Management and Operations - Morrison Supermarkets PLC

Further, it discusses about approaches and importance of operations management and role of a store manager. Lastly, it includes different external factors that can have an effect on the management of all operations related to activities and decision-making process of store manager.

TASK 1

A) Various similarities and differences between managers and leaders

Those persons who are Leaders and managers, important for every company and they play an essential role in managing employees and activities of an organization. The Morrison Supermarkets Plc offers goods, fresh food, and various products to their potential customers (Akalin, Huang and Willems, 2016). It also provides different kind of leasing and insurance services. There are many leaders and managers in various departments.

Manager – Managers are responsible for completion of various tasks of a company and work with their staff members and employees. They are emphasizes for maintain the culture and environment of organization. They work for organizational activities with the help of workers. They make plan, organise staff members, order them and check their work for getting the best results.

Leader – Leaders are lead their team members and provide proper inspiration to them that are useful is the process of achievement of common goal. A leader has many skills, qualities and talents that will help in order to gain common goals (Asam and et.al. 2015). Leaders create a vision that seen as inspiration and possibilities for their supportive team members. They must take a great deal in the success of their fans and followers. They also guide and provide better inspiration in order to success.

Differences between managers and leaders according to their functions and characteristics:

Similarities between leaders and managers based on their roles and duties: 

 B) Different managerial functions according to Fayol

In the Morrison, there are many managers for several departments and they do their work for gaining competitive advantages. Managers have different type of functions that are useful for company. In this context, a French engineer Henri Fayol made a theory that is Principles of Management (Dekker and et.al., 2018). This theory describes functions of a manager that are important in every organisation or situation. He developed the major five function that are compulsory to conduct by every manager to solve issues and achieve the target in different organisational situation. These are describes as below:

• Planning and Forecasting – It is the first main function of a manager and it decides what will be done in the future. In this process the manager set and determine the objectives and make special procedure for cover up those targets. It is an intellectual process and based on availability of alternatives.
• Organising – It is the second most important task of manager that will demonstrates all activities of the business. In this stage, a manager classifies his or her work and divides into employees or staff members. In this context, the structure of company is playing a significant role in this process. Manager organises all tasks and give it to the right person who is responsible for that job.
• Staffing – This is use for establish position of each staff members at their respective stage and it also defines their functional relations to the staff members (Fisichelli and et.al., 2016). Staffing demonstrates several positions in an organisation and it provides an adequate, qualifies and competency environment at the all level. In this process, it also measures every individual and determines performance of the entire organisation.
• Directing or Leading – It refers as lead to the whole team in the right direction to reach height of success. The manager must guide and counsel their staff members and subordinates in their occupation. In this process, manager also influences everyone in order to attain organisational goals.
• Controlling – It is an important function that ensures about performance and standards. Every manager must check whether the work is going in right direction or not. Controlling provides power to maintain discipline and control over employees to solve their conflicts (Fu, 2015). There is a possibility of action to devote constant monitoring of actual performance. Therefore, for this reason, every manager should take appropriate steps to confirm about the work of employees. 

C) Systems, situational and contingency leadership approaches uses in Morrison.

In the Morrison Company, there are many leaders that having separate team and many employees who support leaders. Every leader work with his or her capabilities and use different approaches to conduct several functions. These approaches contain greater beliefs about expectations and needs of employee at the work place (Gillen, Jacquillat and Odoni, 2016). Leadership styles influence to the attitudes and behaviour of followers and it will also impact to the leaders. In this context, these approaches are too much useful in different situations of Morrison company. These leadership styles are describes as follows:

Systems Leadership Style – It is refers to the environment in which a leader operate his or her team towards the achievement of goals. It is describes as the hierarchy structure of an organisation that how its system will work in different situations. Today's market is too much competitive and it will difficult to stand with earning profits. So, this approach suggest to the leader to give inspiration and lead their supportive team in order to achieve targets and objectives. The leader of Morrison’s group will plan according to their aims and objective which is helping them to compete with their rivals and then work based on their planning. There will be no definite style of leading the team it is just when there is high competition into market it will lead to change in leadership to system style. In this given scenario leader being more and more motivational and leading their team will help employees in their goal achievement.

Contingency Leadership Style – In this approach, the formal structure of a company demonstrates the roles and duties of its staff member so that they can lead their behaviour to certain degree of work of management (Rouvari and et.al., 2016). It is a class of behavioural theory that there is no best method to lead an organisation that is effective in some situation. It is useful for the leader so that he or she can lead their team member in any contingency situation. This is describes by two major leadership personalities that are human relations oriented leaders and task oriented leaders. As per this leadership style there is no type of leadership which is fit in all situations rather each and every condition would be having different kind of leadership. So if there is negative working environment within Morrison’s and employee turnover is higher than it is required that leaders of team are leading according to their situation. They are employing tactics which is helping their employees like motivational meetings and giving them proper training so that they are retained intro the company for longer duration of time.

Situational Leadership Style – It is produced by Ph.D. Holder and director of research and development department, Fred E. Fiedler in early 20^th century. According to Blanchard and Hersey, the leadership is not based on personality, it is depended on the skills and treats (Saucedo-Martínez and et.al., 2017). It emphasizes the behaviour of the leaders in several specific situations. In the Morrison, the leader uses this style in various critical situations. As all the leaders are having different behaviour which is making them different from others working into company. So each of the employee could be having their own leader who is different from other and guiding or leading them in differentiated ways so there is no specified type of leadership style. The critical situation in Morrison’s like if every employee is not motivated or not performing well then swapping their job roles and organising recreational activities for them will be very good option for this time.

TASK 2

1. Different approaches of operation's management and its uses in Morrison.

Morrison is a UK based retail store company that provides different types of food, drink and breakfast. It also involves in services related to leasing and insurance. In this company, the management of operations serves different functions of managing the process of production of several outputs. It must use raw material, electricity, plant, machineries and labour to make new products and fulfil the requirement of its customers (Song and Parola, 2015). In this context, it will make sure about the operation's management because it plays an essential role in the work of all other departments. Approaches of operation's management use as the growth and development of the company. These are describes as below:

• Six sigma – This is systematic approach of operation's management that describes as improving process that use in data driven. It is useful for existing and new process and defines new methodology. The main goal of this theory is to provide profits as much as possible by eliminate all defects and variability of wastages. It is focuses on the clients and manage whole process of flow. It also removes loss and non value added steps.
• Lean manufacturing – It is known as systematic production process in order to reduce waste material of resources (Wang, Huang and Liu, 2017). In this context, the Morrison company's management is capable to reduce the wastage amount and increase production to achieve different organisational goals and objectives.
• Reconfigurable manufacturing systems – It is a possible method use for effectively changes in the market. The Morrison's production department used with different functionalities within the product and services. This method makes various adjustments in the production department that is cost effectively.
• Total quality control – It defines as achieving the long term success through satisfied all customers. It is concise as the management system that work for consumer satisfaction and it contains improvement strategies in the employees.

 2. Role of the store manager in Morrison.

In the Morrison company, the retail store manager conducts various tasks and works for operation's Management. Manager must supervise the store's activities and organises employees to meet the customer's preferences and achieve targets with timely (Jacobs, Chase and Lummus, 2014). He also creates plan and coordinate all functions for example budgeting, sales & distribution and merchandising. In this organisation, the store officer also work for variety of retail's activities that concludes apparel, food, domestic products and electronics. In this context, major work and role of a store manager is describes as below:

• Recruitment, training & development – It is the duty of every store manager to select, hire and provide training so that they are able to do organisational activities and work. Manager also make sure about their efficiency and capabilities. It is useful in arranging various training and development programs. The manager has a power to render different benefits to their supportive team and employees.
• Responsibility division – Every store manager has a huge number to employees or subordinates who works at each level of structure of the organisation for example deputies, assistants, key holders and supervisors (Ahuja, 2017). So for this reason it will the duty of the store manager to give them their responsibilities and define them about their work to be an operation's manager.
• Increase Sales – It is an essential work of every store officer that he or she works for generating more sales as much as possible. In this process, it can conclude set the individual goals and manager also offer different type of contest and awards to increase organisation's turnover. It is beneficial for earning more profits for the Morrison.
• Maintaining overall image of store – It is the main work for manager to maintain the environment cleanliness and keep every appliances at its right place (Akalin, Huang and Willems, 2016). It will help to find anything in the store department and helpful for become an operation's manager.
• Maintain store's assets – This is recognises as, it will make sure about all assets and equipments are placed at their right place with proper repairing and maintenance. Manager also handles the cash at the store with proper security and safety.
• Other work – In other work, the store manager must manage the staff members, create proper budget and forecast about expenses, implement several marketing plans, build teams and many more to be an operation's manager.

3. Major importance of operation's management in Morrison.

Operation Management is the heart of Morrisons which contributes in the business activities of the company. It is the important part of the organization. It helps in to improve the overall productivity of the company or business (Asam and et.al. 2015). Operation management helps in utilize the resources of the company like man power, raw materials. It plays critical role in the organization and achieve their business goals and objectives. It is important for a service or goods to be effective and affect profitability of the company. Operation Management helps in to maintain the quality, cost and flexibility of the goods and services of the Morrisons. Operation administration ensure the satisfactory services to their costumers. It includes relation management to provide the best quality service to the consumers and meet their needs and demand. Morrisons used operation strategy for the long term plan for their company. It gives the competitive advantage to their business. It is the complicated process for the company to manage the organization operations (Baxley and et.al., 2016). It plays crucial role in the administration. It controls the entire management according to the needs of customers. It contributes making goods and provide services to align with consumers requirements. The main target of the operation manager is to ensure the delivery of the goods and services on time. It focuses on using the available resources of the company. Operation administration includes the customer service is the main objective for the company. The customer service helps in the retention of their clients and consumers. The operation administration of Morrisons also focuses on the turn of raw materials into finished goods. It is used for the planning, organizing, coordinating and controlling in the organization. The key of operations management are ;

• Product selection and design – It includes the accurate kind of the good designs on the basis of market demand (Chang and Seely, 2018). Selection and design is crucial for the success of Morrisons.
• Process selection and planning – Morrisons operations includes decisions concerning choice of technology, machines, mechanization and machines.
• Production planning and control – It helps in to control the quality and ensure the manufacturing of the goods and services in the stated manner.
• Inventory control – It deals with the parts, finish goods, spares and suppliers to ensure their availability with minimum capital. It helps Morrisons in to reduce inventory.
• Quality assurance – It is the important aspect for the company. It is the assurance system which helps business to ensure the quality standards, inspection of the quality of the goods (Chiarini and Vagnoni, 2015). It controls the quantity and quality of the products.
• Maintenance and replacement – It helps Morrisons to ensure superior quality of the goods which required minimum maintenance and replacement cost for the company.
• Cost reduction and control – Effective operation administration ensure minimum cost of production and helps in to increase the sales of Morrisons.

4. Assessment the key outside factors that can have an effect on the operation's management for Morrison.

To operate the business activities of Morrison is not an easy task of its managers. There are many difficulties and critical situations that may come in front of management of Morrison. It will affect to the organisational environment as well as influence to the productivity and capabilities of employees and staff members (Dekker and et.al., 2018). So for this reason it is essential to look at those elements and factors that can affect and profits of company may reduce. There are many external factors that can huge impact on the operation's management of this organisation. In this context, major external factors that have impact to the operation's management of Morrison, are describes as follows :

• Governmental regulation – It is major external factor because the government of UK makes many laws and rules related to the retail sector that will influence the organisational activities and effect to the management of Morrison (Fisichelli and et.al., 2016). The whole legal environment is especially tricky for this company. Many taxes policies, health care mandates and laws related to govern the company's organisational culture may also influence.
• Feedbacks and supply chain defects – There are many customers that give their feedbacks and demand for after sale service that will also affect to the management of this company. In the supply chain management of this company, there may be some issues generate and influence the employee's productivity (Fu, 2015). The supply chain management is cover a big area of organisation so for this reason it is also considerable for management.
• Competitors – In its market segments, there are a huge number of competitors in the retail industry that can reduce its potential customers and decrease the sales. Competitors provides many offers and conduct several promotional programs to increase their sales. So for this reason management must considers this factor and increase their turnover and attracts new customers in order to achieve desire targets and goals.
• Innovations in technology – in today's scenario, there are a huge change in technology advancement. Many changes will be come in front of management in day to day life and it will also affect to the management of operation's in Morrison company. There are a many advantages and disadvantages for digital technology (Gillen, Jacquillat and Odoni, 2016). For example if a computer operator wants to be apply new software or technology in his or her workings then it will duty of management to provide him or her better facilities to him/her.

 5. Impact of these factors upon the decision making process of the store manager.

The store manager is responsible for managing all things at the store department and he or she also liable for conducting all improvements in order to gain competitive advantages. Every store manager must work for growth and development of the store as well as company and make profits by increasing sales. The store manager has play a significant role in finance, marketing, human resource, technical and legal department and work effectively (Rouvari and et.al., 2016). In the organisational external environment, there are several factors for example inflation rate, recession, income of people etc. that have impact to the decision making process of store manager. In this context, impact of such factors are discusses as below :

• Impact to sales – There are many factors and elements that have power to reduce the organisational sales and influence the efficiency of plant and machineries. In such factors, preferences of client's, weather condition may affects to the sales and turnover of company.
• Impact to brand image – It is most important thing to create and maintain the company's goodwill and brand image (Saucedo-Martínez and et.al., 2017). It will useful in increasing sales and attract potential customers but in the outside environment, there are many factors that influence brand image of Morrison.
• Impact to production capacity – There are many factors for example inflation rate, prices of raw material and bargaining power of customers that can impact to the production process of various products and services. So for this reason the store manager should consider external factors in order to make better decision regarding to success of company.

Related Sample: Concept and Significance of Knowledge Management - Morrisons

CONCLUSION

The above report concludes comparison and similarities in between leadership and managers with their roles & liabilities and it also includes a detail description about functions of manager's that were produced by Henri Fayol. Further, it concludes different leadership approaches or styles that are useful for various critical situation comes in an organisation. Furthermore, it concludes different approaches and importance of operation's management of Morrison company that is established at UK and doing its business in retail sector. It also describes various roles and responsibilities of store manager to be an operation's manager. Lastly, it contains several external factors that have a huge impact on operation's management and decision making process of the store manager.

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