Unit 12: ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

Prepared By :Ms. Dina Al Natour

Definition and Influence of how organisational
culture
01
1.1 Influence of culture
In this section, you’ll learn how organisational culture influences people’s behaviour. 

02 1.2 Influence of politics and power

In this section, you’ll learn how politics and power play a part in the overall functioning of an organisation
1.1 Influence of culture
01 1.1 Influence of culture
Learning outcome 1 introduction

Learning outcome 1 introduction

Learning outcome 1 introduction

For this learning outcome, you’ll see how culture, politics and power influence
organisational behaviour. Here you’ll examine the factors that affect the behaviour of
individuals, teams and organisations as a whole.

You’ll learn how to work in a team, understand the motivations behind people’s and
organisations’ actions, and tailor your own behaviour to suit the situation at hand. 
Definition of Organizational culture

Definition Organizational culture

A company’s culture is simply the way a

company does things, in other words how it
works.

This can be the way it’s structured, who

reports to whom and how power and control
are shared among the staff.

It can also be the values and beliefs the

company embraces, and what it expects of
its employees.
Definition of Organizational culture

Definition Organizational culture

Organizational culture—the attitudes,

experiences, beliefs, and values of an
organization, acquired through social
learning—guides the way individuals and
groups in the organization interact with one
another and with parties outside it.
 Influence of Organizational culture

• organizational culture is important in

promoting high employee performance ,
good culture leads to good performance,
and good performance leads to good
culture.

• Organizatioal culture provides a framework

with respect to the behavior of employees in
their workplace.
• Depending on the type of culture that is
created in an organization, it can have a
positive or negative effect on employee
performance.
Influence of Organizational culture

An organizational culture where employees are

considered an integral part of the growth
process of the organization fosters employee
commitment towards the organization.

They align their goals and objectives with

those of the organization and feel responsible
for the overall well-being of the organization.
Influence of Organizational culture

As their efforts are appreciated by the

management and rewarded, they have job
satisfaction. In such organizational cultures, the
employees are committed to achieving their
goals and thus have a positive effect on the
overall performance of the organization.

Organizational culture to a large extent

determines the performance of the employees.
Therefore, it is in the interest of organizations
to eliminate negative factors that slow down
employee performance in order to foster a
positive workplace environment or a positive
organizational culture.
different types of organizational culture

define two different types of organisational

culture and so two different ways of doing
things.

Control culture with the emphasis on rules

and procedures, control and compliance with
providing guidelines.
8-5
Dress code
Break time

Quality of working : life culture with the

emphasis on core values, with mission
statements providing guidance and
commitment via shared goals, values and
traditions.
Logo
History , brand name
 Classifications of culture

Charles Handy (2011) was a philosopher

specializing in organization culture. Handy is
best known for identifying four basic cultures
that organizations typically embrace.

Charles Handy categorized company culture

into four classifications: power, role, task and
person.
 Classifications of culture

In a power culture, there is a central leader

who is dominant and exerts their will. There is
little emphasis on discussion to reach
agreement.

Famous examples of such leaders include

Rupert Murdoch at News Corp and Steve Jobs
at Apple.
 Classifications of culture

Task culture

Task cultures are job or project orientated, for

example organising the Olympic Games.
Teams are formed to solve particular problems.
Influence in this culture is based on expertise
and individuals with specialist interests come
together to form a team. There is no single
power source and the organisation tends to
have a matrix structure that brings together
the resources and people to get the job done.
 Classifications of culture

Role culture

Role culture focuses on the importance of

rules, procedures, role expectations and job
descriptions.

The employee is delegated roles and

responsibilities according to their
specialisation, educational qualification and
interest to get the best work out of them.
 Classifications of culture

Person culture

Person culture values individual employees

over the organisation itself. 

The logic behind this is that customers

recognise the employee by name and trust
them to deliver a particular standard of service.

For this reason, person culture is common in

specialist firms, such as lawyers, accountants
and dental practices. Power tends to sit with
the employees that make up the core group or
partnership.
 Cultural aspects

• Dress codes
The way employees generally dress, what is
their interpretation of the dress code policy.
• Language
The words the employees mostly use,
abbreviations and their meanings.
Dimensions of Culture
The importance of cultural difference awareness

The importance of cultural difference

awareness

Culture can vary from organisation to

organisation; the same is true of the people who
work for them. Most workforces today are made
up of employees from a variety of different
cultures.

A culturally diverse workforce can include people

from a variety of different races, religions, ages,
ethnicities, sexual orientations, and financial
backgrounds.
The importance of cultural difference awareness

Organisations are becoming more and more

culturally diverse. They therefore need to
know how to manage cultural differences in
order to stay effective, retain talent and avoid
discriminatory behaviour that could have legal
reflections.

Additionally, embracing diversity makes

employees feel valued, gives them a sense of
loyalty towards the company and boosts
productivity.
The importance of cultural difference awareness

people from different backgrounds need to be

dealt with in different ways to prevent
miscommunication . People can struggle to
adjust to a culture and belief system they’re
not used to, even though the overall culture of
an organisation is the product of its
employees’ influences.
Cross-cultural influences need to be
considered in order to create a harmonious
working environment.
 Failure to understand cultural diversity has several consequences.

Failure to understand cultural diversity

has several consequences. These include:

• frequent miscommunication that leads to

misunderstandings
• low overall company morale
• poor retention of staff and talent
• an effect on timekeeping and task
completion
• potential for legal action.
 In order to avoid these problems, organisations need to:

In order to avoid these problems,

organisations need to:

• have a well-defined diversity policy

• ensure they communicate relevant policies
throughout the workforce
• promote a culture of embracing diversity
through their ethos and actions.
1.2 Influence of politics and
power
02 1.2 Influence of politics and
power
1.2 Influence of politics and power

1.2 Influence of politics and power

Section introduction: Influence of politics and power

In this section, you’ll learn how politics and power play a part in the overall functioning of an

organisation. Learning activities and a case study will help you explore:

• power as a property viewpoint.

• the bases and types of power.

• power controls and sources of power.

 Organisational politics

Organisational politics

is a term that describes the use of human

input and interpersonal relationships to
influence business decisions, hierarchies and
operations.
For example, if two colleagues of equal
competence, status and experience were to
have conflicting views on how to solve a
problem, an element of organisational politics
would be needed to determine whose
decision might work best and/or how to
negotiate a compromise; it might also come in
useful for conflict resolution.
 Organisational politics

Organizational politics

Organizational politics can also mean using

your own popularity and expertise to build
networks and alliances within an organisation.

Expert comment: Organizational politics

‘Organizational politics are informal, unofficial,
and sometimes behind-the-scenes efforts to
sell ideas, influence an organization, increase
power, or achieve other targeted objectives’
 Organisational politics

’ Individuals and groups within the

organization may disagree about how
resources should be allocated, so they may
naturally seek to gain those resources for
themselves or for their interest groups, which
gives rise to organizational politics.
Organisational politics

Simply put, with organizational politics,

individuals ally themselves with like-minded
others in an attempt to win the scarce
resources.

They’ll engage in behavior typically seen in

government organizations, such as
bargaining, negotiating, alliance building, and
resolving conflicting interests.
Organisational politics

Examples of these self-serving behaviors

include :
• bypassing the chain of command to get
approval for a special project,
• going through improper channels to obtain
special favors,
• lobbying high-level managers just before
they make a promotion decision.
Negative Workplace Politics

These types of actions undermine fairness in

the organization, because not everyone
engages in politicking to meet their own
objectives. Those who follow proper
procedures often feel jealous and resentful
because they perceive unfair distributions of
the organization’s resources.
Negative Workplace Politics

Researchers have found that if employees

think their organization is overly driven by
politics, the employees are less committed to
the organization, have lower job satisfaction,
perform worse on the job, have higher levels
of job anxiety, and have a higher incidence of
depressed mood.
Positive Workplace Politics

• Employees who learn to navigate the

politics of an organization are more
productive than those who are left out of
the loop.
• An employee with a strong political group
that supports him is a happy and satisfied
employee.
• A climate focused on collaboration and
equal treatment prevents conflict that can
reduce productivity.
 Organisational power

Power is the ability to directly or indirectly

influence the behaviour of others. Power can
be categorised according to its source and as
one of two main ‘types’: formal power and
personal power.

Formal power originates from the position an

individual or group holds within an
organisation.
This can determine their capacity to influence
others, form alliances and powerful networks,
gain access to resources and influence the
day-to-day activities of the individuals
reporting to them.
 Organisational power

Personal power originates from the person’s

inherent personality and attributes. These
may be their attitude, behaviour or qualities,
such as being good at building connections,
honesty or ability to take responsibility.
These qualities help to earn people’s
approval, and thus, give them the capacity to
influence others.
 Organisational power

According to French and Raven (1959), there

are five subcategories denoting sources of
power.

Formal power sources

•legitimate power
•reward power
•coercive power.
Personal power sources
•referent power
•expert power.
 Organisational power

Legitimate power is power that comes from

one’s organizational role or position.
This comes from the belief that a person has
the formal right to make demands, and to
expect others to be compliant .
 Organisational power

Reward Power
Reward power is the ability to grant a reward,
such as an increase in pay or an attractive job
assignment.
This results from one person's ability to
compensate another for compliance.
 Organisational power

Expert power comes from knowledge and

skill.
This is based on a person's high levels of skill
and knowledge.
 Organisational power

Referent power: This is the result of

a person's perceived attractiveness,
worthiness and right to others' respect.
 Organisational power

Referent power: This is the result of

a person's perceived attractiveness,
worthiness and right to others' respect.
 Organisational power

Coercive Power
coercive power is the ability to take
something away or punish someone for
noncompliance.
This comes from the belief that a person can
punish others for noncompliance.
 Organisational power

Coercive Power
coercive power is the ability to take
something away or punish someone for
noncompliance.
This comes from the belief that a person can
punish others for noncompliance.
 Organisational power

Information Power
This results from a person's ability to control
the information that others need to
accomplish something. Information power
comes as a result of possessing knowledge
that others need or want..
 Negative Types of Power

• When leaders in an organization do not

have the respect of the employees under
them, they have a negative power.

• This type of leader motivates employees to

perform by threatening them with job loss
and other punishments or shows favoritism
to certain employees rather than
recognizing the hard work of multiple
employees.
 Negative Types of Power

• Not only does the quality of work produced

decrease under this type of power, but it
leads to higher turnover rates in an
organization.
 Positive Types of Power

• Positive power in an organization involves

encouraging productivity. This includes
giving employees the power to make
decisions, rewarding employees for strong
performance and appointing employees
who perform strongly to supervise other
employees
 Positive Types of Power

• Positive power builds employee

confidence and motivates employees to
work harder.

• It also results in those in higher-level

positions gaining power through employee
respect and communication, rather than
coercive efforts.
THANK YOU