Leadership and Management Roles in Operational Efficiency at Vodafone

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report analyzes Vodafone's leadership and operational management.

MANAGEMENT AND
OPERATIONS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
LO1..................................................................................................................................................2
P1 Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager.........2
M1 Analyse and differentiate between the role of a leader and function of a manager by
effectively applying a range of theories and concepts.................................................................4
LO2..................................................................................................................................................6
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts.......................................................................................................6
P3 Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership,
systems leadership and contingency...........................................................................................7
M2 Assess and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to situations
within the work environment......................................................................................................8
LO3................................................................................................................................................11
P4 Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and
managers play............................................................................................................................11
P5 Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business
objectives...................................................................................................................................12
M3 Evaluate how leaders and managers can improve efficiencies of operational
management to successfully meet business objectives.............................................................13
LO4................................................................................................................................................14
P6 Assess the factors within the business environment that impact upon operational
management and decision-making by leaders and managers..................................................14
M4 Analyse how these different factors affect the business environment and wider
community.................................................................................................................................14
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................16
References......................................................................................................................................17

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Difference between Leaders and Managers......................................................................4
Table 2: Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches...........................................................9

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Situational Leadership......................................................................................................8

Introduction
Manager and leaders are effective in determining and contributing to overall the growth and
development of a business organization. Even though their actions and functions are interrelated,
both the leaders and managers have different roles and responsibilities for guiding and
motivating employees to enhance their productivity. The report presents the difference between
leader and managers. Different leadership style is discussed in the report considering working
style adopted by leaders of Vodafone in a different situation for motivating teammates for
attaining organizational success. The report discusses Operation management that the
organization must carry out for sustainable development. Lastly, the report examines different
factors that influence the operation of the management.

LO1
P1 Define and compare the different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager.
Vodafone Group Plc is a multinational organization that works in the sector of
telecommunication with headquarters in the UK. The organization has a wide global spread to
over 25 countries and is placed in 4th rank in terms of mobile customers and popularities.
For a big organization like Vodafone, all the actions and activities performed by the employees
are under the supervision of leaders and managers (Gunasekaran, 2017). Hence, both can be
considered as important assets for the organization and its growth and development. Function
and role of leaders and manager are interrelated to each other. However, in terms of approach
applied for problem-solving or during the crisis there functions do change. According to the
management theory stated by Dr Philips Kotler, in an organization, management is an
administrative unit. The leaders are associated with forming a creative workforce to perform
different strategies for organizational growth. The manager, on the other hand, is associated with
planning and organizing the teams and tasks for attaining the overall goals and objective of
Vodafone with the support of available resources (Ionescu, et al 2014). The difference is the role
of managers and leaders are discussed below:
Role of leaders and manager in Vodafone
Parameters Leader Manager
Role Leader is assigned to a team, the
role of a leader include supporting
and guiding the teammates and
encouraging coordination and
communication among them for
proper functionality and work
completion for achieving the
goals and objectives in pre-
determined time and budget.
Managers on appointed for
different departments for proper
controlling, managing and
administrating various activities
of the business organization. For
proper decisions regarding a
situation, the managers
coordinate with different
departments.
Characteristics Leaders motivate team members Managers of Vodafone need to

for achieving overall goals and
objective in an enthusiastic
manner.
Leaders convey the goals and
objectives of the organization to
the subordinates.
In Vodafone, the leaders must be
creative and should support
innovation in order to perform
puzzling and complex tasks.
make a plan for the
accomplishment of the vision and
mission of the organization.
Manager’s job is to classify and
identify resources, need, and
issues of the organization for
solving various complex task and
issues related to organizational
business.
Managers help the employees to
gain various advance knowledge
and skills for enhancing overall
performance.

M1 Analyse and differentiate between the role of a leader and function of a manager by
effectively applying a range of theories and concepts
For the growth and development of a multinational organization like Vodafone carrying out
various functions in a systematic and planned manner the managers and Leaders plays an
important role
In the organization, the team Leaders are responsible for positively influencing and encouraging
the fellow teammates and subordinates to be enthusiastic in their work for the successful
achievement of pre-determined goals and objectives. On the other hand, the different managers
are appointed in different departments whose main functions to create a bridge and acts as an
intermediary between various stakeholders and the organization. Few of the difference between a
leader and manager considering their roles and functions within the organization is discussed
below:
Table 1: Difference between Leaders and Managers
Base On Leaders Managers
Role Leaders assigned for a team guides
and direct the team members.
Leader communicates and interacts
with the team and sharing mission
and vision statement of the
organization for enhancing the
overall performance.
The managers are responsible for
performing various functions within
the organization such as organizing,
planning, controlling etc. They are
in charge of supervising various
activities of the corresponding
departments and resolves different
issues hampering the business
functionalities.
Working Style The Leaders of the organization
applies Transformable working
style where the team is to
encourage, motivated to
transforms, and become more
Transactional system for working is
applied by Managers for managing
works and functions.

talented and skilled.
Aim The leaders mainly focus on
directing and guiding the
subordinates as a team so that
overall development and growth of
the team and organization.
Manager’s objective is to recognize
visions statement for the
organization and to share the same
with the employees and stakeholders
for achieving required yield.
Change A leader in the organization always
promotes implementation of
different changes and encourages
the teammates to adopt new
changes without disturbing their
productivity and performance.
Managers react to the changes
occurred within the organization by
leaders.
People Leaders coordinate with the team
members through their equal
efforts and make sure that proper
cooperation exists between the
team for achieving the task results
as desired.
Managers organize the team
members by managing and
administering various tasks and
activities of the organization.

LO2
P2 Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts.
Different role of managers and leaders of Vodafone by considering the different situation:
1st Situation: In Vodafone, communication is one way; therefore the organization has the need to
improve the process of interaction and communication.
One-way system for communication is applied in the organization, in the system top
management is responsible for taking decisions and conveying. However, the lower level of the
management is not involved with the process of decision-making leading to poor performance,
job dissatisfaction, and lowering in the productivity in the organization. While considering to
customer services, it has been found that the customers are presently dissatisfied with services of
telecommunication due to lack of performance among employees creating deviation between
actual performance and standard set (Pyzdek, and Keller, 2014).
In this case, leaders use a different style of leadership for understanding and identifying the
demands and needs of various teammates. Leaders are responsible for ensuring that proper
communication is established between top management and the employee. Leaders must
understand the issues and problems faced by their teammates while performing various tasks of
the organization. On the other hand the Managers in this current situation required to plan a
project to implement a system that supports two-way communication, this system will be useful
in offering a diverse opportunity to the employees of the organization to share opinions, ideas
and advice of theirs to top level management. Managers at Vodafone are responsible for creating
a responsive team that acts and provide services to the customers as per their needs and
recommendations.
2nd Situation: Vodafone is designing a plan for enhancing the sector of technological by offering
employee training.
In Vodafone, various changes are introduced by improving the present technology to provide
better customer experience. With the advancement of technology, customers are allowed to enjoy
and chose ways of entertainment even during flights (Heizer, 2016). Conversely, the same has

also increased employee’s work burden as they are bound to attend different seminars and
training programs for learning and getting acquaintance to various devices and technology of
handling them effectively. This, in turn, has resulted in encouraging employee restraint due to
the demand of salary hike with increasing pressure of workload.
Considering the situation, both the leaders and manager have a different role to play. The leader
works for reducing employees’ turnover by guiding and supporting the team for adopting the
changes while adopting technologies for their and organizational benefit (Mahadevan, 2015.).
The leader also encourages the employees of Vodafone to accept various new challenges with
the changes. It is the responsibility of the leader to identify and understand employee’s needs and
demand and then conveying the same top-level management. Managers require understanding
the issues of employee restraining due to changes. They are responsible for supporting and
directing the employees through informal and formal meetings and training session.