Organisational Behaviour Report: Iceland Foods Ltd

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Organisational Behaviour

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................1
a. Utilise Handy’s model of organisational culture and analyse your company’s organisational
culture;.........................................................................................................................................1
b. Analyse the concepts of politics and power in organisational life, and critically evaluate
how culture, politics and power can influence individual and team performance for your
selected organisation;...................................................................................................................4
c. Evaluate content and process theories of motivation and how they correlate with the
effective achievement of business goals, and consequently the performance of an organisation;
.....................................................................................................................................................6
d. Provide an overall conclusion evaluating how the selected organisation can improve the
performance of their staff to meet goals....................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................12

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Factors underlying Herzberg's theory..............................................................................6
Figure 2: Different needs specified under Maslow’s theory...........................................................8

Task 1
a. Utilise Handy’s model of organisational culture and analyse your company’s organisational
culture;
The culture within an organisation depends upon the underlying organisational experiences,
expectations, beliefs, values and behaviour of employees that are hold together to represent the
organisation to the outside world. According to the Handy’s model, the different organisational
cultures are available for the Iceland Foods Ltd that can be adopted according to different
circumstances to improve its working conditions. Iceland Foods Ltd is a British supermarket
chain that deals in the selling and distribution of frozen as well as some non-frozen grocery
items, like, meat, vegetables, meals, dairy products, etc.
Handy’s model of organisational culture
This model emphasis on four types of organisational culture according to which Iceland Foods
Ltd can adapt its culture as per the organisational requirements and employee benefits:
Task Culture: This organisational culture focuses on the creation of teams to address a particular
issue or to perform a particular task. The team members in the project are chosen from different
fields as per the project work, and therefore the power is shifted from one member to another
according to their specialisation while performing tasks of their parts. The outcome of the task
culture depends upon the positive or negative team dynamics and blend of creativity, skills,
leadership and communication among the team members (Cacciattolo, 2014).
Power Culture: Employees that work in the power culture organisation has to perform their tasks
according to the prescribed tasks, and defined rules and regulations. The power lies in the hands
of some of the officials that are responsible for deciding what tasks are required to perform and
the ways of accomplishing the goals. This organisational culture requires quick and efficient
decisions making and the performance of employees are judged on the basis of outcome rather
than on their approach to accomplish the goals.
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Role Culture: This culture emphasis on establishing a working environment at Iceland Foods
Ltd where every employee knows what duties, roles and responsibilities they have to perform.
There is a long chain of command, and therefore, it can make the decision-making process is
slow (Sułkowski, 2013). In this type of organisational culture, power can be acquired from the
hierarchical position of the people at Iceland Foods Ltd.
Person Culture: Every person considered themselves as the superior and efficient in this type of
culture, as the organisational existence depends upon the efforts and expertise of individuals in
the organisation. People in this culture are most of those that belong to the same fields,
background and profession.
Current organizational culture at Iceland Foods Ltd
The internal working of the organisation, the interaction of employees with other members,
knowledge sharing, etc. is all influenced by the organisational culture. The main goal of Iceland
Foods Ltd is to improve the sales with increased quality of products and services to ensure high
customer satisfaction level. Hence, it is essential to drive the employees towards set goals of the
organisation, and therefore, it requires positive and influencing organisational culture. However,
currently, the culture at Iceland Foods Ltd is stressful for the employees, and the organisation is
facing difficulty in managing the high volume of workload (Muls et al., 2015). The culture of
Iceland Foods Ltd is mainly influenced by the different beliefs and values of the workforce,
along with the communication channels within the organisation. To ensure the improved and
positive organisational culture, Iceland Foods Ltd moves towards task culture which is supported
with the provision of appropriate technical training, employee’s engagement and professional
growth program that motivate the staff for improved productivity and performance.
Politics and power within Iceland Foods Ltd
The performance outcome of the employees is highly influenced with the internal politics and
power exercised within Iceland Foods Ltd. The authority is divided at Iceland Foods Ltd
throughout the organisational working system, and the work is allocated to the staff as per their
specialisation. Hence, this intends to develop a culture of togetherness and enthusiasm in which
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employees coordinate their efforts in a productive and efficient manner (Higgins et al., 2013).
However, the performance of the staff members is not assessed through any performance
mechanism, and therefore, the quality of employees performance is not considered while offering
increment to them. Besides, lack of appropriate training and programs by the management and
leaders at Iceland Foods Ltd leads to resistance to organisational change, no knowledge and
talent sharing among employees.
The management ensures there is proper communication channels are provided to the employees
so that they can convey their views, issues and opinions to the senior personnel easily and
comfortably. However, the leaders of Iceland Foods Ltd have not adopted the participative
approach, and therefore, inputs from their staff members are not taken while making decisions.
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b. Analyse the concepts of politics and power in organisational life, and critically evaluate how
culture, politics and power can influence individual and team performance for your selected
organisation;
Power and politics are the organisational aspects that cannot be ignored as they are an integral
part of the internal environment. Both aspects influence not only the organisational productivity
and performance but also the individuals and team behaviours within Iceland Foods Ltd.
Culture: The present working culture of Iceland Foods consists of a blend of people that belongs
to different religion, castes, professions and expertise. Hence, there is a high probability of
mismatch in their views, opinions and beliefs that may lead to resistance to teamwork and
therefore affect the overall organisational performance (Truss et al., 2013).
Impact on individual and team performance: The individual performance of staff members is
highly influenced due to high workload and increased working stress. In addition, high conflicts
and high workload affect the team dynamics of cooperation and togetherness among the staff
members that affect the outcome of team performance adversely. For example, the target set by
Iceland Foods in relation to the selling of frozen foods within 2 months increases work pressure
among all the staff.
Politics: Although the authority and work are allocated to the staff members of Iceland Foods
based on their specialisation, however, there is no performance appraisal mechanism, and
therefore it cannot be identified which employee is performing better and which is not for the
distribution of employee benefits and rewards (Cacciattolo, 2014). For example, at Iceland
Foods, the management takes the decisions pertaining to the increase in remuneration without
considering the outcome of the individual efforts.
Impact on individual and team performance: There is increasing discrimination feelings among
the employees as some are receiving high rewards while some are receiving low without any
basis of performance calculation. The team members within the organisation do not put their
high efforts on their task as they are well aware of the fact that their performance will not be
admired for rewards distribution.
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Power: Although the management has developed two-way communication channels for the
employees interact with the senior officials, however, some of the leaders misuse their power
within Iceland Foods Ltd that adversely impacts the performance of the workforce (D'Cruz and
Noronha, 2014). For example, leaders at Iceland Foods have adopted directive leadership that
does not allow employees in sharing their views and opinions in relation to different matters.
Impact on individual and team performance: The lack of participative leadership approach
makes feel the employees of Iceland Foods Ltd that they and their views are not relevant for the
organisation and hence, their existence does not matter. It may lead to high employee turnover.
The biased behaviour of leaders in terms of power also affects the team formation and team
efforts outcome.
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c. Evaluate content and process theories of motivation and how they correlate with the effective
achievement of business goals, and consequently the performance of an organisation;
With the analysis of the influence of organisational culture, politics and power on the employees
and team performance, it is determined that Iceland Foods is required to motivate its employees
to develop dedication and hardworking capability among them. Motivation requires support from
the leaders and management that guides the staff members in identifying the unique and
innovative ways of performing their job. Hence, the management and leaders of Iceland Foods
can adopt the following content and process theories to enhance the working spirit of employees:
Content Theories
Herzberg’s Motivation Theory
This theory emphasises that Iceland Foods must consider two factors that can influence the
motivational practices in the workplace. The factors are:
Figure 1: Factors underlying Herzberg's theory
(Source: Crystal Lombardo, 2019)
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 Motivators: These factors encourage the employees of Iceland Foods to work hard and
put their all efforts to attain the specified objectives. For example, recognition,
achievement, growth, advancement etc. are the major motivators.
 Hygiene factors: Lack of these factors are the major cause of demotivation and leads to
increased inefficiency of employees at the workplace — for example, organisational
policies, relationships, remuneration, work conditions, salary, security, etc (Cook and
Artino, 2016).
Iceland Foods can increase motivation among its employees through the following steps:
Eliminate job hygiene stressors: The first step focuses on the identification of those hygiene
factors that dissatisfy the staff at Iceland Foods. The management is required to remove hygiene
stressors through the elimination of bureaucratic organisational policies and adopting democratic
leadership approach. In addition, the organisation is required to develop a competitive
remuneration policy so that there will be no salary disparities among the employees.
Boost job satisfaction: The next step is to boost the energy among the employees of Iceland
Foods Ltd. by improving employees’ job satisfaction (Osabiya, 2015). The management can
approach techniques like job enrichment, job enlargement, and employee empowerment to
increase job satisfaction at the workplace of Iceland Foods Ltd.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs
This theory suggests that there are hierarchical needs of employees, the satisfaction of which
encourage them to improve their capability for a better and positive outcome. Following are the
groups suggested under this theory:
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Figure 2: Different needs specified under Maslow’s theory
(Source: Kendra Cherry, 2018)
Deficiency needs: These are the basic needs which consist of psychological needs like, shelter,
food, etc. The workforce at Iceland Foods Ltd performs its work to fulfil their needs for
psychological aspects. Fulfilment of such needs, encourage the workforce to strive for safety and
physical security needs (Lester, 2013). The next motivational level is the social needs of humans
that are associated with high social recognition, reputation, friendships, families etc.
Growth-oriented needs: The satisfaction for deficiency needs leads to the desire of attainment of
growth-oriented needs. These needs can motivate employees with the fulfilment of self-esteem
needs, which is associated with the respect and love from others. The top of the hierarchy
includes self-actualisation needs that force employees to put their full potential and capability to
attain the desired objectives.
Process Theories
Vroom’s Expectancy Theory
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This theory states that the performance of the workforce and their competence are interlinked,
and therefore, it can be used by the management of Iceland Foods Ltd to influence their
behaviour positively. Hence, the major of this theory is to identify skilled and well-experienced
staff that can perform different tasks as per the set standards of the Iceland Foods Ltd. For
example, skilled professionals at Iceland Foods Ltd deliver quality output and ensure long term
growth and success (Parijat and Bagga, 2014).
Equity Theory
The equity theory is based on the principle of balance. This theory suggests that the motivational
level of the individual is correlated to the equity perception of employees, justice, and fairness by
the management of Iceland Foods Ltd. Hence, increased equity and fairness perception will lead
to high motivational level. For example, if an employee gets high remuneration at Iceland Foods
Ltd in comparison to other colleagues in the same field, then such imbalanced remuneration will
lead to demotivation among those staff that does not get an incremented salary. This theory
provides that there must not be any inequality in the workplace and the management of Iceland
Foods Ltd must strive to establish a balance among its staff (Liu et al.,2016). The organisation is
required to balance the inequality in employee performance by adjusting the performance either
up or down as per other members of the same field. This helps the management in judging the
performance of employees on an equitable basis.
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