Influence of Organizational Culture, Politics, and Power on Individual and Team Behavior and Performance

Running head: ASSESSMENT
ASSESSMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Unit 12.............................................................................................................................................2
1 - Analyse how an organizations culture, politics and power influence individual and team
behaviour and performance..........................................................................................................2
2 - Evaluate how content and process theories of motivation and motivational techniques
enable effective achievement of goals in an organizational context..........................................7
3 - Explain what makes an effective team as opposed to an ineffective team........................12
4 - Apply concepts and philosophies of organizational behaviour within an organizational
context and a given business situation.......................................................................................19
Bibliography.................................................................................................................................24

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Unit 12
1 - Analyse how an organizations culture, politics and power influence individual and team
behaviour and performance.
Introduction
The individual as well as the team behavior in an organization is largely influenced by
the different factors which exist within the realm of a firm. This is because, these factors
influence the different team members and the individuals to perform in a certain manner and
with respect to this, it becomes considerably important for the different members of the firm to
ensure that they are successfully able to achieve their organizational objectives or are deviated
from their goals1. Hence, it must always be the overall aim of the management to ensure that they
are successfully able to create a workplace environment whose culture, politics and the power
tends to influence the different teams and individuals in a manner such that it benefits the firm
and improves the creativity of the organization. The section will highlight the manner in which
power, culture and politics will have an influence on the overall performance of the team and the
individual.
Analysis
Organizational politics
The politics can be rightfully described as the pursuit of individual agendas and self
interest in an organization without any regard consideration of their overall impact on the
1 Helmreich, Robert L., and Ashleigh C. Merritt. Culture at work in aviation and medicine: National,
organizational and professional influences. Routledge, 2017.

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outcomes of the organization or on the individual interest. The office politics can be considered
to be an essential part of the organization and has a strong influence on the working behavior of
the different individuals as it tends to influence the overall working environment of the different
members and tends to motivate or demotivate these different employees as present. The
organizational politics tends to primarily refer to the variety of activities which make use of
influence techniques in order to promote individual interests or organizational benefits.
According to Körner et al. (2018), Politics tends to exist in all the organizations and it is with
respect to this, it cannot be fought against or defeated. It can be rightfully defined as an asset
which strategy execution. However, it is important for the firm members to manage the politics
which takes place and do not refuel rivalries in the workplace. It is important that an individual
should exert influence only when it is important to do so and avoid rivalries at the workplace.
Impact of Politics on employee behavior
Although the organizational politics may not be necessarily negative and may result in
negative outcomes for the overall firm and its objectives, there are certain aspects of the
organizational politics which may be negative for the firm. Firstly, organizational politics may
lead to a decrease in the overall productivity of the firm. This is because it lowers the overall
output of the employees and thus has an impact on the productivity of an employee. Moreover,
those employees who are involved in politics tend to pay less attention to their work and in line
of this, the productivity falls down. In addition to this, the organizational politics also tends to
have an impact on the overall concentration and the ambience of the workplace. Due to office
politics, the individuals find it difficult to concentrate on their work and hence, this impacts the
overall ambience of the workplace.

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In addition to this, according to Herzberg (2017), the poor work environment then leads
to demotivated employees and increased stress at the workplace. Additionally, there exists the
stress and pressure of working and deadlines and politics simply ads to this and may lead to high
employee turnover rate. Hence, it is for these reasons that the politics needs to be avoided at the
workplace.
Organizational culture
The organizational culture can be stated to be the underlying beliefs, assumptions as well
as the values and the manner in which the interaction takes place in an organization. The
organizational culture tends to contribute to the social as well as the psychological environment
of an organization and thus, this has an impact on the overall productivity of the firm in the long
run2. The concept of Organizational culture can be stated to be quite broad and comprises of the
expectations , experiences, philosophies as well as the values which are guidance to the member
behavior and is a combined formation of the interactions, working, image as well as the future
expectations of the employees. Additionally, the culture also comprises of the symbols,
languages, assumptions as well as the beliefs and habits of the different employees as present.
Impact of organizational culture on the individual and team performance
As understood, the organizational culture tends to have a huge impact on the individual
as well as the team performance because it determines the values that are inculcated in the
different individuals as present. In addition to this, the organizational culture also tends to have a
huge impact on the overall workplace environment. This is because the organizational culture,
2 Winnubst, Jacques. "Organizational structure, social support, and burnout." Professional burnout. Routledge,
2017. 151-162.

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influences the behavior of the employees by either increasing or decreasing their stress level. If
the organizational culture is very positive in nature, then it will influence the different employees
positively and help them to perform well, else if the business environment is very negative in
nature then, it acts as a burden on the employee and hence, influences the employees in a
negative manner and decreased the overall productivity at the workplace.
Organizational Power
The Organizational Power can be rightfully defined as the capability to modify or to
conduct the behavior of other individuals in a group or in a manner such that they are able to
without modifying their own conduct or the manner in which they conduct the work. The politics
and the power have a great role to play in the domain of the business and help in the
determination of the growth of the organizations and also bring about continual success in the
company. The elements of power and politics can be understood to be critical as they assist in
management as well as the leadership of the organization and may go a long way in assisting the
firm to either become successful or cause the downfall. The organizational power as well as the
politics tends to require resources, money, people, authority as well as time. According to Körner
et al (2018), the power is established by the social responsibilities, organizational culture, the
behavior of the different individuals and the management team. There exists different sources of
power in an organization and although power is considered to be an essential part of the firm, it
needs to be understood that, for a firm to ensure success, the power in a firm needs to be
distributed in a manner such that it is beneficial for the different members of the firm.
The impact of power on the individual and team performance