Influence of Organization's Culture, Politics and Power on Individual and Team Behavior

This article discusses the influence of organization's culture, politics and power on individual and team behavior and performance. It explores the impact of power and politics on employee behavior and the role of organizational culture in shaping behavior. The article also covers motivational theories and techniques to boost employee performance.

Organization Behaviour
Contents

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
P1 Influence of an organization's culture, politics and power on individual, team behavior and
performance............................................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
P2 Process theories of motivation and motivational techniques............................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P3 Effective and ineffective team...........................................................................................7
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P4 Concept and philosophies of organization behaviour.....................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14
Books and Journals...............................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Organization's behavior is study of human behavior in organizational settings, and its
influence on organization or organizational process and growth. This study determines the
impact of human behavior on job structure, performance, communication, motivation, leadership
and much more (Wilson, 2017). This project is about the role of individual as well as team on
organizational behavior in a well known firm Arthur David and Company Limited that provides
production and distribution of fresh fruits, vegetables, bakery items and so on, as well as delivers
on daily basis in to hotels, restaurants, schools, etc. Apart from this, it shows motivational
theories to boost enthusiasm of employees individually and teams. Therefore this project mainly
aims on team efficiencies at A David co. ltd. Furthermore, this report also discuss about
philosophies of OB in various situations in a company.
P1 Influence of an organization's culture, politics and power on individual, team behavior and
performance
Organization's culture refers to fundamental beliefs, assumptions, values and
communication that contribute in psychological environment in a business, whereas power and
politics in business play huge role from directing or implementing decision to communication
among employees (Barry and Wilkinson, 2016). In every big or small businesses, impact of
power and politics depends on employees power, whether they positively use their power to
influence others or negatively. Organizational culture has a guiding role at A David Company, as
it does not directly affect long term goals of a company but target on individual's goals for
organizational objectives. The objective of A David Company allows its employees to feel value
of work and inspire them to get succeeded. Culture also restricts and set standards for employee's
behavior as some rules and regulations are necessary in organization. However is still not
possible to standardize each one's behavior in team or organization as whole in A David. In
addition to this when a certain organizational value is understood by A David's employees, it
become their priority and generate a sense of loyalty towards the enterprise. Also organization
culture not only affects inside an enterprise, but has an impact on society through various
channels like symbols, advertising, architecture, products and services. There are many channels
for A David Company to radiate society and the employees will understand the deeper values of
an organization. Great enterprise culture provides a working environment that attracts
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innovation, promote difference, and endure failure. Furthermore, rewards and appraisals also
impact on team performance and behavior of selected company.
Handy Culture Model: This model was given by Charles Handy that was a leading
authority on organizational culture proposed 4 different kinds of culture. These are:
1. Power Culture: This setup is defined as when power is in hands of few people of top
level authority and they are solely authorized for taking decisions (Gagné, Sharma and
De Massis, 2014). Like in Arthur David co ltd. Managers are supposed to take decisions
as per their power and then delegate. Employees have no choice but to follow guidelines.
2. Task Culture: This type of culture forms when organizations come together to achieve
some specific tasks. Powers in task culture can be shifted according to mix of team
members and status of problem, because task is a major thing to be considered very
importantly.
3. Role Culture: Organizations with role culture are based on roles. For instance, in Arthur
David co ltd. degree of control is high in role culture because everyone knows their roles
and responsibilities. Power in this culture is determined according to tasks and roles
assigned.
4. Person Culture: Some organizations are there in which individuals think that they are
more important than organizations. In such situation, Arthur David co ltd. Follow person
culture where employees can work for money only and never gets attached to the
company. Arthur David co ltd. should always make feel their employees that company
should be more important to them in every aspect.
Impacts of Handy Culture model: There can be so many impacts of this model in various
ways because they proposed 4 types of culture in organizations. Arthur David co ltd. also follows
this model and these 4 kinds of cultures leave impacts on individuals and team behaviour.
Following points show impacts of model in following ways:
Impact of Power Culture: This culture depicts that power is in hands of few people of top
level management. This situation will let differences among employees because here decisions
are to be taken by superiors and employees have to observe them and work accordingly (Gyekye
and Haybatollahi, 2015). One more big impact will be that few people cannot manage whole
decision making process and this will lead organizations towards disorganization in
management. This will also affect employee’s behaviour because they will feel unnoticed.
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Impact of Task Culture: This culture states that employees come together to work on a
specific task. This will affect organizations like Arthur David co ltd. where employees come to
complete given task. This will impact other tasks because they are focusing on some tasks only
which will not let company to perform other tasks.
Impact of Role Culture: Role Culture states that organizations are based on roles assigned to
employees which affects organizations because here everyone knows their own roles and
responsibilities which mean that they should focus with their roles only (Pettigrew, 2014). This
shows lack of communication and harmony.
Impact of Person Culture: This culture implies tendency of employees where they think that
they have to be more considered than organizations which is not right mentality. This directly
shows lack of commitment. Organizations like Arthur David co ltd. should train and motivate
their employees in such a way so that they become more committed towards their company.
(Source: Handy’s culture model, 2018)
Power and polities influences in both way positively and negatively on individual and team
behavior. Positive type of power encourages productivity and allows employees to make
decisions, rewarding them for strong performance and appointing strong employees to supervise
others. Positive power and politics builds confidence and motivation among employees to work
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harder. However this may result in high level positions and power through gaining respect and
effective communication rather those forceful efforts. This may lead to high retention rate of
employees due to feeling of togetherness in working environment (King and Lawley, 2016).
Negative type of power and politics is when the leaders do not respects their followers or team.
This type of leaders do not motivate their followers but force them to perform their job by
threatening with job insecurity or compensation or by showing favoritism to specific employees
rather than noticing other employee's hard work. This power leads to produce low quality of
work as well as high turnover rates in the company.
TASK 2
P2 Process theories of motivation and motivational techniques
Every organization needs some factors which can influence their employees for better
performances. For this, motivation can be described as an important factor that helps
managers and leaders to boost up morale of employees in order to get work done by them in
productive manner. Following are some motivational theories which help organizations for
improving employee’s performances:
Content theory: This theory explains changes in human nature by time. David McClelland,
Abraham Maslow and some other psychologists have worked on this theory to identify factors
which leads to change in needs of humans. It explains factors which influence motivation of
individuals. It is called as need theory as it identify need of humans and relates them to
motivation factors which can help in satisfying those needs (Aithal and Kumar, 2016). These
theories are related to occurrence of motivation and process of influencing motivation. In case of
A David & Co. this theory will help them in identifying needs and factors that satisfy those
needs. This will help organisation to motivate their employees to work as individual or team. It
will help them in improving their performances.
Process theory: This type of theory explains process which influence motivation of
employees through internal factors and environmental characteristics. It is also called as
cognitive theory because it focuses on employee’s perception about their working environment.
This theory includes four factors i.e. reinforcement, equity, expectancy and goal setting. A David
& Co. can compare efforts and reward of employees with other member of staffs who are
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working in same working conditions. Company should motivate their subordinates as in this
theory goals are important to direct motivation.
Difference between content and process theory
Content theory Process theory
 It focuses on factors which lead to
motivation.
 It emphasise on process of motivation.
 It stresses on determining individual
wants and desires.
 While it focuses on behaviour of
individuals.
 It identifies factors for alteration in
human needs by time.
 In contrast this theory determines
psychological processes that impacts
motivation.
Maslow- Hierarchy of need theory
This theory is developed by psychologist Abraham Maslow. According to this theory
needs of every human are in a hierarchy. Individuals satisfy their needs in an order like they first
satisfy their basic needs and then satisfy other high level needs (De Board, 2014). In this theory
needs of humans are shown as a pyramid because individuals satisfy one need before reaching to
another wants. According to this theory other needs doesn’t arise till current needs are
unsatisfied. A David & co. should use this to encourage their employees to work with their full
potential for achieving goals & objectives. It provides scope of professional growth. In this
theory human needs are divided into the following 5 levels: Psychological needs: These needs are related to survival of humans like air, cloths,
shelter and food etc. Satisfactions of these needs are necessary for functioning of human
body. A David & co. can motivate these needs of employees by providing them salaries
that can be enough for them to buy life essential things. This will motivate them to
satisfy other needs. Safety needs: This need refers to security and protection of individuals. It can be
physical safety like war, natural disaster etc. or economic safeties like job security.
Safety needs are very important for reaching to another level of need. A David & co. can
provide safe working environment, job security and freedom from every threat to their
employees.
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 Social needs: This kind of theory is related to love and affection of individual. This
includes acceptance in society and interpersonal relationships (Le Breton-Miller and
Miller, 2014). Many people suffer from social loneliness if they do not get acceptance or
affection from social groups. A David & co. can develop feeling of belongingness and
acceptance by changing strengthening team behaviour. Esteem needs: It includes need for status, respect and recognition from other persons. It
is related to gain recognition. People with low self esteem needs recognition and
attention etc. Those with high esteem needs for self respect. A David & co. can award
their employees for their achievement and give status according to their work so that
they can feel motivated. Self actualisation: It is related to self development and fulfilment by using full potential.
To satisfy this need people do what they can do best using their capabilities. A David &
co. can assign difficult task to make them enable for using innovation and creativity for
achieving goals.
Herzberg theory
This theory explains that there are two factors which cause job satisfaction and job
dissatisfaction and they are independent from each other. This theory is divided into two
categories:
 Hygiene factors: These factors are essential for workplace motivation. They do not have
any positive impact but they create disappointment in working environment. Employees
become dissatisfied if they are absent (Alvesson and Sveningsson, 2015). These factors
are also known as maintenance factors as they are essential for avoiding dissatisfaction.
Arthur David co ltd. uses these factors to explain their work environment. Following are
some hygiene factors:
Pay: Salary structure should be competitive according to the industry. It should satisfy
basic needs, requirements of employees.
Company Policy: It should be flexible enough to make necessary changes according to
environment. These need to be clear to every individual like flexibility in working hours,
vacations, etc.
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Physical Working Conditions: Working conditions for employees should be safe and clear.
Machines and equipment should be in good condition.
Status: In Arthur David co ltd. status of employees should be familiar so that they work in a
good environment.
Interpersonal Relations: Relations among subordinates and superiors should be effective to
reduce conflict among them.
 Motivational Factors: It influences positive motivation or satisfaction. These factors are
essential for work and influences employees to enhance their performance for better
productivity (Karim and Noor, 2017). These factors are called satisfiers because this is
related to job performance, which includes:
Recognition: Managers should praise their subordinates for better performance which will
help them to achieve organizational goals effectively.
Sense of Achievement: Every employee should get some benefits or incentives for their
achievements.
Responsibility: Employees should be responsible for their assigned tasks. Managers should
give some control to them for completing jobs.
TASK 3
P3 Effective and ineffective team
Team refers to a collection of people having appropriate skills to complete given work with
shared objective and common goal and are also responsible for effective performance.
Effective Team: In an organization, all teams perform given tasks to enhance capabilities,
performances, completion of projects, etc. For example, in Arthur David co ltd, every team
member should have relative skill set to achieve company’s goals and objectives successfully.
Environment or atmosphere in which a team is working needs to be comfortable and relaxed.
Functioning of effective team will be smooth in Arthur and David co ltd when work is divided
and understood by all team members when everyone in team can give this opinion and can share
innovative ideas and mutual decision-taking process is there in company (Pavalache-Ilie, 2014).
Some characteristics of effective team are; well defined mission, vision, informality in structure,
p0articipatuion in decision making, listening to subordinates, civilized disagreements, effective
communication, shared leadership, periodically assignments, etc.
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Ineffective Team: Ineffective work team in an organization adversely affects the quality of
service and performance of overall departments. This kind of team may have one or two negative
traits that should be identified to improve performance. So problem areas compulsorily need to
be determined in Arthur David co ltd. Some important traits or characteristics of ineffective work
team are; lack of unity among team members, disorganization in company, disagreement on
assigned tasks, knowledge gap, lack of employees, etc.
Difference between Effective and Ineffective Work Teams:
Effective Team Ineffective Team
These groups are dependent on each other to achieve
goals and objectives which cannot be achieved without
this determination. For instance, Arthur David co ltd.
Has very ineffective teams because they believe in
effective completions of tasks.
Ineffective groups are not supposed to depend on each
other to achieve goals and objectives of organization and
hence they can’t meet their goals and objectives in given
time.
Tasks are consistent in these types of teams among
members so that participation and leadership can be
enhanced. Group development and goal achievement are
included in leadership.
In these types of groups, participation is not smooth;
leadership is given to higher authorities or members just
focuses on goal accomplishment (Bhuvanaiah and Raya,
2014).
Conflict resolution is done by knowing problems and
outcomes of both sides and this leads to satisfaction by
all team members.
Conflict resolution process is very complex in
ineffective groups because problems are resolved
through avoiding opinion of some members.
Members of this team shares ideas, feelings & views and
hence this encourages communication among team
members. Arthur & David co ltd do the same.
Communication is only one sided in this type of work
team, so it restricts sharing of opinions and views and
this results in complexity in decision making.
From the above discussion, this can be concluded that effective teams are better than
ineffective teams. As in effective teams, members are more co-ordinated than ineffective teams
and hence they are focused at achieving their goals and objectives of Arthur David co ltd.
Belbin Model: Belbin Model or Belbin Team role Model signifies that best performance by
a team can only be achieved when every team member has clear roles and responsibilities to
achieve organizational and individual goals as well. If one will be able to clarify role then it will
help in developing strength and identifying weaknesses to improve contribution.
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This model actually analyzes behaviour of team members because everyone is having different
working styles. So, according to this model, there are 9 team roles divided into 3 different
categories; Action oriented, People oriented and Thought oriented. Every team role in this
model is related with individual behaviour and interpersonal working style (Wilson, 2017).
Belbin also mentioned weaknesses of each team role according to characteristics.
Following are 9 types of team roles:
Action Oriented Roles:
 Shaper: They are focused on improvement of team. These persons are extroverts who
always use different approaches for problem solving. In Arthur David co ltd. they
consider all possibilities for completing tasks. Sometimes, Shapers hurt emotions of other
people.
 Implementer: These are people who take responsibilities to complete work on time in a
much disciplined way. On weaknesses side, Implementers are somehow inflexible to
changes occur in business environment of Arthur David co ltd.
 Completer-Finisher: They seek every minute detail of work as Completer-Finishers pay
attention on removing every error and mistake. They are also known as perfectionists.
But, on side of weakness they may find unnecessary mistakes.
People oriented Roles: These are:
 Coordinator: As the name suggests, these person have ability to lead whole team. They
are having quality to give directions to other team members towards achieving objectives
of Arthur David co ltd. They are also of friendly nature, polite and efficient decision
makers. Ranges of allowable weaknesses are that they often give their responsibility to
others and also of devious nature.
 Team Worker: According to Belbin, team workers tend to provide help to other team
members as and when they need (Barry and Wilkinson, 2016). They know how to take
advantage of others. Their weakness is not being stable towards a decision.
 Resource Investigator: They are innovative and always eager to learn new things.
Resource investigators find out new resources for doing their tasks.
Thought Oriented:
 Plant: Team members of thought oriented people are innovator and always have new
ideas along with this they do not work with team.
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 Monitor-Evaluator: These persons analyze and evaluate ideas given by other team
members. And take decisions very carefully by identifying all benefits and drawbacks.
 Specialist: They have specific knowledge and particular field for completing their job
and are expert in their areas.
Tuckman Model: Tuckman model provides brief description of performance, advancement
and behaviour of team members (Gyekye and Haybatollahi, 2015). It was introduced by Dr
Bruce Tuckman in 1965. In context of Arthur David co ltd. five phases of Tuckman’s five stage
model has been described as:
1. Forming: At this stage role of leader is very important because initially no one
knows clear about their roles and responsibilities thus it may lead to chaos
between leader and members.
2. Storming: Team members may not agree on some point resulted clashes of
interest and power among leaders and members.
3. Norming: This is the phase of co-ordination among team members of Arthur
David co ltd. Clarity of roles and responsibilities started coming between them
and also a sense of commitment arise.
4. Performing: Performing stage brings delegation with it in organizations like
Arthur David co ltd. where they are fully independent in respect to interference of
leader. They can take their own decisions wilfully. Conflict resolution becomes
easy because understanding between them has been developed.
5. Adjourning: This stage is also called as Deforming and Mourning. It ascertains
group above those four phases, when whole task is completed they dismiss with
each other.
TASK 4
P4 Concept and philosophies of organization behaviour
Organizational Behaviour: Organizational Behaviour can be defined as the way in which
people behave with others in an organization (Aithal and Kumar, 2016). There are many theories
of Organizational Behaviour which are used to improve behaviours of individuals within an
organization so that harmony can be maintained among them.
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Main motive behind this concept is to re build idea behind in order to make new philosophies out
of them (De Board, 2014). Organizational Behaviour studies impact of human behaviour at
workplaces and examines their impact on job structure, communication, motivation, etc.
There are so many organizational concepts through which behaviour of employees can be
determined. These are:
o Individual Differences: Every individual is different from others in every
perspective as they have different opinions, cultures, values, way of talking, etc. For
example, A David co. ltd have different employees having different norms and
values and so differences can come between them.
o Perception: This term is defined as different ways of observe, listen and conclude
something. For example, employees of A David co ltd think that overtime is a
burden over them. But their managers think that overtime is a way of enhancing their
skills.
o Motivation: Every employee in an organization work for satisfying their needs for
this they need motivation because a motivated employee always works better. For
instance, managers of Arthur David co ltd motivate their employees and observe
them while working.
o Mutuality of Interest: There should be mutual interest among management and
employees of an organization. For example, individuals work for Arthur David co
ltd. to achieve their goals and in turn company help them to satisfy their needs. This
directly shows that both employees and employers are important to organizations.
Path Goal Theory: This theory is based on determining leadership styles or behaviour
which is used to influence people’s behaviours and work environment in order to achieve
goals. Path goal theory is based on Vroom’s Expectancy theory that leaders are whole and
sole responsible to address subordinates about what is expected from them, gives guidance
and directions and schedule work according to expectations. This theory suggests various
styles that can be used by leaders in different situations. These are:
Directive Leadership: A directive leader knows everything about their subordinates and
so they let their employees that what is expected from them and what will be directions to
fulfil them.
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Supportive Leadership: Supportive leaders always think about welfare and well being of
their employees. They are more friendly and approachable.
Participative Leadership: Participative leaders allow participation of employees in
welcome their ideas by asking suggestions and consults from subordinates.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, this can be concluded that Organizational Behaviour is very
crucial in achieving goals and objectives in given and expected time and behaviour. This report
is all about effectiveness and efficiency of employees with the help of description of effective
and ineffective teams. Furthermore, this steps forward towards Handy Culture Model which has
4 types of culture in it. Later added, this report comprises of motivational theories and techniques
which prove to be helpful in motivating teams and individuals. Moving forward, this study
shows team performance and development which shows that effective teams are more productive
than ineffective teams. Last but not the least; it throws light on various concepts and philosophies
of organizational behaviour.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Wilson, F. M., 2017. Organizational behaviour and gender. Routledge.
Barry, M. and Wilkinson, A., 2016. Pro‐social or pro‐management? A critique of the conception
of employee voice as a pro‐social behaviour within organizational behaviour. British Journal of
Industrial Relations. 54(2). pp.261-284.
Gagné, M., Sharma, P. and De Massis, A., 2014. The study of organizational behaviour in family
business. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology. 23(5). pp.643-656.
Gyekye, S.A. and Haybatollahi, M., 2015. Organizational citizenship behaviour: An empirical
investigation of the impact of age and job satisfaction on Ghanaian industrial
workers. International Journal of Organizational Analysis. 23(2). pp.285-301.
Pettigrew, A.M., 2014. The politics of organizational decision-making. Routledge.
King, D. and Lawley, S., 2016. Organizational behaviour. Oxford University Press.
Aithal, P .S. and Kumar, P. M., 2016. Organizational Behaviour in 21st Century–'Theory A'for
Managing People for Performance.
De Board, R., 2014. The psychoanalysis of organizations: A psychoanalytic approach to
behaviour in groups and organizations. Routledge.
Le Breton-Miller, I. and Miller, D., 2014. Temporal considerations in the study of family firms:
Reflections on “the study of organizational behaviour in family business”. European Journal of
Work and Organizational Psychology. 23(5). pp.669-673.
Alvesson, M. and Sveningsson, S., 2015. Changing organizational culture: Cultural change
work in progress. Routledge.
Alvesson, M. and Sveningsson, S., 2015. Changing organizational culture: Cultural change
work in progress. Routledge.
Karim, N.H.A. and Noor, N.H.N.M., 2017. Evaluating the psychometric properties of Allen and
Meyer’s organizational commitment scale: A cross cultural application among Malaysian
academic librarians. Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science. 11(1). pp.89-101.
Pavalache-Ilie, M., 2014. Organizational citizenship behaviour, work satisfaction and
employees’ personality. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences. 127. pp.489-493.
Bhuvanaiah, T. and Raya, R .P., 2014. Employee engagement: Key to organizational
success. SCMS journal of Indian management. 11(4). p.61.
Online
Handy’s culture model, 2018. [Online] Available through,
<https://www.aqa.org.uk/resources/business-subjects/as-and-a-level/business-7131-7132/teach/
teaching-topics>.
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