Organizational Behavior: Analyzing the Influence of Culture, Politics, and Power Dynamics at Marks & Spencer

This report examines the impact of organizational culture, politics, and power dynamics on individual and team behavior at Marks & Spencer. It analyzes how the company's customer-driven culture, constructive political environment, and positive power dynamics influence employee performance and overall organizational success. The report draws on relevant theories and research to provide insights into the complex interplay between organizational factors and behavior.

Organizational Behavior

Table of Contents
Task 1: Activity 1............................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Background of the chosen company................................................................................................3
Definition of Organizational culture, Organizational behavior, Power dynamic and Motivation. .3
Analysis of the influence of organization’s culture on individual behavior, team behavior and
performance.....................................................................................................................................4
Analysis of the influence of organization’s politics on individual behavior, team behavior and
performance.....................................................................................................................................5
Analysis of the influence of organization’s power dynamics on individual behavior, team
behavior and performance...............................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
Reference List..................................................................................................................................7

Task 1: Activity 1
Introduction
Organizational behavior is a key determinant of the organizational success. In this context, it is
noteworthy that the organizational culture, dynamics and structure significantly contributes in
shaping the employee’s organizational behavior (Greenberg, 2014). Further, the managers and
leaders also play crucial role in shaping organizational behavior. In order to analyze the impact
of some key organizational factors, like culture, politics and power dynamics on the
organizational behavior, the retail Company Marks & Spencer has been selected to explore.
Background of the chosen company
Marks & Spencer Plc. is one of the leading retailers of UK, offering high quality food, grocery
and home products. Currently the organization is having more than 21 million customers
throughout the UK, with an annual turnover of £8.16 billion. The organization is also trading
internationally, in 40 territories till date. The organizational management is promptly aligning the
performance milestones of the employees with the organizational strategic objectives, thereby
ensuring growth, development of market share and performance excellence of the organization.
Definition of Organizational culture, Organizational behavior, Power dynamic and
Motivation
Organizational culture – According to Luthans et al., (2017) the organizational culture is
referred to the fundamental assumptions, beliefs, values and attributes related to the way
organizational stakeholders behave in the organizational environment.
Organizational behavior – Organizational behavior has been defined as the study of human
behavior within the organizational environment, the boundary within the organization and human
behavior as well as the organization itself.
Power dynamic – Power dynamics is referred to way individuals or teams interact with each
other and the way power relies in the work setting.

Motivation – Luthans et al., (2017) defined motivation as the reason for the action, needs and
desires of a person. It is also referred to the internal and external factors, stimulating the energy
and desire of people, to be continuously interest and committed to a job.
Analysis of the influence of organization’s culture on individual behavior, team behavior
and performance
The organizational culture of Marks & Spencer is derived by the founders and their family,
which developed the organizational values and belief. In the early days, culture was dependent
on quick turnover, hard work, honesty and no frills; these attributes acted as organizational
values and promoted the organization to become paternalistic, which indicates that for rising to
the top, the family member needs to run the business, which developed a strong sense of culture
emphasizing on loyalty, paternalism and community (asu et al., 2017). However, with rapid
growth of the organization, during 21st century, it was difficult to maintain the family touch,
which led the organization to be vulnerable to falling share price and low profit margin, for
which the absence of strong leadership and inward culture of the organization was blamed
(Huczynsk and Buchanan, 2013). Stuart Rose reverted back to the old values and simplified the
organizational culture, to reduce confusion. Now the organization is following a customer driven
culture, which indicates that the business is putting real effort for improving customer service,
market research and employ the right candidates through adequate training, with a sole purpose
of meeting customers’ needs and satisfy them.
This type of culture is supporting the process of updating the technology e-commerce, in order to
satisfy the customers. Further, this culture is influencing staffs and managers to communicate
well. This culture is promoting creativity and commitment among the individual. The team
performance is also influenced by the customer-oriented culture, by promoting positive team
dynamics. Therefore, looking into the customer’s expectations, the organizational culture in M &
S is promoting the shared goals and team objectives among the team members, which enables
them to work in a collaborated manner and celebrate success together By and Bures, 2013). The
leadership is also influenced by the culture, which is further promoting the belief among the
staffs to view change as an opportunity and accept it certainly, instead of resisting it. As a result,

the workers and managers are dynamic in nature and always striving for change the way they
work by exploring new ideas and thereby continuously improvising their skills and performance.
Analysis of the influence of organization’s politics on individual behavior, team behavior
and performance
The organization M & S is following a constructive political environment, promotes continuous
performance evaluation and management of the workers, followed by proper training and
performance enhancement. In order to do so, the organization is following 360 degree appraisal
process for evaluating employee’s as well as manager’s performance. Although the decision
making power is relying upon the upper level in the organizational hierarchy, fellows are
motivated by the seniors, which shapes individual behavior in the organization. The political
competence of the M & S is helping the managers of the organization to “develop partnership
with external organizations, shape the key organizational priorities, influence external decision
makers, promote organization’s reputation and manage organizational risk” (Pettigrew, 2014).
This political environment is providing individuals as well as teams the opportunity to
experience the importance of alternative culture and develops an environment, where people can
learn from mistakes in the teams as well as other organizational level.
Analysis of the influence of organization’s power dynamics on individual behavior, team
behavior and performance
The power dynamic is positive in the organization, which indicates that there is a flow of power
from the upper level of organizational hierarchy to the lower level. In this context, it is revealed
that the organizational principles indicate “good condition of employment, everyone counts,
good communication and continuous development”. These factors are indicating that that the
positive power dynamic in the organization is enabling the leaders or managers to empower or
motivate the fellows to meet their professional goals, while promoting them to explore their
talents in organizational premises (Guinote, 2017). In case of teams, the organization engages
employees to be up to date and provide specific feedbacks regarding their team contribution,
based on which their c competencies are shaped.

Conclusion
The cultural context is responsible for developing power dynamic and political environment,
which further influences individual as well as team behavior, thereby influencing the overall
performance of the organization too. The above report represented the influence of cultural,
political and dynamic environment of M & S upon the organizational behavior.

Reference List
Argyris, C., 2017. Integrating the Individual and the Organization. Routledge.
BY, R.T. and BURNES, B. 2013 Organizational Change, Leadership and Ethics: Leading
Organisations Towards Sustainability. London: Routledge.
Greenberg, J., 2014. Behavior in Organizations: Global Edition. Pearson Higher Ed.
Guinote, A., 2017. How power affects people: Activating, wanting, and goal seeking. Annual
Review of Psychology, 68, pp.353-381.
HUCZYNSKI, A. and BUCHANAN, D. 2013. Organisational Behaviour. 8th Ed. Harlow:
Pearson.
Luthans, F., Luthans, B.C. and Luthans, K.W., 2015. Organizational Behavior: An
EvidenceBased Approach. IAP.
Pettigrew, A.M., 2014. The politics of organizational decision-making. Routledge.
Vasu, M.L., Stewart, D.W. and Garson, G.D. eds., 2017. Organizational Behavior and Public
Management, Revised and Expanded. Routledge.