Management and business operations are the crucial process of the organization. The report will focus on Aldi’s case study and the difference between the role of the leader and the function of the manager will be elaborated in this report. The core principle of Aldi is to provide the equal value to the customers by being fair and efficient (Mortimer, 2016). Various theories and approaches have been discussed in the context of leadership and management. Presentation will be made on the various approaches and strategies of operational management. The connection between leadership and management in a current business environment will be defined.
The role of the leader and the function of the manager are vital for the organization to achieve the target for the company. Appointed as the Trainee Manager Operations at Aldi, I have found that there are number of functions of management and various traits and style of leadership which facilitate in an adequate performance of the purposes of the management. Leadership and management efficiency of Aldi is effective that involves reducing costs in different areas of the business (Skordili, 2013).
Comparison between the leader and the manager
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Managers of the Aldi |
Leaders of the Aldi |
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Managers are liable to set the aim of the company (Perrin, 2010). |
Leaders convince the aim developed by the leaders. |
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The direction to the group is given by the manager and communicates the policies to the leaders. |
Leaders provide way to the team for fulfilling the aim of the company and influence the employees to do work as per the implemented policies. |
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The ideas are created by the managers for improving the condition of the organization. |
Leaders encourage employees to execute those ideas into reality. |
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Managers direct or guide the employees for working. |
Leaders motivate the employees to accomplish the work within time frame. |
I have analyzed the function of the manager and the role of the leader. Manager is liable person to manage and design the work of the company in sequence manner for attaining the objectives of the company. The managers of the Aldi focus on strategies and tactics to accomplishment the task by making the plan so that the staff of the organization can perform their respective duty in accordance to the objectives. According to me, the managers of the company are liable to set the objectives of the company and communicate the policies to the leaders (Sharma and Jain, 2013). Aldi is one of the well known super markets of the world and the Headquarter of the company is situated in Germany led by three values consistency, simplicity and responsibility. I found that the role of the leader in Aldi’s company is to motivate the employees to attain the target within time period. Leadership is the proactive and based more on verbal communication in Aldi. The function of the manager and the role of the leaders of Aldi are mentioned below.
The main function of the manager in the organization is to implement the strategy for setting the goals to enhance the revenues and sales of the products of Aldi. Cost leadership strategy is used by the manager of Aldi to decrease the cost of the operation in running the grocery store. On the other hand leaders of the company are liable to communicate the roles set by the managers (Barlow, 2005).
The manager of the Aldi is liable to organize the resources in an efficient manner to fulfil the goals of the company. The role of the leader in this function is to motivate the employees to accomplish the goal by utilizing the resources in an efficient manner for the best outcome (Bohoris and Vorria, e.d.).
The tasks are directed by the manager of the company to be performed. The environment of Aldi is long term position which reduces the number of inventories. Whereas the role of the leader in the organization to motivate the employee to accomplish the task.
Staffing is considered as the function of the manager and the leaders are liable to get the best out of the employees hired in the company. The human resource department of the company are focused on the industry leading training package and hire employees by analyzing their skills and qualifications as per the required profile.
The manager of the company is well efficient to coordinate the functions of the company for better consequences. There are various departments in the company such as production department, finance department and human resource department. The role of the leader is to develop the organization in the activities with taking help of effective communication and leadership skills.
The strategies and tactics are formulated by the leaders but these are executed by the leaders in the organization. These strategies are embarrassed by the managers in the organization but the outcomes are verified by the leaders of Aldi.
However, there are various kinds of leadership theories such as trait theory, contingency theory, great man theory, and transactional, transformational and behavioural leadership theory (Van der Voet, 2014). I have analyzed through study that Aldi has adopted the transformational leadership theory in which leaders of the organization are developing the vision of the company and leading the charge. Transformational leaders are also tending to set the big picture to attain the target (Alghatani, 2014).
There are various kinds of theories of management which implicit with the skills of the leadership make the company develop its operations. The department of operational management of Aldi is focused on the management theories and the leaders are focused to cut down the cost of the manufacture. As Trainee Manager Operations at Aldi, it has been analyzed that due to fall price of Pound have made big impact on consumer spending. Sustainable business strategies should be implemented by the managers and the leaders of the organization in quick manner. (Battistoni, et. al., 2013). The contemporary theory of management should be applied by Aldi, to handle the current situation of falling prices of Pound which influence the purchasing behaviour of the customers. The managers of the company can focus on the strategies such as selection of the suppliers who can offer the raw material at lower cost. The leaders of the Aldi Company use their attribute to encourage the followers to carry extra ordinary technologies in term to increase the selling of commodities of Aldi. There is an example of Aldi that have enhanced their share of the UK grocery market which provide benefits to Aldi for keeping cost down by considering own brand products and offers of heavy promotional.
Management by objective is the main theory which consider on the mutual efforts of the managers and the employees for fulfilling the goals of the company. It is vital for the manager of Aldi to maintain the standards of the company and employee of the company should be motivated from the guidance of leaders (Jiménez-Jiménez, et. al., 2015). Situational leadership can be applied by the organization to handle the situation of the company due to fall prices of pound. It is helpful to managers in exploring the demands of the situation and it is based on the amount of task behaviour and the relationship behaviour. Task behaviour is the component of the situational leadership theory which will be helpful for the leader of the Aldi to guide the by defining what each follower is to do well as when and where tasks are to be accomplished. Relationship behaviour is the second important component of the situational leadership in which leader engage in the two way of communication by giving support. As per Thompson and Glasø, (2015), the situational leadership theory is easy to understand and remind leaders to treat employee on individual basis so that they can understand what they need to do in the situation of falling prices. The weakness of the situational leadership is difficult to understand the commitment of this model on the company (McCleskey, 2014).
System leadership is the effective approach to evaluate the various market elements which may impact on the profitability of the business. It raises the concern of the awareness of the leadership strategy in the Company (Dinh, et. al., 2014). The leaders as well as the manager of the company can cope up with the adverse situation of the company by identifying the priorities of the leadership strategies and the culture. The strength of this theory is that the manager and the leader of the company can develop the coordination of the specialized activities. On the other hand, the weakness of the theory may influence on the managers and the leaders of the company by becoming over conceptual. The contingency leadership theory reflects that there is no best way to make a decision or to lead a company in the specific situation, instead, the effectiveness of the leader which is based on the situation (Miner, 2015). The work environment of the company can be influenced and faced by the management and leadership at Aldi. The strength of this approach is pragmatic and it can guide the leader with efficient skills in poorly structured task environment. Due to reactive and complex feature of this theory, the management and leaders of Aldi has to face challenges.
There are different dimensions of contemporary business environment such as the relationship between leadership and management in the context of CSR (corporate social responsibility), the company need to focus on the maintaining of the values, sustainability and ethics in the organization for the purpose of improving the boding with the customers by providing them customer satisfaction. There are various factors which can influence the decision making and operational management of the leaders and the managers of Aldi Company.
These factors are poor quality of products and services, unethical practice of recruitment, unfair reward provided to the staff and insufficient manager-employee organization. The poor quality of the products and services discourage customers to keep the relation with the company for long lasting and being the reason of losing customers. The decision making process of leaders can be influenced due to deficiency of the employees, in such case the leader and the manager should have the problem solving skills to sort out the issues (Horváthová and Davidová, 2011). These factors may influence the company’s environment and wider community. Along with that there can be external factors such as economic, political, social, legal and technological that may influence the decision making process and operational management. In the term of political factor, the amendments in the policy of UK government may influence the decision making process and operation management. The customer has become health conscious and their demand towards foods are constantly changing (Northouse, 2015). Aldi has adopted that product mix to accommodate the demand of the organic foods. Technology has become advanced in the form of online shopping and customers want to prefer purchase commodities via online in that case Aldi should be active in e-commerce otherwise it may influence the operation management of the company. Changes in tax, policy, export and import may impact the relationship between the leadership and management (Ododo, Mulholland and Turner, 2015). The customer demands play a vital role in the organization and the managers of the company can adopt the policies and strategy by considering the factors that can influence the social responsibility of the company (Slack, 2015). The operation management of the company can be influenced by the efficiency of the employees. These factors can affect the business environment and wider community because poor quality and services may impact the environment of business and trust of the customers will reduce due to this activity. As a trainee manager operation, it has been recommended that the manger as well as the leader of the company should consider the various approaches such as Six Sigma, just in time, continuous improvement concepts and total quality management for monitoring and developing the employee efficiency (Kootanaee, Babu & Talari, 2013).
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the role of the leader and the function of the manager are vital for developing the growth of the organization. The report has been made on Aldi’s Company and the difference between leader and manager reflected in the report. It has been analyzed that the role of the leader and the manager are defined as per the situation. The description about situational leadership, system leadership, contingency leadership and management by objectives has given for better understanding.
References
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