Impact of Culture, Power, and Politics on Organizational Behavior

This document analyzes the impact of culture, power, and politics on organizational behavior. It discusses the different cultural models and their effects on individual and team performance. It also explores motivational theories and the importance of effective team building strategies.

ORGANISATIONAL
BEHAVIOUR

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
Impact of culture, power and politics on individual and team performance...............................3
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................5
Content and process theories of motivation.................................................................................5
LO3..................................................................................................................................................7
Effective team as opposed to an ineffective team.......................................................................7
Tuckman theory of team development......................................................................................10
LO4................................................................................................................................................11
Concepts and philosophies of organisation behaviour to a given business situation................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
The concept of organisational behaviour can be classified as the analysis of the different
attitudes and behaviour that arises amongst the employees in a work culture or organisation
(Cacciattolo, 2015). The current report will analyse the impact of politics, power and culture on
organisation along with the analysis of motivational theories. The concept team building will be
studied and the concepts and philosophies related to organisational behaviour will be illustrated
in the last.
MAIN BODY
LO 1
Impact of culture, power and politics on individual and team performance
The term organisational culture broadly refers to the psychology and behavioural aspects that
the employee of an organisation shows towards their management and the work culture that
exists in the organisation in which they work (Wood And et.al., 2016). The cultural model given
by Handy particularly analyses the different kind of culture that are prevalent and these can be
analysed in the context of Waitrose in following manner:
Power Culture: The power culture is basically the culture where a select few people have all the
major power to take important decisions in the company and the remaining employees have to
just comply with the instruction that have been given. The employees of Waitrose individually
will lose their motivation and innovation and the team will also lose its creativity which can
ultimately be harmful for Waitrose only.
Role Culture: Here every person has a specified role with which they have to comply and they
are strictly focused only on the completion of the roles with which they have been assigned
(Tang, 2019). This is not a good aspect for Waitrose as it can although lead to a motivated
workforce who in order to get promotion strictly stick to the roles that they have been assigned
but yet the teams will face severe consequences as the focus will be on individual growth rather
than on organisational growth.
Task Culture: Task culture clearly segregates the different tasks that are to be performed and the
employees work according to that. Implementation of this culture in Waitrose will increase the
productivity of the employee and the team performance will also increase as tasks might need to
be performed in teams as well.
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Person Culture: Here everyone assumes themselves to be superior to the other persons that are
working and overall the culture is extremely negative. Application of this aspect in the Waitrose
company can severely minimise the efficiency of the individual performance of the employees
and the team performance will also involve increased clashes rather than productivity.
Collectively, it can be said that the best cultural strategies that Waitrose can adopt are role
culture and task culture as these both focus on productivity rather than wastage of resources.
The power that the different individuals hold and the manner in which they exercise is the second
aspect that affects the overall organisation behaviour. This can be analysed for the Waitrose
Company using the French and Raven Model of power:
Referent Power: Here the leaders are considered as idol by the employees and this is mainly due
to their following and work that they have performed in the organisation on the basis of which
they have gained certain power (Ruck, 2017). At Waitrose, the individuals are motivated to
improve their performance and the team members are also influenced to work with enhanced
leadership strategies.
Legitimate Power: Legitimate power arises with the positions that an individual holds i.e. the
manager or the director of a company will be automatically entitled to an enhanced power and
authority over the employee that comes with the position. The decision making abilities can
affect individuals at Waitrose either positively or negatively and the performance of the team
also becomes more regulated.
Expert Power: This power is gained by an individual who is highly experienced and has been
working in the organisation over a long period of time. They are called experts because of the
specific knowledge that they share and this motivates the individual and teams at Waitrose to
also gain knowledge and work hard so that they might also become experts.
Coercive power: Coercive power is applied in the organisation when the employees become
relaxed with the compliance of the rules that have been developed by the company and hence
needs to be punished so that in future such mistakes can be avoided. In Waitrose, the individuals
are reminded of their duties for their own benefit and in teams, this enhances coordination and
efficiency of work.
Reward Power: Here the employees and teams are rewarded whenever they perform exceptional
work for the company (Raes and et.al., 2015). For both individual and teams at Waitrose, this is
the most motivating power which enhances their productivity and performance immensely.
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Hence, it can be said that all the powers are present and are necessary in the organisations for
achieving goals in a better manner.
The third major aspect that impacts on the organisational performance at individual and team
level is politics. This is inherent in every organisation and it cannot be avoided. However, at
Waitrose, the management can try to practice more of the good politics rather than bad politics in
following manner:
Good Politics: Good politics basically involves the support that the employees give to each other
and the overall manipulation of fats in order to increase the growth collectively in the
organisation. Implementation of good politics is good and healthy for the organisation to an
extent but beyond that it can be harmful for the management in the long run. In Waitrose, this
can affect the support that employees are receiving thus creating a positive work environment.
Bad Politics: Bad politics is an extremely negative aspect that must be avoided by the
organisations at all costs so that the performance, the motivational level and the output of the
company everything does not decline simultaneously (Elsmore, 2017).
Therefore, it can be said that the implementation of good politics in Waitrose is beneficial to an
extent.
LO 2
Content and process theories of motivation
Motivation incorporates the factors that influence an individual in a positive manner making
them work harder and achieve greater performance level. The intrinsic motivation basically
refers to the internal factors such as personal goals that individual themselves develop in order to
advance and get motivated by it. The extrinsic factors are more external in nature and affect the
performance externally such as rewards, incentives etc. motivating them to work harder.
Content theories of Motivation: Content theories of motivation address the “what” aspect while
ascertaining that what are the methods in which an individual can get motivated towards the
achievement of goals that have been setup (Cacciattolo, 2015).
McClelland’s theory of Need: This content theory was given by McClelland and it states that
there are three major requirements of the individuals that motivate them to work harder. These
three attributes are achievement, affiliation and power. Achievement is the need to get
recognised and gain prominence in a particular area or field and it is significant in increasing the
success factor of the employee as well. Waitrose regularly promotes and recognises employees
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who are performing great and are efficient. Affiliation refers to the desire to seek belongingness
and love form the fellow companions and colleagues with whom the individual is working. The
management of the Waitrose Company regularly engages the employees in the team activities
and interactive sessions so that the employees can bond over each other. The third factor is the
power and this is something that is sought by every individual working in an organisation. The
ability to instruct and control the actions of someone gives the ultimate sense of superiority to the
individuals and hence motivates them to achieve this level of proficiency (Brenyah and
Obuobisa-Darko, 2017). In Waitrose as well the regular promotion of the capable employees
helps them in fulfilling this desire as well.
Process Theories of Motivation: The process theory of motivation is mainly the theory that helps
in addressing the “How” aspect behind the motivation i.e. how can an individual be motivated or
influenced to achieve better performance levels.
Adam’s Equity Theory: This is a process motivation theory that concentrates on the input and
output that is associated with the employees of the organisation. This theory states that the inputs
i.e. the efforts, skills or knowledge that an employee is putting in the organisation must be
equally balanced with the outputs that they are receiving in the form of salaries, rewards and
benefits. In Waitrose as well, the organisation understand the need to give a justifiable return to
the employees who are working hard and are extremely efficient. The company always aims
towards giving a balanced rewards and the equity is tried to minimise. Equity arises when the
amount of input that an employee puts in the company exactly matches with the amount of
output that they are receiving (Oxenham, 2017). The situation of inequity occurs when the input
and output of the employees do not match each other. There can be two prominent situations that
can arise in such situation i.e. in inequity:
Inputs > Outputs: In this kind of scenario, the amount of input exceeds then the output that is
being received by the company. In such situation, the employees become dissatisfied s they re
not receiving adequate returns for the efforts that they are putting in and it can lead to increase in
the employee turnover.
Outputs > Inputs: This kind of scenario arises when the benefits given to employee over
compensate with the inputs that are being employed. In such situations, employees become too
relaxed and they di not rake the job role seriously and can prove to be a disastrous situation for
the company all over.
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LO3
Effective team as opposed to an ineffective team
Teams are defined as bunch of people working to achieve the common targets.
Differences between an effective team and an ineffective team can be summarises in the
following points.
Point of difference Effective team Ineffective team
Meaning Effective team consider as
such teams that are
productive in nature.
On the basis of the
productivity a team is
defined as an effective team.
Ineffective team is the team
that is not able to deal with
the objectives behind
formations of such team.
On the basis of lack of
productivity a team is
defined as an ineffective
team.
Productivity Productivity is defined as
coping up with the objectives
behind formation of such
teams (Bhattacharya, 2020).
Productivity is denoted as
achieving the objectives
behind formation of the team.
On the basis of lack of
productivity a team is
projected as an ineffective
team.
Ineffective teams are not able
to achieve the objectives set
by the company behind the
formation of such teams.
Team meetings Team meetings are an
important aspects of the
team.
Team leaders in effective
team conduct team meetings
on a regular basis.
Regular team meetings drive
leaders to take control over
the functional activity of the
Team leaders also organise
team meetings even in
ineffective teams.
Team leaders do not conduct
team meeting on a regular
basis in the team.
Due to irregular team
meetings team leaders do not
able to discuss the strategies
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team.
Team meetings also support
team leaders to review the
strategies and approaches
follow by team leaders to
conduct functional activity of
the team.
and performance of team
with all members of team
(Buchanan and Huczynski,
2019).
Communication Communication is also an
important part of the team.
Team leaders give huge
priority to the
communication in the team.
Communication allows team
leaders to interact regularly
with all team members.
Communication is always a
part of the team.
Ineffective team use the
communication channel but
not in effective manner.
Lack of proper
communication is the reason
why a team remains
ineffective.
Strategy formation Strategy formation is among
the key functional activity of
the team.
Strategies are the key driver
that drives efficiency in the
team.
Team leaders give huge
priority to form a proper
strategy that can allow team
leaders to cope up with all
objectives of the team.
With the support of strategies
team leaders achieves all
objectives of the team.
Team leaders also review the
All teams operate operations
on the basis of the strategies
formed by team leaders.
In ineffective teams leaders
generally leaders do not
involve other team members
to form strategies of the
team.
As the team leaders do not
take suggestions from team
members which also remove
the strategic development in
the team.
Due to lack of collaborations
of team members in strategy
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strategies follow by the team
on the basis of the expected
outcome of the team as
compare to actual outcomes
of team.
formation the team not able
to perform efficiently as it
restricts the team, leaders to
implement necessary changes
in the approaches of the
team.
Flexibility Flexibility is among the key
strength of effective team.
Team leaders keep flexibility
in the team at the time of
formation of team.
Flexibility allows team
leaders to manage its
operations in any practical
situation (Pandey, Rishi and
Aadil, 2016).
Team leaders try to keep
flexibility in the team so that
all challenges can be faced
by team members.
Ineffective team do not give
much priority to flexibility in
the team.
Lack of flexibility in team is
one of the major reasons why
a team remains ineffective.
Clarity of individual role At the time of the formation
of team leaders in team make
clarify all roles and
responsibilities of individual
members of team.
Clarification of individual
roles in the team operations
allows team members to
focus on the individual
responsibility even at the
In ineffective team members
remains confuse about the
individual roles in the team.
Team leaders do not clarifies
individual roles and
responsibilities in the team in
the beginning of the team
formation.
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beginning of the team
operations.
All responsibilities are also
segregated in team members
on the basis of individual
roles in team.
Solving issues Team leaders give huge
priorities to solve all issues in
team.
Team leaders effectively deal
with all issues arises in the
team that also influences the
overall outcomes of the team.
Team leaders also feel unable
to deal with the issues in the
team effectively.
Due to not dealing with
issues effectively it put a
negative impact over the
performance of the team
(Ionescu, 2018).
It also spoils the
collaborations of the team
members.
The above differences are among the key differences between effective team and
ineffective team.
Tuckman theory of team development
Tuckman theory of development can be used effectively by the management of the Waitrose
Company so that the overall integration and coordination between the team members can
improve collectively (Kylilis and et.al., 2018). There are four major stages that have been
proposed by the Tuckman theory which can be used effectively by the management of the
Waitrose Company:
Forming: This is the first stage where the team members are new to each other and the rules and
responsibilities of every team member is clarified to them by the team leader. This is the stage
where the members are not at all clear regarding their job roles and the confusion and doubts
amongst them is prominent.
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Storming: This is the second stage where due to lack of understanding and integrity, the issues
begin to rise in the team. Every team member thinks individually in this stage and they find that
their ideas conflicts with the ones that are presented by the others. Here the chances of the
conflicts in the team are the highest and the team leaders at Waitrose classify this as most critical
stage.
Norming: This is the third stage where the employees are said to have effectively overcome the
conflicts that they were facing and now the focus is on the integration and team building an
development (Kovach, 2016). The members settle down in the roles that they have been given
and the collaboration amongst them rises. The work of the team leaders at Waitrose simplifies at
this stage.
Performing: This is the last stage where the ultimate focus in on the enhanced output and
performance and the work in the team is going at full swing. The team leaders at Waitrose state
that this is the most productive stage in the entire process of team building and development.
LO4
Concepts and philosophies of organisation behaviour to a given business situation
Organisation behaviour is projected as the approaches of the human resources associated
with the organisation towards achieving overall objectives of business.
Motivation practices in company: John Lewis Company follows the motivation practices as a
part of the organisation behaviour. Company follow the practice of content and process theory of
employee motivation. This theories drive company to motivate the employees of company by
meeting all needs and requirements of employees. Company has also applied Maslow need
hierarchy model and other relevant models to motivate employees in company (Kang and Lee,
2017). The theories give huge priorities to fulfilling the needs and requirements of company’s
employees as a part of the motivation. It is projected that employees need are among the key
factor that drives them to become part of the organisation. With the support of this model John
Lewis Company able to deal with the employee motivation effectively.
Employee development: Concept and philosophies of organisation behaviour also drives
management of company to implement employee growth and development programs in the
company. The theory drives company to improve its organisation hierarchy that supported better
growth potentials to employees at internal level of organisation. Growth is among the key feature
that supports company to sustain its work force and also to reduce the employee turnover of
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company. This theory has supported company in improving the hierarchy of company in such a
way that employees company get more opportunities to promote at higher positional roles in
company. The concepts and philosophies of organisation behaviour also motivate management
of John Lewis Company to conduct various training programs that can improve the skills and
personalities of employee’s part of the organisation. Skill development programs support the
company in improving the growth potentials of the employees.
Collaboration practices: Concept and philosophies of organisation behaviour has also guided
the John Lewis company management to channelize collaborative practices in organisation
(Small, 2017). CEO of John Lewis Company has guided management towards improving
collaborative working approaches for conducting different functional activities in the company.
Collaboration between employees improve the work culture of the company along with it allows
management to achieve more effective operation efficiency.
Team development activity: Concepts and philosophies of organization behaviour have also
guided John Lewis Company to follow the practice of team development. Team development is
among the key practices that supported by the concepts and philosophies of organisation
behaviour. With the guidance of the Tuck man team development model company management
form effective teams for various operations of the company.
The above mentioned points are the key areas of development that the concepts and
philosophies of organisation behaviour have made in John Lewis Company. Company has
transformed all its operations by installing latest technologies to improve the service quality of
company as a part of the organisation behaviour.
CONCLUSION
The analysis done in the report above concludes that the organisational behaviour is a very
important and critical aspect in the overall performance of the business collectively. The aspects
of power politics and culture on organisation were analysed along with the motivational theories.
The report also concluded that Tuckman theory can be used effectively by Waitrose for team
building and lastly the impact of organisational behaviour was analysed using different theories.
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