Influence of Organisational Culture, Power and Politics on Individuals and Team Behaviour

This assignment explores the impact of organisational culture, power, and politics on individuals and team behaviour. It discusses different types of organisational culture, the role of power in influencing behaviour, and the positive and negative aspects of organisational politics. The assignment also compares the organisational culture of Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury. Additionally, it evaluates motivational theories applicable in an organisational context, including Maslow's need hierarchy theory and expectancy theory. Finally, it examines the characteristics of effective and ineffective teams and discusses Tuckman's team development theory.

Organisational
Behaviour

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Influence of organisational culture, power and politics over individuals and team behaviour
.....................................................................................................................................................3
P2 Evaluation of motivational theories which are applicable in organisational context.............6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
P3 Evaluation of effective and ineffective team..........................................................................8
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P4 Applying philosophies of organisational behaviour.............................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Organization Behaviour is the study of you human behaviour is phenomena of studying
human behaviour in respect of the job rules which they are performing on behalf of organization
in which they are working. The behaviour of an individual is studied in order to seek knowledge
about performance of company and it’s achievements. This assignment is based on Marks and
Spencer which is British multinational clothing retailer. Marks and Spencer was founded in 1884
by Michelle marks and Thomas Spencer (Alblas, G., Wijsman, E. and van Noort, M., 2019). The
headquarters of company is in London, UK. This assignment covers impact of culture, power
and politics on the behaviour of organisation and its employees. Team development theory of
Tuckman and path goal theory of leadership are applied in order to make the company most
effective
TASK 1
P1 Influence of organisational culture, power and politics over individuals and team behaviour
Organisational Culture
It is a guide provided to the personals and other members of an organisation in order to manage
and influence their behaviour while working in company. It includes number of factors such as
rules, values, norms, philosophies and expectations of management from their workforce. There
are different types of organisational culture which are as follows. Role culture- this is a culture where roles and responsibilities are are divided and
assigned to the individuals by the superiors according to their expertise and
specialisations.
 Power culture- in this culture all the powers in an organisation stays with one or two
persons who are at higher level. The power means in your hands and all the controls and
decisions are taken by the superiors (Bakotić, D., 2016).
 Person culture- this type of culture in favour of employees and they believe that they are
more important than the entire company in which they are working. The employees are
more concerned about themselves and work for their personal agendas and needs rather
than the company. Personnel’s basically keep themselves priority before their
organisation.

Marks and Spencer is a multinational organisation which follows divisional structure and very
complex one. This is because the company is widely spread in geographical area. Therefore role
culture is suggested to the company which can influence the behaviour of individuals in positive
manner.
Organisational Power
Power refers to the ability of an individual or a group to make people work according to them
and in a way do I need to get things done. Organisational power also refers to the same definition
highlighting the behaviour and impact of power on behaviour of workforce. Few powers are
discussed below in next section(Elsmore, P., 2017). Reward power is a power the leaders of the company have the ability to appreciate and
reward the staff according to the performances and skills they shows in their work.
Reward power is a motivating factor which can encourage and influence behaviour of
individuals in a positive manner and increase the performance level as employees will
work with their full efficiency in order to get rewarded and appreciated by their superiors
and move forward in the career. Coercive Power is just opposite of the reward power here leaders make their employees
work against their will and force them to perform a specific task in a particular manner.
The form of power will demotivate staff and negatively impact their behaviour which can
hamper their performance and ability to be most effective and work potentially (Balmer,
J. M. and Burghausen, M., 2015).
Marks and Spencer is use organisation with a number of employees and workforce this implies
that the personnel’s needs to motivated and satisfied which can be done by adopting reward
power rather than coercive power. It can help the leaders to manage to behaviour of individuals
and convert them positively.
Organisational Politics
Politics is basically a tactic how to make people work in favour of oneself. Organisational
politics has two aspects positive and negative, it depends on leaders about how they use their
powers and indulge in politics which is in favour of the company. Organisational politics is
define by a matrix which has four quadrants and each dimension of matrix highlights different
sections of organisational politics. These quadrants are elaborated in next section.

 The weeds- this is a free dimension of politics which grows automatically without any
support of anyone. This form of politics takes place amongst employees of company who
are working together in a team foreign exchange department. It is a natural process which
can be favourable for company as it helps in developing good relations in between
employees.
 The rocks- this phase of national politics matrix develops in between people ties knot
with higher level management of entity holding high level authority. It mostly takes place
amongst managers of company and higher staff which is positive when used for planning
rewards for individuals as managers are the one who exactly knows the performance
level of each employee (De Vasconcelos, J. B., Gouveia, F. R. and Kimble, C., 2016).
 The high-grounds- this dimension of politics refers to the top level management or
functional unit of organisation. The high ground politics takes place between top level
management people for keeping the company in order and complying it with all
organisation rules.
 The woods- this quadrant holds those political group which is basically the base of
company but hidden from everybody. It is positive as very few people know about it but
sometimes fresh ideas and talents gets wasted in such politics and that is why it is known
as the woods.
Comparison between Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury
Basis Marks & Spencer Sainsbury
Organisational culture Role culture is specifically
being followed by Marks and
Spencer where the rules are
given to the person according
to their responsibilities and
the position. Also, it has been
analysed to that as the
promotion if any individual
gets in a certain branch then
the responsibilities directly
gets increased which helps
Sainsbury’s, specifically
follows the corporate culture
depending on the hierarchical
organisational structure that
has been followed by
company. This helps
organisation and sustaining in
the market and to take the
right decisions unspecified
time train.

company in gaining sample
number of advantages than
any other business
organisation which is dealing
in the same industry
Motivation Basically, Marks and Spencer
looks forward to deliver
appropriate training sessions
to the staff members in order
to improve their skills and
that helps them in motivating
them in rightful manner.
Sainsbury’s HR department
believes in compensating the
staff in monetary terms and
this is something by which
company motivates staff
members. With the help of
this, it can be said that staff of
Sainsbury’s performs really
very well to getting bonuses,
compensation and with the
help of some other money
aspects.
TASK 2
P2 Evaluation of motivational theories which are applicable in organisational context
Motivation is a procedure of enhancing the moral of employees and encouraging them to work
with the full potential and abilities in company for attaining organisational goals and objectives
effectively and in given time frame. Motivation plays a very important role in increasing the
performance level of an individual and making them work appropriately according to the needs
of company. Motivation is classified into two broad categories and can be e explain by 2 two
different theories. One is known as content theory of motivation which is the earliest tool came
into market and determined by marketers for increasing staff members. This theory also has four
different theories given by different authors and researchers which are Maslow’s need hierarchy
theory, ERG theory, Herzberg's two factor theory and McClelland's needs of achievement theory.
The second motivational theory is process theories which focuses on how the individual behave

for fulfilling their personal needs and satisfying themselves. It also comprises four different
theories which are expectancy theory, equity theory, reinforcement theory and goal setting theory
(Bester, J., Stander, M. W. and Van Zyl, L. E., 2015).
In case of marks and Spencer Maslow's need hierarchy theory is selected from content theories
and expectancy theory is selected from process theories. Both of these theories are explained in
context of marks and Spencer in next section.
Maslow's need hierarchy theory
The need hierarchy theory which was given by Maslow is the oldest and most commonly used
motivational technique by the management of an organisation. This theory concentrate on
understanding and discovering the basic needs of people who are working with the company. It
has five different levels showing five types of requirements or needs of a person. All these stages
helps in having thorough understanding of this theory. Psychological needs are the most basic needs of an individual in which food shelter and
water comes. Every individual has the very basic need of earning their livelihood and
having a basic house with food and water facilities. Safety needs arises once psychological needs are fulfilled as it is assumed that once a
need which is fulfilled never becomes a motivating factor for individual again. Safety
needs highlights requirement of individual to work in a safe and healthy environment.
The factor which can motivate them is job security and freedom from any threats while
working. Social needs comes third inter structure of Maslow's need hierarchy theory and highlights
that it is related with the feelings and emotions of a person. Every employee of company
wishes to be socially accepted and acknowledged. Basically sense of belongingness is
what every individual wishes to feel and have in their workplace (Coccia, M., 2015). Self esteem needs related with the wish of a person to be recognised and feel important
amongst there staff members. Here the individual gets bit selfish and things about their
personal growth and development related to their career. For full feeling this need the
employee wishes to be recognised by their superiors and expects to work on important
projects which are high cost and profit to the company. Self actualization needs are similar with self esteem needs but here individual feels to
take up more challenging task for increasing the skill set bringing creativity in their

activities and achieve higher position in workplace. In order to fulfill this need the
individual wants to be innovative can work on creative jobs which can help them to be
creative.
Expectancy theory
The concept of expectancy theory was given by Victor H. Vroom and explain with the help of
three elements. All these three elements are explained in the next section in context of Marks and
Spencer. Expectancy is a belief that efforts which an employee puts in performing their job roles
for the company will provide them desired level of performance. All these efforts and
actions which an individual undertakes are based on their skill sets, talents, abilities,
background and experiences of past. Each individual have different expectations and
confidence about their capabilities according to which they desire for a particular
outcome. Marks and Spencer leaders or managers have to gain knowledge about these
levels of performances of an individual in order to make use of their abilities effectively
and assign them appropriate job role which can help them in motivating employees as
they get their desired outcomes. Instrumentality concept is based on the employees assumption at once they reach to a
desired outcome they will be rewarded for their performance. Therefore the management
or the leaders of marks and Spencer role here is to appreciate the efforts made by
employees for making the company effective by performing their respective job roles
efficiently (Boddy, C. R., 2015). Valance is the last element of expectancy theory and based on the value an individual
places on a respective reward. Basically individual compare their performance and efforts
with the rewards they received and their desired expectations outcomes. If all the three
factors matches it creates violence and motivates staff but if it did not matches it
demotivate staff and its outcome are easily reflected by their performances which turns
week and lower than earlier.
TASK 3
P3 Evaluation of effective and ineffective team
Effective team

A team is known as effective when all the members are working together for attaining a common
objective keeping their personal agendas aside.
Ineffective team
A team becomes ineffective when there is no coordination in team members, they work for their
personal motives and no effective communication takes place among them.
Difference between Effective and Ineffective team
Basis Effective team Ineffective team
Communication In an effective team members
interact with one another
openly.
On the other side in an
ineffective team members do
not talk communicate with
one another
Goals The motive of effective team
is common for which they
work together (Chumg, H. F.
and et. al., 2016).
The ineffective team
members work for the
personal objectives rather
than as a team for common
goal.
Decision making The decisions of team are
taken after the consent of all
team members and leaders
initiates an open discussion.
The leader of an ineffective
team take all the decisions by
themselves without
consulting which team
members.
Team development theory
Tuckman has given team development theory which has 5 stages and helps organisation to
develop an effective and efficiently in order to perform tasks and achieve group objectives. This
theory adopted by Marks and Spencer for developing an effective team. The stages are as
follows. Forming is first stage where people are brought together and formed in a team. Here the
team members are uncomfortable and unaware about the motive of the team. Leaders are
responsible for making for employees comfortable and adjust with one another (Burrell,
G. and Morgan, G., 2019).

 Storming is the second stage and the most difficult one your employees are unclear off
the job roles and do not have any relationships with another which makes it very difficult
for them to adjust in a team. The leader’s role here is to defective and develop effective
communication in team. Norming third stage which is better than storming here employees have clarity of the task
and develops good relationship with one another. Those are responsible for keeping the
team members informed. Performing is the second last and most important stage where members start working in
a team according to the duties assigned to them. Leaders will supervise the team and
guide the members of the team in right direction. Adjourning is the last phase where team is dissolved and dispersed. At this stage leaders
are responsible for recording and appreciating the performance of teammates and
encourage them performing more effectively in future.
TASK 4
P4 Applying philosophies of organisational behaviour
Organisational behaviour is a broad concept which has influence on employees of the entity and
on the overall behaviour of organisation. The leaders plays most important role ine motivating
and changing the behaviour of individual in positive manner for achieving objectives of
company. Path goal theory is suggested to leaders of marks and Spencer for adopting a a
appropriate leadership style to manage their staff. This theory has different leadership styles
which are as follows. Directive leadership suggest that here leaders make orders and their staff to work in a
particular manner. This form of leadership can be used by managers of Marks and
Spencer when any newcomer enters the entity. This form of leadership is only effective
when a newcomer join the company or the motivating factor of employees is when they
are fully informed and guided about the work they need to perform. Otherwise directive
leadership style if adopted can demotivate staff and impact their behaviour negatively
(Chang, K. and et. al., 2016). Achievement leadership style suggest that clear the leaders believes in the team and set
challenging targets for them to enhance their skills and know that they can achieve these

targets. Which form of leadership is very motivating and can be used to encourage staff
and boost their moral. This leadership style if uses aggressively or forcefully then can be
hampering the motivation level of workers and make them think negatively affecting
there performance level and hindering the overall objectives of company. Participative leadership style is where leaders of company include the staff all team
members in decision making and take their opinions or viewpoints in different areas of
business. Marks and Spencer have number of teams and leaders of these teams can be
very effective and ask for opinions of the teammates for working with fresh ideas. Supportive leadership style is where leaders act as a spokesman for their team members
and support them. For such leaders the team members satisfaction is there priority (Fein,
E. C. and et. al., 2015). By supportive of team members it can help them to open
communication with leaders helping in resolving issues rapidly and working effectively
in respect of the team objective and ultimately for the the overall objective of entity.
CONCLUSION
the above report is based on organisational behaviour and concludes that the culture the power
and the politics which are taking place in company and which are being followed by the entity
has huge impact on the behaviour of an individual. The leadership styles ank team development
techniques which are applied by the leaders also influence the behaviour of workforce and make
them work in order to attain all organisational aims and objectives.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Bester, J., Stander, M. W. and Van Zyl, L. E., 2015. Leadership empowering behaviour,
psychological empowerment, organisational citizenship behaviours and turnover
intention in a manufacturing division. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology. 41(1). pp.1-
14.
Boddy, C. R., 2015. Organisational psychopaths: a ten year update. Management Decision.
53(10). pp.2407-2432.
Burrell, G. and Morgan, G., 2019. Sociological paradigms and organisational analysis:
Elements of the sociology of corporate life. Routledge.
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study of primary school teachers in Taiwan. Employee Relations. 38(6). pp.907-926.
Chumg, H. F. and et. al., 2016. Factors affecting employees' knowledge-sharing behaviour in the
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Computers in Human Behavior. 64. pp.432-448.
Coccia, M., 2015. Structure and organisational behaviour of public research institutions under
unstable growth of human resources. Coccia, M.(2014)‘Structure and organisational
behaviour of public research institutions under unstable growth of human resources’,
Int. J. Services Technology and Management. 20(4/5). p.6.
De Vasconcelos, J. B., Gouveia, F. R. and Kimble, C., 2016, July. An organisational memory
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Elsmore, P., 2017. Organisational Culture: Organisational Change?: Organisational Change?.
Routledge.
Fein, E. C. and et. al., 2015. Considering the gap between Implicit Leadership Theories and
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