Leadership and Management in Vodafone UK: A Comparative Analysis

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report analyzes leadership and management at Vodafone UK.

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Project aims and objectives 50........................................................................................................3
Company background 100...............................................................................................................4
LO1: Differentiate between the role of a leader and the function of a manager 500......................4
P1 Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager.........4
LO2 Apply the role of a leader and the function of a manager in given contexts.......................5
LO3: Demonstrate an appreciation of the role leaders and managers play in the operations
function of an organization..........................................................................................................5
LO4: Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between leadership and management
in a contemporary business environment....................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................9

Introduction
The concept of leadership can be best described as the art of influencing and motivating a
certain group of people to perform a task at their highest potential in order to attain a set of
determined goals and objectives in a significant manner. From a corporate perspective,
leadership can be described as the act of inspiring a large segment of an organizational structure
with the motive to accomplish the goals set by the company in its entirety. In Laymen’s terms,
the role of a leader encapsulates the proper demonstration and influence that is fundamentally
required in order to implement an action in all its effectiveness. Various studies have failed to
distinguish between the role of a leader and a manager in a corporate context, but it is of utmost
importance to acknowledge that leadership is not solely constituted via managerial traits.
Although it is one of the most important duties of a leader to ensure proper management of the
resources of the organization, it further comprises of several other fundamentals such as
supervision, effective communication, inspiring the workforce to perform at a higher potential –
just to name a few. With respect to this, the following project primarily aims to distinguish
amidst the role of a leader and the function of a manger in the business operations of Vodafone
UK critically. In brief, the project explores several theories in order to evaluate the roles of
leader in an effective manner. Furthermore, the project sheds light on the significance of
operations management and evaluates its approaches at its depth.
Project aims and objectives
With respect to the case scenario, the primary aim of the following project is to distinguish
between the role of a leader and the functions of a manager in the business operations of
Vodafone UK. The objectives of the project are as follows-

 To critically differentiate between the role of a leader and manager in Vodafone UK
 To apply various leadership theories in order to evaluate the role of a leader in Vodafone
UK
 To signify the role of operations management in the accomplishment of organizational
objectives
Company background
Vodafone UK is one of the largest telecommunication service companies operating in the
United Kingdom, which is undertaken by Vodafone, one of the leadering mobile companies
across the globe. According to official reports, the company had acquired a customer base of
around 17.2 million potential customers in the year 2018 in the United Kingdom. The company
has a physical evidence of over 480 stores across the nation, and primarily focuses on the
provision of mobile handsets, mobile SIM cards, business line and broadband plan services.
However, the company frequently finds itself amidst serious controversies regarding their service
quality, and incapability of customer satisfaction.
LO1: Differentiate between the role of a leader and the function of a manager
P1 Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager
Various empirical studies have failed to address the fundamental differences amidst
management and leadership in a broad sense, despite of these two being widely diverse in nature.
In this context, it can be stated that leadership refers to the skills and capabilities of an individual
that can be exploited in a significant manner in order to attain the organizational goals and
objectives. Vodafone is one of the major firm in the worldwide market in which the job of the

leader just as of the supervisor is comparable in nature. There are various supervisors in the
association which assume the job of leaders in the premises. As indicated by the exploration led
by Grigsby, et al. (2010), it very well may be seen that the job of the leader and the capacity of
the supervisor in Vodafone are somewhat synonymous in nature. On one hand, both the leaders
and the supervisors ensure that the representatives are getting the inspiration to work for the
organization which is affecting the development of the brand in the more extended range of time.
In addition, as indicated by the exploration led by Winston, Creamer and Miller, (2013),
it may be seen that that the capacity of the manager in Vodafone is to deal with the distinctive
work which is being finished by the brand. Both the leader and the manager ensure that all the
work is being done in the most proficient way and furthermore to have sufficient proof as far as
the improvement of the organization. Moreover, Grigsby, et al. (2010) additionally expresses that
Vodafone is one of the prime organizations in which the leader and the supervisor spurs the
representatives. They additionally help them in the specialization of the abilities of the brand
which thus help them to build up the expert aptitudes. The representatives are prepared by the
chiefs in the expert field for which they get plentiful measure of regard. The job of the leader and
the supervisor of the brand is to ensure that every one of the general population in the workforce
can lead the work in an exact way. Likewise, the diverse types of initiative systems which are
executed by the leaders at Vodafone so as to control the dimension of work help in ensuring the
way that the representatives get the ideal measure of opportunity of work in the venture. The
point of the leaders at Vodafone is to expand the probability of the representatives for the
advancement of the work for the brand. What's more, the leaders at Vodafone additionally
guarantee that the representatives have the most extreme measure of recreation after work which
causes them to accomplish ideal work-life balance (Winston, Creamer and Miller, 2013). Both

the chiefs and the leaders are along these lines true in Vodafone which enables the brand to
achieve the dimension of standard which it has now.
LO2 Apply the role of a leader and the function of a manager in given contexts
Vodafone has been a world chief in the media communications industry with the
essentially objective to have business and money related achievement, more noteworthy
consumer loyalty sum an even administration in the brand picture and investor's profits
(Vodafone, 2019b). The association has dependably been quick to rearrange the procedure of
work in the organization by the foundation of an administrative structure which is both simple to
assess and furthermore not awkward. As per the new hierarchical structure distributed in the
official site of Vodafone (2019b), it very well may be seen that there will be various territorial
structure which will be going by commendable people. Then again, every one of the districts will
be driven by the Group Chief Financial Officer, Chief Executive Officer and Strategy and
Business Development Director who will attempt incorporate the estimation of the investor and
even include in the venture of the partners (Vodafone, 2019b). Indeed, even the new
authoritative set up ensures that the Group Marketing, Vodafone Business Services, Vodafone
Global Enterprise, Partner Markets, and other business units of the organization will be
combined headed by Morten Lundal as Group Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). This will make
the general structure of the organization effective for better business conceivable outcomes and
will likewise help in better administration inclinations.
LO3: Demonstrate an appreciation of the role leaders and managers play in the operations
function of an organization
The manager in an association is characterized as the individual who deals with an
association and includes during the time spent arranging, heading, coordination and control of

the work done in the association. In Vodafone, the chief deals with all the workplace work and
guarantees that every one of the work is being done in an appropriate way. As per the exploration
of Quinn (2010), a leader is characterized as an individual who impacts the subordinates so as to
accomplish a set objective in the association. In Vodafone, crafted by the leader is to lead the
specialists into some novel changes which can present customizations in the workplace.
Moreover, leaders additionally help to inspire the laborers for better occupation commitment and
have better states of work. The managers then again, are somebody under whom the
representatives of an association work so as to accomplish their business related objectives. The
job of the supervisor is to deal with all the business related issues and questions of the
representatives and guarantee that the representatives get the best condition to work. Anyway
Block (2016) states in the examination, there are sure attributes of chiefs which make them of
indispensable significance in a work environment association. One of the prime characters is to
have the capacity to execute a dream which is vital to the association. What's more, the directors
ought to have the capacity to coordinate the endeavors and survey the work done by the
representatives. The directors likewise process abilities identified with the board so as to keep
the general population focused.
Leader in any association is the individual who impacts or rouses the specialists to have
superior hard working attitudes and can play out the work in an incredible way. There are sure
qualities of a decent leader which makes him/her obvious in the eye of the representatives. As
indicated by the examination of Judge, Piccolo and Kosalka, (2009), an extraordinary leader
ought to be straightforward and have vision about the fate of the working environment. What's
more, the leader ought to motivate the specialists for better future and ought to be able to
challenge the unanticipated. The relational abilities of the leaders ought to be prime as the

manner in which they talk with the representatives and think about their conditions and
recommends better manners by which they can improve the work. The leader is somebody whom
the representatives pursue for better business related advices as well as for better way of life and
even close to home changes (Judge, Piccolo and Kosalka, 2009). A leader is the wellspring of
motivation for the workers and causes them discover better conceivable outcomes throughout
everyday life.
LO4: Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between leadership and
management in a contemporary business environment
Vodafone is one of the biggest worldwide organizations which has picked up ubiquity
because of their superb support of the customers. Also, the representatives of the organization
have had the capacity to ensure that they have an incredible nature of work which can upgrade
the notoriety of the brand. So as to make the representatives able for their work, the supervisors
and leaders of Vodafone have executed various hypotheses and models to guarantee that the
practices at the organization are worker agreeable. The administration style of Vodafone depends
on the communications of the chiefs and the workers of the firm. In Vodafone, the initiative style
which is pursued for the organization is the value-based style of administration method
(McCleskey, 2014). In this authority style, the managers make a point to distinguish the
necessities of the adherents and after that present prizes and thanks of the directors' so as to
fulfill them and esteem the incredible execution of the representatives. The leaders likewise
make a point to spur the clients by investigating their dimension of execution additionally to
concentrate on the capabilities of the equivalent (McCleskey, 2014).
There are some different managers of Vodafone which execute the Transformation
initiative hypothesis in the work. As indicated by the examination done by (Gumusluoglu and

Ilsev, 2009), the leaders in this hypothesis make a point to act as per the desire for the devotees
which can enable them to think about the requirements of the adherents and divert their
reasoning as indicated by that. Also, the leaders in this hypothesis make a dream for the devotees
which they keep and which invigorate them to build up the capacities of the leaders in the work
environment associations (Gumusluoglu and Ilsev, 2009). In addition, the representatives feel an
extraordinary feeling of significance from the leaders which additionally help them perform
better.
The transformational leaders of Vodafone improve the nature of work influencing the
laborers to inspire to work for the advancement of the organization. Thus, it may, there are sure
different leaders in Vodafone which don't get include in the basic leadership procedure of the
associations and don't assume liability of the laborers. The base of this sort of administration is
only express perplexity (Chaudhry and Javed, 2012). In spite of the fact that the quantity of this
sort of leader is low in Vodafone, yet there are a portion of the leaders which pursue the Laissez-
Faire Leadership hypothesis in which the managers or the leader don't take any kind of
obligation and simply are keen on doing their own bit of work. The laborers under this sort of
administration system are simply left to finish the work without anyone else which additionally
negatively affects the nature of work performed by them. As indicated by the examination by
Chaudhry and Javed (2012), the leaders in sort of initiative model in Vodafone are chiefly the
purpose behind worker and client disappointment. Both the workers and the clients get
influenced by this kind of an authority system which implies that the organization gets hampered
due this Laissez-Faire Leadership hypothesis inferred by a portion of the leaders at Vodafone.

References
Chaudhry, A.Q. and Javed, H., 2012. Impact of transactional and laissez faire leadership style on
motivation. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(7).
Grigsby, B., Schumacher, G., Decman, J. and Simieou III, F., 2010. A principal’s dilemma:
Instructional leader or manager. Academic Leadership: The Online Journal, 8(3), p.3.
Gumusluoglu, L. and Ilsev, A., 2009. Transformational leadership, creativity, and organizational
innovation. Journal of business research, 62(4), pp.461-473.
Judge, T.A., Piccolo, R.F. and Kosalka, T., 2009. The bright and dark sides of leader traits: A
review and theoretical extension of the leader trait paradigm. The leadership quarterly, 20(6),
pp.855-875.
McCleskey, J.A., 2014. Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and leadership
development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), p.117.
Quinn, R.E., 2010. Deep change: Discovering the leader within (Vol. 378). USA: John Wiley &
Sons.
Statista, 2019. Vodafone's revenue by market/country worldwide between 2015 and 2018** (in
million euros). [online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/241603/vodafone-
revenue-by-market/ [Accessed 30 March 2019]
Vodafone, 2019a. Vodafone announces results for the year ended 31 March 2018. [online]
Available at: https://www.vodafone.com/content/index/media/vodafone-group-releases/2018/
results-for-the-year-ended-31-march-2018.html# [Accessed 30 March 2019]

Vodafone, 2019b. Vodafone Announces New Organisational Structure. [online] available at:
https://www.vodafone.com/content/index/media/vodafone-group
releases/2010/new_structure.html [accessed 30 March 2019]
Weiss, J.W., 2014. Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach. UK;
Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Winston, R.B., Creamer, D.G. and Miller, T.K., 2013. The professional student affairs manager:
Educator, leader, and manager. Oxon: Routledge.