Organisational Behaviour Report: Primark's Culture and Team Dynamics

This report delves into the organizational behavior of Primark, examining the impact of culture, politics, and power on individual and team behavior. It analyzes various aspects, including culture types (Person and Role), different forms of power (Reward and Coercive), and the influence of positive and negative politics within the organization. The report also explores motivational theories, such as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, and differentiates between content and process theories, providing insights into how to influence individuals and teams to achieve goals. Furthermore, it covers team effectiveness, differentiating between effective and ineffective teams, and discusses various models for team development. Finally, the report applies Hofstede's Cultural Dimension Theory to analyze Primark's organizational context and concludes with recommendations for fostering a positive and productive work environment.

Organisational
Behaviour

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Determine the affect of Culture, politics & power on behaviour of both individuals and
Teams. ...................................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
How to influence Individuals & Teams to attain a goal.........................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
Team Effectiveness................................................................................................................9
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................12
Concepts & philosophies of Organisational behaviour along with a given situation...........12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Organisational behaviour is referred as an interface that takes place among group and
individuals prevailing at workplace. It is used for analysing of performance of both individuals &
group members working in an organisation. It involves factors such as performance, job
structure, motivation, communication, leadership and so on. This study mainly emphasises on
building positive environment within the premises so that company can gain higher opportunities
in an effective manner. In the present report, Primark is chosen as a base company. It is a fast
fashion retailer which was founded by Arthur Ryan in year 1969 (Balwant, 2018). Primark head
office is located at Dublin, Ireland. The company offer product such as clothing, housewares and
cosmetics. In the current report, the effect of culture, politics & power on behaviour is discussed
with relation to company. The report covers motivational theories that is content as well as
process theory. In addition to this, a differentiation between effective and ineffective team and
various models for the development of team are going to be included. At last, it covers various
philosophies as well as concepts of organisational behaviour.
TASK 1
Determine the effect of Culture, politics & power on behaviour of both individuals and Teams.
The study of behaviour of individuals as well as team members prevailing at the
workplace is termed as Organisational behaviour. The main motive is to gain an understanding
about behaviour and performance of employees. This will assist companies to know the
requirement of employees and then fulfilling it. Along with this, it helps an organisation to retain
all the staff members for longer time frame and save down the cost of recruiting new employees.
The management has analysed that company is doing well in the marketplace as compared to its
competitors but as soon as other companies get recovered from the recession, Primark will have
to survive in the tough competition. In order to maintain the same consistency, it has been
realised that culture, politics and power play great role in this. Hence, top authorities are going to
understand the same and make adjustments in existing policies and plans for achieveing
favourable results (Jacobs and Manzi, 2019). An individual or team performance is affected by
power, culture & politics of an organisation which are mentioned below:
Culture: It involves beliefs, norms, values, traditions of an individual that effect on their
behaviour as well as performance. The culture of an organisation affects positively and

negatively on the behaviour of team members and individuals. By the assistance of positive
culture, an organisation has the opportunity to motivate its employees and raise the performance
level of company. Some of the types of culture which exist in an organisation, have been
discussed below:
Person Culture: This culture is all about the employees wherein the staff gives more
importance to itself than its organisation. The main focus and concerned of workforce is for their
own goals rather than the entity. Prime motive of personnel is to earn money which often leads
them to suffer. With the existence of this culture, the behaviour of individuals become negative
towards the organisation. This in turn affects the profitability of the corporate as employees
devote most of their time achieving their own self goals. This makes them lose the zeal to
accomplish organisational targets (James, 2017).
Role Culture: Herein, the roles & responsibilities of employees is clearly assigned to
them that helps companies to implement business activities in an effective manner. An
organisation has high control on the activities if this culture is being followed. Furthermore,
individuals get some power depending on the position they hold. This states authority within
which the each person is allowed to act. This can reduce conflict with the allocation of work as
roles are already assigned to every personnel. But, there can be situation of slow decision-
making as well as the risks factor is considerably low as compared to other culture.
Primark follows role culture where the roles for each employee is decided on the basis of
their skills and capabilities so as to accomplish individual as well as organisational goals.
Power: It is basically the ability of an Individual to influence all the staff members
prevailing at workplace. With reference to Primark, the power of taking decision is in the hands
of Top level management of company. There are various forms of power which is discussed
below:
Reward Power: This power is related with the rewarding employees for their good
performance. It is the way to keep the staff follow instructions for achieving goals and
objectives. By the assistance of this power, an organisation can motivate and influence its
workforce in a positive manner. The company gives appreciation or monetary benefits to
employees as per their performance (Knights and Willmott, 2016). This helps them to boost
morale of all staff as well as team members that leads to increase in productivity and efficiency
of employees.

Coercive Power: It is basically the power of higher authorities to give orders to
employees and punish them if it is not followed properly (Kitchin, 2017). It is determined that,
this powers brings down the morale of employees and demotivate them that directly declines
their efficiency and productivity level. This power develops negative mindset of employees due
to which their performance lowers down that directly impact on the profitability of a company.
Primark is known for its strategies and policies for employees and by taking the needs of
the staff into consideration, it follows reward power. It gives monetary as well as non-monetary
benefits to keep employees motivated and focused on their assigned goals.
Politics: It is defined as a series of activities which take place at the time of interaction
among individuals working at workplace. There can be positive as well as negative impact of this
factor on the environment at workplace. For example, if a conflict arises in the organisation then
consequences of the same can affect workplace environment adversely. Various types of politics
have been mentioned below:
Positive politics: This refers to the situations making the staff work with enhanced efforts
so that they can achieve the desired results. This motivates every employee to carry their
activities with positive mindset which is works in the favour of the company. There are many
benefits of this politics such as higher productivity, favourable results etc. It influence their
behaviour in the right spirit.
Negative politics: This kind of organisational politics creates negative environment for
the workforce. It affects their potential in an adverse manner to a great extent. This can be
reduced by building good relations with employees which can bring trust among all the
employees. This leads to lower productivity, increase in conflicts and many more.
Primark gives importance to positive politics for delivering desirable output within the
time allotted for each tasks. This can be attained by winning the trust of employees which helps
in keeping them motivated for a long time.
From the above discussion, it is determined that power, politics and culture effect on
behaviour and performance level of an organisation. In addition to this, it is important for
managers of Primark to maintain healthy environment within the premises so that productivity
and performance of its employees is enhanced. Moreover, acquisition of reward power assist
company to motivate all the staff members and increases profitability of an organisation.

Hofstede's Cultural Dimension Theory: This theory is formulated by Green Hofstede
which shows the effect of culture on behaviour and values of an individual. By the assistance of
this theory, an organisation gets an understanding about different cultures (McShane, 2018).
Hofstede's theory consists of six cultural dimensions which are as follows:
 Individualism vs Collectivism: It is referred as an extent to which societies are involved
in groups and make mutual relationships in a particular community. UK follows
individualism in the country therefore, Primark and other organisations follow the same.
It gives freedom to do activities which leads to analyse the capabilities in oneself.
 Power Distance: It is defined as the degree at which low powerful society members
tolerated & accept inequality. In addition to this, power as well as inequality is viewed
from the point of followers that is from the lower level. There are policies for curbing
inequality among people living in the country so that every individual gets equal
opportunity. Primark also believes in bringing equality in the corporation as it is a legal
requirement as well.
 Uncertainty Avoidance: This Index signifies the degree to which ambiguity as well as
uncertainty is tolerated. It involves uncertainties, unexpected events and so on. UK makes
different provisions for meeting needs take place in emergency situations so that it does
not get loaded with burden. Similarly, Primark also consider the possible circumstances
which can occur in future so as to avoid financial and other burdens on the business. In
the absence of proper arrangement, it becomes hard for the organisation to survive.
 Femininity vs. Masculinity: it is defined as “Tough vs Tender” & involves preference
of society towards equality, achievement, sexuality, attitude, behaviour and many more.
UK is a male dominating country but there are women in corporate world who are
serving at good positions. However, high involvement of females in different sectors is
still required to be achieved. Therefore, Primark also considers that there are certain jobs
which are suitable for males only. This goes totally against the policies of equality.
 Short Term Orientation vs. Long term orientation: It is defined as society rules
which is based on old traditions. It involves both short term and long term dimensions.
UK is transforming with the time by investing in technology so as to keep the pace with
the changes taking place. Primark has also modified itself substantially by diverting
business online and incorporating the changes in the technology.

 Indulgence vs. Restraint: This dimension is defined as the level of freedom which is
given by societal norms to its citizens so that they can fulfil their desired needs. UK
focuses on the concept of indulgence for engaging its people into the decision-making
done by it. Primark motivates its employees to share their ideas and views in order to
bring innovation in activities. This helps in achieving the desired output.
TASK 2
Influence Individuals & Teams to attain a goal
Motivation can be described as inner or psychological need that motivates an individual
to enhance their performance level. Motivation is evaluated as motive, desire, need, want and act
that help an individual to achieve organisational goals and objectives. Basically, there are two
types of Motivation such as Extrinsic Motivation and Intrinsic Motivation. Extrinsic Motivation
can be described as an individual behaviour that changes because of good performance on the
basis of different factors. It helps in avoiding the punishment. Intrinsic Motivation can be
represented as a person doing an act for the internal fun or self- satisfaction.
MOTIVATIONAL THEORIES
Motivational Theories can be described as a process of how and why individual gets
motivated to achieve business goal and objective . Motivational theories are of two types that is
content & process theory which are as follows with relation to Primark:
Content Theory: Content theory is about the factors which are identified in order to
determine the cause that motivates individual to achieve the organisation goals. In context of
Primark, the higher authorities can opt Maslow's hierarchy theory as a content theory in order to
motivate its employees. This theory is mentioned below:
Maslow's hierarchy: This theory signifies that the basic needs of an individual is
important to accomplish for organisation growth and development. It consists of basic needs,
security, social need or belongings, self respect and confidence which is mentioned below with
relation to Primark.
Physiological need :-In the context of Primark, the management team focuses on the
basic needs such as air, water, food and shelter for the satisfaction of employees thus it increase
the productivity and profitability of the organisation.

Safety need :- With reference to Primark, the higher authority focus on safety, job
security or savings for the motivation of the employees to increase the efficiency of the
organisation.
Social need:- With reference to Primark, the manager concentrate on the friendship,
belongingness and love so that it maintains the healthy relation between the employees thus it
motivates the employees to work towards achieving a goal and objectives of the organisation.
(Source: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, 2018)
Esteem need:- In the discourse to Primark, the manager emphasised on the self respect of
the employees by taking their participation in decision making , professional activities thus it
enhance the confidence level of employees.
Self actualisation need:- In the context of Primark, the manager motivate its employees
that brings out creativity and talent of employees of the company. This also encourage
employees to work with full potential that leads to enhancement of productivity as well as
profitability level of Primark.

With the application of Maslow theory of needs, Primark became aware about various
needs which are significant in keeping employees happy and motivated. It can provide high
satisfaction to workforce which leads to timely completion of goals and objectives.
Process Theory: This theory emphasizes on the variables or factors which are
responsible for analysing and bringing meaning to the variance created in organisation. It
consider the elements which bring change in the behaviour of workforce. Along with this,
process theory analyse how requirement as well as needs of an individual will impact on their
behaviour. With reference to Primark, the human resource manager can use Adam's Equity
Theory as a process theory with an aim to motivate teams as well as individuals. This theory is
described below:
Adams' Equity Theory:-
This theory consists of two principles firstly, there must be a balance between the efforts
( input) and outcomes (output) of workers. Secondly, the workers should be fairly treated by the
employers of the organisation. The input is the contribution made by the employees in the
organisation such as knowledge and skills whereas the output is what they achieve in return such
as rewards, remuneration and promotion (Pereira, Malik and Froese, 2017). Every employee
looks for a company which gives equal opportunities for professional as well as personal growth.
Furthermore, it is the basic human nature to the desired result for the efforts being put in a task.
This helps in keeping the employees motivated and encourage them to achieve goals and
objectives. In this way, it leads to timely accomplishment of targets so as to avoid any negative
outcomes. This also enhances the contribution of individuals in decision-making.
Behavioural Psychology: it is also referred as behaviourism. This theory states that all
the idea is generated by conditioning that occurs while interaction takes place with the
environment.
Emotional Intelligence: It is basically the ability of an individual to understand as well
as manage its own positive within a positive manner. This assist them to communicate with
others in an effective manner and to easily overcome with the challenges.
Importance of Soft skills for Teams & Managers
Soft skills are defined as character as well as personality traits that shows relationship
among an individual with other people. The most important soft skills are interpersonal and
communication skills. The others skills that is included are Teamwork, Flexibility, leadership,

creativity, problem solving, integrity and so on. This skill is significant for both the managers as
well as teams in order to increase working efficiency. In context to Primark, it is important for
the managers to have soft skills as it helps them to resolve and handle issues in an effective
manner. Along with this, it helps them to bring out creativity and talent of its employees that
leads to increase in efficiency and performance level of company (Wood and et.al., 2016). In
addition to this, soft skills are required for their application by the team so as to scale up with the
transformations taking place in rapid changing business environment. Moreover, it helps Team
leaders to communicate and clarify roles as well as responsibilities to all the team members
which leads to attainment of desired goals within the time frame.
Task vs Relationship Leadership
Task Leadership: This theory defines a leader who is encouraged as well as motivated in
order to accomplish tasks. The leaders in this design policies and procedures which are
communicated to the subordinates in order to effectively evaluate performance of employees. In
context to Primark, Acquisition of task leadership by its leaders help company to perform task
within the time frame that leads to attainment of organisation goals effectively and efficiently.
Relationship Leadership: Herein, leaders focus on maintaining effective relationship
with all the staff members prevailing in the organisation so that they can retain them for longer
time frame. With reference to Primark, usage of relationship leadership assist company to build
positive environment at premises that will lead to raise in performance and efficiency of its
employees.
Psychodynamic Approach: This theory is basically focuses on psychological forces
which underline human feelings, emotions as well as behaviour & how it relates to the past
experiences. In addition to this, it determines behaviour that is caused by unconscious factors as
well uncontrollable factors. In context to Primark, it helps leaders of company to know the
personality type of employees and maintain good relationship with them. In addition to this, it
will assist company to retain its staff members for longer time frame.
TASK 3
Team Effectiveness
Difference between Group and Team
Basis Effective Team Ineffective Team

Interdependence It is the team in which all the
members have positive outlook
for their targets. This helps in
timely achievement of goals
(Alleyne, 2016).
There is lack of
interdependence which often
leads to non-accomplishment
of goals. This makes it difficult
for the entity to attain the
objectives.
Goals Leaders define the goals in a
clear manner by limiting the
scope of doubt. Every
individual knows their sole
targets so that efforts are being
carried in the positive
directions.
There is always lack of clarity
in goals for ineffective team.
This reduced the competition
which result in delay in
attaining the goals.
Communication Team members always follow
two way communication
which helps in bringing
openness. This gives a
freedom to sub-ordinates to
express their feelings and
emotions.
One way communication is
followed within the team
member in this category. This
creates issues among the
individuals wherein the
dialogue is discouraged.
Decision-making procedures Team members participate in
decision-making process in
which they share their ideas as
well which helps in bringing
innovation in the activities.
For ineffective teams, the
decisions are always taken by
top management authorities
according to which they carry
the activities.
Types of organisational Teams
The group of Individual who mutually work together to attain common objectives is
termed as Teams. In an organisation, there are different forms of teams who perform business
activities in a proper manner. These teams are discussed below with relation to primark:

Functional Team: It is the collection of people who have common expertise and work
towards attainment of common objectives (Barzoki and Rezaei, 2017). In context to primark,
development of functional teams will assist company to perform tasks in a defined manner and
completed it within time frame.
Problem Solving Team: This teams are temporary in nature and emphasise on resolving
a particular problem as well as issue. With reference to Primark, this team will help company to
cope with any situations or circumstances and handles the problems in an effective manner.
Project Team: Herein, the team members collectively work together & share strategies
as well as goals. A project team is established in a proper structure and is assigned with roles &
responsibilities with deadline. If this teams are developed by higher authorities of Primark, it will
help company to increase its profitability level and gain objectives within given time period.
Virtual Team: This team involves those employees who work and perform in different
locations. The members of this team totally depend on communication mediums such as Emails,
WhatsApp, Video Conferencing to perform and implement tasks in a defined manner.
Nowadays, technology is changing rapidly as it helps companies to enter into other countries and
increase its market presence that leads to raise in sales as well as profitability of organisations
(Cherry, 2017). Primark works on global level, acquisition of this team help company to execute
business activities in different countries and raise their profitability and market share.
Tuckman Team Development Model: This model was proposed by Bruce Tuckman in
the year 1965. Tuckman theory emphasise on the performance of employees for a task from the
time it is started till it is completed. It includes a continuous process which should be applied at a
regular basis. Along with this, it states that development of teams will lead to establishment of
good relationship among the leaders as well as employees. In context to Primark, Acquisition of
this model assist companies to coordinate and manage team in an effective manner. This model
involves five levels of team building which is described below with relation to company:
Forming: It is an initial stage of team building in which the members of team is
assembled and task is assigned to them properly. Herein, all the team members work to prefer
individually as they do not have trust on each other. In addition to this, team members start
introducing them in order to make bond with other members so that they can perform assigned
roles in an effective manner. In context to Primark, it is important for them to assign tasks in
teams so that friendly as well as positive environment is developed at workplace.