Organizational Behaviour: Theories, Culture & Team Development

This report provides an in-depth analysis of organizational behavior, focusing on the influence of culture, politics, and power on individual and team behavior within organizations, using H-P as a case study. It explores Maslow's theory and Vroom's process theory, examining their effects on goal achievement. The report also discusses the application of behavioral motivational theories and models, the dynamics of effective teams versus ineffective teams, and various team development theories. Furthermore, it investigates the relationship between culture, politics, power, and motivation in fostering organizational success, providing justified recommendations. The impact of organizational behavior concepts and philosophies on behavior, both positively and negatively, is also analyzed, highlighting how these elements influence the workplace environment. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments and study resources for students.

Organizational Behaviour
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................4
1. Influence of culture, politics and power would on the behaviour of individuals or teams in the
organisation......................................................................................................................................4
2. Maslow’s theory and Vroom’s process theory and effects on achievement of goals in H-P......5
3. Influence on the behaviour of others through the effective application of behavioural
motivational theories, concepts and models....................................................................................8
4. Relationship between culture, politics, power and motivation that enables teams and
organisations to succeed providing justified recommendations......................................................9
Task 2.............................................................................................................................................11
1. Explain what makes an effective team as opposed to an ineffective team in an organisation.. 11
2. Team and group development theories that support the development of dynamic cooperation
.......................................................................................................................................................12
3. Concepts and philosophies of organisational behaviour within an organisational context and a
given business situation.................................................................................................................13
4. Concepts and philosophies of OB inform and their influence behaviour in both positive and
negative way..................................................................................................................................14
5. Team development theories in context of organisational behaviour concepts and philosophies
that influence behaviour in the work place....................................................................................16
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................17
Reference List................................................................................................................................18
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Introduction
The study of the behaviour of people in an organization is Organizational behaviour. The
importance of organizational behaviour is that it is a key aspect to determine how the employees
and the management work with each other. Organizational behaviour also determines the growth
and working of any organization as the culture developed in the company is a parameter. The
following report aims and understanding the role of organizational behaviour in the scenario of
an organization as well as an individual. Moreover, it will also be seen in the report as to how a
new and emerging company can apply the various methods of organizational behavior and
teamwork for their benefits.
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Task 1
1. Influence of culture, politics and power would on the behaviour of individuals or teams
in the organisation.
The development of H-P is one of the most revolutionary stories in the history of technology-
based start-ups. The company originated from a garage in Palo Alto, California and went on to
become one of the world leaders in computer technology and solutions. Bill Hewlett and David
Packard founded the company in the year 1947, in the garage that they hired for working.
Since its inception H-P has went on to become one of the example setter in the industry with
their innovation and strive for success. The vision of the founders of H-P has been the source of
inspiration for many entrepreneurs and revolutionaries like Steve Jobs and Bill gates as opined
by Pandey, (2014). The core culture and ideology of H-P is the reason that the company has set
an example for the whole of the industry and made its mark in the industry as mentioned by
Elsbach et al., (2012). The founders of H-P have inculcated a culture of values, practices and a
mindset for success. The founders have built H-P in such a way that the company can survive
and prosper even after its founders and that has been seen in the case of H-P evidently. The
founders have inculcated the culture that has articulated and lived in the organizational culture
and code of conduct long known as the H-P way. This H-P way of working is based on certain
core values like-
Putting profits in perspective- The Company focuses on maintaining the small term profits
while aiming for long-term growth and achieving the long term goals.
Acting when it can lead to a contribution- The diversification and expansion can only be
achieved successful when the company has built its strengths and capacity to make the changes.
Giving the priority to the customers- To maintain a sense of purposefulness and dedication
amongst the employees. This makes them realise that their work is benefitting the customers.
Having strong trust amongst people- The talent selected to do the work is kept motivated to
work hard and achieve the tasks.
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Influence of Power, Politics and Culture
The working and growth of any organization is greatly dependent on the culture of the
organization. The culture should be such that it promotes retaining top talent in the company.
Power plays a pivotal role in the leadership of any company and it is important that there is no
abuse of power in the company. Politics should be minimalistic in any organization and it will
grow like anything. All these factors together affect the various key aspects such as the employee
performance, the productivity of the company and the innovation in the company with regard to
needs in the market.
The customers also see the culture and working style of the company and it leaves a positive
impact on the customer if the company is able to maintain a good work ethic and culture as
opined by Clegg, (2013). Teamwork is non-negotiable in the case of achieving innovation any
company be it H-P or any other technology based company.
2. Maslow’s theory and Vroom’s process theory and effects on achievement of goals in H-P
Maslow’s Theory states that there are five levels of psychological needs in the case of any
individual that start from the very basic needs to the most abstract and fulfilment needs. The
theory is the theory of human motivation that tries to explain the motivating factors and the
needs of any human as opined by Robertson, (2016). These theories are called as human
developmental psychology theories because they aim at achieving the understanding of what and
how the motivation for life and work comes into the individuals. The five needs are classified as
follows-
Physiological needs- These are the basic needs and requirements of the humans for survival in
the world and environment. These are the very first and basic needs of the human and without
fulfilling these needs; the other higher needs cannot follow up. These needs include food, shelter,
clothing etc.
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Figure 1- Maslow’s Need Hierarchy
(Source - Robertson, 2016)
Safety needs- Once the physiological needs of the individual are fulfilled the safety needs
dominance in the behaviour of the individual. The safety needs can include personal security,
emotional security, financial security and health and well-being of an individual.
Belongingness and love needs- Humans need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance
among the social groups, regardless whether it is small or big. The social needs are also
dependent on the immediate culture of the individual.
Esteem needs- The self-esteem is one of the most important need for any individual as it is
something very precious to any human being. The lower version of self-esteem is the need of
respect from other. The higher version of self-esteem is the idea of self-respect as opined by
Lester, (2013).
Self-Actualisation- This level of the need is directly related to the full potential of an individual
and the purpose of life. All that a man can be he must be, this is an apt definition or example for
understanding the self-actualisation need.
Vroom’s Expectancy theory indicates how certain behaviour is dominant over other behaviour
based on the motivation of the individual. The motivation of the behaviour is determined by the
desirability of the outcome and the requirement of the individual as mentioned by Hsu et al.,
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(2014). The three factors on which the expectancy theory works are Expectancy, Instrumentality
and Valence.
Figure 2- Vroom’s Expectancy Theory
(Source- Hsu et al., 2014)
Expectancy is the belief that the increase in the effort will lead to the improvement and
expedition of the result proportionally. In the case of H-P, the better resources available with the
employees lead to better productivity.
Instrumentality is based on the belief that someone is doing a good job then there is something
in it for the person. In H-P, the act of putting more effort in the work can lead to yield better job
performance and productivity.
Valence is based on the importance an individual puts on the attainment of a certain outcome.
The valence can be positive when the individual prefers attaining the outcome to not attaining it.
The role of incentives in the company is directly dependent on the valence and H-P is always
prompt in maintain a good incentive system for the employees.
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3. Influence on the behaviour of others through the effective application of behavioural
motivational theories, concepts and models
Martin Fishbein developed the Expectancy-Value Theory in 1970 still holds good to determine
the behaviour of an individual based on the situation. The motivation in a person towards a task
is directly proportional to the expectation of the individual from the task and the value of the task
as opined by Trautwein et al., (2012). Expectancy theory states that people orient themselves
according to the expectations and evaluations. In the development of a team in an organization
such as H-P, the role of Expectancy-value theory is very pivotal because the company is an
innovative company and it stresses on creating a value in the lives of its customers. This
motivated the workforce and the leadership at H-P to strive for perfection in innovation.
Figure 3- Expectancy-Value Theory
(Source- Trautwein et al., 2012)
The Reinforcement theory of motivation makes use of the reward and punishment method to
encourage desirable behaviour and prevent undesirable behaviour. The three methods used for
controlling the employee behaviour are-
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Positive reinforcement means rewarding the employee for positive behaviour or action. For
example- When an employee is rewarded for achieving outstanding behaviour or certain aim, it
motivates the employee to do more and work more for the benefit of the company. This is a tool
used by the management to maximise the output from the employees by keeping them motivated.
The management to establish the tech teams in such a way that they keep the innovation
standards of the company high has used positive reinforcement in H-P. It is very common to see
that the marketing and the tech departments are the highly paid departments in any company as
opined by Corr (2016).
Negative reinforcement implies the rewarding of an employee by removing the negative or
undesirable consequences.
Punishment means applying the undesirable consequences for negative or undesirable acts and
behaviour from the employees, for example- suspending an employee for breaking the rules and
regulations of the company.
Extinction is simply the absence of reinforcements, thus making the employee realise that there
is a loss in working undesirable because there is no reward. For example- The employee being
rewarded consecutively if suddenly stops getting promoted, will realise that there is something
wrong with his behaviour and will improve to get back on track.
4. Relationship between culture, politics, power and motivation that enables teams and
organisations to succeed providing justified recommendations
The role of Culture, Politics, Power and motivation is one of the major studies when working on
bringing a team together in an organization. The four factors seem different from each other in
first sight but they are quite interlinked when it comes to making the organization achieve a
common goal.
Culture is the amalgamation of all the core values, the vision and the way a company works in
all situations. The culture of an organization a huge aspect and there are many small intricacies
involved in the whole picture. The way a company carries out its daily activities also defines the
culture of the company, the culture plays an important role in two major areas. One of them is
maintaining a good level of talent in the workforce to keep the company on the path of growth.
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The second factor is the image of the company among the customers that ids directly dependent
on the culture followed in the company. This is because the customer sees that how ethically a
company is treating its employees and working towards achieving the best quality of work
possible.
Politics is another key factor that needs to be at a controlled level in any organization for any
organization to sustain through tough times and competition. Politics in any organization is
rarely a positive influence on the employees under most circumstances. However, under some
cases politics in an organization can also be a positive motivator for making the workforces
competitive amongst themselves. This totally depends on the situation and nothing can be
presumed regarding the role of any individual in generalisation as opined by Abbas et al., (2014).
Power and Motivation are two factors that are interlinked with each other in a way since the
motivation can be induced in the workforce if the leadership has the power to use certain
resources. However, power is also an aspect that is many times abused by some managers in a
company. Motivation can be induced in the employees of any organization if they have the clear
picture of the outcomes of their work and the purposefulness of the work they are doing. In
companies like H-P, the employee is part of a revolutionary company that has changes the face
of computer technology and is revered in the industry as one of the golden companies.
The use of Power in any organization should be only to control the path of progress and maintain
the right working culture. Most of the times, the exercise power becomes necessary to
collaborate and bring together a large task as mentioned by Alvesson et al., (2013).
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Task 2
1. Explain what makes an effective team as opposed to an ineffective team in an
organisation.
A Team is a group of people working together on a common goal and maintaining a sense of
cooperation to achieve the target within time. The teams are the primary factors that determine
how an organization is structured around the leadership and the management as mentioned by
Salas et al., (2015). Teams in an organizational structure are created for both long term and
short-term goals based on the size of the team and the composition of the team. One important
value in a team is Teamwork that leads a team to success and makes it possible for the team to
achieve its purpose. This is because the primary reason teams are formed is that a group of
people working together can achieve bigger targets than an individual and in lesser amount of
time as opined by Galegher et al., (2014)
To make an effective team, there are certain key factors and qualities that must be present-
Strong communication among the team- The role of communication is very important in any
team as the target can only be achieved when the team is well versed with what their goals are
and how much time they have in hand. Moreover, an effective has to maintain a consistency in
the performance and that can only be achieved when the team is effective in working together as
opined by Shockley, (2014). In the case of an Ineffective team, there is lack of proper
communication and clarity among the team members.
Focus on Goals and Results- Team goals are equally important as communication because team
goal is the reason the team is working together. In an effective team, goals give purpose to the
team and keep the team hungry for achieving the goals as opined by Keyton, (2017). The team
leader is responsible for keeping the team focused on the as the goal gives direction to the team.
Ineffective teams lack the proper goal setting and hence are unable to achieve their targets on
time.
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2. Team and group development theories that support the development of dynamic
cooperation
Tuckman’s theory of group development is based on the four stages that define the
development of a group and the effectiveness of the group as opined by Colombini, (2012). The
various stages are as follows-
Forming is the stage in a group development when the group sits together for the first time. This
stage generally is the stage when the group gets introduced to each other and the task is
introduced to the group. In the case of Mega solutions, the leadership strategy can be of
purposefully picking the team and facilitating the team to identify the goals of the team.
Storming is the stage when the team sits together for the next time and start brainstorming on the
task. Because of the different perspective of members, conflicts are bound to arise and tension
might rise. For the effective working of Mega solutions and timely delivery of the projects, the
leadership can maintain a coaching behaviour towards the team so that the conflicts can be
resolved quickly.
Figure 4- Tuckman’s Theory
(Source- Colombini, 2012)
Norming and performing is the stage when the group has started to cooperate and set aside
their differences. This is the stage when the group starts performing and making the task
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