Navigating the Dynamics of Leadership and Management

Introduction

Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is a restaurant based in America, under the Yum! Brand. It is one of the leading franchises in the fast-food sector globally. Its headquarters are located in Louisville, Kentucky; Texas, in Dallas, United States. It was founded by Colonel Harland David Sanders, in 1930. It is globally famous for its specialization, that is, fried chicken. In fact, it is the largest chain of fried chicken in the world. It also sells kebabs, sandwiches, salads, and hamburgers. Various factors like objectives of KFC, customer requirements, target market group, beliefs, and value systems of the top management determine the organizational structure of KFC. Well, a structured organization promotes work efficiency, smooth functioning of the internal organization, and also a delegation of authority and responsibility. Operations and management is that sector of the management function which is concerned with scheming and managing the production process of goods or services of an organization. It is associated with controlling several business operations functioning in an organization. The whole production system of an organization, transformation of inputs into rational outputs, is all related to this particular management function. This portion of the management function also decides and plans the product quality, design, production, inventory control, and so on.

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LO1:

Contingency Theory

The theory depends on the theory of situation which clarifies that knowing the best leadership or management ‘situation’ plays the most vital role. It can be said undoubtedly the strategy of management or leadership will vary by industry according to this theory. The behavior, nature, or protocol cannot be the same for a doctor or labor (Murphy, and Knemeyer, 2018).

Systems Theory

An organization run by many systems – failure of one system can be threatening to the whole system. The system includes money, material, technology, and people – all of these inputs can be the result of perfect output. System theory is basically a theory where managers get a wider perspective to run the organization. The theory helps the manager to get hold of the various part of an organization. Furthermore, they can decide by the theory: what is the prime motto to work upon, how to assimilate all the parts of the organization, even they can take care if leaders are doing their job properly (Grant. 2016).

Chaos Theory

Chaos is such a familiar word for everyone. Organizations often face the same in different situations. The complexity of many departments creates this chaos where managers take all the initiatives to overcome.

Basic Management Theory

Basic Management theory describes the basic rules to be followed to control an organization. The rules are the A B C D of a management book, which is often ignored.

Theory of X and Y

According to Gregor ideas of theory ‘x’ and ‘y’ are based on the research of human behavior.
Theory ‘x’ deals with the negative sides of the human being which includes ‘immaturity, irresponsibility, incapability, unpunctuality, laziness, less interested, inattentive’ etc. Theory ‘y’ is just the opposite where a debate is there on the human nature that it always wants self-fulfillment, self-development, and self-respect at work

Analysis of the Theories

As stated all the theories are the staircase to reach the top for an organization. All the discussed theories have respective importance to run the organization. It depends on the managers and to some extent on the leaders to decide or judge where the theories they should use to achieve success like contingency theory is not a proper tool to get hold over system neither chaos theory can be. The theory of ‘x’ and ‘y’ needs to take into account special care which can solve many behavioral issues of workers. Workers are the pillar of an organization. Henceforth it is very much important to know all the workers completely for the managers or leaders (Jabbour, Muller-Camen., Redman, and Wilkinson.2016).

Comparison of the role of a leader and function of a manager

Analysis of the Role of a Leader

From the above table, it is analyses that a leader encourages his followers to give effort and to achieve a goal. The leader has the skill of imagination and creativity and he encourages his team in such a way that it becomes their visualization. The leader assists his team in making a plan to achieve the target and maintain good foresight. He motivates his subordinates, creates teams, innovates, and develop trust among the shareholders.
Leader motives the team to work together and help them in accomplishing their everyday jobs. Leader utilizes conflict as an advantage. A style utilized by the leader is transformational leadership (Kim and Barak, 2015). They regulate and focus on people to done work on time. His role is positive; he figures out the hidden skills of his followers and gives proper guidance to achieve their target.
Quality of leader

• Enthusiastic
• A good skill to communicate
• Confidence
• capability to motivate
• Vision
• Positive Attitude
• Open-minded

Analysis of the function of a Manager

On the other hand, from the given table it is considered that the manager manages the firm and he is also responsible to plan, organized direct control, and coordinate. They get their work done by the staff in various ways and have the power to hire the staff and also to fire them when needed. Different types of managers are there in a firm like general manager, functional managers, project manager, and top-level managers.
Manager’s role depends on their nature of work such as various activities carried out in the industry are managed by the general manager. Functional managers are accountable for various areas of their job such as accounting, sales, and marketing. Project managers take the duty to complete and achieve a certain project (de Lima et al., 2018). The duties of top-level managers are to see the perception and aim of an organization. The manager always stays away from conflicts. Style use by managers to lead is transformational. They organize individuals and focuses on the procedure of the work. Sometimes the manager criticizes his staff to make them best in their field.
Quality of Manager

• Etiquette
• Competence
• Confidence
• Discipline
• Committed towards work
• Effective in making a decision
• Patience

LO2:

The theories can be clarified if we apply these theories to an organization. KFC is an international brand therefore popularity of it can be assumed without question. KFC does not get such popularity in one day. For this popularity management tried hard following all possible theories.
Contingency Theory in KFC
The situation varies from place to place, regarding society as well. Now the situation of a posh area cannot be the same as a comparatively lonely area. Therefore management should take care of the number and behavior of staff regarding the situation of the locality. If the crowded area does not have enough space or staff then it can lose its brand value.
System Theory in KFC
In KFC many systems are working altogether – like billing, serving, cleaning, etc. To run all these systems properly the theory need to follow properly otherwise the customer can be impatient.
Chaos Theory IN KFC
Failure of system theory can lead to Chaos Theory. It is very obvious if systems will not work properly then it leads to customer dissatisfaction which ultimately generates chaos.
Now all three theories are co-related with each other where one theory can damage all the work of other theories.
X and Y Theory in KFC
Now for such an international brand, it is highly recommended to know the nature of all the staff. If staff is having x or qualities then management will decide what to do. On the other hand, if it is unknown to the manager or leader then the company has to compensate.

Application of the role of a leader and the function of a manager

To make KFC successful, effective leaders are there who have the capability to boost the motivation of the staff (Valisowa, 2018). Managers decide the strategies based on market review and management theories whereas leaders just apply those strategies practically. Managers also have the responsibility of food quality and quantity along with customer satisfaction whereas leaders only report to the managers. The cause of any mishaps is only the manager’s lookout – leaders only take the initiatives to control the situation. Managers of KFC are the last person who wants any sort of agitation in the company while leaders take full advantage of the situation. In KFC leaders and other workers, all have friendly bonding belong from the same status. All of them are just like colleagues but managers here do maintain a distance – the relationship is of boss and subordinate (Belongia, 2018). Any plan decided by the manager of KFC is executed by the leaders properly. The role and function of manager and leader are interlinked in KFC – one cannot perform their duty without the other (Mangkarto, 2016). Henceforth both the managers and leaders maintain a good bonding in them in KFC.

Strengths and Weaknesses of different situational contexts

Critical Analysis of theories and approaches

The overall analysis on the subject area of concern is creating an understanding f the difference between leaders and managers in a certain situation in this case as we have taken KFC as a point of discussion on the chosen topic the area of the committed sector in this diversifying source of the network (Biemann, Kearney, and Marggraf, 2015). The more focus is predominantly done to highlight the fact of leading the team and managing the team. In the process of doing so, the ability of the both of them requires management skill hence the skills requires the ideas and the focus to instigate the motivating factor (Hrenyk et al., 2016). The motivating factor plays an important role in leadership. This creates a huge difference of opinion between leaders and managers (Hrenyk et al., 2016). As we are discussing the organization KFC who has its name and fame worldwide with that respect the leaders and managers play an important role and always is an important factor of point of consideration (Biemann, Kearney, and Marggraf, 2015).

LO3:

Operations management in KFC

The decisions that coordinate the various stages of operations are called operational management. The key approaches to operation management in KFC:

• Customer proximity is one of the aspects that can be considered as a tool for operational management. The most important factor in customer proximity is to maintain the standards between the customers and also available with the customer approaches (Pal, G.K. and Nanda, 2018.).
• Management of finance is another vital tool for operational management and plays a major part in operational management procedure (Van Dooren,  Bouckaert and Halligan, 2015.). The use of funds and proper utilization of resources both money and human resources are in this area. KFC can work in this sector to improvise financial stability.
• Controlling the supply chain management is another important factor in operational management. Supply chain management denotes the effective management, controlling and managing the raw materials to the final product (Fahimnia, Sarkis and Davarzani, 2015.). Another operational management approach that KFC can implement is to configure a better supply chain management.
• Strategic implementation is another operational management tool. Strategy refers to the planning tactics and future planning of full utilization of resources. Another area that KFC can look out for proper and update the strategy implementation to meet the need for customer satisfaction (Yenipinar and Akgün, 2017).

The roles of manager and leaders in KFC

In today’s marketplace, the main focus is to deliver quality product Leaders in KFC play a greater role to maintain the efficiency and quality of the product (Noe et al .,2017). The leaders of KFC play a major role by motivating the workers to ensure a quality product. In KFC, operational leaders play a vital role to design the supply chain management model in such a way that can actually minimize the chances of risk(O’Neill,  Sohal, and Teng, 2016). The leaders and managers also work hand in hand to ensure the effective collaboration process with a broader customer base. KFC especially use the DRP system to outline the order of the supplier, demand planning, and inventory management.

The role of managers in operational management

• Proper lookout on financial factors and budgetary decisions:  The managers of KFC evaluate all the previous year’s financial reports and took the budgetary decisions to eliminate the chances of risk in financial decision making (Mohamed, Kerosi, and Tirimba, 2016).
• Workflow management and staffing: The managers in KFC manage and interpret the workflow analysis and also maintain a proper report on the division of work (Kuhlen and Speck, 2015). The managers of KFC differentiate the various work area to maintain the sustainability of the workforce.

Importance of Operational Management

The role of operations management in an organization is very vital. By producing and managing different kinds of products the role of operational management is huge. The type of organization whether it is a profitable organization or non-profit organization does not matter (Buelow,  and Blaine,2015). The role of operational management is huge in terms of creating the products and services that can fulfill the market demands as well as the individual’s demand. The importance and value of operational management are:

• Achieving the organizational goal: The organizational goals refer to the vision and mission system of the organization (Deephouse et al.,2017). In KFC the operational managers help the employees to achieve the long term goal of the organization. The main long term goal of KFC is to deliver quality food items to the customer that are budget-friendly.
• Managing the quality product: Another importance of operational management is managing the quality product to the customers (Jeihoonian., Zanjani and Gendreau, 2017). The KFC operational managers play a major role to maintain the quality product amongst the customers by continuous improvement of the work process and also conduct a sophisticated program to deliver better services.
• Proper utilization of resources: The operational managers play a major role in the proper utilization of human resources and other resources of the organization like raw material management (Vokorokos, Baláž, and Ádám, 2015). In KFC the operational managers and leaders take active participation in the utilization of resources. KFC adopts a drug-free production unit to maximize the utilization of resources.
• Reducing the cost: Production cost and other operational costs maintenance is another important area of operational management. The cost related to production and other operational cost are regulates by the operational managers (Gopalakrishnan et al.,2015). In KFC the operation managers use the most suitable strategy to reduce the cost. KFC’s centralized cost-cutting strategy is a hugely popular and successful tool to reduce the extra cost.
• Marketing and finance activities: Regulating marketing and finance activities are two main aspects of operational management. Marketing activity is those activities that are totally based upon customer approach and finance activities are all the financial activities like the establishment of the new office (Anderson, Chandy and Zia, 2018.). The managers in KFC also regulate the market activities and also took active participation in financial decision making. The marketing activities especially in China the marketing strategy of KFC is fulfilled and earned more profit. KFC uses a push strategy to create awareness and also encouraged the young generation to earn more through their services.
• Managing the workflow analysis: The workflow analysis is the systematic procedure of work amongst co-workers and workers (Geisler et al.,2016). Through proper planning and designing the workflow analysis the operational managers in KFC divide the work area as per business standards. In KFC wide range of veg and non-veg items are produced by different departments.

Importance of leaders and managers in operations management

The activities of managers and leaders in KFC are:

• Proper planning: Proper planning refers to the tasks or areas of activities that are helped to achieve the organizational objectives. In KFC the various planning activities are designed to get the desired outcome (Ferme et al.,2016). Planning activities focus on organization objectives and the results that increased organizational efficiency.
• Organizing the assigned task: In KFC the operational managers assigned the task within the groups and individuals. Operational managers in KFC assigned the jobs or performance area into subgroups, to maintain the workflow, and also this factor helps to achieve organizational effectiveness (Johnson and Petri,.2017).
• Influencing the workforce: Another way to meet the organizational objectives the operational managers in KFC guiding the various activities and also give the workers the right direction to perform better (Van Velzen, Van Gogh and Meijer, 2016). This factor helped the organization to achieve operational efficiencies.
• Controlling workforce management: Controlling workforce management is another important area that needs to be considered for meeting organizational objectives. In KFC the managers measure the performance area of each worker and also compare the present performance with the past performance and evaluate the result. Based on this evaluation the next step is taken in KFC (Deelman et al.,2015).
• Managing the work standards: In KFC the operational managers evaluates and measures the individual performance of each worker. They also give a lot of importance to feedback procedures, where they collect the feedback procedures from the loyal customers that help them to identify the strength and weaknesses of the organization (Zhang et al.,2016). This identification also helps the organization to deliver a standardized product.

LO4:

Relationship between leaders and managers in operations management

The decision-making ability of the leaders and the managers has an overall effect on the company. Because of this factor and several other figurative factors, we should analysis on the fact that both have got the power to implement the thought process. The power just segregates among those and had a differentiation strategy in judging certain things in a certain way (Annarelli, and Nonino,  2016). The management plays a vital role in creating an environment and both go hand in hand with the methodology and the aspect (Dufosse et al., 2017).
The point of discussion over here is totally based on the ideas and development of a certain area of concern for both leaders and a manager. In some scenarios, we have come across that Manager only act as leaders in many organizations (Wang et al., 2015). As our analysis paper is based on the fact of realization and based on these prospects a certain kind of assumption and the analogy has been drawn out of it. The operational management sometimes put an effort to create the analysis of building a relationship between the management and the leadership in an environment in the business and based on this a broader range of wide aspect of studies (Buelow,  and Blaine,2015). It has been observed that the areas of concern and the matter of fact that the ideas related to the major area of decision-making capacity sometimes engraved the perennial management and the role of handling the team towards more potential and setting the diversified goal in creating the essential needs of managing employees in KFC. The other determining factor and the ability to manage the employee in creating the best out of ordinary from an employee,  as a result of the matter of concern that the true basic ingredients related to the customary guidelines. Also, this act as an influencing factor of the employee is the major area that needs the leadership role and managerial role at the same time (Wang et al., 2015).

Application of operations management

The operational management sometimes put an effort to create the analysis of building a relationship between the management and the leadership in an environment in the business and based on this a broader range of wide aspect of studies (Buelow,  and Blaine,2015). It has been observed that the areas of concern and the matter of fact that the ideas related to the major area of decision-making capacity sometimes engraved the perennial management and the role of handling the team towards more potential and setting the diversified goal in creating the essential needs of managing employees in KFC. The other determining factor and the ability to manage the employee in creating the best out of ordinary from an employee,  as a result of the matter of concern that the true basic ingredients related to the customary guidelines. Also, this act as an influencing factor of the employee is the major area that needs the leadership role and managerial role at the same time. It has been observed that the areas of concern and the matter of fact that the ideas related to the major area of decision-making capacity sometimes engraved the perennial management and the role of handling the team towards more potential and setting the diversified goal in creating the essential needs of managing employees in KFC. The other determining factor and the ability to manage the employee in creating the best out of ordinary from an employee,  as a result of the matter of concern that the true basic ingredients related to the customary guidelines. Also, this act as an influencing factor of the employee is the major area that needs the leadership role and managerial role at the same time (Wang et al., 2015).

Conclusion and recommendations

The demonstration of the overall understanding of the operation and we will be drawing a critical evaluation of the managing of an organization and the process of application and the implications of the business. As in this case, the subjective and objective areas of concern are literally have influenced the overall perplexing aspect of the guidelines and the level of roles the leaders play in the upcoming benefits of an organization(Twibell et al., 2018). The dignified and moral concept of the scenario holds on the true ability and summarizes the whole idea of creating the leaders in the right frame of mind, which will help KFC to establish a better framework of understanding the capability of the employees so that they can sustain for the longer period. The positive frame of mind is an important criterion that plays a huge role base on the study of a theory that is the role of operational managerial skill and developing the leadership quality to guide the team and ability to manage the operations properly As KFC is a leading business giant over worldwide in getting the business management in the applications of the analysis of overall development and that studies highlights about the fact in condemns and the analysis of making the overall development of making the contemporary business environment. Decision-making plays a very vital role in establishing a successful organization. Hence, the leader needs to optimistic about taking an effective decision. It is to be added to the fact that the KFC has a strong management system that has created a significant impact in the mind of the consumer. Thus, it has helped to gain revenue for the company.

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Herman Bailey

With a student-centered approach, I create engaging and informative blog posts that tackle relevant topics for students. My content aims to equip students with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed academically and beyond.