Relationship between Culture, Power, Politics and Motivation in Organizational Behavior

ORGANIZATIONAL
BEHAVIOR

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
Critical evaluation of relationship between culture, powr, politics and motivation....................1
Analysis of influence of culture, power and politics...................................................................2
Evaluation of how content and process theories enable effective achievement of goals............4
Critical evaluation of how to influence the behavior of others through behavioral motivation
theories.........................................................................................................................................5
PART 2............................................................................................................................................6
Critical analysis and relevance of team development theories, concepts, philosophies..............6
Explain what makes an effective team as opposed to an ineffective team..................................7
Application of concepts and philosophies of OB within context of organization and a given
business situation.........................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
The importance group dynamics is well known in the field of business productivity.
Organizational behavior (OB) encompasses the behavior of people within groups. The study of
OB therefore forms the foundation for developing an understanding of the aspects that can assists
the organizations in motivating employees as well as increasing their performance (Sa'adah and
et.al., 2020). The present report studies the aspects of organizational behavior at Harrods. It is a
retail organization headquartered in London. The organization believes in the values that
challenge conventional view of possibility (About Us, 2021). The five employee values at
Harrods define the ways in which the organization wants to be with and for its employees. The
report analyses the concepts of organization power, politics and culture and their relationship to
motivation. Theories of motivation and team development have been discussed.
PART 1
Critical evaluation of relationship between culture, power, politics and motivation
The culture, power, politics and motivation share a strong relationship with each other.
The day to day operations within an organization are influenced by the interaction between
power, culture and politics. In this way, these three aspects directly influence workplace
motivation (Tannady and Sitorus, 2017). The culture of the organization is directly impacted by
the power distribution within the workplace. Further, the aspect of politics is also intertwined in
this and depends on the power distribution. In this way, culture is related to the power and
politics at the workplace which in turn influence the level of employee motivation.
Culture, power and politics are directly reflected in the aspects such as spans of control,
departmentalization and chain of command. Further, it is these facets that form the basis for the
organizational culture and influence workplace motivation. Among the various facets, fair
communication methods, chain of command and distribution of power at Harrods forms the basis
for the strong organizational culture there. This in-turn fosters motivation in the company. This
strong and just relationship between the above mentioned aspects makes Harrods a leader in the
luxury fashion and retail industry. However, it can be critically analyzed that while an open
culture would promote employee participation and thus motivation, it would also lead to unequal
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distribution of power. This may further result in negative aspects of organization politics to
emerge, thus depleting the motivation level at the workplace (Qodriah, Lasminingrat and
Yulianty, 2020).
It is thus recommended that organizations such as Harrods should maintain a balance in
power distribution and politics. This is justified as it would foster a supporting culture and
improve employee motivation. Further, it is recommended that organizations should adopt an
op[en culture that has clear lines of communication and chain of command. This is justified as it
would check the unethical use of power and politics.
Analysis of influence of culture, power and politics
Influence of organizational culture on behavior of individuals, team and performance
Organizational culture is an umbrella term which includes experiences, philosophies and
expectations of an organization which together guides the behavior of employees. Further, the
inner workings, interactions and self image of employees also expressed the culture of that
organization. Thus, it significantly shapes the behavior of the employees (Thokozani, 2017). The
motivation of employees and their individual learning are impacted by the culture of the
workplace. Moreover, communication is also governed by the culture of the organization. In
addition to this, the aspects such as decision making and conflict resolution are influenced by the
organizational culture as well. In this way, culture indirectly influences the behavior of
individuals. It further affects the behavior of teams as it defines the lines of communication and
distribution of authority. Moreover, a supportive culture which positively impacts the behavior of
teams directly improves the performance of the workforce.
There are four types of organizational cultures. They are as follows:
Clan culture
It is characterized by the members sharing commonalities. The employees consider
themselves as being part of the big organization family which is further bound by traditions and
commitments. This culture supports open communication and harmony and thus influences the
behavior of others to be motivated and cooperative (Lutfi, 2018).
Adhocracy culture
The adhocracy culture on the other hand, is based on the aspects of creativity and energy.
Thus, here, the behavior of employees is such that they are encouraged to take risks.
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