Organisational Behaviour Report: Waitrose Case Study Analysis

This report provides an in-depth analysis of organisational behaviour, focusing on the Waitrose supermarket chain. It examines the influence of organisational culture, power dynamics, and political behaviours on individual and team performance. The report delves into Handy's cultural model and its application within Waitrose, exploring different cultural types and their impact on employee behaviour. It then investigates the impact of power and politics, considering both positive and negative influences, and different types of power within an organisation. The report further explores motivational theories, including process theories such as equity, goal-setting, expectancy, and reinforcement theories, and how these impact organisational goal achievement. Finally, it evaluates the factors that constitute an effective team and discusses team development theories. The report concludes with an overview of the concepts and philosophies of organisational behaviour, providing a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.

Organisational
Behaviour

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Analyse the influence of culture,politics and power on the behaviour of others in an
organisational context.............................................................................................................1
P2 Motivational theories and its benefit in order to accomplish organisational goal ...........5
PART 2............................................................................................................................................9
P3 demonstrate an understanding of what makes an effective team ,as opposed to an
ineffective team......................................................................................................................9
P4 concepts and philosophies of organisation behaviour ....................................................14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................16
.......................................................................................................................................................17
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................18

INTRODUCTION
Organisation behaviour can be discussed as observation of individual performance and
knowing the manner how people response to other employees in organisation. Culture, behaviour
of others, organisational structure etc. are various element that influence the behaviour of
individual in the firm to great extent. Each firm aims to make its employees loyal and motivated
towards the brand so that people like workplace environment and sustain in the firm for longer
duration. OB helps in predicting nature of person and knowing factors that impact on
performance and behaviour of particular person to great extent (karaoğlan, kuralay and colpan,
2019).
Present study is based on Waitrose which is the leading supermarket firm. Company is
popular for its skilled employees and offering quality services to consumers across the world. It
has almost 353 retail outlets in United Kingdom. Apart from this Waitrose also has 65 little
convenience shops more. Wide of products and luxurious services have made this organisation
unique from other competitors. Current report will explain impact of culture, power and politics
of individual and team performance. Furthermore, it will explain various content and process
theories of motivation that helps business in accomplishing goal of the organisation. In addition,
study will evaluate the factors that make an effective team. It will also analyse team development
theory that supports in developing an effective team. At last, assignment will evaluate concept
and philosophies of organisation behaviour.
PART 1
P1 Influence of politics, culture and power on behaviour of others in an organisational context
Organisation culture: -
The culture in an organisation is known as a system of shared beliefs and attitudes which
is developed within an organisation and regulates behaviour employees. It defines as the
fundamental assumptions, ways and values of interaction which contribute to unified
psychological and social environment of an enterprise (elsmore, 2017).
Handy's model: -
There are 4 types of culture in accordance with Handy's model, which the organisation implies: -
 Power culture

 Task culture
 Person culture
 Role culture
Power culture: -
In power culture, only the few people in the organisation have power to take decisions
and making rules. These people are higher level authorities in the organisation. The subordinate
does not have any power and they are bounded to follow the instruction of higher authority.
Individual who hold the higher position in the organisation and have power to take decision.
Their performance will increase. As power is in the hand of higher authorities thus, some time
they misuse their power that make the employees negative. If top management do not appreciate
their work then they feel demotivated and that affect their performance in team. Whereas if
power is given to talented people such as managers etc so that take right decision for welfare of
workers that makes them positive towards brand (miner, 2015).
Task culture: -
In task culture, on the bases of employee's skills and ability, organisation gives task. The
teams are created according to their qualification and solve the problems and achieve the goals of
the organisation. All team members have equal power to take decision. They all performs their
duties individually and support in raising productivity of the organisation and teams are shaped
to attain targets or solve complex business issues which lead to uncertainty. Task culture enhance
both individual as well as team performance. Task culture helps in allotting work to employee’s
asper their abilities, by this way individual understand their work and perform it well (karaoğlan,
kuralay and colpan, 2019). Thus, it impacts positive on their performance and they become
confident and positive towards the brand thus, their behaviour gets positive as well. Such people
work better in team as well that influence team performance because all employees work
together, share their experiences and try to meet the team goal soon.
Person culture: -
In person culture, the employee of the organisation works independently. They have
power to take decision for their own benefit in an organisation (karaoğlan, kuralay and colpan,
2019). In this culture, individual’s performance is increased because they have right to take

decision. As person things that individual is superior thus, sometimes feel confident but poor
supervision affect their performance and team performance as well (nagar and sharma, 2016). As
all decision taken by person only thus, they become positive and work better in the firm.
Role culture: -
In role culture, the organisation is defined roles and responsibilities of each and every
employee according to their qualification and interest. In this culture, the performance of
individual and team members is increased because all knows their work and responsibilities.
They work independently to achieve organisations goal (karaoğlan, kuralay and colpan, 2019).
Each person is given different role
The Waitrose company follows role culture. The role culture helps to create friendly
environment and conflict are not or less arises between employees and management because all
employee work independently to contribute in achieving Waitrose’s goal. The best performer is
rewarded by promotion in their area. This culture enhance individual performance because they
all perform their work independently and take decision on their levels. On other side in team, the
roles and responsibilities are divided to each team members so the chances of conflict is very less
in a team (miner, 2015).
Importance of culture-difference awareness: -
Culture-difference awareness is essential because of increasing differences at workplaces
and schools on the basis of cultural, racial, and ethnic groups. If person is aware about different
cultures then it helps in understanding different perspectives of people within the world in which
we live.
Waitrose company supports cultural diversity and also supports the ideas of the
employees who is working in the Waitrose company that make a positive contribution towards
company (karaoğlan, kuralay and colpan, 2019).
Cultural diversity plays significant role in business unit. If people are aware with
different cultures and their values, then it helps in understanding views of others. That develops
healthy relationship between employees. If people are well aware with cultural aspects then it
would help in minimising conflicts and confusion in workplace.
Power and politics: -

It summarizes that politics, power and behavioural tendencies which are basic needs of
individuals and groups. The focus of individuals is on using power to satisfy their needs and
attain success. Organizations use power and politics to control their members, maintain and
preserve themselves (chadwick, 2017).
Power is the capacity of an individual to influence the behaviour of others. Power can be defined
as controlling behaviour of person that influence behaviour of employees in organisation.
Positive power is the term in which higher authorities use their power positively and treat
workers without bias whereas in negative power top management sometimes promote
favouritism and promote only their favourite staff.
Politics refers to a variety of activities associated with the use of influence tactics to improve
personal or organisational interests. Politics can be defined as utilisation of power by
management for making changes in organisation. It may be for personal interest or for firm as
well. Organisational politics supports in obtaining benefits that cannot be achieved without
having controlling behaviour.
Influences of politics:-
Positive impact of politics
If top management don’t play politics and give reward to employees on the bases of their
performance. This kind of politics will motivate people and will raise their satisfaction level. By
this way individual will perform well in organisation and will be loyal towards Waitrose
(karaoğlan, kuralay and colpan, 2019).
Negative impact of politics
If higher authorities promote favouritism, then in such condition employees will become
negative and will not like to work in the firm for longer duration. This will affect their
performance and will make them negative towards the brand.. (nagar and sharma, 2016).
Influences of power:-
If Waitrose plc management use their power in negative manner to demote, transfer or
deny raises to their employee it may create conflicts or grievances among individual and between
team members. This will influence the attitude and willingness to do work as the individual and
in the different groups (karaoğlan, kuralay and colpan, 2019).

Types of power:-
 Coercive power:- It refers to a power of an individual that is used to influence members
in negative way. In this a person use its position and suppress other person to do a
particular task. This power effects individual as well as team performance team through
demotivating employees and create conflict (chadwick, 2017)..
 Reward power:- This power involves to provides reward to those individual who
delegates their efforts to achieving organisational goals. The managers of Waitrose have
duty to give rewards to their subordinate for the outstanding performance that motivates
individual as well as team to work hard and enhance their performance (karaoğlan,
kuralay and colpan, 2019).
 Legitimate power:- This power provides some responsibilities to the management of the
waitrose company. They have right to give rewards and punishment to the employees.
This power de-motivates individuals and team members and effects their performance
towards target (nagar and sharma, 2016)..
 Referent power:- In referent power, the management of waitrose have power to hire
someone at reputed position from their personal contact. They do not consider
qualification, experience etc. this power impacts negative towards the employees and
team members performance (chadwick, 2017)..
M1
Culture, power and politics have high influence over team and individual behaviour. If
company has healthy and friendly culture then employees will like the workplace and they will
be positive towards brand. But if culture is not good then it may make them negative towards the
firm. In such condition all the individuals will not perform well. This will affect team
performance to great extent. But if leaders utilises their power in an effective manner and treat
all workers equally then it will promote healthy culture and all employees will give their full
support in order to meet team goal.
D1
There is significant relationship between culture, power, politics and team performance.
Positive culture and positive power aid in developing good team and all the workers contribute
well in accomplishing organisational goal. By this way company gets success. In order to

improve culture Waitrose has to create healthy culture and have to develop friendly workplace
environment so that all employees can communicate with each other well. This will help in
meeting with organisational goal.
P2 Motivational theories and its benefit in order to accomplish organisational goal
Process theory of motivation:-
It includes psychological and behavioural processes that motivate a person to act in a
particular way are referred to as process theories of motivation. In essence, these theories
examine how a person's needs will affect his behaviour in order to achieve a goal related to those
needs (chadwick, 2017)..
The 4 types of process theory of motivation:-
 Adam's equity theory
 Goal setting theory
 Vroom's expectancy theory
 Reinforcement theory
Equity theory of motivation:-
It states that the employees perceive what they get from outcomes in relation to what they
put into inputs and then compare their inputs- outcomes ratio with the inputs- outcomes ratios of
others .This theory of motivation describes the relationship between the employee's perception of
how fairly is leader being treated and how hard leader is motivated to work. (miner, 2015)..
Furthermore The theory is also known as ‘social comparison theory’ or ‘inequity theory’.
Perceptively, employees try to reduce their inequity through such comparisons or by establishing
hypothetical exchange relationships (nagar and sharma, 2016). An individual takes into account
the amount of work that they puts in and the corresponding rewards that they gets for the same
and then compares the efforts and rewards of similarly placed persons in the organization
(chadwick, 2017)..
Inputs: It includes all the elements that employees believe they bring or contribute to the job
such as experience, education, effort, loyalty, commitment etc.

Outcomes: It includesare rewards they perceive they get from their jobs and employers
outcomes includes direct pay and bonuses,job security, social rewards and etc.
Illustration 1: equity theory
(source:-Equity theory: keep employees motivated,2018)
Assumptions of the equity theory:-
 This theory creates concerned for an individuals by comparing to others.
 Employees expect an equal and fair return for their contribution towards the organisations
goal.
The employees of waitrose uses this theory to identifying their performance level from
other and enhance their performance to achieve organisation's goals (Kitchin, 2017).
Content theory:-
This theory includes the work of abraham maslow, david mcclelland, and other
psychologists as they attempted to explain why human needs change, but not how they change.
They explain the specific factors that motivate behaviour.

11 Maslow's need of hierarchy11 Herzberg's motivation hygiene theory11 Mcclelland's theory for motivation11 Alderfer's erg theory of motivation
Alderfer's erg theory :-
This theory is an updated version of maslow's hierarchy of needs. Alderfer identified
three categories of needs rather than five. The existence needs covers maslow's physiological and
safety needs. The esteem and social needs covers in relatedness need. In growth need, the
remaining needs of maslow's that is self esteem and self-actualization(miner, 2015). Alderfer
describes how these needs are important for an individual. Even the need of employees in an
organisation is different from employee to employee (Alderfer’s ERG theory, 2019).
Alberger's erg theory categories this needs as under:-
Existence needs are essential for every human being. This need is related to human's
basic desires for living that is food, air, water and shelter etc. in organisation this need covers
working condition, fringe benefit and pay etc. if employees existence needs do not satisfied than
they do not motivated to work hard and that effects the organisational goals. In waitrose
company, they provides a healthy working environment, financial and personal security to their
employee. So, the employee feel happy and work hard to achieve waitrose's target(nagar and
sharma, 2016).
Relatedness needs are the needs to establish and maintain relationships which are
personal. These needs are satisfied with relationships with family, friends, supervisors,
subordinates, and co-workers. It is essential for managers of waitrose that to fulfil needs of its
employees so that company can motivate its workers and can enhance their confidence. This
would be beneficial in order to enhance their retention rate and minimising conflict situation in
organisation. Mangers are responsible to raise motivation level of workers (chadwick, 2017).. If
they understand various needs of its staff and manage them accordingly then it would be
beneficial in order to raise their productivity. By this way waitrose would be able to meet with its
organisational goal. Thus, employee always looks for a good working environment where he can
establish a good relationship with his superiors, colleagues or subordinates. Such workplace

which consists of hostile employers or co-workers contributes to grievances and conflicts, which
in long run can increase labour turnover rate.It is the necessity of all humans to have a good
relationship with the ones who are present around him (Chadwick, 2017).
Growth needs are related to the personal development of an employee in an organisation.
In waitrose company appreciates the work of employees and give rewards for their work. An
employee of waitrose feels motivated when they realized that their work is matter for an
organisation (Kitchin, 2017).
Illustration 2: ERG Theory of motivation
(source:-ERG Theory of motivation,2018)
In waitrose company with the help of alderfer's erg theory, the mangers of waitrose finds
their employees need. According to the employee's need management takes decision to satisfy
the need. With the help of alderfer's erg theory, the waitrose company find out that to satisfy one
need of employee cannot motivate. For example, after a specific period if growth, in form of
incentives, promotion, is not provided to employee that may relapse to relativeness needs and
socialize with their colleagues. This problem can be addressed by erg theory and solve this with
the help of effective solution in Waitrose company. This theory helps to enhance employee
satisfaction in Waitrose (Elsmore, 2017).

M2
Maslow theory of motivation explains different needs of employees, employer has to
fulfil different are requirements of workers so that managers can encourage people and can retain
them in business for longer duration. This makes them positive and raise their working
efficiency. If there is not motivation in term of reward or recognition, then staff will not like
towork in business that would affect their performance to great extent (Druskat and
Albuquerque,2018).
PART 2
P3 An understanding of what makes an effective team ,as opposed to an ineffective team.
Team
It is the group of people who are working together to achieve common goal. Further more
it consist of all those people having common interest and are interdependent on each other
regarding resources, information and skills and combine their effort to achieve their common
goal. ”(horng and et.al. 2017).
Difference between sffective and ineffective team
Basis Effective team Ineffective team
Underlying goals: The aim of the group is well
understood and accepted by
the members.
In this type of team , it is
difficult to understand what the
group task is, or what its
objectives are.
Member contributions: High member contribution as
there is a lot of discussion in
which virtually everyone
participates, but it remains
pertinent to the task of the
group.
Less contibution of members.A
few people tend to dominate
the discussion. Often their
contributions are way off the
point (nagar and sharma,
2016).
Listening: Here Members are the good
listeners and listen to each
People do not really listen to
each other. Ideas are ignored