M&S Organizational Behavior: Culture, Politics, Power, Motivation

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of organizational behavior, focusing on the impact of organizational culture, organizational politics, power dynamics, and employee motivation. It defines these key terms and explores how they influence individual behavior, team behavior, and overall performance within an organization. The analysis is then applied to Marks and Spencer (M&S), a British multinational retailer, providing specific examples of how these factors manifest within the company's operations. The report concludes that culture, politics, and power dynamics significantly affect employee behavior and performance at M&S, highlighting the importance of managing these elements to foster a positive and productive work environment.

Activity 1
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Background of the chosen organization..........................................................................................3
Definition of the terms organizational culture, organizational politics, power dynamics and
motivation........................................................................................................................................3
Analysis of how an organization’s culture influences individual behavior, team behavior and
performance.....................................................................................................................................4
Analysis of how an organization’s politics influences individual behavior, team behavior and
performance.....................................................................................................................................4
Analysis of how an organization’s power dynamics individual behavior, team behavior and
performance.....................................................................................................................................5
Apply the analysis to the chosen organization giving examples.....................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
Reference list...................................................................................................................................7
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Introduction
One of the most important factors that have an impact on the operations and the overall
effectiveness of a company is organizational behavior. Organizational behavior, also known as
OB, can be referred to as the study with which people in an organization interact with groups.
The study and analysis of the organizational behavior of any business helps in creation of higher
efficiency of the business. The application of the theories of organizational behavior in the
context of an organization assists it in maximization of output of the organization from
individual members of groups along with benefiting it in the management of human resources.
This report will be evaluating the details and the analysis of the importance of politics, culture,
motivation, power dynamics and team work. The report will be critically evaluating the
organizational culture, the politics and the way in which power can be influencing individuals,
the behavior of teams and their performance in the context of Marks and Spencer.
Background of the chosen organization
This report has been prepared in the context of Marks and Spencer, which a British multinational
retailer with its headquarters in Westminster, London and is one of the most significant
components in FTSE 100 Index. Marks and Spencer is a public limited company, which was
established in the year 1884 in Leeds, UK. Presently headquartered in London, this organization
operates on a worldwide basis and specializes in selling of home products, luxury and high
quality food products and clothing. The organization currently owns 979 stores only across UK,
among which 615 of them sell only food products.
Definition of the terms organizational culture, organizational politics, power dynamics and
motivation
In order to acquire knowledge about organizational behavior, it is necessary to have an
understanding of the terms defined below -
 Organizational culture - According to Alvesson (2016), organization culture can be
referred to as the underlying assumptions, beliefs, ways and values of interaction, which
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contribute towards the unique psychological and social environment of any company or
organization.
 Organizational politics - As stated by Mouzelis (2017), organizational politics can be
referred to as the pursuit of self-interest and individual agendas without any regard to
their impacts on the efforts made in an organization for achieving its objectives and
goals.
 Power dynamics - Power dynamics can be defined as the ways in which various people
or various groups of individuals interact with one another and where one side is much
more powerful than the other side (Saz‐Carranza et al., 2016).
 Motivation - According to Stoyanov (2017), motivation can be referred to as the external
and internal factors, which stimulate the energy and the desire within people for being
continually interested as well as committed towards their job and the role they play in an
organization for achieving its goals.
Analysis of how an organization’s culture influences individual behavior, team behavior
and performance
The culture of any organization provides frameworks with respect to the way in which its
individuals behave, its teams behave and the way in which their performances are affected
(Alvesson, 2016). Depending on the kind of culture that an organization creates, it can have a
negative or positive effect on the behavior and the performances of its employees. The
organizational culture in which employees are treated as an integral part of its growth procedure,
foster its employees’ commitments towards it. The opposite happens when the workers of a
company are not considered important for its growth. In an organizational culture where workers
are given importance, the employees and the teams of the organization are committed towards
the accomplishment of its goals and have a positive impact on its overall effectiveness. The
culture of an organization determines the performance its individual employees and teams show.
The elimination of negative factors in organizational culture fosters productivity and employee
efficiency while the prevalence of negative factors slows down employee and team performance.
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Analysis of how an organization’s politics influences individual behavior, team behavior
and performance
Similar to organizational culture, the politics prevailing in an organization also affect the way in
which its individuals behave, its teams behave and their performances. The irrigational behavior
that is shown by a few individuals in an organization for obtaining advantages that are beyond
their power or control leads to several negative implications on the behavior of the teams and
individuals in an organization and their performance (Meisler and Vigoda-Gadot, 2014).
Organizational politics leads to the increase of stress among employees, de-motivates them,
spoils the work ambience and reduces the concentration of employees. These factors in turn have
a negative influence on the behavior and performance of teams and individuals. It ends up
lowering the overall productivity of an organization.
Analysis of how an organization’s power dynamics individual behavior, team behavior and
performance
Power dynamics is another factor that has an influence over the behavior of individuals and
teams operating in an organization (Saz‐Carranza et al., 2016). Power dynamics have the
capacity of changing the behavior and the attitudes of individuals and teams in an organization.
Power dynamics lead to the arousal of such a situation in an organization where employees do
not have the freedom to behave in the way they desire and do not play any role in the process of
decision-making in the organization. This in turn leads to the creation of a passive behavior of
individuals and teams and negatively impacts on their performances.
Apply the analysis to the chosen organization giving examples
The analysis of the organizational behavior at Marks and Spencer indicates that the organization
is the sufferer of its own success. Since the organization is already successful, it is quite resistant
towards changes, thereby leading to the arousal of a rigid and inflexible organizational culture.
However, despite of this negativity in Marks and Spencer’s organizational culture, it can be
determined that the organization offers flexible work hours for its employees according to their
suitability and allows its employees to participate in decision-making to quite an extent. This
indicates that despite of being resistant towards change, Marks and Spencer ensures collective
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behavior in the organization. For example, whenever Marks and Spencer plans to produce a new
product in the market, the collective opinion of all the employees of the company are taken.
As a result, there is no prevalence of power dynamics in the organization. No individual in the
organization has any additional power than the ones he or she has been assigned by the
management of the organization. However, there is the prevalence of politics in the organization
to quite an extent. For example, all the employees and teams operating in the organization are
provided with certain roles and responsibilities, and any attempt to do anything other what they
are supposed to do is constantly monitored and immediate steps are taken to eradicate it.
However, the management of the organization keeps a constant eye on the fact that the level of
politics in the organization is low. For example, the behavior and actions of every employee in
Marks and Spencer is monitored with the help of their respective team leads and managers,
thereby reducing the chances of politics.
Conclusion
Thus, from these points, it can be evaluated that the culture, politics and power dynamics have a
great impact on the behavior of employees. The behavior and performance of teams and
individuals in Marks and Spencer is also influenced with the culture, power and politics in the
organization.
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Reference list
Alvesson, M. ed., 2016. Organizational culture. Sage.
Meisler, G. and Vigoda-Gadot, E., 2014. Perceived organizational politics, emotional
intelligence and work outcomes: empirical exploration of direct and indirect effects. Personnel
Review, 43(1), pp.116-135.
Mouzelis, N.P., 2017. Organizational pathology: Life and death of organizations. Routledge.
Saz‐Carranza, A., Salvador Iborra, S. and Albareda, A., 2016. The power dynamics of mandated
network administrative organizations. Public Administration Review, 76(3), pp.449-462.
Stoyanov, S., 2017. A theory of human motivation. Macat Library.
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