Organizational Behaviour: Impact of Politics, Culture, and Power on Performance

This report explores the impact of politics, culture, and power on performance in organizational behaviour. It discusses the theories of motivation, team development, and different leadership philosophies. The case study focuses on Primark, a fashion retail organization.

ORGANIZATION
BEHAVIOUR

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
LO1..................................................................................................................................................3
P1 Effect of politics, culture and power in performance............................................................3
LO2..................................................................................................................................................5
P2 Motivational theories.............................................................................................................5
LO3..................................................................................................................................................7
P3 Team development theories...................................................................................................7
LO4..................................................................................................................................................8
P4 Philosophies within organizational behaviour.......................................................................8
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Organizational behaviour is examining how employees respond and react within
organization. Primark is a fashion retail organization established in 1969 by Arthur Ryan and
headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The main purpose of this report is to understand organizational
culture of Primark and its impact on the performance of employees.
This report provides and overview of effect of politics, culture and power in performance,
motivational theories, team development theories and philosophies within organizational
behaviour.
MAIN BODY
LO1
P1 Effect of politics, culture and power in performance
Organizational culture
Organizational culture is basically the beliefs as well as values and ways for interacting
within business environment.
Handy's culture theory
This is one of the well-known theory which mainly describes organizational culture in an
imperative way.
Power culture
Within this culture, the power is mainly held by few individuals within organization and
organization is run by some rules and regulations. For example- Primark generally have some
rules and procedures and the employees are mainly judged by actually what they attain (Duan
and et.al.,2017).
Role culture
Within this culture, the employees are mainly controlled by making aware of their rules
and responsibilities. In short, employees are given responsibilities according to their
specialization. For example- Primark have specific department like IT, marketing and each
employee is designated projects according to their field and expertise (Larentis, Antonello and
Slongo, 2018).

Task culture
In this culture, teams are being build up for addressing the specific tasks. For example-
Primark follows the task culture where the management basically forms teams for solving the
critical problems like increasing sale of specific product etc.
Person culture
Organizations where individuals mainly sees themselves as superiors and unique and
consider themselves as asset of organization follows the person culture. For example- In
Primark, the employees are mainly concerned about themselves instead of organization
(Killingsworth, Miller and Alavosius, 2016).
Power
Power within organizations is capability of getting things done by the others at any
expense.
French and raven
Legitimate power
This is the power which mainly comes along with the specific position in the hierarchy.
In short, this power is held by some management within organization. For example- Top
management of Primark like CEO, manager have this power.
Referent power
This is the power which comes when an individual is mainly respected and trusted by
other employees. The leaders in this are considered as the role model. For example- the leaders
in various department in Primark have this power (Barsade, Coutifaris and Pillemer, 2018).
Coercive power
This power is mainly based upon forcing someone to perform something. Many leaders
in Primark generally pressurizes their employees for doing the particular task in order to reach
the target.
Reward power
This power is ability of the individuals to reward and appreciate employees for their great
work. Leaders and managers in Primark often provide appreciation and recognition to their
employees for their work (Latham, 2016).

Expert power
This power mainly comes from the knowledge and expertise of the individual having
several roles and responsibilities. The manager and top management have this power in Primark
where they have information about various aspects.
Politics
The politics within organization is predominately behaviour of the individuals towards
other involving their power and authority. There are mainly two types of politics, positive and
negative. Positive politics is when organization provides equal opportunity to all employees. For
example- when Primark will provide equal chance and growth opportunity to their employees
then they are said to follow positive politics and this will help to motivate employees. While
when organization will have negative politics followed by biasness and favoritism then this will
lower down the morale of employees and their performance will be degraded (Jesinoski, Miller
and Volker, 2016).
M1
The organizational culture, politics and power have a great role to play within
organization ad thus impacts performance of individual and team to high extent. When Primark
will have supportive culture, positive power and politics within its organization then this will
increase productivity of employees.
LO2
P2 Motivational theories
Motivation is basically process of facilitating and stimulating people towards action for
accomplishing goals.
Content theory of motivation
This theory mainly explores factors which motivates people for seeking their desires as
well as satisfies their needs.
Maslow hierarchy theory
This is one of the well-known content motivation theory which consist of various stages
through which an individual passes for satisfying its needs. First is physiological needs which
mainly relates with basic necessities like food, shelter. Primark should fulfill this need by
providing clean water, hygienic food to eat in office etc. Second is Safety needs which relates
with need for security as well safety in job (Kim, Eisenberger and Baik, 2016). Primary should

focus on needs by providing job security and sage working environment. Third need is need for
love which is about need of an individual for affection, love and belongingness. Primark should
focus on this need by encouraging friendship within their organizational culture. The fourth need
is esteem which relates to need for honor and self-respect within organization. Primark should
frequently provide job recognition, prestigious assignment to employees. Last need is self-
actualization which relates with desire of individual to grow and develop. Primark can fulfill this
need by providing challenging work and autonomy in their task.
Illustration 1: Maslow theory
(Source: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, 2018)
Process theory
This theory of motivation basically explains process which motivates the person in
particular way and examines how the entity changes.
Expectancy theory
This theory mainly explains that why individuals behave in certain way and have three
variables.
Expectancy
This is belief that better efforts and head work will eventually lead to the good
performance. Primark can fulfill the expectancy by providing right resources as well as right
skills to the employees.
Instrumentality

This is another variable of this theory which is based on belief that if employees will
perform well then valued outcome will arrive. The management of Primark can increase this
belief by providing the proper and clear understanding to their employees of relation between
outcomes as well as performances (Kayes, Kayes and Elsbach, 2016).
Valence
Valence is basically about importance which employees mainly places on expected
outcomes. For this to be positive, employees should prefer attaining outcome rather than not
attaining it. Primark should analyze the various factors which motivates their employees like
promotion, money etc (Wilson, 2017).
M2
There are various motivational theories which helps organization to influence the
behaviour and performance of employees. The major advantage of Maslow hierarchy theory is
that it takes into account human nature for satisfying needs of employees. Major advantage of
Vroom theory is that it addresses expectations of employees and their perception and emphasizes
on rewards.
LO3
P3 Team development theories
An effective team is the one where each and every employee is highly dedicated and
concerned with achieving the goals and objectives and thus works collaboratively. While on the
other hand, ineffective team is the one where the team members are highly conflict-ridden and
filled with the distrust.
Tuckman theory
This is one of the major theory which helps the organization to build an effective team
and achieve goals and objectives.
Forming
This is the very first stage within effective team development theory in which large
number of team members are firstly assembled and made them aware of the reason of designing
team. In this stage, the team begin to analyze the project goals. For example- in order to increase
sale of particular product, Primark will initially make team members aware about goal of group
(Zhang, 2018).
Storming

This is the another stage within their theory which team members basically starts
understanding their roles and responsibilities. In this, team members begin to communicate with
each other for various aspects. For example- in increasing sale of product, team members of
Primark will provide their own ideas and opinions (Thau and et.al.,2017).
Norming
This is third stage within which the team members resolve all their conflicts as well as
begin to respect each other. They develop a strong communication with each other. The team
members in Primark will try to understand that what are the feasible ideas of different members
and will respect each other viewpoints (Duan and et.al.,2017).
Performing
This is the stage where actual task takes place. In this, team members now clearly know
that what they have to do and how to do. The team members of Primark in this stage will give
their best for increasing sale of product and will focus on attaining organizational goals.
Adjourning
This is followed by completion of tasks where team members began to disband. Team
dismantle once the task is completed and gains the new experience. For example- after reaching
sale targets, team of Primark will disassemble but will develop strong bond with each other.
Types of teams
Functional team
This is group of employees who share the common functional expertise. In Primark, this
team mainly work towards similar goals and have same objectives. Thus, these functional teams
have high operational capacity.
Problem-solving teams
These are the teams which are mainly formed for resolving the specific problems and
work on various projects. In Primark, these teams are build for solving the critical issues like its
financial position etc (Larentis, Antonello and Slongo, 2018).
Project teams
In these teams, each member mainly belongs to various groups and have varied functions
to perform. The team members of this team in Primark are given various tasks and project as per
their expertise.

Virtual teams
These teams basically operates from remote areas and have members who work for
different geographic locations. Team members in Primark mainly work on various projects from
different locations through technology (Killingsworth, Miller and Alavosius, 2016).
Illustration 2: Tuckman theory
(Source: Tuckman: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing model. 2019 )
M3
One of the effective theory which enables Primark to develop the effective team is
Tuckman theory. The major advantage of this theory is that it enables employees to understand
the cross-cultural differences. Major disadvantage is that it sometimes leads to conflict among
team member due to contrasting views.
LO4
P4 Philosophies within organizational behaviour
Path goal theory
This theory is basically based upon specifying as well as describing the style of leader
which suits best according to the working environment and helps in motivating employees for
achieving goal. According to this theory, there are mainly four kinds of the styles of leaders
which they adopt according to the changing scenario (Barsade, Coutifaris and Pillemer, 2018).
Directive leadership
This is basically the leadership style wherein leaders explains their employees that what
is expected from them and how they have to perform the various tasks. In short, within this

leadership, leaders mainly informs their followers that what will be the work flow. This
leadership affects the behaviour of employees in Primark to a great extent and thus enables the
employees to clearly known their job responsibilities (Latham, 2016).
Supportive
This is the another style of leadership wherein leaders provide assistance and support to
their employees and shows the friendly behaviour and concern towards employees. Here leaders
are mainly concerned with satisfying the needs and expectation of their employees. This
leadership style affects the behaviour of employees of Primark in positive way and thus increase
their overall motivation and commitment towards work.
Participative
This is the another leadership style in which leaders and managers mainly focuses on
encouraging employees for proving their opinion in decision-making. These leaders consult their
followers and seeks their feedback and ideas before reaching on the conclusion. This influences
behaviour of employees in Primark positively, and they feel valued and respected (Jesinoski,
Miller and Volker, 2016).
Achievement
This achievement oriented leadership style mainly concerns with setting goals as well as
objectives for employees. In this, leaders set some challenging task for the employees and then
expect from them to give their best in their performance. This style affects behaviour of
employees in Primark positively and thus increase their trust and confidence on leaders. The
employees strive willingly and shows high level of commitment for accomplishing the goals
(Kim, Eisenberger and Baik, 2016).
Contingency theory
This theory mainly states that effectiveness as well as efficiency of leaders mainly
depend on degree to which the leadership style of leaders is in congruence with particular
situation. This theory addresses that there is no particular or single approach for leading
organizations and leaders have to change themselves according to situation. This style adopted
impacts the behaviour of employees in Primark to high level. This outlines two styles of
leadership. For example- when leaders of Primark will mainly focus on accomplishing the
particular task through using its positional power then they are said to be task-oriented and this
will somewhat result in frustration and anger within employees. While when leaders will

emphasize on maintaining relation with employees for increasing their performance then this will
eventually increase motivation level within them and their productivity will increase (Kayes,
Kayes and Elsbach, 2016).
M4
There are various theories as well as philosophies which influences the behaviour of
employees to high extent. These are contingency and path goal theory. Major advantage of path
goal theory is that it allows leaders in Primark to change their style according to scenario. Major
advantage of contingency there is that it helps leaders in Primark to take effective decisions
(Wilson, 2017).
CONCLUSION
It has been summarized that organizational culture and politics plays great role within
organization and influences performance of employees. Various motivation theories like Maslow
allows organization to satisfy needs of employees. The Tuckman theory is remarkable theory
which helps organization to build effective team. At the end, various theories like Path goal
theory influences behaviour in positive and negative way.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
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Duan, J and et.al.,2017. Transformational leadership and employee voice behavior: A Pygmalion
mechanism. Journal of Organizational Behavior.38(5). pp.650-670.
Jesinoski, T., Miller, G.J. and Volker, J.X., 2016. Entrepreneurial Human Relations And
Organizational Behavior. Business Journal for Entrepreneurs.(4).
Kayes, A., Kayes, D.C. and Elsbach, K.D., 2016. Contemporary Organizational Behavior: From
Ideas to Action. Pearson.
Killingsworth, K., Miller, S.A. and Alavosius, M.P., 2016. A behavioral interpretation of
situation awareness: Prospects for Organizational Behavior Management. Journal of
Organizational Behavior Management.36(4). pp.301-321.
Kim, K.Y., Eisenberger, R. and Baik, K., 2016. Perceived organizational support and affective
organizational commitment: Moderating influence of perceived organizational
competence. Journal of Organizational Behavior.37(4). pp.558-583.
Larentis, F., Antonello, C.S. and Slongo, L.A., 2018. Inter-Organizational Culture: Linking
Relationship Marketing with Organizational Behavior. Springer.
Latham, G.P., 2016. Goal setting: A possible theoretical framework for examining the effect of
priming goals on organizational behavior. Current Opinion in Psychology.12. pp.85-88.
Thau, S and et.al.,2017. Contextualizing Social Power Research Within Organizational
Behavior. In The Self at Work (pp. 214-242). Routledge.
Wilson, F.M., 2017. Organizational behaviour and gender. Routledge.
Zhang, S., 2018. Workplace spirituality and unethical pro-organizational behavior: The
mediating effect of job satisfaction. Journal of Business Ethics.pp.1-19.
Online
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. 2018. [Online] Available through:
<https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html>
Tuckman: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing model. 2019. [Online] Available through:
<https://www.businessballs.com/team-management/tuckman-forming-storming-norming-
performing-model/>