Organizational Behavior Report: Tesco's Culture, Power, and Teams

This report provides an overview of organizational behavior, focusing on the influence of culture, politics, and power on team behavior and performance. Using Tesco as a case study, it defines organizational culture, explores different cultural types, and highlights the importance of cultural awareness. The report examines the relationship between work culture and business performance, and it applies network and system theories to the organizational framework. It defines organizational politics, differentiates between various types of change, and analyzes different types of power, including coercive, reward, legitimate, expert, and referent power. Furthermore, the report explores motivational theories and their impact on achieving organizational goals, team dynamics, and the role of effective teamwork in conflict resolution. The report emphasizes the importance of a positive work environment, goal setting, incentives, and recognition in motivating employees to enhance productivity and overall organizational success. Finally, the report provides insights on the contemporary barriers to effective behavior, including globalization, digital technology, and political impact.

Running head: Organizational behavior
Organizational behavior

Organizational behavior
Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
How an organization’s culture, politics and power influence team behavior and performance.................3
Define organizational culture..................................................................................................................3
Different organizational cultures and the importance of cultural difference awareness........................4
Importance of organizational culture......................................................................................................5
The differences between work culture and business performance.........................................................5
The principle of network theory and system theory as framework for organization..............................6
Define organizational politics and difference between personal, decisional, structural and
organizational change..............................................................................................................................6
Power and different types of power........................................................................................................7
How theories of motivation enable effective achievement of goals in an organizational context..............7
Motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.........................................................................................8
Content and process theory of motivation..............................................................................................8
The emotional intelligence and the importance of soft skills for managers and team............................8
What makes an effective team as opposed to an ineffective team.............................................................9
Team and different types of team...........................................................................................................9
Differentiate between group and team...................................................................................................9
Stage of team development..................................................................................................................10
Team roles.............................................................................................................................................10
Factors that promote effective teamwork.............................................................................................11
Organizational behavior:...........................................................................................................................11
Contemporary barriers to effective behavior:.......................................................................................12
Social resistance:...................................................................................................................................12
Social capital theory:.............................................................................................................................12
Contingency theory:..............................................................................................................................12
Path-goal theory........................................................................................................................................12
Culture, power, and politics of an organization:........................................................................................13
Globalization and digital technology:....................................................................................................13
Political impact:.....................................................................................................................................13
Impact of change:..................................................................................................................................13
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Relationship of power and authority.........................................................................................................13
Implications of motivational theories:.......................................................................................................14
Group development theory:......................................................................................................................14
The impact of effective teamwork on conflict resolution..........................................................................14
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................14
References.................................................................................................................................................15
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Organizational behavior
Introduction
The main objective of this paper is to provide a brief overview about the organizational culture,
team, and theories of motivation. Organizational culture, politics and power play are the integral
part of the every company because these factors help to attain mission and vision of the firm.
Furthermore, the paper explains the role of motivation, team and it also provides information
about the culture of the organization. In addition, it depicts that how effective teamwork helps to
resolve conflict and issues of the organization. Tesco Company has been chosen in the task to
explain importance of culture, politics and motivation. Tesco is a British multinational grocery
company which provides supermarket products to customers across the world. It’s headquarter is
situated in Welwyn garden, England and the company employs approx 476,000 employees
within the organization.
How an organization’s culture, politics and power influence team behavior and
performance
Culture, power and politics play a huge role in each and every organization. Positive culture
helps in reducing stress and frustration of the workers. A well developed culture helps to recruit
potential candidate in the organization. Furthermore, supply chain depends on the dynamic
culture of the organization. It will also help to reduce absenteeism and increase morale of the
workers. Environment and politics play a critical role in office politics. Political is a goal setting
stage of the power (Fullan, 2014). Through office politics, employees can share their tasks and
duties to others. Furthermore, it creates morality and trust among the workers with increasing
productivity of the firm. On the other hand, power is one of the most successful factors for the
firm because it provides satisfaction to the workers. It will help to initiate the management
changes within the organization and it reduces resistance to change. With the help of power,
managers can provide right guidance and direction to the employees to stand out against the
competitors in the marketplace. In this way, culture, power and politics help to enhance the
performance of the workers as well as organization (Bolman and Deal, 2017).
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Organizational behavior
Define organizational culture
Organizational culture may be defined as the underlying assumptions, beliefs, ideas, values and
ways of interacting which contribute to the psychological and social environment of an
organization. Organizational culture encompasses vision, values, system, norms, languages,
assumptions, symbols, habits and beliefs (Ehrhart, Schneider and Macey, 2013).
Let’s talk about the organizational culture of Tesco; the culture of the company is dynamic and
unique. The employees maintain a favorable atmosphere and healthy avenues of communication
in the organization. It also helps to maintain effective leadership structure in the firm. This
dynamic culture is not only inspire and motivate life balance in the workers but also develops
healthy interpersonal relationship and a sense of community among the team members. The
people work together in order to accomplish the goals and objectives of the firm.
Different organizational cultures and the importance of cultural difference awareness
There are various types of organizational culture that influence the success and growth of the
firm. The several types of organizational culture which are followed by Tesco have been
discussed below (Alvesson, 2012).
Normative culture: Under this culture, Tesco predefines the procedures and norms of the
organization and the firm sets the legislations and rules as per the existing guidelines. No worker
dares to break the rules and regulations that have been implemented by the company.
Pragmatic culture: In such culture, customer satisfaction is the main motive of the workers.
Under this culture, employees do not follow any set rules and regulations.
Academy culture: Under this culture, roles and responsibilities are assigned according to the
educational qualification, background, work experience and knowledge of the workers. Various
training programs are conducted to improve the skills and knowledge of the employees.
Baseball team culture: Under this culture, the individuals have an upper edge and they do not
worry about their organization. This culture plays a significant role in Tesco Company.
Club culture: Tesco follows club culture in order to maintain peaceful and favorable working
environment within the organization. Under this culture, employees are appointed as per the
specialization, interests and educational qualifications.
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Fortress culture: There are few companies where the workers are not sure about their longevity
and career. Thus, these organizations follow fortress culture. Tesco also follows fortress culture
to improve the performance of the employees.
Process culture: Under this culture, people abide by the regulations and rules and work
according to the ideologies of the workplace. Thus, Tesco follow this culture to maintain
effective working environment.
The cultural difference awareness plays a significant role in every organization in order to attain
desired goals and objectives. It is the foundation of communication and it helps to maintain
sustainability in the organization. It also helps in making effective and quick decisions within the
organization. Along with this, culture awareness is unique and strong part of people lives
because it affects their values, hopes, loyalties, views and worries. In addition, it is important to
understand the perspective and opinion of the workers (Ang and Van Dyne, 2015).
Importance of organizational culture
In today’s modern world, organizational culture is becoming a crucial part of the every firm. No
company can survive its business without maintaining a unique and favorable culture. The
organizational culture decides the way through which employees interact with each other in the
workplace. It also helps to keep workers motivated and loyal to the management of the firm. It
also increases and enhances the quality of work which helps Tesco flourish and expansion.
Unique and effective organizational culture provides guidelines and direction to the workers.
Understanding the company culture helps to understand why changes does not take place or why
a project is not successful. Also, it helps to understand where to make changes and organization
culture is important for the survival of the company. It is essential to deal with significant
changes that take place in the organization. Apart from this, if Tesco maintains dynamic culture
then it can easily overcome the competitors in the market (Chhokar, Brodbeck and House, 2013).
The differences between work culture and business performance
It is seen that there is a link between work culture and business performance in order to meet
long term objectives of the firm. Tesco is a multinational grocery company which renders
supermarket products to the customers in the competitive market. Positive work culture
motivates and engages employees for doing work efficiently and effectively. The success of the
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company depends on the corporate culture. Work culture helps to maximize the profitability and
outcomes of the firm. The business performance directly is affected by the work culture. Tesco
cannot attain success and growth without favorable working environment. If the work culture is
favorable, employees work harder to accomplish the organizational goals. Furthermore, business
performance is a result of motivation and motivation succeeds in a good work culture. Moreover,
unique work culture helps to make employees happy within the organization. As a result, it
enhances and maximizes returns and revenue of the firm.
The principle of network theory and system theory as framework for organization
Network theory is the study of graphs as a demonstration of either asymmetric relation or
symmetric relations between discrete projects. Network theory is a part of graph theory which
helps to gain competitive advantages in the global market while system theory is the
interdisciplinary study of systems (Miles, 2012). Systems theory is one of the significant theories
in management. A system is a set of distinction parts of the every organization. It treats an
organization either closed or open system. An open system is influenced by the environment
while closed system is not influenced by the environment. Tesco uses system theory and network
theory as a framework in order to maximize the profits in the competitive market. This theory
also focuses on multiple dimensions of the management. On the other hand, network theory
helps to utilize the best capabilities of the employees. It also helps in motivating and encouraging
the people in order to meet the targets and goals of Tesco.
Define organizational politics and difference between personal, decisional, structural and
organizational change.
Organizational politics are informal efforts to sell ideas, increase power, influence the firm and
achieve other desired goals and objectives. Furthermore, it is the behavior and process in human
interactions which involves authority and power. It is also called office politics. Organizational
politics helps to encourage the workers and it resist indiscipline within the organization. With the
help of such politics, managers and employers may give recognition and dignity to the
employee’s aspiration, and hopes. Along with this, if the firm politics works well, appropriate
leaders may be appointed and the company can run properly (Pettigrew, 2014). Personal
decisional structure helps to make quick decision in the firm while organization change may be
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defined as a process of changing a company’s processes, strategies, technologies, procedures and
culture as well as the effect of such changes on the organization (Anderson, 2016).
Power and different types of power
Power is the ability and capacity to direct influence the behavior of other in the course of actions.
It can be social, political and psychical. Power can also influence the decision making process.
The employees can attain long term mission and vision of the firm through power. Furthermore,
the workers can deal with organizational changes by using effective power (Murphy, Myors and
Wolach, 2014). There are various types of power that have been discussed below.
Coercive power: It is the ability to influence someone’s decision making by taking something
away as threatening and punishment if the person does not follow rules and instructions.
Therefore, Tesco uses coercive power to improve the performance of the workers.
Reward power: In this power, managers provide reward and recognition to talented and
potential employees for their performance. It helps in motivating the employees to maximize the
profitability of the company.
Legitimate power: Under this power, managers and leaders held the authorities and
responsibilities in the organization.
Expert power: This power based upon the workers. Under this power, employees keep high
level of knowledge and skills for performing the tasks and duties effectively and efficiently.
Referent power: It is one of the five bases of social power. Referent power is developed in 1959
by Bertram Raven. It refers to the ability and capacity of a leader and manager to influence their
follower (Clegg, 2013).
How theories of motivation enable effective achievement of goals in an organizational
context
The motivational techniques include create a positive work environment, set goals, share profit,
incentives, recognize achievements. Through these techniques, the firm has been able to
accomplish the objectives and goals in the competitive market. Along with this, motivational
theories provide several advantages to the employees (Petri and Govern, 2012). It helps to
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improve product quality and provides job satisfaction to the people. Motivational theories help
the learning process and it also promotes self discipline. Through motivation, people maintain
positive working environment within the organization (Ford, 2014).
Motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
Motivation is the process of encouraging the people for accomplishing the goals and objectives
of the firm. It helps to maximize the revenue and minimize the risk of the company. It also
influences the individual behavior of people within the organization (Pinder, 2014).
Intrinsic motivation: Intrinsic motivation includes engaging in a behavior and action because it
is personally performing an activity for its own sake rather than the desire for some external
reward (Burke, 2017).
Extrinsic motivation: This motivation occurs when people are motivated to perform a behavior
or engage in an action and activity to earn a reward or avoid punishment.
Tesco can motivate the employees either intrinsic motivation or extrinsic motivation. The firm
uses motivation and reward system to retain the workers at the workplace. Motivation also helps
to allow the management to meet the goals and objectives of the company. It also helps to reduce
in employee turnover in the firm. Furthermore, motivated employee work for a longer in Tesco
and it minimizes in the rate of turnover (Cherry, 2016).
Content and process theory of motivation
Content theory describes why human needs and requirements change with time. This theory
explains the particular factors that motivate and encourage behavior. The content theories
include Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, theory X and theory Y, ERG theory, Herzberg two factor
theory (Miner, 2015). On the other hand, process theories deal with the process of motivation.
The process theory includes equity theory, expectancy theory and the porter Lawler model.
Tesco uses Maslow’s theory to identify and analyze the needs, requirements and wants of the
employees. It is one of the foremost motivational theories that help to inspire people in the firm
(Lepper and Greene, 2015). Maslow’s theory is used by Tesco to encourage people in the firm.
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The emotional intelligence and the importance of soft skills for managers and team
The emotional intelligence refers to the ability and capability of employee to manage and control
his or her emotions and posses the ability to control and handle the emotions of other employees
as well. In other words, it can be said that employees can influence the emotions and behaviors
of other people also. Emotional intelligence is important skill in leadership. There are five
elements of emotional intelligence such as self regulations, self awareness, empathy, motivation
and social skills (Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee, 2013).
The soft skills play an integral role in the management of Tesco. These skills are used by
managers and leaders to motivate the employees to handle and reduce the risks and challenges of
the market. Soft skills also help to make unique and reciprocal relationship between managers
and employees. These skills also help to optimize the productivity and outcomes of the
organization. Soft skills build and develop a good reputation of the firm in the marketplace and
resolve the problems of the workers (Khalili, 2012).
What makes an effective team as opposed to an ineffective team.
Effective teamwork helps to maintain upward and downward communication in Tesco. It also
helps in increasing engagement and promotes innovation. In addition, team members can easily
measure and identify common objectives and goals. In this way, effective team helps in
performing various tasks of the management in the organization (Katzenbach and Smith, 2015).
Team and different types of team
Team is a group of people who work together to attain the desired goals and objectives. Team
member’s posses complementary skills and knowledge. Team helps to maximize their strengths
and minimize their weaknesses. There are five types of team which include department teams,
problems solving teams, virtual team, cross functional teams and self managed teams. Tesco
maintains department teams to divide the work in different departments. Furthermore, problem
solving teams focus on the various issues and queries (Turner, 2014). Along with this, virtual
team can be any type of team that communicates digitally rather in person. In addition, a cross
functional team is a group of people with different functional expertise working toward a
common objectives and goals. It includes various departments such as finance, operations,
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Organizational behavior
marketing and human resource departments. On the other hand, self managed teams help to
make unique decisions (Griffin, 2013).
Differentiate between group and team
Basis for comparison Group Team
Meaning Group refers to a collection of
individuals who work together
to accomplish the goals.
A group of persons having
identity who joined the
organization for attaining the
goals.
Leadership One leader More than one leader
Members Members are independent Members are interdependent
Work product People do work individual They do work collectively.
Focus on The employees focus on the
goals.
The workers focus on the team
goals.
Stage of team development
Teams are made for development of the organization and expansion of the business. There are
five stages of team that have been discussed below (Woodcock, 2017).
Forming: It is the first stage of the team development where people get together to meet the long
term targets and goals. It also reduces anxiety and uncertainty. Under this stage, members are
cautious with their actions and behavior.
Storming: It is the stage where competition and conflict are at its greatest. In this stage,
members are dominant to reduce the conflict and issues.
Norming: Under this stage where the group and team members become a cohesive unit to attain
common goals in the market (Pelegrini Morita and Marie Burns, 2014).
Performing: This stage leads hard work therefore; members do work with more efficiently and
successfully.
Adjourning: Many teams try to reach this stage eventually. In addition, they maintain close
relationship with the help of adjourning teams (Smither, Houston and McIntire, 2016).
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Team roles
Team plays various roles in the organization to attain common objectives. Team members
maintain favorable mental attitude to overcome the challenges. Members are also known as the
shapers of the company because they posses great communication skills and knowledge. Along
with this, team members also accept challenges and conflicts to maximize the outcomes of the
firm. They maintain coordination and co-operation among the employees. Moreover, team
members are called critical thinkers in a team because they predict and analyze the future risks
and challenges. In this way, they can make effective decisions. They are specialist in various
areas to identify and evaluate the competitor’s plans, strategies and policies. In this way, team
plays enormous roles in Tesco company to reach at the top level in the marketplace. The leaders
can also monitor and evaluate the activities and actions of the subordinates (Pieterse Van
Knippenberg and Van Dierendonck, 2013).
Factors that promote effective teamwork
There are several factors that help to promote effective teamwork in the organization have been
discussed below.
Diversity: This factor promotes creativity and innovation and raise awareness, which will help in
effective teamwork. Diversity of culture also improves efficiency and effectiveness of the
employees.
Communication: Dynamic teamwork is facilitated by open communication. Thus, all team
members should feel comfortable asking questions regarding the clarification of responsibilities
and jobs and they should feel happy to make suggestions when an issue and conflict arises in the
organization.
Leadership: Leadership also provides support in effective teamwork. Leaders provide help by
coordinating the efforts of team members and motivating team members to speak their minds
during team meetings (Tannenbaum, Weschler and Massarik, 2013).
Team building exercises: Teamwork is also developed and built by shared practice and
experiences. It also boosts and develops morale and confidence among the employees. Team
building exercise is also an important element in determining the development of effective and
efficient teams (West, 2012).
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