Organizational Behaviour: A David & Co Limited Case Study

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Organizational Behaviour
Student Name: Alina Stratulat

Student_Id:HE06191

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
LO1..................................................................................................................................................2
P1. Analyze how an organization’s culture, politics and power can influence individual and
team behavior and performance...................................................................................................2
M1 Critically analyse how the culture, politics and power of an organisation can influence
individual and team behaviour and performance.........................................................................4
LO2..................................................................................................................................................6
P2 evaluate how content and process theories of motivation and motivational techniques
enable effective achievement of goals in an organisational context............................................6
M2. Critically evaluate how to influence the behaviour of others through the effective
application of behavioural, motivational theories, concepts, and models...................................8
D1 Critically evaluate the relationship between culture, politics, power and motivation that
enables teams and organisations to succeed providing justified recommendations....................9
LO3................................................................................................................................................10
P3 demonstrate an understanding of what makes an effective team, as opposed to an
ineffective team.........................................................................................................................10
M3 analyse the relevant team and Group development theories to support the development of
dynamic cooperation..................................................................................................................12
LO4................................................................................................................................................13
P4. Apply concepts and philosophies of OB within an organizational context and a given
business situation.......................................................................................................................13
M4 Explore and evaluate how concepts and philosophies of OB inform and influence
behaviour in both a positive and negative way..........................................................................15

D2 Critically analyse and evaluate the relevance of team development theories in context of
organisational behaviour concepts and philosophies that influence behaviour in the work place
...................................................................................................................................................16
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................17
References......................................................................................................................................18

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Handy's model..................................................................................................................2
Figure 2: Five forms of Power.........................................................................................................3
Figure 3: Theory X and Theory Y...................................................................................................6
Figure 4: Beliefs in Expectancy Theory..........................................................................................8
Figure 5; Belbin model..................................................................................................................11
Figure 6: elements of Path Goal Theory........................................................................................14

Introduction
The culture of an organisation includes a set of experiences, expectations, and beliefs that guide
and support behaviours of staff members which imparts inner workings, and interactions among
the organisation. The positive working culture facilitates employees in performing their job
joyfully and enthusiastically. Therefore, the HR manager plays a vital role here to analyse the
organisational culture so that necessary initiatives can be taken to improve it. In this report, A
David & Co Limited is considered for analysing the organisational culture, power and politics
and its influence on the performance of the organisation. This organisation in indulge in
producing, distribution and selling fruits, vegetables, preparatory eatable items and bakery items
in the UK.
In this report, various motivational approaches and theories are suggested that help the
organisation in motivating their employees towards achieving excellence in their job. The
importance of team and team efforts are outlined in the report that develops a sense of
responsibility and team spirit among the team members.
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LO1
P1. Analyze how an organization’s culture, politics and power can influence individual and
team behavior and performance.
Organisation culture encompasses shared assumptions, beliefs, and values that govern the
behaviour of people in an organisation. The impact of organisation culture of A David & Co
Limited on the team behaviour, individual, and overall performance can be identified on the
basis of Handy’s model, which has defined different types of organisation culture:
Power Culture: In this type of culture, power is concentrated in the hands of leaders and some
of the individuals only. The decisions are taken by the power holding individuals, while other
subordinates have to follow them. The significant element of this culture is an excellent
performance, work and success of the individuals. Role culture: The power in this culture is
mainly derived from the personal position (Cacciattolo, 2014). Every individual is aware of their
defined roles and responsibilities and works in a highly controlled environment. Task culture:
Organisation with task culture environment is more flexible in which highly expertise individuals
get power instead of strong personalities. Person Culture: Individuals are considered as the core
assets of the organisation, and such type of culture exists in order to facilitate people in work.
Figure 1: Handy's model
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Cultural influence at A David & Co Limited
The objective of A David & Co Limited is to deliver quality fruit, vegetables and other healthy
eatable items; hence this can be attained with the help of hardworking and skilled employees.
The organisation culture of A David & Co Limited is a hybrid of the role and task culture where
every individual know what duties and roles they have to perform to attain set goals. However,
power lies in the hands of some experts and professionals that are proficient in producing and
distribution of fruits, and other eatable items (Babnik et al., 2014). Most of the decisions are
taken by the higher authorities, whom employees have to follow; however, the support of leaders
helps them to improve their performance effectively.
French and Raven’s five forms of Power
This theory suggests that power and leadership are interlinked and for the leaders power can be
classified:
Figure 2: Five forms of Power
Coercive power refers to the use of power in a coercive manner in the case where the employees
of the organisation do not comply with the rules and regulations. This power may lead to high
dissatisfaction among employees due to the creation of unhealthy behaviour. Reward Power
involves the delegation of work to the subordinates and offering them rewards for their good
work. However, this power may get weakened, when the reward does not have required a
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perceived value (Reiley and Jacobs, 2016). The third one is legitimate power which involves
both the activities: rewarding for the good work and punishment for performing work with
inefficiency. Leaders who have Referent power can easily influence their subordinates as he is
highly accepted personally in the working environment. The last one is Expert power which
relates to the presence of intelligence and confidence among leaders regarding the
accomplishment of organisational goals. These leaders effectively use the reward mechanism to
motivate their employees.
Power influence at A David & Co Limited
Most of the leaders at A David & Co Limited poses referent power through which subordinates
are directed and guided in performing their job. Those employees strive to get excellence in their
performance through hard work is rewarded with promotion, incentives, perks, and other benefits
(Chong et al., 2013). In addition, employees are motivated to share their views while taking
decisions; however, the power to take important decisions lies in the hands of top management.
Political influence at A David & Co Limited
The managers in A David & Co Limited ensure that employees work in a healthy working
environment, in which all the employees get equal chance to prove their competency. Besides,
various promotions and other benefits are provided for all the employees without any
discrimination. A communication system in A David & Co Limited is two ways that supports the
employees in conveying their issues and opinions to the top management.
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M1 Critically analyse how the culture, politics and power of an organisation can influence
individual and team behaviour and performance
A David & Co Limited have a working culture in which values, beliefs and experiences of
employees are shared among employees. Due to the presence of cultural diversity, conflicts arise
among the employees. However, a positive political environment at A David & Co Limited
ensures equal opportunities to them for their career growth. In addition, managers also take
responsibility to create a healthy conflict among them that lead to enhancing their efficiency and
strength (Chong, et. al., 2013).
Leaders are experts in A David & Co Limited, and they utilise their knowledge and capability in
guiding their subordinates so that all the production and selling of fruits and vegetables can be
effectively performed.
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LO2
P2 evaluate how content and process theories of motivation and motivational techniques
enable effective achievement of goals in an organisational context.
Higher productivity and profitability through quality production and distribution of fruit and
vegetables is the man goal of A David & Co Limited. Employees in the organisation need to be
motivated to attain such goals. In this regard, some of the motivational theories are:
Content Theory
Management Assumptions (Theory X and Theory Y)
This theory provides that manager in A David & Co Limited must make some assumptions
regarding their employees and accordingly adopt a management approach for them. This theory
is categorised into two parts: Theory X and Theory Y (Gunnell et al., 2014).
Figure 3: Theory X and Theory Y
Theory X relates to the dominant position of the manager which assumes that generally, humans
do not like to work and avoid it to the extent possible. This is the reason for strict regulations,
controlled environment, and threatening with punishment to the employees so that they put
possible efforts in the accomplishment of organisational goals. In addition, employees generally
have little ambition, and therefore they avoid responsibility; however, they need security above
all else.
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Hence, Theory X provides that there must be strict directive organisation culture within A David
& Co Limited so along with force to work that leads to improving the employees’ performance
as their remain no other alternatives for them.
On the other hand, Theory Y provides that threat and controlled working environment are not an
effective way to influence the employees in David & Co Limited. Instead, individuals are
required to be a self-motivated and high commitment to the goals must be associated with good
rewards. Managers must influence all the employees within A David & Co Limited to adopt an
innovative approach to solve various problems ( Sujatha Trivikram, 2017).
Both the above theories can be adopted by the managers of the A David & Co Limited as per
different circumstances. However, to get more motivated employees, Theory Y is more
beneficial.
Process Theories of Motivation
This type of theories examines how psychological and behavioural needs influence the
individuals’ behaviour in order to attain organisational goals.
Vroom’s Expectancy Theory
According to this theory, the performance of an employee is based on some of the factors, like
knowledge, experience, skills personality, and abilities. Following are the beliefs on which this
theory is based:
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