Nelson College London

Unit 4
Management and Operations

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List of Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3

Task 1 .............................................................................................................................................. 4

LO1: Differentiate between the role of a leader and the function of a manager. ........................... 4

P1: The different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager........................................ 4

LO2: Applying the role of a leader and the function of a manager in the contexts of Amazon ..... 5

P2: Applying the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in different situational
contexts. ...................................................................................................................................... 5

P3: Different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, systems
leadership and contingency. ........................................................................................................ 6

Task 2 .............................................................................................................................................. 8

LO3: Demonstrate an appreciation of the role leaders and managers play in the operations function
of Amazon ....................................................................................................................................... 8

P4: Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that leaders and
managers play. ............................................................................................................................ 8

P5: Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving business
objectives. ................................................................................................................................. 10

LO4: Demonstrating an understanding of the relationship between leadership and management in

a contemporary business environment .......................................................................................... 12

P6: Assessing the factors within the business environment that impact operational management
and decision-making by leaders and managers. ........................................................................ 12

Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 16

References ..................................................................................................................................... 17

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Introduction
Management is the driving force for an organisation to achieve the predetermined objectives. The
overall resources are managed and utilized by a manager in an effective way to obtain the goal of
a business firm. The person who deals with managing and directing the man power is called a
manager (Burrow and Becraft, 2016). In a broad sense, there is a wider range of works that are
performed by a manager. The major tasks of a manager are to plan, organize resources, staffing,
directing subordinates, coordinate and control in the managerial process. A successful manager
always bears the responsibilities of a leader who leads the staff with proper motivation to get the
works done. In this report, the roles and responsibilities of a manager along with the functions of
a leader will be evaluated in the context of Amazon’s management. This report will also
demonstrate the effective contribution of a manger and a leader to provide the quality product by
ensuring the efficiency in the operation of management. In addition, several types of management
theories along with leadership style will be demonstrated.

Company Background (Amazon): Amazon is the largest online multinational technology

company which focuses on cloud computing, e-commerce and artificial intelligence. It was
founded on July 5, 1994, by Jeff Bezos and it is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The
company has earned huge revenue and captured market capitalization from its cloud computing
platform and e-commerce marketplace. As of 2018, the annual turnover of this company is
$232.887 billion and the number of employees is 613,300. It is the largest earning company
measured by revenues where the highest number of people are employed by this private company
(Amazon.com, 2019).

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Task 1
LO1: Differentiate between the role of a leader and the function of a
manager.
P1: The different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager.
Manager: The person or individual by whom an appropriate plan is developed and execute
necessary actions to fulfill the objective of an organisation is the manager of that organisation. The
suitable work policies and proper strategy are set by the manager to impute them for accomplishing
the goals of a business firm (Bratton and Gold, 2017). For example, the manager of Amazon
decides which part of the management need to be expanded and which part will be operated by
whom. The position of a person is set by the manager, and according to their abilities and
experiences, the right tasks are allocated to them. Every department has a specific manager who
performs his duty according to the pan. The manager is the top of every field where the
performance of employees is justified and the appraisal process is implemented after a specific
period.
Leader: Leader is the person who uses his communication and motivational skill to influence the
employee to work according to his direction (Gilley, 2017). A leader generally maintains proper
communication and treats his subordinates in a friendly manner to achieve the objective of a
business firm. For example, the leaders of Amazon own very influential power to inspire the
workers and drive them to coordinate for accomplishing the goals. Hence, the employees of
Amazon are sophisticated to ensure efficiency in the operation of management in Amazon.

Figure 1: The difference between leader and manager (Southern, 2009)

Comparison between the characteristics and roles of a manager and a leader: Although a
manager and a leader both play a significant role in management and operation, there are some
basic differences which are given in the table below:

Area of Manager Leader

comparison

The manager focuses on all resources The leader mainly focuses on the
Focusing and manages them in an efficient way to manpower and influence them with the
area accomplish the target (Wheelen, 2018). motivation to achieve the objectives.

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The way of The manager directs the employee in a The leader drives the employee with
treating dominant way to accomplish the work proper motivation to get the work done
Employee for achieving the target. for the organisation.

Most of the tasks are distributed to the A leader tries to take more
Risk taking subordinated to reduce the individual responsibilities and the employees are
risk of a manager. relieved from individual risks.

Achieving The manager develops a plan and The leader helps the manager by
objectives distributes the task on leaders and utilizing human resources for fulfilling
employees to achieve the goals. the achievement (Southern, 2009).

Imputation The manager makes proper policies and The leader uses the policy to
of policies imputes them on employees to manage communicate the employees and
them easily (Rentschler, 2014). observe their activities.

Directing The manager gives directions in several The leader provides directions to the
groups to follow accordingly. member of his team.

Major The primary roles of a manager are to The major roles of a leader are to make
roles allocate resources and distribute the the best use of employee’s skill with
works in the employees as planned proper motivation (Oldcorn, 2011).

Ideas and The manager used to create an The leader implements the ideas and
plans innovative idea and design a proper plan in an effective way to obtain the
plan for the organisation. objective of the organisation.

The differences between these great players do not decay their contribution. Every manager of
Amazon in every department helps the company with a better plan, innovative ideas, and proper
management. On the other hand, the leader of every group provides efficiency in managing human
resources and get the job done for Amazon.

LO2: Applying the role of a leader and the function of a manager in

the contexts of Amazon
P2: Applying the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in
different situational contexts.
Amazon is the successful business model for the effective contribution of its manager and leader.
The managers and group leaders of Amazon use different types of situational contexts according
to the situation which helps it to achieve the target quicker. The roles of a leader and functions of
a manager are dependent on various applied leadership styles and traits which helps the
management of Amazon for functioning properly. Recently, the company is facing an issue with
the satisfaction of the customer while delivering the purchase item. The managers need to refocus
on this issue and employ a better leader to lead the worker so that they will not make mistake while
doing their job (Megill, 2015). The management of Amazon needs to implement better
management theories along with rich leadership skills which will devise the company to perform

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better in its operations in management. The management department should concentrate on the
following theories to combine the efforts to resolve their problem in management operation.
The classical theory of management: According to the classical theory of management, the
proper working policies should be created in the management department to increase the
productivity of the organisation (Dugan, 2016). By applying this classic theory, managers can
focus on the operation areas while creating new polices. The manager needs to give proper
directions to the employees for improving the service in the e-commerce sector of Amazon. The
group leader and worker both need to contribute seamlessly by maintaining the participative
leadership.
The contemporary theory of management: The current situation of Amazon can be assigned by
applying the contemporary theory of management. This strategy will be appropriate to resolve the
issue of customer dissatisfaction. The group leader can improve their communication skills to
inspire team members which will improve the quality of their service. By increasing the confidence
level of the workers, the resistance among the employees will be eliminated and a friendly work
environment will be ensured (Gilley, 2017).
A behavioural theory of management: According to this theory, the manager considers the skill
and ability of the employee while making new policies (Southern, 2009). Besides, the leader uses
the transformational method of leadership to communicate the employees. A leader uses policy to
determine the ability of employee and train them to improve. The relationship among leaders,
managers and employees can be developed if Amazon applies this theory.
Contingency theory: In this theory, the dynamic changes in strategy according to the situation
are observed. The leader motivates the employees to influence them (Wheelen, 2018). Hence, the
workers bring great changes by contributing to the operation of managerial activities to prevail in
extra facilities. As the reputation was losing for delivering the wrong item from Amazon online
stores, the manager can apply this theory to bring changes in the activities which will also decrease
the cost of material and equipment.
Management by objective: According to this theory, the managers, leaders and workers work for
a common purpose where their combined working efforts are considered for achieving the
objective of the organisation (Alas and Kross, 2018). The cooperation of the manager helps the
employees to perform better where the standard of work is assigned by the managers. The duties
of employees are assigned by the leaders along with proper motivation which improves the
performance of the operation.

P3: Different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership,

systems leadership and contingency.
The various theories and models of leadership approach help the manager to manage the operation
in an organisation. We are applying the given leadership theories and approaches in the
management of Amazon:

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Figure 2: Concept of leadership (Scarborough and Cornwall, 2017)

Situational Leadership Approach: Under the situational leadership approach, the employees are
influenced by their skills and capabilities while they perform their tasks (Rentschler, 2014).
Amazon can follow this leadership approach by their leaders which will bring changes in different
situations while performing the operation of management. Situational leadership is effective for
identifying present problems and the manager of Amazon can implement this to resolve the issues
in the present situation.
Systems Leadership Approach: System leadership is the productive approach of leadership
where the performance of workers in the business firm is controlled by their team leader and
motivates the employees to work together for achieving the goals of the organisation. Amazon can
use this approach to implement KAIZEN according to the changes in the management operation.
The managers can adopt this approach for improving the relationship between leaders and workers
along with the working environment which will lead the employee to increase their performance
(Oldcorn, 2011).
Contingency Approach: Under this leadership approach, the internal and external situation of an
organisation are affected by several optimal actions as there is no leadership style which can suit
every situation perfectly. In this case, the leaders apply their very own effective leadership style
based on the situation (Megill, 2015). The leader of the different operational area of Amazon can
follow this leadership approach to fix the sudden issue created in any situation.
The Chaos Theory: According to the chaos theory of leadership, the responses of the manager
and leader along with every change in the market are considered to drive the employee to the goal
of the organisation (Heizer and Render, 2016). All data of Amazon stores in the cloud server
which can be used to address the issues by following this theory. With the help of this theory,
Amazon can bring positive changes in their activities and operations of managerial work.
The combined efforts of all these leadership approaches and management theories will improve
the relationship among the manager, leader and employees along with continuous improvement in
the management operations of Amazon. These are essential for the integration of the overall system
to maximize productivity. However, the implementation of management by objective approach
will highly motivate the staff which will make the employees feel valued in the organisation. This
kind of motivation benefits the company by increasing the efficiency of the workers.

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Task 2
LO3: Demonstrate an appreciation of the role leaders and managers
play in the operations function of Amazon
P4: Explain the key approaches to operations management and the role that
leaders and managers play.
There are several key approaches which are followed by the managers and leaders of Amazon Inc
to provide their contribution to the company. The leaders and managers play an important role in
developing a universal business strategy with the help of different approaches along with the
analysis of the operational management to obtain the goals and objectives of the organisation.
Methodologies in operational management: Productivity and smooth operation are possible for
the proper functions of operational management (Rentschler, 2014). The activities in the operation
of Amazon are enhanced with the application of several operational methodologies such as six
sigma and lean production.
Six Sigma methodology: The services of Amazon can be improved by using six sigma
methodology which will ensure the efficiency in the operation of management functions. There
are six wastes in the production process of six sigma such as transportation, over processing, wait,
motion, inventory and defects (Alas and Kross, 2018). The purpose of this methodology is to
eliminate all these six types of wastes from the operation of any organisation. Amazon can apply
this method to resolve the wastage problem in its management operation.

Figure 3: The combination of lean and six Sigma (Bratton and Gold, 2017)
Lean production and queuing theory: The waste in the production of a manufacturer are
identified with the help of this lean process where all the required components are kept for queuing
to find the wastes (Burrow and Becraft, 2016). In the recruitment procedure of amazon, the lean
process is used to eliminate the wastes from the applied candidates.

Some different approaches in operations management

The quality of services sometime depends on some exceptional approaches such as TQM, Kaizen
concepts and Just-in-Time inventory which can be applied in the operation management of
Amazon to control the quality of all services. The explanation of these approaches is given below:
Total Quality Management: The managers and leaders follow total quality management
approach to maintain the quality of the service considering the acquisition value of the customer.
The managers and leaders of Amazon play a vital role while developing an effective global strategy

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for the business using the TQM approach. This approach helps the manager to maintain the quality
of services along with continuous improvement to accomplish the objectives of the company in an
efficient way. There are mainly five principles of Total Quality Management such as teamwork,
customer orientation, continuous improvement, adopting a strategic approach to improve the
services and maintain quality in work (Chopra, 2015).
Just-in-Time (JIT): According to this approach, the immediate action for taking the supply
instantly when needed. It will increase the effectiveness in the operation of Amazon. This approach
is used by the managers and leaders of the company to ensure the delivery at the right time without
wasting the resources which increase the productivity of the management (Dugan, 2016).
The concept of continuous improvement (Kaizen): This approach combines all small tasks and
reaps them together to fulfill any major task in a continuous process (Greasley, 2013). All the
innovative idea and continuous development are brought together to accomplish the operation in
the Kaizen approach. Generally, this methodology works with cooperation and commitment to
using radical changes or top-down edicts to accomplish the objectives. The roles of the leaders and
functions of the managers of Amazon are greatly effective in the approach of Kaizen to the
management operation (Heizer and Render, 2016).

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P5: Explain the importance and value of operations management in achieving

business objectives.
There are significant importance and value of operations management in Amazon. The
management team need to reduce all the wastes in the process of operation which will increase the
efficiency and decrease the cost of the production or service cost (Amazon.com, 2019). Besides,
operation management assist the managers and leaders to utilize resources more effectively and
man power more actively. The quality of their services in the e-commerce business mostly depends
on the TQM approach which is provided by the operations management. The lean production
theory helps the company to select the best candidates while recruiting a person for a specific post.
Six Sigma helps to reduces the wastes which bring prosperity for the organisation. JIT approach
helps to provide better customer services with continuous product supply int the warehouse
(Megill, 2015). All these theories are practiced by the manager and leader to design the appropriate

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strategy for the organisation which is possible for the knowledge of operations management.
Hence, operation management has the ultimate value for Amazon and other business organisations
around the world.

Figure 4: The roles of different theories (Oldcorn, 2011)

The relationship among the managers, leaders and other employees are created by adopting the
rules of these theories and approaches. So, they are essential for every department of every
organisation to coordinate themselves for the ultimate goal of a business organisation (Rentschler,
2014). The activities and actions of every step of management greatly rely on operation
management. Operation management also creates social responsibilities for the company which is
explained below.
Corporate Social Responsibility of Operation Management: The way a company takes
responsibilities for the social and environmental impact of its business operation is called social
responsibility (Scarborough and Cornwall, 2017). Nowadays, people choose a brand which cares
about social and environmental responsibilities rather than quality products or services. It is a
matter of awareness that people even don’t think twice to turn their back on their choosen brand if
they see the organisation is ignoring the responsibility for environmental problems.
Impact of the CSR approach in Amazon: The attitude of Amazon to Corporate Responsibility
is to negotiate with its stakeholder to become aware and interact with proper arguments. The
company know that only good behaviour and responsible brand will be valued by the customer.
The competitors are increasing and the way of sustaining in the market is getting hard. Amazon
prioritizes the integration of CSR into all business processes as the ethical investor and corporate
customer seeks honesty (Southern, 2009). Besides, the company is trying to implement cloud
computing along with artificial intelligence by ensuring safe and responsible user experiences to
every section of our society.

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LO4: Demonstrating an understanding of the relationship between

leadership and management in a contemporary business
environment
P6: Assessing the factors within the business environment that impact
operational management and decision-making by leaders and managers.
The relation between the leader and management is established from different aspects of the
contemporary environment of business. All the dimensions including political, economic, social,
technological and legal factors are the key aspects in the business environment that affect the
decisions making the process of an organisation (Wheelen, 2018). The business operation is
influenced by these factors of the environment in many ways.

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Figure 5: Relation between leadership and Management (Alas and Kross, 2018)
Demonstrating the different dimensions of the business environment below:
Political: The representation of leadership is highly noticeable in the political environment which
influences the operation of the business organisation and interacts with the decision-making
process of management (Bratton and Gold, 2017).
Social: The managers and leaders of an organisation deal with social activities to interact with
corporate social responsibilities in a different dimension of business operations.
Technological: The implementation of new technology occurs with the cooperation of both
manager and leader of an organisation (Burrow and Becraft, 2016).
Economic: Managing economic factor is crucial for any management department. Hence, the
manager and the leader cooperate with external authorities (Chopra, 2015).
Legal: The operation in management are highly affected by business policies and legal rules where
the overall process of internal policies is created by the manager and practiced by the leader.

The relationship between leadership and management in a different business environment:

The relationship between leadership and management in different situation of the business
environment of Amazon is demonstrated below:
Maintaining business Ethics: The idea of social responsibility and business ethics may feel the
same. But social belief and movement are created from business ethics. By practicing ethical
behaviour, leadership and management maintain the standard of social service (Dugan, 2016).
Relationship with stakeholders: The management establishes a relationship with stakeholders
with the help of leadership approaches for communicating the business operation (Gilley, 2017).
The business objective cannot be accomplished without giving proper facilities to the stakeholders.
Hence, all the possible stakeholders are away from being a customer without this relationship.
Social responsibility: The leader feels social needs while performing leadership in the
management function. The leaders follow the goal set by the manager and motivate the
subordinates to contribute to social welfare. Amazon is determined for increasing its responsibility
towards our society (Greasley, 2013).
Cultural Evaluation: The management creates leadership to maintain appropriate manner in the
aspect of required changes in the activities of culture (Heizer and Render, 2016). Amazon respect
every local culture and they are determined to save the core functionality of a culture.
Implementing New Technology: The coordination of leader and manger are required to
implement new technology in the organisation. The managers of Amazon value the opinion of
leaders and never forget to gives priority (Amazon.com, 2019).

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Sustaining entrepreneurship: The survival of an organisation highly depends on the strong
relationship between the managers and the leaders. Hence, the managers of Amazon must consider
building a strong relationship with the different group leader (Oldcorn, 2011).

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Conclusion
The operations in management are performed by both the managers and the leaders to accomplish
the goals an objective of an organisation. The manager's design plan, develop strategy and
distribute the task among the leaders and other subordinates (Scarborough and Cornwall, 2017).
The function of a leader is to lead the employees with proper motivation and regular
communication to achieve the objectives. Hence, the role of a leader and funcion of a manager is
integrated in the way of coordinating together. In this report, several types of theory of
management along with leadership approaches have applied in the context of Amazon. Besides,
the importance of their relationship and their roles and responsibilities are demonstrated. In
addition to it, different types of types of operations management approaches have applied to
determine the changes to develop a better strategy for Amazon.

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References
Alas, R. and Kross, P. (2018). Success factors for teams in business game Dynama. Problems
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2019].
Bratton, J. and Gold, J. (2017). Human resource management. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Burrow, J. and Becraft, M. (2016). Business management.
Chopra, S. (2015). Supply chain management. 7th ed.
Dugan, J. (2016). Leadership theory. [Place of publication not identified]: John Wiley & Sons.
Gilley, A. (2017). The manager as change leader. Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers.
Greasley, A. (2013). Operations management. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.
Heizer, J. and Render, B. (2016). Operations Management. Pearson Education UK.
Megill, K. (2015). Corporate memory. München: K.G. Saur.
Oldcorn, R. (2011). Management. Basingstoke: Macmillan Business.
Rentschler, R. (2014). The entrepreneurial arts leader. 3rd ed. St. Lucia, Qld.: University of
Queensland Press.
Scarborough, N. and Cornwall, J. (2017). Essentials of entrepreneurship and small business
management.
Southern, G. (2009). Managing an effective operation. European Management Journal, 15(1),
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Wheelen, T. (2018). Strategic management and business policy. 4th ed.

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