Management and Operations Assignment Sample

Traits: The manager within Toyota stated the vision to the employees and also suggests the pathways and strategies achieve the goals and vision while the manager has focused mainly on utilizing the optimum resources effectively in terms of achieving the organization set targets and goals (Bens, 2017).

Power and Authority: The leaders compared to the manager own the limited authority and power for achieving the set strategies, mission or policies. The manager has the power to set the targets and strategies after that it is the leader responsibility to get it done by its employees by encouraging and support them towards the task by offering them rewards and incentives.

M1 :Analyse and differentiate between the role of a leader and function of a manager by effectively applying a range of theories and concepts

There are various leadership and management theories between the function of the manager and the role of the leader. This is identified that the leader is innovative in nature and responsible in bringing the innovative products within Toyota while the manager is administrative in nature. The leaders adopt the various styles of the leadership for handling a situation stated by the leadership situational styles while the managers rely on the classical management theory (Warsi et.al, 2016). Toyotahas higher focus over maintaining the long term relationship with its employees and this also leads in increasing the organization overall productivity.

According to the classical management theories, the manager has role to plan, organize, control and monitor the business operations. In this theory, the main focus is on the productivity and quality regardless the satisfaction and loyalty of the employees. In scientific management theory, the managers of the organisation have effective focus on the basic requirements of the employees with association to the organization. The manager uses motivation, rewards, incentives and other benefits at workplace and outside to empower the employees. The scientific management theory has high motivation to the employees and managers can easily retain the staff for smooth operations.

Leaders of Toyota has role to drive the team to achieve the challenging tasks Autocratic leadership theory has enforcement of the decisions on the employees so that the satisfaction of the employee is low with conflicting situations whereas democratic leadership has focus on the integration of the employees for the quality outcomes and long term support in the operations. The behavioural leadership theories help the leaders to understand the behaviour of the resources for the task and the decisions so that more effective strategies can be made to form a team and achieve high performance. The contingency leadership theory empowers the leaders to assure the continuance of the business operations during the changes and execution. It allows continuance in the routine outcome while managing innovation and creativity in the work.

The leaders are relationship oriented in nature whereas the manager is task-oriented in nature. These types of differences between the managerial functions and the leader’s role are important for the organization towards maintaining command over the employees as well as also effective for boosting the overall organization productivity.

P2 :Examine examples of how the role of a leader and the function of a manager apply in different situational contexts.

The proper coordination among the manager function and leadership roles, Toyotacan effectively work and achieve the set objectives in terms of gaining the organizational profitability and productivity. There are different traits, and characteristics of the leadership and the management functions support the proper functions of the management within an organization (Wheelen et al., 2017). This is identified that the organization is facing the several issues currently such as increased in product prices so to overcome with these kinds of situations there is need of proper implementation of the management functions and proper formulation and strategies by the leaders to increase the organization overall revenues and sales.

Situation 1:Toyotamanagement authorities set the targets in attaining the defined revenues and resolve the problems according to set deadlines.

Manager functions: As per to the set deadlines and to achieve the set objectives and goals by the Toyotahigher authorities for this the manager is liable to use the theory of management by objectives (MBO). In this type of situation, the manager directs the organization leaders to follow the right paths which in terms increase in the higher revenues.

Leader role: The leader role is to attain the defined targets and divide the duties equally among the employees based on the talents and skills to achieve the best outcome. The transformational leadership style is efficient support leaders which clarify the policies of the organization to its employees (Bratton and Gold, 2017).

Situation 2: In terms of increasing the overall organization revenues and the sales in a situation of increasing prices of fuel

Manager functions: The manager in this situation plays an important role in planning the strategies which ensure that vehicles are bought at reasonable prices. Also, the manager uses their power to get the best deals and outcomes.

Leader role: In such case, the leader motivates its employees to adopt the latest technology which leads to reducing the cost of the manufacturing that ensures that the increased price of fuel is compensated. A leader motivates its employees to adopt the recent changes in the organization with the help of their effective communication skills.

P3:Apply different theories and models of approach, including situational leadership, System leadership and contingency.

The different models and theories of several approaches are effective for handling the several situations faced by the Toyota organization to increase the overall sales and revenues in terms of gaining higher competitive market advantages.

Situational Leadership: It is a theory which provides the leaders of Toyota to follow the best styles of different leadership in the different situations based on the needs. It is a theory which emphasizes leaders to adopt the effective leadership styles which should be matched with the employees' talents and skills (Alsaid et.al.2017).

For example, Toyota manager needs to change their policies and strategies to deliver the innovative products to its customers. In terms of accomplishing the objectives, the leaders required for assessing the employees are existing knowledge and skills and by this the manager train and guide them.  

Contingency Approach: It is a theory which mainly focuses on the two aspects that are personality and traits and a situation in which this approach operates. In this approach, it provided that the leaders of Toyota needed to maintain the strong link with its subordinates who foster honesty, loyalty and trust among themselves.

For example, Toyota’s leaders must clarify all assigned task to its employees in terms of identifying the best alternatives to perform the task better. It also provides increased revenues and huge customer satisfaction towards the organisation products.

System Leadership: This theory is focusing mainly on the required changes which are needed in the current working environment of the Toyota towards attaining of the common goals which enhance the profitability and high customer base (David Shrimpton, 2018). These changes include the stakeholder’s participation in the process of decision making which provides the various alternatives to Toyota manager so that they can adopt the necessary changes to perform better activities.

For example, HR manager of Toyota is needed to incorporate with the proper information technology which effectively controls different activities of the organisation in terms of ensuring that product should be delivered on the right time to the consumers.

M2:Assess the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to situations within the work environment.

Some of the strength and weakness of the above following approaches are mentioned below:

Situational leadership theory: It is a theory which provides higher benefits of getting the best opportunities that are associated with particular situations in which the leaders adapt their skills and traits. Therefore, this is also critical to analyse the difficult situations which negatively impact on theToyotaorganization functioning (McCleskey, 2014).

Contingency leadership theory: motivation is a vital to influence the employee’s behaviour towards positivity. Therefore, lack of communication creates the misunderstanding and confusion among employees who can act as the obstacle towards growth of Toyota.

System leadership theory: It is a theory which provides great motivation among an employee because they focus on employee’s involvement more towards decision-making process. The changes in current policies and strategies of Toyotaalso enhance in the higher revenues and customer base (Boylan, 2016). Therefore, these changes in organization structure increase in the stress and work pressure on an employee’s which affect their efficiency.

As per from above analysis, this has been suggested that contingency theory plays an important role for both the manager and leaders of the Toyota. However, based on these situations, also the other approaches is fruitful for Toyotamanager and leader to adopt these approaches also.

Conclusion

From the above task it can be concluded that both leaders and managers of an organisation like Toyota works effective for attaining the goals and objectives. Both the managers and leaders have similarities and dissimilarities that can be differentiated and compared on the basis of role and responsibilities. The task has also discussed about various approaches and theories of leadership and management applied by the leads and managers in the organisation for performing various functions and operations for effective operational management.

Task 2 (LO3 & LO4)

Introduction

This task will also focus on the operational management key approaches and the manager and leader roles in it. Operation managementis referred to a branch of management that mainly deals with managing various processes and operations  within organisation. Theoperational manger n need to perform various functions like, organising, planning, controlling and directing all the activities of an organisation for converting raw resources to valuable products with effective strategies. It is important to understand the functions of the operational manager. These have been discussed here:-

Lean Productions:It is all about managing the processes while reducing the wastage and maintaining the quality. This way OM can make Toyota more efficient and responsive towards the market needs.

Queuing:This takes place when the resources available are limited. The OM needs to have a thorough understanding of the concept of queuing in order to design a balanced systems efficiently. It requires analysis of resource and facilities available, such as funds, manpower, machinery, etc. OM can formulate pricing mechanisms, staffing solutions, and management strategies.

Scheduling:Since there are different operations that are needed to be carried out to produce a product, there is a strong need of scheduling them. This might be because of shortage of resources, funds, and order of carrying out them. The OM is required to prepare a schedule in order to make sure that every task is completed well on time and with utmost quality.

Process Design: It is the duty of the OM to determine the workflow, implementation requirement, equipment needed, and other necessity for a particular process. The managers at Toyota is required to form a flowchart, scale models, simulation software, etc.

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

The operation management is the process for utilizing the allocated resources effectively and also administrative activities help in gaining the competitive market benefits. The major approaches which are used for monitoring and controlling the activities are as follows:

Six Sigma Approach: This is the effective approach which is adopted by the Toyotamanager in the context of improving the organizational performances and efficiency. Also, this approach will allow the manager to effectively utilize the allocated resources which are used to eliminate the wastage and defects in the products (Dinh et al., 2014). It will lead to a cost-effective strategy which increases in the higher customer satisfaction and higher revenue within the organization.

Lean Production:

Role of manager and leader: In this, the manager role is to get the confirmation from the top level management to change the existing process as well as also monitor the several approaches implementation whereas the leaders look towards motivating and guiding the employees so that they should understand this approach importance in an organization.

Total Quality Management: It is an approach which is focusing mainly on the production process improvement in Toyotawhich is used to produce the quality of the products to all customers. It is an approach in which the manager controls the quality measures and also set the business standards which further results into increasing revenues and also reduces the product cost (Miner, 2015).

Role of manager and leader: In this approach, the leader is focusing towards the optimum resources utilization and manager uses this approach in terms of maintaining the strong relationship with the suppliers.

Just In Time: It is an approach in which the manager of TOYOTAneeded to manage effectively their outlets and inventory which helps in the process of production along with cost-effective techniques. An inventory should be ordered, based on the customer needs to reduce the wastage and TOYOTA can achieve higher revenue and productivity.

Role of manager and leader: Firstly manager determines the customer need towards the while the leader duty is to ensure that product is delivered to them on the right time.

Kaizen Model: It is an approach which ensures the continuous improvement in organizational strategic planning to achieve reliable outcomes. For example, the managers of Toyota needed to determine the customer daily requirements in the products in terms of offering them the quality of the products at the right time (Oakland, 2014). The strategic planning is necessary to be effectively developed in an organization which ensures less wastage while undertaking the process of production.

Role of manager and leader:In this, the manager responsibility is to identify the overall outcome and scope and also their duty is to measures the team members success and understanding towards adopting of this approach while the leader allocate the task and resources equally among the team members so that no conflicts can be arise in the future.

Capacity Management:It is all about effective management, controlling, and managing all the processes that are held within Toyota. The capacity depends on the availability of the resources, workforce, machines, and storing the final products.

Process and Product Design:The business environment is rapidly changing and hence, the OM needs to incorporate latest process design methods and tactics that could help in optimising the resources. In addition to this, competitive edge can be achieved by this.

Logistics Management:It is a part of supply chain management that requires planning, monitoring, and controlling skills from OM. Logistics management help the managers to keep a check on reducing expenses of the company and enhancing the quality which ultimately adds to customer satisfaction. It requires strategy making and implementation for different processes taking place within an organisation.

Scheduling: It is the process characterised by optimising, arranging, and controlling the workload in the manufacturing process. The OM is required to carry out scheduling of the machines and processes taking place in the manufacturing of cars. This is aimed at maximising the efficiency and effectiveness of the processes and reducing costs.

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

The importance of the operation management in the context of achieving the business objectives are as follows:

Optimum utilization of resources: operation management plays a vital role in utilizing the allocated resources in Toyotaeffectively. Toyotamanager properly formulates the strategies related to resource management which reduced in product wastage and also resources in cost savings (Sunder 2016). The employee efforts also can be productively used in terms of achieving reliable objectives.

Inventory management: This helps Toyota manager to manage an inventory in its different manufacturing units properly. Material like machinery should be ordered from a supplier when customer especially demands it. The effective management of an inventory of Toyota is the cost-efficient techniques which provide the higher revenues and productivity at the minimum cost.

Reduction of Waste:Toyota is continuously working on reducing waste in its operation by reducing the bottleneck restraints and idle time. The OM re-configures the machines and processes in order to increase the working time. By identifying the seven sources of waste associated with the company, it can easily reduce the wastage. These sources are overproduction, transportation, over-processing, rework, inventory, motion, and waiting.

Customer Satisfaction:The operational management offered the quality products to consumers which leads in higher consumer satisfaction as well as also creates the positive brand name of an organization.

Continuous Improvement:The effective inventory and resource management in Toyota different manufacturing units help them to provide quality products to its consumers at reasonable prices(Lai and Cheng, 2016). The operation management also effectively manage the employee performances which results in an enhancement in the production level.

Staff Motivation:One of the important aspect of OM is to keep the workers motivated. It is said that a happy worker is the productive worker. There are many ways OM at Toyota can motivate the employees. The first and foremost is to establish a better and well-functioning communication channel. This would help in solving their issues and understanding their roles and responsibilities. The next is empowering the team by including them in the decision-making and taking their input in the meeting. The other method is training and updating them as per the demand of the task and operation.

Quality Management:In order to have a better consumer satisfaction, it is important for the company to maintain the consistency and quality. Toyota is known for its Total Quality Management approaches and therefore, OM should make sure that quality is maintained at any cost. This would help in gaining the competitive position in the market.

M3: Evaluate how leaders and managers can improve efficiencies of operational management to successfully meet business objectives

The manager and leader play an important role in improving the employee efficiencies in its different outlets of Toyota. The main objectives are to provide the quality vehicles to its customers which lead in creating a good brand image. Toyotamanager needs to analyze the need of machineries and other parts and by this, they manage an inventory in its different manufacturing units. It will also minimize in the more consumption of the resource and also minimize the wastage which leads in the services and products available to its customers at the low cost.

Toyotamanager considers their workers as a best assets and also value their efforts, thus the leader and manager provide the proper guidance to achieve success in an organization. Also, a manager needs to analyze the customer expectations and needs of employees and then formulate the strategic paying system towards their good work. Also the organization leader creates a good environment of working for employees, for which the two-way communication will enable workers serving in Toyota need to convey their queries and issues to top management authority effectively. It will motivate an employee to develop enthusiasms in employees towards higher productivity and efficiencies(Bolden, 2016).

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

Political factors: The different regulations and political conditions may disrupt the Toyota functioning. Managers of Toyota need to implement the strategic policies as per the changes in the different subsidies, taxation policies, tariff policies and trade barriers (Ho, 2014). The higher tax will result in the decrease in the customer purchasing power which results in low profits and inefficiencies.

Economic factor: The variation is the activities affect country economic conditions. Thus, the Toyotamanager is needed to adopt the strategies for effective development and growth in a market. The effective pricing strategies also should be adopted by an organization manager by analyzing the UK economic environment conditions.

Social factor: There are living different kinds of people with their different values and cultures in the society. So there is a need to analyze their requirements and needs before introducing an innovative product in a market. Toyotaleader also needs to train employees to offer the quality services and products to the customer as per on their preferences and tastes. Also, there is a need for collecting the comment and feedback from the consumers for implementing the several changes based on their needs (Epstein, 2018).

Technological factor: innovation and technology uses enable Toyotato gain higher competitive benefits in a market. Effective information technology allows the effective controls over the different activities of the employees in the Toyota. Therefore, the cost of installation can be higher, but this gives in achieving the higher competitive benefits in terms of providing better services to their consumers.

Cultural Factors:It has been seen that culture has serious impact over operation management. It impacts the manager’s abilities to interact and negotiate a deal with the business people and stakeholders. The same is reflected in the management styles they choose to get the task done. Operation manager must have a better understanding of religion, politics, gender equality, traditions, and customs important in a particular country.

Ethical Factors:Organisational and personal ethics might affect the operation management. These can affect employees’ and manager’s behaviour within an organisation towards external environment that comprises customers, competitors, and partners. Company’s CSR policies duties, moral behaviour, etc., significantly affect the business working and decision-making.

M4:Analyse how these different factors affect the business environment and wider community

The business is getting affected by the several factors that are from the business environment collectively. To enhance the organization brand value, the CSR policies is important to be regulated effectively in the business. CSR policies promote the business because they are socially responsible and these external factors support an organization in terms of attaining the business objectives (Kerzner and Kerzner, 2017). For this, the product designing and implementation after determining the social values and cultures help an organization to develop a higher customer base as well as also support the wider community rights.

The changes in the technological factors also result in better processing for the society which put the positive impact on the organization stakeholders. These kinds of changes in the business environment support Toyota, to achieve the higher advantages from the competitive market (Hill, et.al.2017).

Conclusion

From the above task it can be concluded that the leaders and mangers of an organisation like Toyota plays an important role for effective managing and controlling various business operation in the organisation that are performed for attaining the ultimate vision and mission of the organization. The Tasks states that business and organisational function of the is influenced by various internal and external factors therefore the managers need to plan effective strategies and same plans must be implemented with the help o leader and team for attaining business growth and mitigating issues.

Conclusion

As per from the above analysis, the report has concluded that manager functions and leader role which ensures in the effective management and operations in an organization. The report has discussed on the manager and leader roles in the context of Toyotaas well as also defined the various leadership theories and approaches which ensures in the efficient operation management. Also, the report has highlighted on the operation management key approaches by which the manager and leader effectively manage and operates the automobile business. The operation management and its impact by external and internal factors affect on the leaders and manager decisions because they have to make the decisions after analyzing the business environment conditions.

References

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Online

• David Shrimpton, 2019 [Online] [Assessed through] < https://medium.com/@davidshrimptonds/can-just-in-time-jit-ever-work-in-software-development-185de89fdaa1>, [Assessed on 4^th February, 2019]
• Just In Time [Online] [Assessed through], 2019 <https://www.manufacturingtomorrow.com/article/2017/05/the-benefits-of-just-in-time-inventory/9734/> [Assessed on 4^th February, 2019]
• Roxanne Chugg, 2015 [Online] [Assessed through] < http://excellentoutcomes.com.au/blog/article/managers_versus_leaders>, [Assessed on 28th December, 2018] [Assessed on 4^th February, 2019]
• Situational Leadership, 2019 [Online] [Assessed through <https://www.situational.com/the-cls-difference/situational-leadership-what-we-do/> [Assessed on 4^th February, 2019]
• Six sigma, 2019 [Online] [Assessed through] https://www.reliableplant.com/Read/29849/six-sigma-tools, [Assessed on 4^th February, 2019]
• Total Quality Management, 2019 [Online] [Assessed through] <https://www.123rf.com/photo_81185582_total-quality-management-principles.html> [Assessed on 4^th February, 2019]