Influence of Organizational Culture, Politics, and Power on Behavior and Performance

Organizational Behavior

Contents
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................3
LO 1............................................................................................................................................................3
P1 Analyze how an organization’s culture, politics and power influence individual and team behavior
and performance......................................................................................................................................3
LO 2............................................................................................................................................................5
P2 Evaluate how content and process theories of motivation and motivational techniques, enable
effective achievement of goals in an organizational context....................................................................5
LO 3............................................................................................................................................................7
P3 Explain what makes an effective team as opposed to an ineffective team..........................................7
LO 4..........................................................................................................................................................10
P4 Apply concepts and philosophies of organizational behaviors within an organizational context and a
given business situation.........................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Organizational behavior can be defined as the study of how people act within a group. It is an
important aspect for an organization because it helps in enhancing relations among employees within an
organization thereby helping it in achieving goals and objectives. It also helps in developing a better
understanding of the aspects that motivate employees within the company s well as enhance their overall
performance(Arnold, Fletcher and Daniels, 2017). Organization chosen for this report is Marks and
Spencer, a British multinational retailer of high-quality household, clothing and food items. It was
founded by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer in the year 1884. The report analyzes the influence of an
organization’s culture, politics and power on individuals as well as team behavior and performance. It
also describes the different content and process theories of motivation enable an organization to
effectively achieve its goals and objectives. Apart from this, an explanation of what makes an effective
team as compared an ineffective team and different concepts of organizational behavior within an
organization is also included in the report.
LO 1
P1 Analyze how an organization’s culture, politics and power influence individual and team behavior and
performance
Acompany’s culture and power can influence the behavior as well as performance of individual
employees as well as teams working in its system. Different organizations have different cultures, some
organizations may welcome a casual attitude while other don’t and prefer a much formal behavior as well
as attitude. Also, a company’s culture is never stable and keeps on evolving with it over time. An
organization that has a strong culture, has employees who are more engaged and committed to their
respective jobs. They don feel powerless and take responsibility of their work. Marks and Spencer has a
culture wherein employees are allowed to work from home, choosing a new role within the company as
well as work from the workplace(Chou and et. al., 2019). This has helped in making the system much
more flexible and as aa result, the employees feel valued and perform in an enhanced manner.
Marks and Spencer follows an organization culture that is driven by its customers and individual
employees as well as teams are always working towards improving the overall shopping experience of the
customers. Organizations that have strong cultures have employees who are like-minded and share similar
beliefs. This can prove to be effective and help the company in attaining its goals and objectives.
Employees working in different teams are comfortable in working with each other and also, the number
of conflicts is less (Organizational Culture and Employee Performance, 2019). This further leads to
easing out the process of communication among different departments. Individuals and teams within

Marks and Spencer are aware of what is expected of them and how does the management assess their
overall performance. The individuals or teams that perform efficiently within workplace are rewarded and
provided different benefits. The reason behind this is to keep them motivated and encourage them to
perform even better. As a result, they put in their best efforts and help the company in achieving its goals
and objectives.
Respective company also provides various opportunities of training and development to its
employees, wherein they can develop new skills and enhance their overall knowledge about trends in the
market. This has helped the company retain its employees for a longer period of time because they do not
seek opportunities anywhere else. The team leaders as well as managers within the company encourage
their team members or subordinates to share their ideas and thoughts during the process of decision-
making. As a result, they feel more valued and have a sense of belonging to the company. This leads to
them performing more efficiently by putting in their best efforts and helping the company achieve its
goals and objectives. Marks and Spencer values its employees a lot and therefore, has made efforts in
building a workplace wherein individuals and teams feel safe and are more engaged in their respective
jobs. They are also provided opportunities to collaborate and work with each other.
Organizations that have cultures that encourage and foster employee development and growth,
prevent employees from getting bored and keep them interested in their work. Also, individuals who are
newly hired are provided the right training and orientation. This makes the feel supported and energized
to take responsibility(Dwivedi and et. al., 2018). The respective company structures its recruitment
processes in such a way that individuals who are like-minded and share the same beliefs as the company
are attracted and thus, recruited by the management. There are different types of organization cultures like
controlled, competitive, collaborative and creative. A creative culture is basically meant for small
businesses that are heavily dependent upon agile frameworks. On the other hand, competitive cultures are
focused mainly on individual results. Lastly, controlled organization culture is meant for companies that
are well established and value teams that are highly structured and organized. But in this type of culture,
there is a lot of bureaucracy due to which individuals and teams find it difficult to perform to their full
potential.
Organization cultures an have different and varying impacts on the performance as well as
motivation levels of individuals and teams within a company. If employees consider themselves to be
valued and a part of the company, they often work harder in order to help the company reach its
goals(Farnham, 2017). Therefore, organizations should work towards building a culture that helps
employees to grow and remain satisfied as well as engaged to their respective jobs. As a result, they
remain loyal to the company which can be extremely beneficial for it. Also, people want to work for