Management and Operations

Introduction

The present paper is a research where are which has as case of study the fashion brand Zara. The research is composed by two sections.

In the first section is the overview of Zara, the definition of manager and of the leader, the leadership theories and the critically asses where are presented the models of management and how Zara put it in practice.

The second part presents the main operations function of the leader and of the managers of Zara, the effectiveness of the operations of the management department, the roles of the managers and of the leaders in given context, the factors which influence the managers in decision making and the activities the managers and the leaders realises for the business to be successful.

Section I

I) Overview of Zara

Zara is a fashion company based in Spain, but with stores all over the world. The company was founded in 1963 in the north-west of Spain by Amancio Ortega. The Zara business was incorporated in 1985 under one banner named Inditex, which brings under the banner more fashion companies based on the idea to put into market the new trends in a short term of time. The company opened the first store in United Kingdom in 1998 (Inditex, 2020).

Zara`s management structure is organised in hierarchical method. It means the responsibilities are divided on departments, the employees knowing easier in this way where they have to communicate the problems they may meet. This type of organisational structure is more efficient for the productivity of the company and for the communication with the customers, because every department within the company has its own task. Because Zara can be found everywhere around the globe, it has as well geographical organisational structure, each country having a manager and each store is managed by its own manager.

This type of management is very useful because in each country the stores have different needs, therefore it is necessary to be a manager in every store for to respond efficient in time for any organisational issue.

II) Manager versus leader

Over the time, there have been several interpretations and theories about the difference between the concept of the manager and the concept of the leader. Some of the interpretations say that the concept of manager and the concept of the leader are two concepts that are complementary because the manager sometimes has to lead, in the same time, sometimes the leader has to manage. These two concepts are strongly linked because their activities involve the same processes and both use the same models of behaviour.

Nowadays the concept of the manager is viewed as being more different compared to the leader, this is because, the manager activity is to manage the business, its role being more organisational, its activities being to think about how to run the business, how to develop and how to organize the aspects within the business, but also he has to think about the cash flow, the happiness of the customers, the resources and the money (Shamas-ur-Rehman, 2011).

Meanwhile, the leader is that person who thinks more about how to communicate, how to build a good team and how to make the team to be respectful and how to encourage and to guide the team to achieve the business` goals. Another difference between manager and leader is that it is necessary to be a good manager for to be a good leader, but it is not necessary to be a good leader is somebody wants to be manager. The leader has the task to create a culture between the employees, while the manager` role is focused on tracking the target the employees need to accomplish (.

For example, in the shop Zara from United Kingdom, the manager`s function is planning, organising, monitoring the results, controlling, solving issues, while the leader`s functions are to lead the employees, to motivate them and especially to empower them by trust.