz and Antonakis, 2017).
System Leadership helps in outlining the guidance across the organization and the geopolitical
boundaries. Under this, the leaders help in ensuring that the leaders do not only look at the
perspective or the company but focusses on looking at the boarder geopolitical development that
helps in changing the system and the structured process of the business (Yu and Campbell,
2020). The Uber applies this model by seeking towards appointing leader who is focused on the
long-term vision of the company along with ensuring that the strategies and procedures
developed by the managers of the company are implemented efficiently for gaining new heights
and growth of organization.
LO 3
Key approaches to operations management
There are various methods in which the leaders and managers plays their role in
managing the operations of the company. The leaders and managers of Uber adapts the following
approaches for operations management:
Total Quality management: It is the process in which the activities and the processes are
overseen in the way which is desired for ensuring that they are sustained at such a level which
helps in satisfying the organization. The major need for this approach is focusing on bringing the
improvement in the quality and performance of the functions which are performed in each
department of Uber and ensuring that there is balance with each process (Shad and et.al., 2019).
The leaders in this approach follows the productive process by involving the entire workforce
which can help in utilizing the business functions of the company. The main aim of the leaders of
Uber is to be committed and engaged in the departments which can support the organization in
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any way. The managers lay emphasis on both the external and internal customers along with
guaranteeing that suppliers are considered as the business partners so that better service can be
provided to the business. They also focus on improving the process of production of
organization.
Just-in-time inventory: This helps in increasing the effectiveness of the organization by
decreasing the waste by accepting the goods which are extremely required in the production.
Under this, the management becomes able to support the business in reducing the storage space
and to focus on the goods which are required at a particular time. The role of managers of Uber
tries to order the goods at the right time and date from a well-known supplier which also helps in
ensuring that the right quantity of goods is ordered (Einhorn, Marnewick and Meredith, 2019).
For this, they also maintain good relations with the suppliers and also ensures that correct
amount of goods is supplied by the suppliers. The leaders on the other hand are responsible for
ensuring that the goods are used in the process of production. Also, it checks that the employees
are aware of their roles and responsibilities before project completion.
Kaizen or continuous improvement: This is the approach which focuses on bringing
improvements on the business’ overall role. Under this, the wastes are removed for making the
improvements process easy and convenient for the managers and leaders. The role of leaders in
Uber in this approach is to recognize the needs of the specific tasks and to ensure that they are
assigned to particular individuals along with checking that it also benefits the team (Uslu, 2019).
The role of managers of Uber under this approach is realizing the need for identifying the scope
of different tasks in the business. They also measure the success using the method of Kaizen in
the company along with ensuring that the employees are aware of the same.
Lean production: This is a straightforward and systematic method which focuses on removing
the wastes within the system of manufacturing. This not only improves the quality of the product
but also enhances the motivation of the workforce in which there is contribution of entire
business. The role of leaders in this approach is enabling the workers to become aware of the
directions which helps the employees for increasing production. Also, they take the lead to
monitor the processes of eliminating the wastes. The role of managers of Uber on the other hand
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is analyzing the effectiveness of products and services and to ensure that no useful material gets
eliminated.
Significance and value of managing the operations to achieve business objectives
The operational management helps in achieving the objectives of business in the
following ways:
Controlling and distribution systems: This ensures that the management of operations are
responsible for monitoring the production process within the business (Mangla and et.al., 2019).
For doing this, the appropriate distribution of merchandises is provided for achieving the
objectives of the companies like Uber. After fulfilling this function, Uber will see that the
resources are utilized properly.
Design process: This is the fundamental function for managing the operations under which the
demands of the customers are met and the profit is guaranteed which helps in achieving the goals
and objectives of the organization. Uber does this process by designing product or service
according to the customers’ requirement (Owda and et.al., 2019).
Transforming the materials into the finished goods and services: This gives the opportunity
for managing the operations and become able for analyzing the customers’ demand regarding the
products and services. The business of Uber becomes able to utilize its service and the product
for producing the final product in the most intelligent manner. The main objective is seeing the
departments or the manufacturers producing the high-quality products or service which are
acceptable to potential customers.
Capacity management: For manufacturing the services, the main role of operation management
is identifying the capability of the production process development. This also helps in
considering this as the guideline for ensuring that no additional goods are produced at the time
when the other assets are delivered which lead to the difficulties in the production process. If the
quality of the product is not maintained, the production process will be hampered. This can
destroy the reputation of the company which can also be reflected in the customers which are
completely against the objectives of the business.
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LO 4
Factors which impact the operational management and decision-making by leaders and managers
The factors which have positive or negative impact on the operational management and
the decision-making of leaders and managers are as follows:
CSR: The Corporate Social Responsibility is basically a function which helps in ensuring the
sustainability and the development of the social, economic and the environment of the
organization. Its policies impact the decisions because it is the guideline of the policies of CSR
that ensures that the right decisions are taken regarding the business’ ethical nature. Leaders and
managers ensure that the short-term goals of the organization are adopted, adjustments and
compromises are made for practicing CSR, there is no contribution of business in increasing the
pollution level, natural resources are used in the process of production etc. (Sabbaghtorkan, Batta
and He, 2020).
Sustainability: It helps in guaranteeing that the resources which are used or purchased by the
business are used efficiently with leading to mismanagement of the company’s funds. This is the
most important process as this is the wish of every organization like Uber to promote themselves
as an accountable organization to the normal and the high-class customers (Oloruntoba, 2017).
The leaders and managers of Uber ensure that the strategies and the objectives of the company
are sustainable in nature. They also ensure that the company do not use any resources which are
harmful to the social and cultural ethics of the society.
Stockholders: These are the bodies or individuals who invest in the business. These can be
customers or the employees, government, suppliers or creditors and the community. These play a
major role in the operational management of organization as the managers and leaders focus on
looking to operate the business for ensuring that the demands of the customers are met which
proved to be significant for the stockholders. This is the decision of the management to safeguard
the company by complying with activities and expectations of the stockholders. These are
responsible for holding the stock as the business fulfils the needs and demands of the
stockholders. The consumers stockholders have expectations regarding the quality products,
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employee stockholders expect the proper working environment, suppliers’ stockholders have
expectations regarding the adequate payment and order. The government stakeholders hope for
the taxation policy.
CONCLUSION
The report focussed on the difference between the role of leaders and the functions of the
manager by applying the theories and concepts. It also focussed on the role of leader and the
managerial function in different situations. The various theories and the models of approach were
highlighted including the various theories of leadership in Uber. The report also shed light on the
approaches to operations management and the roles of managers and leaders of Uber in it. The
significance and the value of operations management which helps in achieving the objectives of
business were highlighted. Lastly, it focussed on the various factors and their impact on the
operational management and the decision-making by the managers and leaders.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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from Serbia. Facta Universitatis, Series: Working and Living Environmental Protection,
pp.73-86.
Asrar-ul-Haq, M. and Anwar, S., 2018. The many faces of leadership: Proposing research agenda
through a review of literature. Future Business Journal. 4(2). pp.179-188.
Einhorn, F., Marnewick, C. and Meredith, J., 2019. Achieving strategic benefits from business IT
projects: The critical importance of using the business case across the entire project
lifetime. International Journal of Project Management. 37(8). pp.989-1002.
Fischer, T., Dietz, J. and Antonakis, J., 2017. Leadership process models: A review and
synthesis. Journal of Management. 43(6). pp.1726-1753.
Hayes, R.J., 2017. Learning transfer in a public agency: a context for situational leadership and
situated learning (Doctoral dissertation).
Huang, G., 2019. Leadership Skills Approach. Leadership As We Know It, p.81.
Kark, R., Van Dijk, D. and Vashdi, D.R., 2018. Motivated or demotivated to be creative: the role
of self‐regulatory focus in transformational and transactional leadership
processes. Applied Psychology, 67(1), pp.186-224.
Mangla, S.K. and et.al., 2019. Logistics and distribution challenges to managing operations for
corporate sustainability: study on leading Indian diary organizations. Journal of Cleaner
Production. 238. p.117620.
Mango, E., 2018. Rethinking leadership theories. Open Journal of Leadership. 7(01). p.57.
Oloruntoba, R., 2017. Sustainable operations management and social responsibility in an
Australian disaster recovery operation.
Owda, R.O. and et.al., 2019. Managing the Design of Operations in Local NGOs in Gaza Strip.
Sabbaghtorkan, M., Batta, R. and He, Q., 2020. Prepositioning of assets and supplies in disaster
operations management: Review and research gap identification. European Journal of
Operational Research. 284(1). pp.1-19.
Shad, M.K. and et.al., 2019. Integrating sustainability reporting into enterprise risk management
and its relationship with business performance: A conceptual framework. Journal of
Cleaner production, 208, pp.415-425.
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