Assessment of Leadership and Management at Unilever

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ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION FORM
This sheet must be submitted with your assignment. Failure to complete, sign and
submit this form will result in a mark of ‘0’ for the assignment.
Student Name Paul Pascaru
Student ID P1099121
Assessor Name Prashid Hapradhan
Group No B89
Qualification Pearson BTEC Level 5 HND Diploma Business
(Management)
Unit Number & Unit
Title
Unit 4 MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS
Assignment Title Management and Operations: Unilever PLC
Date of Submission 05/07/2019
Signature: P. Pascaru Date: 15/07/2019
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Table of Contents
Task 1........................................................................................................................................3
Task 2......................................................................................................................................20
1.1Key approaches to Operations Management.................................................................22
1.2 The role that leaders and managers play in operations management.........................24
3.0 Factors within the business environment that impact operational management and
decision-making by leaders and managers..........................................................................26
4.0 Evaluate how leaders and managers can improve efficiencies of operational
Management to successfully meet business objectives........................................................28
5.0 Critical evaluation of the application of operations management and factors that
impact on the wider business environment..........................................................................29
References...............................................................................................................................30
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Task 1
Presentation slides and speaker notes:
(Please copy and paste all your presentation slides here. 1 Slide and Speaker Note per page)
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The main aim of discussing this report is to identify, discuss and understand the roles of
leaders and functions of managers in ensuring the effective operations management within
the organization. The case study of the Unilever Plc will be discussed that is the consumer
goods organization in the UK. The report will discuss that how different roles of leaders and
functions of managers apply in leadership and management practices at the Unilever and this
will be discussed by discussing the range of leadership and management theories. Also, the
report will also discuss different types of leadership approaches that can be used by the
leaders in the Unilever for ensuring the effective operations management of the organization.
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Definition
Managers are personnel who responsible for management and controlling of group of staff or
employees and the organization. Managers generally work to gather as a team and within the
business for achieving the desired goal of the organization. They assign roles and
responsibilities to staff and then guide and support them for performing their assigned task
more efficiently and effectively. On the other hand, leaders are those personnel who lead and
command group of staff and the business organization for achieving the desired
organizational objectives. Leaders in the organization mainly influences group of people or
employees towards accomplishment of the desired goal of the organization.
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Characteristics of managers
Communication: It is essential for the managers in the organization like Unilever to possess
good communication skills to become an effective manager. Effective communication cannot
be ensured with only communicating job roles and responsibilities among employees but also
listen the employees and their queries.
Leadership: It is also essential for the manager to become a good team leader to influence
others or employees for accomplishing the assigned tasks more efficiently and effectively.
Time management: Managers in the organization like Unilever must have good time
management skills to accomplish the desired organizational tasks within the estimated or
specific time period. The managers must have proper time to communicate with employees
and must encourage them to perform their assigned work within the given time duration.
Delegation: Managers in the organization must have skills to delegate tasks or works among
employees efficiently and effectively. They must possess ability to assign work and ask
employees about their work status so that organizational goals can be accomplished
efficiently on-time.
Confidence: Managers must have confidence in taking effective decisions in the crucial and
critical situations and to be a role model or inspiration for the employees.
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Respect for employees: Managers must respect employees for building the health work
environment and encourage employees for work with full dedication to achieve the
organizational goal.
Functions of managers
Panning: It is the first and important function of the managers in the organization like
Unilever to make effective plan for the future situation, set the strategic objectives for the
organization to accomplish the future goal. Managers are also responsible for making
strategic as well as the operational plan for ensuring the smooth functioning and operations of
the organization.
Organizing: It is the function of the manager to organize and structure the human as well as
technical resource in efficient manner for executing and performing the organizational task
efficiently. Managers also must recruit and train the employees for enhancing and improving
their work efficiency and retaining them in the organization for long-term.
Commanding: It is the duty of the managers to communicate the policies and goals of the
organization to employees and then command them to move in the right direction to
accomplish the goal successfully on-time.
Coordinating: It is also the duty of the managers to coordinate with employees in the
workplace and then harmonize their efforts for accomplishing the organizational goal
successfully. The managers in the Unilever also coordinate and communicate with employees
and employer and hence build the good relationships between them.
Controlling: After assigning roles and responsibilities to employees, it is the duty of manager
in the Unilever to control the performance and activities of employees and then take effective
action or decisions if there is any deviation or performance gap of employees.
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Characteristics of leaders
Confidence: Leaders in the organization like Unilever must have enough confidence to
influence followers or team members for performing the assigned task more efficiently and
effectively. But if the leaders are not sure about their decisions taken in the workplace then
this will not influence other and hence employees will not follow their commands.
Commitment and passion: Leaders must have passion and commitment towards the tasks
assigned to them so that employees will also give their best efforts in accomplishing the
assigned tasks and desired goal of the organization.
Honesty and integrity: Leaders must have honesty and integrity while performing their
different roles in the organization. They must integrate towards that task assigned to them and
must accomplish it successfully by putting quality efforts.
Communication: Leaders in the organization like Unilever must have good communication
skills to influence and communicate with team members. Good communication skills also
help the leaders to communicate right message to employees and motivate them to perform
well to accomplish the organizational goal.
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Creativity and innovation: Leaders must be create and innovative in nature to give best
solution for any problem in the organization for enhancing the performance and productivity.
Decision-making skills: Leaders must be a good decision-maker in the critical and crucial
situations in the workplace in the organization. They must take effective or right decision in
the right time for providing maximum benefits to the organization as well as team members.
Role of leaders
Coach: It is the role of leaders in the Unilever to develop their team members or employees
to become successful in executing and performing their roles and responsibilities efficiently
and effectively.
Visionary: Leaders need to develop the vision that they want to achieve and need to
communicate this to their team that why this vision is so important for the organization as
well as the team members or employees to become successful.
Influencer: Leaders must need to constantly influence the team members or employees in
positive ways for encouraging them to give their best efforts in accomplishing the
organizational goals efficiently and effectively.
Team player: Leaders are team player as they coordinate and communicate constantly with
team members and concern with them that when there is a need to take decisions to provide
maximum benefits to the organizations and employees.
Decision-maker: It is the main role of the leaders in the Unilever to take effective decisions in
the critical or emergency situations that will be beneficial for both the organization and
employees.
Delegator: Leaders must have ability to delegate roles and responsibilities among team
members or employees in efficient and fair manner. Leaders can assign tasks to employees on
the basis of their skills and knowledge that will ensure positive outcome within the estimated
time limits.
Listener: An effective leader is that who speak less and listen more and observe to their
employees or team members. Leaders in the Unilever mainly focus to observe and listen their
team members instead of speaking more that help them in resolving various work related
problems or queries of employees.
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