Influence of Organizational Culture, Power, and Politics on Behavior

This report examines the influence of organizational culture, power, and politics on behavior within an organization. It discusses the different types of organizational culture and the impact of power and politics on employee behavior. It also evaluates motivational theories and team development theory for building an effective team. The report is based on the case study of Primark, a well-established business in the UK.

Organisational behaviour

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO1..................................................................................................................................................3
P1 Influence of organizational culture, power and politics on behaviour within organizational 3
LO2..................................................................................................................................................5
P2 Evaluating motivational theories that can help in achieving organizational goals................5
LO3..................................................................................................................................................7
P3 Evaluation of team development theory for building effective team.....................................7
LO4..................................................................................................................................................9
P4 Concepts and philosophies of organizational behaviour........................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Organizational behaviour is the study and application of knowledge of human behaviour
in relation to various elements of an organization. It is the study of both in individual and group
performance within an organization. It examines the human behaviour in the workplace and its
impact on the performance, motivation, leadership etc. It is applied to make businesses work
efficiently. In this report, Primark is taken as an organization. It is a well-established business in
UK. It provides variety of products which includes accessories, clothing, home ware, and health
and beauty. This report covers the influence of organizational culture, politics and power on the
behaviour of the individuals within the organization and application of different motivational
theories and techniques to motivate the employees of the organization to improve the
performance. It also includes theory for building effective team, comparison between effective
team and ineffective team and implementation of organizational behaviour philosophies in the
business.
LO1
P1 Influence of organizational culture, power and politics on behaviour within organizational
Organizational Culture
Organizational culture is a system which is based upon values and beliefs. In order to
analyse the organizational culture, it is important to understand the Charles Handy's model of
organizational culture (King and Lawley, 2016). He has defined four kinds of culture and a
detailed discussion is given below.
Power culture: In this, power is given to few selected personnels and only they are
authorized to execute power. These people enjoy the privilege of power at the workplace. The
person with the power decides what is going to happen. Such people delegates responsibility to
the other employees (Emerson and Welford, 2016). In such culture, employees have to strictly
follow the instruction, they do not have any liberty to express or share their views. But it helps in
quick decision making.
Role culture: Organizations in this culture is based on the rules. In this, everyone knows
their roles and responsibilities (Sahrain, 2018). The power is determined by the person's position.
Everyone is accountable for their work and work is delegated based on the interest and area of
specialization. Having this culture makes the business bureaucratic (Nikpour, 2017). This

culture is suitable for organizations having tall organizational structure. In such culture,
employees willingly accept the challenge or task.
Task culture: Organizations in which team is formed to achieve the goals or solve critical
problems follows this culture. In this culture, every member contributes equally and works in an
innovative way. Task in such groups are very critical so power changes frequently as per the
requirement. This culture will be effective if employees works together in harmony. In this group
is of mostly four to five persons with relevant skills to solve the problem.
Person culture: In this culture, individual consider themselves as superior as compared
to others. Such individuals are concerned about themselves rather than the organization.
Employees comes to the office just for the sake of the money.
Based on the Handy's model, it can be said that Primark should adopt role based culture
which will help in delegating roles and responsibility to the employee along with accountability.
It provides roles based on the employee's expertise. It will positively affect the behaviour of the
individual and the team as everyone will be well aware of their job role and based on which
power is also given. Consequently, everyone in the organization works in harmony.
Organizational power
It refers to the ability to exercise control and make things happen as per one's perspective
by delegating the work to someone else to do it. To understand it clearly, five forms of power
introduced by John French and Bertram Raven is used.
Coercive power: It refers to the ability of the manager to exercise force on the employees
to make the work done with the threat of punishment. This power can be used for short term
only. It reduces employee satisfaction and motivation level and also causes lack of work
commitment (Singh and Swarup, 2020). It used in the organization with the objective to make
employees come out of their comfort zone and complete the task quickly.
Legitimate power: It is based on the belief of employees that manager has the right to
give order. But such managers uses both reward and punishment a part of their leadership roles.
This power is only based on the position of the manager (Heizmann and Fox, 2019). For
example, in an organization manager can directly give orders to the employees to undertake a
task irrespective of their willingness along with rewards for performing effectively and
punishment for not completing the task.

Reward power: It refers to the ability of the leader to provide something in return for the
completion of desired task on time. In this, manager delegates tasks to the employees and reward
them based on their performance (Drucker, 2018). Reward can be in the form of raises,
compliment and promotion. Providing rewards is one of the widely used method for motivating
employees.
Referent power: In this, leader is viewed as a role model. Such leader tends to have lot of
influence (Meydan and Köksal, 2019). This power majorly relies on trust and have many
qualities such as in-depth knowledge, behaviour, good communication skills, presentation skills
etc. For example, employees can find their role model like whom they want to become and learn
from their behaviour, body language, skills etc.
Expert power: This power relies on the in-depth knowledge and expertise. These leaders
are intelligent and have power to fulfil organizational roles and responsibilities. This power is
highly appreciated (Norbom and Lopez, 2016). Expert power helps in completing the
challenging jobs which requires expert skills. For example, the marketing director of the
company have risen to this position because of the immense knowledge he has in the field
because of which he has been perceived as an expert in the field.
So, based on this, Primark should exercise referent power as it persuades employees to do
things by setting an example which positively influences the individual and team behaviour.
Employees feel motivated and tries to improve their performance to be at top (Morris, 2020).
Organizational politics
It refers to the self-serving behaviour used by the employees to obtain the positive
outcome. It happens when employees do not believe in working hard but relies on nasty politics
to secure a good position in the organization. Employees usually do this to get into the limelight
and get appreciation from the top management. Organizational politics have only negative
impact on the individuals and the teams (Malik and et.al., 2019). It will decrease the productivity
as employees will not work properly which will result into lower output and also employees who
plays politics will pay less attention to the work. Individuals may not focus on their work and
may spoil others work. It creates negative environment in the workplace. It may cause conflict
among the employees as other employees might feel biased. All these factors are common for
individual and teams as both will face the issues.

LO2
P2 Evaluating motivational theories that can help in achieving organizational goals
Content theory
It explores the factors that are present within the person and has the ability to direct the
behaviour. It focusses on individual need and based on these needs identifies the area of
motivation. It believes in satisfying the needs of the employee. Theories based on this ideology
McClelland content theory is applied to motivate the employees. A detailed discussion is given
below.
McClelland theory of needs
McClelland proposed that individual's needs are acquired over a period and are shaped
and varies with the life experiences (Rybnicek, Bergner and Gutschelhofer, 2019). He has
classified the needs into three parts. A detailed analysis is given below.
Needs for achievement: In this, employee has a strong desire to achieve challenging
goals and gain advancement in the job. People with high need of achievement wants to excel in
their work. Such people avoid low-risk situation because it can be easily attained and success is
not genuine. They prefer either to work alone or with higher achievers.
Need for affiliation: In this need, people look for a friendly relationship and feels
motivated when interacted with others (Nader, 2019). People with high need of affiliation
requires harmonious relationship and wants to be accepted by others. Such people wants to work
in a group that provides significant interaction. This motivates them and feels secure.
Need for power: It refers to the power and authority that is required by the person to be
influential and effective. This enhances motivation level and satisfies the need which is attached
towards personal status and prestige. People with high power seeks to attain high position in an
organization which gives them the authority to exercise control over employees (Lloyd, 2019).
Such people are forceful, demanding and likes to engage in the conversation.
This theory can be applied to the organization, which will help in identifying the different
needs of the employees so that Primark can come up with the plans to satisfy their needs.
Process theory
It is a process that motivates the employees to act in a particular way and follow the
mechanism. It is concerned with the thought processes that influence the behaviour.
Expectancy theory of motivation

This theory was developed in 1964 by Victor Vroom. This theory implies that a worker
will work only if there is an expectation that their work will result in desired output (Guntoro and
Fongmul, 2016). Workers need to believe that they have necessary skills and capabilities to
achieve the goals. This theory predicts that employees will be motivated if they believe that
 Putting in more efforts will yield better performance (Expectancy)
 Better performance will lead to organizational rewards (Instrumentality)
 These rewards are valued by the employees to satisfy their needs (Valence)
Both the content theory and process theory is beneficial for Primark as both can help in
facilitating the employee's loyalty and will help in motivating employee which will increase their
productivity. This helps in enabling the opportunity to develop trust and build communication
among the employees (Li and et.al., 2019). Both of the theories helps in motivating the
employees to achieve desired outcome. As per the Content theory, it is essential to identify the
needs of the employees and they can be motivated as per their needs. There are several
employees who have been harassed and bullied, therefore, it is important to provide health and
occupational safety to the employees in order to meet their needs (Taylor, 2019). Employees can
be motivated through monetary rewards like bonuses, increment, promotion etc. which works as
an essential tool for motivating and improving the performance of the employee.
LO3
P3 Evaluation of team development theory for building effective team
To analyse the groups and teams, the Bruce Tuckman team development model can be
used. This model was developed in 1965. It theory focusses on the situation in which a team goes
through from the stage of formation to the stage of completion of project. It is made up of four
stages which are discussed below.
Forming stage: In Primark, the use of Tuckman theory will be very beneficial as team are
formed. In this stage team is created and task is assigned to the team. At the initial stage, team
members are highly dependent on the leader for guidance (Lin and Shih, 2018). Leader is
required to be prepared to face a lot of questions such as team purpose, objectives etc.
Storming stage: This is the second stage which is being applied in the Primark workplace in
which team members will start suggesting their ideas and opinions which may arise the situation
of conflict if not handle carefully as everyone wants to establish themselves (Schenk, 2019).

Here, leaders make the team focus on the goal and objectives and avoid being distracted by the
relationship or emotional issues.
Norming stage: At this stage, harmony and consensus is formed in the teams and agreeing by the
rules to be followed in Primark organization (Tuckman: Forming, Storming, Norming,
Performing model. 2020). It is the ideal situation where trust is developed and leader takes a step
back as the team members are ready to take greater responsibilities (Black, S. and et.al, 2019).
The team develops their own processes and working style. All the big decisions are taken by
group agreement.
Performing stage: This is the last stage, where the team is aware and knows clearly that what is
required to be done. The team is capable enough to stand on its feet with no participation from
the leader. The team members look after each other and work together to achieve the common
goal and objectives (Peralta and et.al., 2018). Now, team is not required to be instructed but may
ask for assistance from the leader. This stages helps in maintaining the coordination among the
various team members of Primark.
The effective use of this theory by Primark will help in developing effective team as all
the teams will be getting proper guidance and direction. Thus, benefiting the organization in
providing better performance which will help in increasing the productivity and profitability of
the organization (Jovchelovitch, 2019).
Differences between effective and ineffective team-
Effective team encourage conversation on points on which they disagree and always use
healthy conflicts to introduce change and creativity in ideas before reaching a consensus (Spohn,
2018). They see issues in positive light, such as unit is characterised by open discussion,
effective team members make contributions and participate in every activity, with discussion
being reasonable. In this group, interdependence is will used in positive way, so that aims are
achieved by team that another team will not be able to achieved. Goals are modified and clarified
in effective group so that the possible match between team’s goal and individual is achieved, all
the aims are structured cooperatively so all people are committed to achieving them. Good team
perform much better than other team, they are able to makes organization succeed. Decision
making process are matched with organizational situation, individual used different approaches
at various times, consensus is sought for essential decisions, group discussions and involvement
are encouraged by effective team. Conflicts and issues are resolved by team members through

integrative negotiations as well as mediation so discussions are reached that increase join results
and leave all people satisfied. They are capable for assessing own growth to achieving their goals
and making necessary changes to enhance or improve team performance.
On the other hand, ineffective team is totally different from effective team, for example,
they established an agreed view point speedily and defend it against original or any new idea.
Ineffective team members to do work together, they cannot be able to solve issues and handle
situation effectively as compare to effective team (Ruiz and Hamlin, 2018). This team are
characterised by lack of agreed objectives and an environment full of tension, these tensions are
sometimes held in check. Along with this, ineffective group are unable to understand what team
task is or what their objectives are, on the other side, effective team are able to understood as
well as accepted task objectives effectively. There is a lot of discussion in which virtually all the
members participate, but in ineffective team few people tend to dominate further discussion,
their contributions are way off point. Disagreements in this team are generally not dealt with
appropriately by unit, they suppressed by leader, outcoming in open warfare by vote in which
minority is mostly smaller than majority. While in effective team, people are comfortable with
disagreement and shows no signs of having to avoid issues.
LO4
P4 Concepts and philosophies of organizational behaviour
There are different concepts related to organizational behaviour which varies across
organization. Some important concepts in relation to organizational behaviour are stated below.
Individual differences in organization: In an organization, people differ not only on their
physical attributes but also on their psychological qualities. For example: in Primark, there must
be difference in its employees based on the capacity to understand, learn, predict and so on.
Manager needs to have the knowledge about such differences to get the best out of every
employee. Also, while assigning work manager needs to take into account such differences.
Perception of the employees: Perception is the way in the which person understands and
interprets the things. Perception of one employee may not be same for other employees. For
example, in Primark organization, there is a change in policy, some employees will understand
and accept the change and some will restrain and oppose the changes on the basis that it is
detrimental to the interest of the employees.

Involvement and empowerment of employees: People in the workplace are different from the
machines and requires to be handled carefully. For instance, an employee in the Primark should
involve fully in the work for better result but it doesn't mean to employee work mechanically.
Therefore, manager should empower employees which is essential for the effective performance
of the employees.
Motivation of employees: Employees in the organization work with the only purpose to satisfy
their needs and desire (Important Concepts of Organisational Behaviour. 2020). This desire is
turned out to be the motivator for the employee. For example, an employee wants to buy new
house for which employee is working hard to collected sufficient amount. In this case, buying a
new house is a need and to satisfy that need becomes the motivators for that person.
Different leadership theories
There are different types of leadership theories that can be used by the organisation based
on the requirement. The two widely used theories are stated below.
Contingency theory of leadership
This theory states that effectiveness of the leader is depended upon the situational
contingencies like nature and certainty or uncertainty about the task (Nawaz and Khan, 2016).
This theory is based on four factors which are stated below.
 Leaders power and influence
 Followers expectation
 Complexity of the organization
 certainty and uncertainty of the task
The path goal leadership theory
This theory is based on the leadership style that best fits the employee and the working
environment in order to achieve the organizational goals. The objective of this theory is to
increase the employee motivation level so that they can help in increasing the productivity of the
organization (Ledbetter, 2016). It is based on the expectation theory of motivation. It can be said
as a process in which leaders selects the behaviour that is best for meeting the needs. This theory
is very effective. There are four types of leader’s behaviour which are discussed below.
Directive: It refers to the situation in which leader informs the employees what is
expected of them and informs them the way of performing the task. It is effective when
employees are unsure about the task to be performed.

Supportive: In this, leaders are more concerned about the employees. Leader tries to
make work pleasant for it followers and also to be friendly and approachable (What is Path-Goal
Theory? 2020). The aim of the leader is to satisfy the needs and preferences of the employees.
This behaviour is effective when tasks and relationships are psychologically distressing.
Participative: In this behaviour, leader consults with the followers and ask them for
suggestions and opinions before taking any decision (Farhan, 2018). This behaviour is effective
only when the team members are highly skilled and involved in their work.
Achievement: It refers to a situation where leader sets challenging goals for the
employees and expects them to perform their best and showcase their ability to meet the
expectation. It is effective in sales and technical job work environment.
Based on the above discussion, the leadership style that can best suit the Primark
organization, based on the path goal theory is the situational leadership style. To understand the
team performance, the use of this leadership style will be very effective in identifying the
complexity and maturity of the group. The situational leadership theory is based on the four
leadership styles which are stated below.
Telling: In the leader communicates the employees about what is to be done based on the
roles and objectives created for each employee.
Selling: In this, leader persuades the followers to share their opinion and suggestions.
Participating: Under this, leaders leaves the decision on the employees and may
participate in the decision making process but the final decision is left on the employees.
Delegating: Leaders delegates the roles and responsibilities to its followers and provides
minimum help or guidance to their followers but leaders may be asked for help with respect to
decision making process.
This leadership style will help leaders in understanding the complexity that is present
within the teams in relation to achievement of the goals. The situational leadership style is the
combination or set of different leadership style which can be useful in analysing the team
working. This form of leadership style is very flexible, helps in successful engagement and
collaboration among the team members. It assesses the maturity level of the employees, provides
guidance and direction to the employees which results in increase in level of productivity and
exercise control over the possible outcomes. By using this theory, there will be better ways to
resolve the issues that are present in the team as compared to the contingency theory.

CONCLUSION
In the light of above study, it can be concluded that organizational strategy has a
significant impact on the culture which affect organizational behaviour. The impact that
organizational culture, power and politics have on the behaviour of an organization which
directly affect the performance and productivity of the Primark. For that different models such as
Charles Handy model of culture, John French and Bertram Raven model is used which has
helped Primark to get detailed understanding. The different motivational theories and techniques
that have been used to motivate the employees of the organization and its benefits like
McClelland theory and expectation theory. The complete analysis of Tuckman theory is carried
out to understand the group development process and its benefits to the organization in building
an effective team. A comparative analysis of the effective team and ineffective team is carried to
highlight the importance of forming an effective team. Also, different organizational behaviour
and philosophies has been used such as path goal theory and contingency theory to identify the
leadership style that will be best suited for the organization, Primark. Thus, the proper
management of organizational behaviour is essential for the smooth functioning of the
organization.

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