Influence of Culture, Politics, and Power on Individual and Team Behavior and Performance in Unilever

This report analyzes the influence of culture, politics, and power on individual and team behavior and performance in Unilever. It examines different types of organizational culture, sources of power, and types of politics in Unilever. It also discusses theories and techniques of motivation that enable the achievement of goals in Unilever.

Organisational Behaviour

INTRODUCTION
Organisation Behaviour is basically the study of performance of individual
working in the company and different groups working together based on different
activities set by the organisations (Wood and et.al., 2016). Present study is based on
the organisation Unilever that is a food and beverages, consumer goods company
having its headquarter in London, UK. Company was founded in the year 1929 by
William Lever and presently there are 155,000 working employees. Report will analyse
culture, politics and power of the organisations and its influence with respect to the
individual and team behaviour and performance. Further report will evaluate the way the
theories of motivation and different techniques leads to effective achievement of the
respective goals in Unilever. Report will also evaluate about the difference in effective
and ineffective team with the help of group development theories. At the end report will
to also implement different concepts and philosophies with respect to organisational
behaviour in Unilever.
LO 1
Influence of culture, politics and power over individual, team behaviour and performance
Organisational culture:-
According to Elsmore (2017) Organisational culture is basically psychology,
attitudes, experiences, cultural and personal beliefs of an organisation. It is collection of
different values and norms that people in an organisation share among themselves and
this helps in controlling the way they have interaction with each others as well as with
the stakeholders that are outside the firm.
According to Handy's Model of organisational culture, there are various cultural
aspects in an business and these cultural differences are having a great influence on
the individuals working in the organisation, its team behaviour and the respective
performance in following ways:-
Figure:- 1
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 Power Culture:- In Unilever there are some individual people who are able to
influence others working in the firm due to their high pace like different leaders of
Unilever. Different rules and regulations are set in the respective power culture
that other working employees have to follow. This type of culture is influencing
the individual employees that are working in Unilever, as they work on bases of
different rules and regulations that are set by the respective leaders that are in
power. This culture is also have a great impact on decision making of the team
as it helps to solve the conflicts by increasing the capability of the team . For the
same team follow the rules and regulations that leaders have set and this results
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Illustration 1: Handy's Model of organisational culture

in overall improvement in the performance of the team as coordination is their. In
contradiction to this, power culture is having a problem related to size as it is
quite difficult for Unilever to link so many activities of the business and have
control. This culture basically relies over individual rather than whole team and
this may result in low morale and high turnover.
 Role Culture:- Company with a role culture is having different rules and
respective role and responsibilities. Unilever us having strong functional areas
that are coordinated with the help of senior management. This type of culture is
helpful in promoting individual learning for the employees and makes the whole
team strong to work effectively. The team performance get improved as top
management is having control over the ream performance. In contradiction to
this, Role culture is facing difficulty to adapt the change and in such situation,
organisation is giving importance to economies of change rather than flexibility
and product innovation (Brenyah and Obuobisa-Darko, 2017).
 Task culture:- This type of culture is basically job oriented and Unilever is
having such culture when they adopt project based structural design. The major
emphasis is on getting the work done with the help of different resources and
right people and for the same different teams are formed in order to resolve the
problems. This culture is impacting the individual employees as they are free to
share their own ideas. This results in improvement in team performance due to
mutual understanding of the members. In contradiction to this it may be difficult
for the Unilever to have control over the individual and team. Moral of the group
work may also get decline and it may result in less satisfaction of the employees
with respect to the job role.
 Person Culture: - This type of culture is mainly not found in all the organisation
including Unilever. Here, individuals working in the organisation usually feel that
they are more superior and there are many that are from same background. In
contradiction to this, in Unilever such culture is created to perform a respective
task where people of same expertise are required to complete the tasks.
Basically the power somehow lies in each group and all the individual working in
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the organisation is having a particular satisfaction level. They work together and
the performance of the individual as well as team get improved (Ruck, 2017).
Unilever is having all the three culture. All these culture are influencing the
individual and team of the organisation on bases of different situations they are facing.
Organisational power:-
Organisational power is the ability of a leader to motivate the employees in order
to perform the tasks. There are five sources of power and each have influence on
individual, team behaviour and performance in following ways:-
Figure:- 2
Positional power:- Reward power: - This is common type of power that Unilever is using to reward
the team members with bonus. This impact individual employees as leaders are
able to command employees attention though different rewards. Not only this,
somehow team also work hard by getting motivated and they follow the
respective leader in order to get rewards in hand. This also makes improvement
in performance of the whole team as they put their efforts for winning the rewards
that finally results in good performance of the team members. In contradiction to
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Illustration 2: French and Reven's model

this, problems may arise for Unilever with respect to increase in costs and may
also affect the employees' performance if leaders are biased (Howell, 2016). Coercive power:- Coercive power is using force to make the employees follow
their instructions. Many a time leaders at Unilever penalised the employees and
team if they are not following them. In helps the Unilever in motivating the
individual so that they follow the instruction of leaders. The team members work
effectively so that they do not have to penalise for their poor performance. This
also results in improvement in performance of the workforce as all work with
good coordination. In contradiction to this, power may have too much control
over the workplace that may result in corruption and people may get troubled in
the organisation.
 Legitimate power:- Usually this power comes along with the person appointed for
a specific position in Unilever. Person in power is having the right to issue orders
while working in the firm. This also guides the team members so that they
improve their performance. In contraction to this it doesn't always result in
effective organization and may not encourage loyalty of the employees (Kovach,
2016).
Personal power:-
 Expert power:- This power is very common form of power in Unilever and is asset
for the firm. This form of power comes when an individual is expert in some task
by having good knowledge and skills. Individual get influence and Team get
influence from this power as take advice from the experts so that they work
effectively and have good performance. The overall performance of the individual
and team also get influence as they are getting clear instruction from the expert.
 Referent power: - This type of power is source of leader's character traits,
background etc. The individual in Unilever get influence to follow their leaders as
they are having charismatic personality that helps them to work effectively. Team
members get influence to make decision on bases of the values set by the
leaders so that result are good. These values and ethics helps the individual and
team to make improvement in their overall performance (Howell, 2016).
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On bases of different situations arising in the firm, leaders are using these power
accordingly.
Organisational politics:-
Basically there are two types of politics in Unilever and are as following:- Good politics:- Unilever is having Good politics as leaders are using there power
in right direction that is for the benefits of the organisation and they work to
improve employees performance and also of the whole team. Company having
good politics have effective policy with respect to different rewards in order to
make employees work more productive. Leaders at Unilever listen to all the
problems faced by the employees that helps in influencing the individual to work
hard. This also results in improvement of performance of whole team as they
show good coordination in their work in order to achieve the goals. Reward policy
helps to improve performance of Unilever as leaders are honest with their
employees (Cacciattolo, 2015).
 Bad politics:- Many a time there are leaders in Unilever that are misusing their
powers and that results in bad politics. Here employees are having more
complaints and less satisfaction with the job. As leaders start working for their
own profits and do not care about the employees, individual performance get
poorer and this affects the overall team performance. That further result in delay
in work and less focus over their tasks.
LO 2
Theories and techniques of motivation that enables achievement of goals in Unilever
Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation:- Intrinsic motivation:- This type of motivation comes within a person and they are
engaged in activities which are enjoyable for them or they are getting some
personal satisfaction. Here goals of the employees are decided by themselves
and the different outcomes coming from the tasks that basically satisfies their
psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness (Kuvaas and
et.al., 2017).
 Extrinsic motivation: - This type of motivation comes from outside environment
that is the employee is doing the tasks in order to earn rewards. Here goals are
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focused on outcomes and they generally not satisfy the psychological needs of
the employee. Their goal is to gain money, fame, power etc.
Content Theories of motivation:-
According to these motivation theories, human needs change with time and there
are some specific factors that reflects the way they change.
Maslow's Hierarchy of needs:-
Figure:- 3
Maslow's have categorized the human needs with the help of a pyramid and
includes the following needs:-
 Psychological needs: - It is very important for Unilever to fulfil the basic needs
of the employees. There are some basic needs that are essential for the
employees to survive that includes air, food and water. As Unilever is able to
satisfy their employees by fulfilling these needs, they work effectively as they get
motivated (Soni and Soni, 2016).
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Illustration 3: Maslow's hierarchy of needs

 Safety needs: - As these basic needs get fulfil, employees at Unilever get
influence for the safety needs. These needs basically include the health and
safety measures that organisation have to take so that employees is safe while
performing different operation in the firm. Unilever is identifying the health and
safety hazards and manage the risks arising in planned operations and activities
of the business. That is the reason employees are having trust on business
operations of the Unilever.
 Belonging needs: - As employees are able to fulfil their safety needs, they get
motivated to have belonging needs that is to have a working environment where
they get love an affection from other employees and leaders. Not fulfilling the
belonging needs may result in poor performance of the employees as they will
work in stress and may face heath issues. Unilever is providing a work
environment with stress management and conducting different team based
activities to raise the morale of employees and brining good understanding
among the staff members.
 Esteem needs: - As the employees are able to satisfy with their belonging
needs, they get motivated to fulfil their esteem needs. This is very important need
as getting respect and appreciation from the Unilever for their effective
performance make them motivated to work hard. Unilever is having an effective
reward policy that makes employees recognised and helps in fulfilling their
Esteem needs. Self-Actualization:- As all the above needs get fulfil, employee get motivated to
have self-actualization that is to achieve its full potential. Employees usually get
motivated to work hard in order to achieve self-actualization need as there are
only few people in the organisation like Unilever where employees are fulfilling
their self-actualization needs. Unilever is giving various opportunities for the
employees to make their dreams come true and that is the reason employees at
Unilever are able to fulfil their self-actualisation needs (Bouzenita and
Boulanouar, 2016).
Process theories of motivation:-
The different theories are as following:-
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Equity theory:-
Figure: - 4
Employees at Unilever get motivated in accordance with this theory by having
fairness in the organisation and against fellow workers they also assess different level
of effort and rewards they receive for their efforts. Employees usually have perception
that they get output on bases of what they input and then they make comparison
between their inputs and outputs rations with other employees input and output ratios.
The two situations that arise in such case is as following:-
 Equity: - Here employees at Unilever compare themself with others and they get
motivated if equity is there in order to maintain their current situation. This helps
the business to achieve its objectives as employees work hard in maintain their
position and for the same they put efforts in achieving different targets that
business sets for them (Lăzăroiu, 2015).
 Inequity: - If inequity is seen that the employees get motivated and for the same
they change their inputs in order to get improved and that results in change in
outcomes. After that they again compare and then leave the situation
accordingly. This helps the business to achieve its objectives as employees work
to improve its performance and that finally results in improvement of
organisation's overall performance in order to reach the business goals.
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Illustration 4: Equity theory

LO 3
Difference between effective team and ineffective team
There are two types of team in an organisation that is effective team and
ineffective team and they both differ from each other in following ways:-
Effective Team Ineffective team
 Effective team is having a team size
of about 5 to 10 employees that is
size of the team is quite small.
 Here employees at Unilever are
motivating each other and this helps
in making their work easy going as
all work together. The efficiency of
the team also increases that is
beneficial to the organisation.
 An effective communication is seen
among the employees and this
makes the task clear to each and
every member working in team that
finally result in completion of task
on time.
 All the members in the team are
having clear roles and
responsibilities that results in less
confusion and task finishes on time
 More number of team members are
there that results in less efficiency
of the team to complete the task
effectively.
 Conflicts are high in ineffective team
as a result efficiency of the team
decreases and makes the team
weaker.
 Open communication is not seen
among the team members that
make the task confusing and
employees are less motivated to
participate.
 Roles and responsibilities of the
team members are no clearly
defined and it becomes tough for
the team to complete the task on
time and effectively.
To build an effective team different aspects are considered that are having
proper communication, cooperation and able to manage the conflicts arising in the
organisation. There are different types of team that are as follows:-
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 Problem solving team: - The major focus of this team is to specify the targets and
plan to solve the problems that are coming in between to reach the business
goals.
 Self-managed team: - This type of team consist of employees of organisation
who are working together in order to achieve some common goals.
 Virtual team: - Here employees work in different locations and use power of
communication with the different collaborate tools to reach the goals.
Situation: - For making healthy ice cream for the customers
According to Bruce Tuckman, there are five stages for the team development
that are as follows:-
Forming stage: - According to this stage the team first meets and introduced to
each other. They share information to each other about their background and
experience. They decide the objective of the project that is to come up with healthy ice
cream for the customers of Unilever. Here team leader gives clear direction to its
employees and ensures that all the members are involved in determining the
responsibilities. However, the team face lots of problems during this stage as they are
not aware about each other’s behaviour and initially it is tough for them to work together
(Raes and et.al., 2015).
Storming stage: - All the team work together and do proper research for making
this product successful. All the team members work to compete with each other in order
to keep their points in focus. Lots of conflicts arise as all the members are having
different viewpoints. They learn to solve problems together. In contraction to this, they
stay together to resolve the problems coming in making the ice-cream healthier for the
customers.
Norming stage: - At this stage the interpersonal differences that are occurring in
the team are generally overcome. Here members learn to work with coordination and
they cooperate with each other. They start trusting each other and comes with
innovative ideas to have healthier ice-cream for the customers.
Performing stage: - At this stage team members are having focus is to reach its
goals and members become independent with their decision. They are able to organise
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the team effectively and there is well function of the team and its members. Here team
leaders is not involved in the decision making and team is able to reach its goals and
achieve its objective to make the ice cream healthier (Tang, 2019).
Adjourning stage:- This is the final stage where rapping up of the final tasks and
documentation of the results have been conducted. They have achieved the objective of
the Unilever that is to make healthier ice-cream and they now pursue their next
endeavour.
LO 4
Application of concepts of organisational behaviour with respect to business situation
There are a variety of philosophies that can be implemented in the organisational
behaviour and one such philosophy is Autocratic philosophy. Unilever has implemented
autocratic philosophy despite it being criticised so much. The only reason behind
implementation of such a theory is that it helps in taking better decision s and increasing
the control on the management of the company. Due to Unilever being a more broader
organisation working at various levels, this is the most appropriate philosophy that helps
them in taking much efficient and quicker decision and therefore helps in managing and
improving the overall work structure of the organisation.
Path-Goal Leadership Theory:-
The Path Goal leadership theory is basically based on different leadership styles
that best fits for an employee for achieving the desired goals of Unilever. Here leaders
select the specific behaviour with respect to employees needs so that leaders is able to
guide the employees effectively.
According to the path goal theory there are four styles of leadership:-
 Supportive Leadership:- This type of leadership style directs the employees in
satisfying their needs. Here leader shows the employees a concern for their
psychological wellbeing. In such situation leader is making an environment where
all the employees work without stress and have friendly working environment.
Employees work effectively as they get in order to meet goals set by the firm as
its self-esteem needs get fulfil. This Leadership style helps the leaders to make
the employees influence so that they work productively. This results in the huge
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profit for the Unilever and morale of the employees also get influence as they feel
that the organisation is having concern over their basic needs. In contraction to
this, employees may not have fear to work effectively and this may lower down
their work performance. It may also take huge time for the firm to reach out its
business goals (Yang and Lim, 2016).
 Directive Leadership: - Here leader is having clear direction and objectives so it
directs its employees in an effective manner so that the business goals are clear
to them. This type of leadership style is used by the leaders at Unilever if the task
is complex and the employees are not skilled and experienced or the same. For
example, Unilever train its employees as they join the organisation. In order to
make them work effectively, directive leadership is used so that leaders can build
the respective skills of the employees in order to achieve the tasks on time. This
leadership style is having control over the employees in order to achieve the
respective tasks and employees directed to achieve the same. If leaders are
setting the goals without having any concern from the employees then there are
chances that employees will be having low morale and high absenteeism. This
affects the productivity of the organisation as more errors and low customers'
satisfaction will be there.
 Participative Leadership: - This leadership style achieve through people. For
taking any particular action while working in team for an assigned task,
employees are set free to share their viewpoints so that an effective result comes
out. This leadership style best suits in the situations where the employees are
experts and are able to come up with innovative ideas. This Leadership style also
encourages communication that promotes the employees ideas but if effective
communication is not their then it may result in challenging to leaders decisions.
But employee engagement in decision helps in making good decision and
achievement of goals become easy.
 Achievement oriented leadership: - According to this leadership style, leaders
are setting challenging goals for the employees with respect to the task they
have to perform. Employees are required to have high standards and leaders
have faith on capability of the employees that they will succeed. There are many
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employees in Unilever that are well trained and experienced. In order to make
these employees work more effectively, leaders at Unilever assign tasks that are
new and challenging to employees so that they are able to enhance their skills.
This helps the leaders to achieve higher goals and this approach is usually
applied when the task is difficult to achieve. Leadership influences the teamwork
and negative leadership style can ruin a team and positive leadership style
encourages the team to work together seamlessly and achieve the higher goals
for the business (Hirt, 2016).
CONCLUSION
In the above study shows how the business analyst of perform all his duties to
analyse the organisational behavior of the company in this study he gets to know that
the culture of an organisation is not related to the values and ethics of the employee
then he will not able to work over the organisation and powerful employees will not give
opportunity to their subordinate to take decisions and the nasty politics in organisational
culture leaves a negative impact on the employees of company and for the development
of the organisation motivation is required and the achievement of the organisation goals
different motivational theories are used. In this project an effective team is required for
the success of the organisation and theories are given in project to develop an effective
team for the company this study uses the Tuckman theory of team development.
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REFERENCES
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