The concept of formal and informal groups. Formal and informal groups Negative informal groups
An organization is not only a formal structure (enterprise or institution), but also a social object - a means to achieve the goals of the owner, manager and staff. This means that in any organization a work collective arises in which very complex and diverse relationships between workers develop, as well as between workers and management, informal groups are created, i.e. processes take place that seriously affect the effectiveness of the organization and the results of its activities .
Under group refers to two or more persons influencing each other and interacting with each other. Groups can be either formal or informal.
Formal group is created at the direction of the manager and can be in the form of a department, workshop, or team. There are two types of formal groups: team and task. Command group unites around the leader. This could be, for example, a board of directors or the board of an organization.
Target group united by a common goal; Let's say, the work collective of a workshop is bound by a common task, working towards a single final result.
Informal group occurs without any indication, randomly. This is the unification of people in the process of human social (public) interaction, for example, based on interests (production and non-production), based on mutual sympathy, etc. These could be employees who constantly communicate during lunch breaks in the dining room or break room, those who gather together to celebrate a holiday or discuss pressing life problems, etc.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the management of an organization largely consists of the leadership of formal groups, each of which, in turn, needs internal management of all its members. To manage formal groups, the organizational structure of an enterprise or institution, discussed in Chapter 5, is built, and linear, functional, target management is built.
The experience of developing Russian and foreign management provides the basis for some useful recommendations on the selection and organization of functioning formal groups.
1. Principles of group selection (unifying qualities).
The group personnel must collectively:
– be purposeful;
- be loyal to the company;
– understand and comply with corporate interests;
- work for profit;
– be professionally trained;
– be capable of innovation;
– be capable of collective work;
– be organized;
- work according to plan;
– be able to keep records;
– exercise control and self-control;
– be obligatory and loyal to partners;
– be interested in consumers and customers;
– be vigilant to competitors;
– understand and comply with ethical standards of business and management.
2. Group size.
Practical management experience in recent years confirms the following empirical standards for the size of formal groups:
for production units of the lower management level (teams, artels) – 15–20 people;
for mid-level management system units (departments, bureaus) – 7–10 people;
for senior management bodies (council, board) – 1 person per 100 employees of the organization.
3. The degree of homogeneity of the group.
Social psychology and management practice argue that the most efficient, as a rule, are formal groups of heterogeneous composition (by gender, age, temperament, character traits, views, interests).
4. Social roles in the group.
Social psychologists and practicing managers argue that it is very useful for achieving organizational goals to have representatives of certain social roles in formal groups, for example:
“optimist” - a group member with a constantly good mood, who believes in a bright future;
“pessimist” – not inclined to rosy expectations, waiting for all sorts of pitfalls;
“truth seeker” – a person who believes in justice and is ready and able to fight for it;
“old grumbler” - an elderly member of the group who can make a remark to a colleague in an inoffensive manner that is more effective than a formal reprimand;
“unlucky” - a young worker who is “educated” and looked after by older members of the group;
“a handsome young man or young woman” who arouses the admiration and desire of members of the opposite sex to earn their attention;
“brave” – a person who is not afraid of obstacles and is ready to take risks;
“cautious” – reluctant to take risks and carefully considers the possible consequences of decisions made;
“humorist” - someone who has a developed sense of the funny and knows how to defuse the situation in difficult times with a good joke and relieve tension in the team;
“innovator-inventor” – an opponent of routine, with a sense of the new, committed to scientific and technological progress;
“conservative” – an opponent of drastic changes, preferring the proven old to the unknown new;
“fan” is a devoted and ardent supporter of a certain product of the enterprise, its corporate identity, traditions, etc.
5. Uniting factors.
When forming a group, both internal and external factors that unite it must be taken into account and purposefully cultivated. Internal unifying factors include group interests (material and spiritual), informal connections (mutual sympathy, friendships), and the opportunity to receive help and support. External unifying factors are threats from society (crisis phenomena, instability, the danger of extortion and terrorism), competition, and the attitude of consumers and partners.
6. Disconnecting factors.
These factors can also be of both external and internal origin. Internal is the antagonism of group members caused by differences in upbringing, education, habits, racial and national prejudices, rivalry on personal or professional grounds, leading to conflicts. External – sudden changes in the political, economic and social situation in the country and in the world, causing different (often opposite) reactions among group members; machinations of competitors seeking to damage the organization; changes in legislation that place team members in unequal conditions.
7. Degree of freedom of opinion.
When forming a group, it is necessary to determine the degree of freedom of expression and implementation of the opinions of all its members. There are two possible extremes here. The first is complete freedom of discussion, the equivalence of the opinions of all group members, and the mandatory consideration of these opinions when making decisions. Second, freedom of discussion is limited; In the interests of unanimity of the group, part of its members, who have a minority of votes, suppress their opinions that differ from the majority, which are not taken into account when making a decision.
Experience shows that the most productive is the optimal combination of both approaches. In this case, the form of ownership of the organization is taken into account (for example, in a cooperative, voting is carried out by the majority of votes of those present, and in a joint-stock company - by the number of shares); organizational and legal form (in state enterprises the manager is appointed, and in business companies the manager is elected); the nature of the problems solved by the group (when making decisions in the scientific and technical sphere, it is appropriate to focus not on the majority of votes, but on the opinion of specialists; in a commercial sphere, it is natural to focus on those with the greatest capital).
The competence of various decision-making groups, as well as the corresponding procedure, must be strictly regulated by the organization's charter.
8. Position of group members.
The position, organizational and legal status of each group member should be carefully considered and clearly defined. This status is characterized by the place of a group member in the hierarchy, the importance of the functions assigned to him, and personal qualities (professional potential, organizational skills, authority in the team).
Along with studying and implementing the capabilities of formal groups, it is equally important to work with informal groups. A proper assessment of this work is associated with the famous Hawthorne experiments.
The experiments were carried out near the city of Chicago (USA), at the Hawthorne plants owned by the Western Electric company from 1927 to 1939. The results of the experiments were processed over ten years by a large group of scientists.
The purpose of the experiments, in the organization and analysis of which the head of the industrial research department at Harvard University, psychologist Elton Mayo, known to us as the author of the theory of “human relations” in management, played a decisive role, was to study the influence of economic, psychological and organizational factors on labor productivity.
At the time the experiments began, the situation at the enterprise was very difficult: poor economic situation, low labor productivity, staff turnover, etc. The leaders of the experiment, among whom initially there was not a single social psychologist, tried, in accordance with the then fashionable Taylor system, to explain the situation at factory under the influence of unfavorable production and physical factors: irrational organization of labor, insufficient lighting of workplaces, improper material incentives, etc. The experiment, however, did not confirm these assumptions.
With the beginning of the participation of social psychologists in the experiment, led by E. Mayo, the main attention began to turn to the connection between labor productivity and social and psychological factors. A group of six female workers, assemblers of electrical appliances, was allocated, each of whom had to perform identical and monotonous operations. For the purity of the experiment, the group was placed in a separate room, and the same moderate pace of work was set for everyone (no one had to overtake the other). Factors such as temperature, humidity and others did not change. And a miracle happened: in two and a half years, the group’s labor productivity increased by 40%.
The analysis showed that the achieved effect is explained mainly by socio-psychological factors: over the years of close work communication, an informal group has formed, a close-knit work team, in which achieving results has become a common cause. The workers put their efforts together, helped each other, and provided mutual support in every possible way. The emergence of common interest has become a powerful factor in increasing productivity and quality of work.
The Hawthorne experiments laid the foundation for socio-psychological methods of management (see Chapter 6) and aroused interest in informal groups and in using their capabilities to improve the efficiency of the organization.
Let's consider some characteristic features modern informal groups.
1. Informal groups arise within a formal organization and are in constant communication with it. Consequently, the size and composition of informal groups are directly dependent on the corresponding parameters of formal structures.
2. The goals of informal groups are, in principle, not necessarily related to the goals of the formal organization within which these groups arise. However, it is almost always possible to link these goals and make them interdependent.
3. Usually, not one, but several informal ones arise within a formal organization.
Moreover, the same employees belonging to a single formal organization can simultaneously belong to several informal ones. Informal structure may extend beyond the formal organization.
4. An informal organization usually arises arbitrarily, without any instructions from above. Its appearance and activities are free, participation in the informal group is completely voluntary.
5. Formal groups have much in common with informal ones. They have an organization (structure, connections), leaders, hierarchy, goals and objectives. In informal organizations, certain established norms and unwritten rules of behavior are adhered to, and there may be rewards and punishments.
6. The main differences in building a formal organization compared to an informal one are the following. A formal organization is created according to a predetermined plan, as a result of the so-called organizational design. An informal organization arises arbitrarily, spontaneously, as a rule, with the aim of satisfying certain social needs that are not satisfied within the framework of a formal organization. The creation of a formal organization is an act of will, the emergence of an informal one is the result of social interaction.
7. Despite the arbitrary, spontaneous process of formation of informal organizations, the non-directive, voluntary nature of their emergence, as a rule, it is possible to “guide” a certain part of the team to create an informal group acting in the interests of the organization.
In order to influence the process of creation and activities of informal groups, you need to have an understanding of the basic motives personnel leading to their occurrence. Such motives are protection, mutual assistance, social contacts, communication, social manifestations.
The leading incentive for creating informal groups is motive of protection. We are talking about protection from external threats to health (for example, due to poor conditions, hazardous work), social protection (struggle for higher wages, pensions, better working conditions), legal protection (respect for the constitutional rights of citizens), etc. .
Closely related to the motive of protection motive of mutual assistance. Members of a formal organization seek contacts with each other and create informal groups in the hope that together it will be easier for them to solve their problems - both personal, everyday, and industrial. A common interest in the results of joint work leads to the fact that workers begin to help each other in their work: transfer useful experience, join forces, control themselves and their associates more strictly (this is exactly what happened in the Hawthorne experiments).
A formal group helps its members to establish much-needed communication for most people. social contacts. Group members begin to feel like they are part of a single whole, feel useful and necessary, and are confirmed in their belonging to a necessary and prestigious cause.
Finally, it is in an informal group that a favorable environment is created for the emergence, formation and implementation of such important for each individual social manifestations, like mutual sympathy, friendship and love.
Despite their unofficial status, informal groups are, in the hands of a skilled manager, a powerful tool for managing an organization; they allow better use of traditional management methods and more complete implementation of their functions.
Let's look at several examples of using informal groups to improve enterprise management.
EXAMPLE 1. Help from informal leaders
Leaders of informal groups are a powerful management force. With their help, a manager can obtain the information necessary for decision-making, explain to staff the meaning of assigned tasks, and motivate people to engage in productive, high-quality work.
EXAMPLE 2. Public control
Members of informal groups are able to exercise much-needed independent control over the implementation of decisions of official management, the expenditure of funds, and the quality of products.
EXAMPLE.Overcoming conservative tendencies
Often the team of an enterprise, the “human factor,” act as the main obstacle to the introduction of innovations that are so important today in organizations. Working with informal groups, the manager has the opportunity, in a favorable environment, to explain the desirability of upcoming and ongoing innovations, to convince them of the non-hazardous nature of the changes being made and of their usefulness for staff and the organization.
In order to make fullest use of the capabilities of informal groups for the purposes of a formal organization, a manager must master the methods and art of managing them. As the main principles For such management, the following must be kept in mind:
1. Direct transfer of management methods of formal organizations to the management of informal groups is unacceptable.
2. When managing informal groups, socio-psychological methods of management come to the fore, administrative methods are excluded.
3. Direct intervention of a manager in the formation and activities of informal groups is unacceptable. The influence on groups should be predominantly indirect and carried out through coordination and regulation of the processes occurring there.
4. Constant connections and interaction between formal and informal structures should be established; First of all, this concerns the setting and implementation of goals, objectives and incentives.
5. You should constantly identify informal leaders and establish constructive and mutually beneficial relationships with them.
6. Particular attention should be paid to social problems that arise among members of informal organizations and a quick response to them.
7. It is necessary to provide and provide organizational, technical and economic support to all rational proposals and initiatives of informal groups.
8. The activities of informal groups should be subject to constant but unobtrusive control.
9. It is advisable to establish an equal dialogue with informal groups, giving them the opportunity to fully present their proposals.
10. There should be a system for coordinating goals between informal and formal organizations and corresponding coordination of efforts.
11. It is necessary to establish two-way information communication between formal and informal organizations, both in terms of receiving and transmitting the necessary information.
12. All relations between formal and informal organizations should be built on the principles of voluntariness, goodwill and mutual interest.
A person performs work surrounded by people, in interaction with them. He is not only a performer, but also a member of the group. At the same time, the group has a huge influence on him.
There is no standard definition of a small group because it is a very flexible phenomenon. But we can give a description of this phenomenon by considering the characteristic features of a small group.
A small group (hereinafter referred to as a group) is a relatively isolated association of people who
- frequently interact with each other;
- identify themselves as members of the same group;
- share common norms about what interests them;
- participate in a unified system of role division;
- identify themselves with the same objects and ideals;
- perceive the group as a source of satisfaction;
- are in cooperative interdependence;
- feel themselves as a kind of unity;
- coordinate actions in relation to the environment;
- are able to develop an individualized idea of everyone else and be similarly perceived by each of them.
A group is a relatively isolated association of several people (no more than 10) who are in fairly stable interaction and carry out joint actions over a fairly long period of time.
So, people unite in groups not only to perform a certain job, obtain a result and be rewarded for it. A group is an environment for self-affirmation and self-knowledge; it is an objective human need for communication.
Depending on the purpose of the association, there are two types of groups:
- formal;
- informal.
Formal groups are created to carry out production activities in accordance with the chosen strategy at the will of the organization's leaders. They have a formally appointed leader, a formal structure, a position within the group, their tasks and functions are described and formally enshrined in relevant documents. These groups can be created either on a permanent or temporary basis.
There are three main types of groups in an organization: leadership groups, work groups, and community organizations.
Informal groups are formed by members of the organization, often spontaneously, in accordance with their mutual sympathies, common interests, hobbies, habits, etc. In most enterprises there are many informal groups. There can be as many of them as there are basics for communication. Because of the formal structure, people interact with each other over many years.
A natural result of communication is the spontaneous emergence of informal groups.
Typically these groups have an explicit or implicit leader. In many cases, informal groups have a significant influence on the behavior of group members, sometimes even more than formal ones.
The main reasons for joining an informal group.
1. Affiliation.
Social need, the need to belong to a particular group, is one of the strongest. It is in the group that self-knowledge, self-determination, and self-affirmation occur. Group dynamics activates existing human needs, creates new ones and at the same time is a source (medium) for their satisfaction.
2. Help.
Subordinates are more willing to turn to colleagues for help than to their immediate supervisor, even if difficulties arose when solving production problems. An atmosphere of trust and mutual assistance is the basis for the synergistic effect of group interaction.
3. Protection.
Association occurs quite often when any threat or danger arises, for the joint protection of personal or group interests. For example, to protest harmful working conditions, unfair wages, etc. Conflict in a formal group, attempts by a formal leader to destroy existing informal relationships - all this contributes to the cohesion of existing informal groups or leads to the creation of new ones.
4. Communication.
Informal communication is based on interests, values, hobbies, etc. It is for this reason that an enterprise can have as many informal groups as there are common topics for communication. Also, informal communication in a group is an additional informal channel for the receipt of information that is important for a person, concerning both the situation at the enterprise and outside it.
5. Sympathies, friendly communication.
The group provides a person with the opportunity to spend time in a pleasant environment, to avoid loneliness, a state of being lost, and uselessness.
The manager cannot but be interested in the state of interaction in the group, because the effectiveness of management depends on it. Since informal relationships often play a greater role than formal ones, the manager must know the laws of group dynamics and ways to influence the development of informal interactions. This influence must be targeted.
An effective group is a group in which interactions are characterized by cohesion, mutual respect, and understanding.
As noted earlier, the management structure, like the organization as a whole, consists not only of official divisions (positions) and predetermined connections between them, but also of a set of informal groups, leading individuals, and their informal contacts. Only by taking into account their role can one get an idea of the complete management structure.
The Hawthorne experiments made a great contribution to the study of problems of group functioning.
Group- two or more persons who interact with each other in such a way that each person influences and is influenced by the other.
An organization and its divisions are also groups. Group members develop rules, attitudes, values and expectations that are acceptable to them in matters related to understanding the behavioral norm, i.e. standards of behavior. The more an employee of an organization values belonging to a group, the more appropriate his behavior.
Formal and informal groups
Formal groups are groups created by the will of management.
The types of formal groups are: leadership groups, working (target) groups, committees and teams.
The management team consists of the manager and his direct subordinates under his control (president and vice presidents).
Working (target) group - employees working on one task.
A committee is a group within an organization to which authority has been delegated to carry out a task or set of tasks. Sometimes committees are called councils, commissions, or task forces. There are permanent and special committees.
- When solving a problem requires a lot of experience in some area.
- The proposed decision will turn out to be unpopular in the organization (in this case, the manager can protect himself).
- When it is necessary to find out the opinions of subordinates.
A team is a group of employees of an organization or structural unit, working as a single whole, showing maximum initiative and responsibility.
The characteristics of a “team” and a “group” are different because:
- In a team, leadership is divided among its members, and in a group, as a rule, there is one clear leader.
- In a team, personal responsibility is complemented by collective responsibility, and in a group, personal responsibility dominates.
- In a team, products or services are the result of collective activity, and in a group - individual activity.
- The team discusses, decides and implements it, and the group discusses, decides and delegates the implementation of the decision.
A team is always a group, but not every group has a team spirit. A team, as a rule, has higher work results than other groups due to the fact that each team member strives to achieve a common goal, clearly fulfills his responsibilities, interacts with other employees to coordinate joint activities and considers himself part of the whole. As a result, a synergistic effect occurs due to internal relationships, dedication, work, coordination of actions, trust in each other, cooperation, and identical values. Team members can work individually in different rooms and communicate electronically.
Effective team activity requires taking into account national characteristics when forming a team and a sufficiently high level of maturity and professionalism.
An informal group is a spontaneously emerging group of people who regularly interact to achieve a specific goal.
Factors influencing the performance of both formal and informal groups:
Leader – having a strong leader;
The size of a group is the number of its members, with the growth of which communication becomes more difficult, and within a large group a new one can be formed, pursuing its own goals. The optimal group size is from 5 to 11 people;
The similarity or difference of group members who have their own point of view on various management decisions and the more individual they are, the more optimal the decision will be, because multiple points of view and the development of prospects for the development of the organization are always positive;
The norms of behavior adopted by the group have a strong influence on the behavior of each member of the team, as well as on the direction in which the group will work: towards achieving the goals of the organization or towards confrontation. Norms can have a positive or negative orientation, for example, they encourage theft, absenteeism, unconstructive criticism of organizational leaders, etc.
Main reasons for joining groups:
- organizational and production;
- socio-psychological;
- material.
In the recent past, competition was concentrated in the area of technological progress, but the essence of modern business determined primarily by people. Each employee of the company performs his own function and combines his efforts with the collective ones to achieve results. A key component of business is human resource management.
The management of an organization feels satisfaction when the organization continues to exist as a single whole. However, almost always the stereotypes of behavior and attitudes of organization members deviate far from the formal plan of the organization's leaders.
Informal groups that form in an organization can, under certain conditions, become dominant.
Middle managers need to reconcile the demands of informal groups in the organization with the demands of the management apparatus above them. This need encourages managers to search for non-standard methods of managing people or use existing techniques more effectively to harness the potential benefits and reduce the negative impact of informal groups.
Formal and informal groups
So, there are two types of groups: formal and informal. These types of groups are important to the organization and have a great influence on the members of the organization.
Formal groups- These are groups created at the will of the leadership.
There are leadership groups, working (target) groups and committees.
- Leadership group consists of the manager and his immediate subordinates located in his area of control (president and vice presidents).
- Working(target) group - employees working on one task.
- Committee- a group within an organization to which authority has been delegated to perform a task or set of tasks. Sometimes committees are called councils, commissions, or task forces. There are permanent and special committees.
Informal group- a spontaneously emerging group of people who regularly interact to achieve a specific goal. Reasons for joining are a sense of belonging, help, protection, communication.
Informal organizations monitor their members. Usually there are certain norms that each member of the group must comply with. In informal organizations there is a tendency to resist change. Typically, an informal organization is headed by an informal leader. The informal leader must help the group achieve its goals and maintain its existence.
On effectiveness of formal and informal groups the same factors influence:
- Group size. As the group grows larger, communication between members becomes more difficult. In addition, informal groups with their own goals may arise within the group. In small groups (of 2 - 3 people), people feel personal responsibility for making a certain decision. It is believed that the optimal group size is 5 - 11 people.
- Compound(or the degree of similarity of personalities, points of view, approaches). It is believed that the most optimal decisions can be made by groups consisting of people who are in different positions (i.e., dissimilar people).
- Group norms. A person who wants to be accepted by a group must comply with certain group norms. (Positive norms are norms that support behavior aimed at achieving goals. Negative norms are norms that encourage behavior that does not contribute to achieving goals, such as theft, tardiness, absenteeism, drinking alcohol in the workplace, etc.).
- Cohesion. It is considered as a measure of the gravitation of group members towards each other and towards the group. A high level of group cohesion can improve the functioning of the entire organization.
- Group like-mindedness. This is the tendency of an individual to suppress his views on some phenomenon in order not to disturb the harmony of the group.
- Conflict. Differences in opinion increase the likelihood of conflict. The consequences of conflict can be positive because they allow different points of view to be brought to light (this leads to increased group effectiveness). Negative consequences include a decrease in the effectiveness of the group: a poor state of mind, a low degree of cooperation, a shift in emphasis (giving more attention to one’s “victory” in a conflict rather than solving the real problem).
- Group member status. It is determined by seniority in the job hierarchy, job title, education, experience, awareness, etc. Typically, group members with high status have greater influence on other group members. It is desirable that the opinion of high-status group members not be dominant in the group.
Formal groups usually identified as structural divisions in an organization. They have a formally appointed leader, a formally defined structure of roles, positions and positions within the company, as well as formally assigned functions and tasks.
A formal group has the following features:
- it is rational, i.e. it is based on the principle of expediency, conscious movement towards a known goal;
- it is impersonal, i.e. designed for individuals, the relationships between whom are established according to a drawn up program.
In a formal group, only service connections between individuals are provided, and it is subordinated only to functional goals.
Formal groups include:
- Vertical organization, uniting a number of bodies and divisions in such a way that each of them is located between two others - higher and lower, and the leadership of each of the bodies and divisions is concentrated in one person.
- Functional organization, according to which management is distributed among a number of individuals specializing in performing certain functions and jobs.
- Headquarters organization, characterized by the presence of a headquarters of advisers, experts, and assistants who are not included in the system of vertical organization.
Formal groups can be formed to perform a regular function, such as accounting, or they can be created to solve a specific task, for example, a commission for the development of a project.
Informal groups are created not by orders of the leadership of the organization and formal regulations, but by members of this organization in accordance with their mutual sympathies, common interests, identical hobbies and habits. These groups exist in all companies, although they are not presented in diagrams reflecting the structure of the organization and its structure.
Informal groups usually have their own unwritten rules and norms of behavior; people know well who is in their informal group and who is not. In informal groups, a certain distribution of roles and positions develops. Typically these groups have an explicit or implicit leader. In many cases, informal groups can exert equal or greater influence on their members than formal structures.
Informal groups are a spontaneously (spontaneously) formed system of social connections, norms, and actions that are the product of more or less long-term interpersonal communication.
Depending on the style of behavior, informal groups can be classified as follows:
- Prosocial, i.e. socially positive groups. These are socio-political clubs of international friendship, funds for social initiatives, groups for environmental protection and rescue of cultural monuments, club amateur associations, etc. They, as a rule, have a positive orientation.
- Antisocial, i.e. groups that stand apart from social problems.
- Antisocial. These groups are the most disadvantaged part of society and cause concern. On the one hand, moral deafness, the inability to understand others, a different point of view, on the other hand, often the own pain and suffering that befalls this category of people contribute to the development of extreme views among its individual representatives.
Characteristics of an informal group
The life of a group and its functioning is influenced by three factors:
- characteristics of group members;
- structural characteristics of the group;
- situational characteristics.
TO characteristics of group members factors that influence its functioning include a person’s personal characteristics, as well as abilities, education and life experience.
Structural characteristics of the group include:
- communications in the group and norms of behavior (who contacts whom and how);
- status and roles (who occupies what position in the group and does what);
- personal likes and dislikes between group members (who likes whom and who does not like whom);
- power and conformity (who influences whom, who is willing to listen and who to obey).
The first two structural characteristics relate more to the analysis of formal organization, the rest - to the issue of informal groups.
Several factors have a significant impact on the establishment of friendly relations between people:
- Personal characteristics of interactants. People love those who like the same phenomena, things, processes that they like, i.e. people love those who are similar to them, who are close to them in spirit, taste and preferences. People are attracted to those who have the same or similar race, nationality, education, outlook on life, etc. Potentially, people with similar personality characteristics are more likely to form friendships than those with significantly different personality characteristics.
- The presence of territorial proximity in the location of these people. The closer the group members' workplaces are, the more likely they are to form friendships. The same applies to the proximity of their places of residence.
- Frequency of meetings, as well as the expectation that these meetings will occur quite often in the future.
- How successful is the group's functioning?. In general, success leads people to develop positive attitudes toward each other more than does unsuccessful group functioning.
- Having one goal, to which the actions of all group members are subordinated. If group members are separated by solving individual problems, mutual sympathy and friendship are less likely to develop than if they are working on solving a problem common to all.
- Wide participation of all group members in decision making. The opportunity to influence group processes stimulates the development of positive perceptions of the team among group members.
The presence of sympathy in relationships between people, the presence of friendly relations between group members has a huge impact on people’s mood, on their satisfaction with their work, their membership in the group. However, it cannot be said unequivocally that friendly relations between group members have only a positive impact on the results of work and the functioning of the organization as a whole. If people who have friendly relations with each other have high motivation to work, then the presence of mutual sympathy and friendship contributes to a significant increase in the results of their work and thereby has a positive effect on the functioning of the group as a whole. If people are poorly motivated to work, then the result will be completely opposite. They will spend a lot of time in conversations that are useless for work, smoking breaks, tea parties, etc., and will constantly be distracted from work, sharply reducing the effectiveness of their work. At the same time, they can distract others from work, creating an atmosphere of idleness and relaxation.
Situational characteristics of the group depend little on the behavior of group members and the group as a whole. These characteristics are related to its size and its spatial location.
In small groups, it is more difficult to reach agreement, and a lot of time is spent clarifying relationships and points of view. In large groups, there are difficulties in finding information, as group members tend to behave more reservedly.
The spatial arrangement of group members has a significant influence on their behavior. Three important characteristics of the spatial location of an individual are identified, on which the relationship between a person and a group depends. Firstly, it is the presence of a permanent or specific place or territory. Lack of clarity on this issue gives rise to many problems and conflicts in interpersonal relationships. Secondly, this is personal space, that is, the space in which the body of only this person is located. Spatial proximity in the placement of people can give rise to many problems. Thirdly, this is the relative arrangement of places. If a person occupies a workplace at the head of the table, then this automatically puts him in the position of leader in the eyes of other group members. Management, knowing these and other issues of the location of group members, can achieve a significant effect only through the correct placement of workplaces.
Features of informal groups
1. Social control
Informal organizations exercise social control over their members. The first step to this is to establish and reinforce norms—group standards for acceptable and unacceptable behavior. To be accepted by the group and maintain his position in it, a person must comply with these norms. To reinforce compliance with these norms, the group may impose fairly harsh sanctions, and those who violate them may face exclusion. It is a strong and effective punishment when a person depends on an informal organization to meet his social needs.
2. Resistance to change
People use informal organization to discuss perceived or actual changes that may occur in their organization. In informal organizations there is a tendency to resist change. This is partly due to the fact that change may pose a threat to the continued existence of the informal organization. Reorganization, the introduction of new technology, expansion of production and, consequently, the emergence of a large group of new employees can lead to the disintegration of the informal group or to a reduction in opportunities for interaction and satisfaction of social needs.
3. Informal leaders
Informal organizations, just like formal ones, have their own leaders. An informal leader gains his position by seeking power and exercising it over group members. There are essentially no major differences in the means used by leaders of formal and informal organizations to exert influence. The only significant difference is that the informal leader relies on recognition by the group. In his actions, he relies on people and their relationships.
An informal leader has two primary ones: assist the group in achieving its goals and maintain and strengthen its existence. Sometimes these functions are performed by different people. If this is so, then two leaders emerge in an informal group: one to carry out the group's goals, the other to facilitate social interaction.
The emergence of an informal group and its role in the functioning of the organization
The reason for the emergence of an informal group in a formal organization is the inevitable limitations of the formal organization, which cannot cover and regulate all processes of the functioning of a social organization.
If people join formal organizations to further organizational goals, or need rewards in the form of income, or are driven by considerations of prestige, then belonging to an informal group may provide psychological benefits that are as important to them as the salary they receive.
In accordance with A.'s classification, primary needs are physiological and the need for safety and security, and secondary needs are social, respect and self-expression. Can a formal organization ensure that all needs are fully met? Obviously not. The emergence of an informal organization is a consequence of a person’s natural desire to unite with other people and to form sustainable forms of interaction.
The very first reason for joining an informal group is satisfying the need for a sense of belonging. People whose jobs do not provide opportunities to establish and maintain social contacts tend to be dissatisfied. The ability to belong to a group and its support is closely related to employee satisfaction. Yet, although the need to belong is widely accepted, most formal organizations deliberately deprive people of social contact. Therefore, people are often forced to turn to informal organizations in order to gain these contacts.
Need for protection is an important reason for people to join certain groups. Although it is very rare these days to talk about the existence of real physical danger in the workplace, the very first trade unions arose in social groups that gathered in pubs and discussed their grievances with their superiors. And today, members of informal organizations protect each other from rules that harm them. This protective function becomes even more important when superiors are not trusted.
The need for communication arises because people want to know what is happening around them, especially if it affects their work. Yet in many formal organizations the system of internal communication is rather weak, and sometimes management deliberately hides certain information from its subordinates. Therefore, one of the important reasons for belonging to an informal organization is access to an informal channel of information - rumors. This can satisfy an individual's need for psychological protection and belonging, as well as provide them with faster access to information needed for work.
The influence of informal groups on the organization
Some managers believe that an informal group is the result of poor management, but the emergence of these groups is natural and very common; every organization has them.
Informal groups have both negative and positive influence on the activities of a formal organization. False rumors can be spread through informal channels, leading to negative attitudes towards management. The norms adopted by the group may cause the organization's productivity to be lower than that determined by management. Tendency to resist any change and tendency to maintain ingrained stereotypes may delay necessary production modernization. However, this counterproductive behavior is often a reaction to management's attitude towards this group. Rightly or wrongly, group members believe that they are being treated unfairly and respond as any person would respond to something that seems unfair to them.
Such instances of backlash sometimes prevent managers from seeing the many potential benefits of informal organizations. Since being a member of a group requires working for the organization, loyalty to the group can translate into loyalty to the organization. Many people turn down higher-paying positions at other companies because they don't want to break the social connections they've made at that company. The goals of the group may coincide with the goals of the formal organization, and the performance standards of the informal organization may exceed the norms of the formal organization. For example, the strong spirit of collectivism that characterizes some organizations and generates a strong desire for success often grows out of informal relationships, involuntary actions of management. Even informal communication channels can sometimes help a formal organization by complementing the formal communication system. By failing to find ways to effectively engage with informal organizations or by trying to suppress them, managers often miss out on these potential benefits.
In any case, regardless of whether the informal organization is harmful or useful, it exists and must be taken into account. Even if the leadership destroys one group, another will certainly arise in its place, which may develop a deliberately negative attitude towards the leadership.
Formal organizations
There are two types of organizations:
Firstly, organizations that are created consciously and purposefully to achieve some predetermined goals, within which conditions are formed and maintained to encourage their members to achieve these goals. Leaders are the bearers of such goals., which perceive these goals as their own and to achieve them, coordinate the activities of members of the organization;
secondly, organizations that are formed spontaneously on the basis of the natural community of goals of their participants, participation in which is determined by the free will of their members. In these organizations, no one makes an effort to consolidate the emerging structure and ensure the achievement of their own goals. As the common goals that gave rise to the organization are achieved, they may disintegrate, but they may also degenerate into organizations of the first type.
Organizations of the first type are usually called formal. According to one of the classics of modern management, Herbert Simon, formal organization we understand a planned system of joint (cooperative) efforts in which each participant has his own clearly defined role, his own tasks or responsibilities that must be fulfilled. These responsibilities are distributed among participants in the name of achieving the goals that the organization sets for itself, and not in the name of satisfying individual wishes, even though both often coincide.
Formal organization- an organization that has the right, the goals of whose activities are enshrined in the constituent documents, and the functioning - in regulations, agreements and regulations governing the rights and responsibilities of each of the organization's participants.
Formal organizations are divided into and.
Finally, another formulation that well reflects the specifics of formal organizations states that this is a formal association of people that was formed to ensure the achievement of joint goals on a relatively permanent basis (Fig. 3.2). This association is characterized by obvious boundaries, norms of behavior, the presence of primary (interpersonal, informal) groups, communication channels, activities aimed at solving certain problems and power relations.
Informal organizations
Informal organizations- these are organizations that are not registered with a government agency, either due to their small number or for some other reason.
Informal organization- a spontaneously emerging group of people who interact with each other quite regularly.
Informal organizations include associations of people connected by personal interests in the field of culture, everyday life, sports and others who have a leader and do not conduct financial and economic activities aimed at obtaining material profit.
For example, four amateur fishermen constantly prepare gear together for a number of years, go fishing, discuss the results, and enjoy it. This is an informal organization, since all the signs of a system are present - the presence of a goal, elements, hierarchy, interaction. Role in informal organizations very big. In them, people can realize their needs and interests to a greater extent than in the formal one; find your place in life; try different options for behavior, relationships, etc. Help and protection of colleagues, access to informal channels of information (rumors, etc.) are the main reasons for joining an informal organization.
However the emergence of an informal organization within a formal one is possible. This is a natural process that occurs when the development of technology and personnel professionalism in an organization proceeds faster than the improvement of organizational forms, functions, style and management methods. The first sign of the birth of an informal organization in the subject area of a formal organization is emergence of an informal leader. We have already discussed above how a leader should act.
Individuals very rarely work in isolation from others. This can only happen in those exceptional cases when the employee performs a strictly individual task, controlled only by the top management of the organization, when he autonomously contacts the external environment and makes decisions mainly independently.
However, most situations that arise in the course of organizational activities are characterized precisely by group relations. Groups in organizations are the basis of the synergy effect, and, as a rule, members of the organization simply do not think of their activities outside the social group.
A distinctive feature of the organization is that work in it is always carried out within groups or teams. In this case, the specifics of the work performed by this organization do not matter.
Numerous studies have shown that the behavior of individual group members in an organization is greatly influenced by the group. Organizational leaders need to recognize the presence of group pressure to help the group act more effectively toward common goals.
Groups in an organization are characterized by the content and direction of their activities. The content of the activities of group members can be determined in different ways. For example, group members can be said to interact; have a common goal; know about each other.
Let's imagine the purposes that a group can serve in an organization: sometimes groups arise to solve other, less formal tasks (some of which may not contribute to achieving the goals of the organization). In this case, the group management must:
Distribute work among group members;
Manage and control the execution of work;
Solve problems and make decisions;
Process information;
Collect ideas and information for the group’s activities;
Review and ratify decisions regarding group members;
Coordinate and establish connections with the external environment of the group;
Instill in subordinates a sense of responsibility and involvement in affairs;
Negotiate with group members and resolve conflict situations in the group;
Conduct investigations and make inquiries about the past activities of group members.
Features of group activities. Group activities of people within an organization (rather than the activities of individual workers) can be considered a necessary condition for achieving organizational goals. Let us highlight the main features of group activities:
1. Groups appear to provide a person with a psychological home.
2. The group as a whole produces better ideas, although it produces fewer ideas than individual group members. However, the group’s ideas are distinguished by better elaboration, comprehensive assessment, and a greater degree of responsibility for them.
3. The group makes riskier decisions than individual group members. A certain type of groupthink probably develops in which the group feels invulnerable.
Types of behavior of organization members in groups. To successfully complete the work tasks required by the organization, workers must cooperate and integrate into groups. The process of cooperation and integration will be successful if group members follow certain social norms, perceive social control through group pressure, experience a sense of identification between group members, relationships of interdependence, influence of the group leader, etc.
Groups can be formed as a result of pre-planned actions of the organization's management as some part of the formal structure. But sometimes informal organizational structures arise as a consequence of unplanned social processes. In this regard, it is important to determine the nature and features of the functioning of formal and informal groups in the organization.
Formal groups.By formal we mean groups in an organization that are consciously created to achieve the collective goals of the organization. These groups perform formal functions, such as performing specific work, generating ideas, maintaining connections, etc., which contribute to achieving the goals of the organization. It is clear that achieving each goal requires the creation of a certain structural unit (in some cases, several structural units), operating quite autonomously, and, in accordance with the requirements of cooperation and joint work activities, this structural unit must be formally connected with other structural units of the organization.
Formal groups tend to remain relatively stable, although their composition may change. This is explained by the impersonality of the formal structure - in groups there are only statuses, regardless of the individuals occupying these statuses. Of course, an organization can also create temporary formal groups to implement a specific task. Formal groups can be classified in many ways, such as differences in membership, tasks performed, and positions within the organizational structure.
Informal groups. As already noted, in the formal structure of any organization there are informal groups. These groups are based primarily on interpersonal relationships, satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) of psychological and social needs that are not related to formal goals and objectives. In this case, members of social groups in an organization are focused not on social statuses and roles, but on primary group relations. In such groups, interdependence develops; its members constantly influence each other’s behavior and contribute to the satisfaction of personal needs, for example, communication, and other social motivations that are absent in purely work situations, especially in industrial enterprises or in profitable firms.
Membership in an informal group can be terminated through a formal structure, in particular by transferring the employee to another, spatially distant part of the organization or moving vertically to another management level. In some cases, an informal group can simultaneously be a formal group or part of a formal group (an asset of a department, department, sector, or even the organization as a whole).
Members of an informal group usually nominate their own leader, who has informal power only within the group. As a rule, an informal leader reflects the attitudes and values of group members, helps resolve conflicts, leads the group to achieve goals, establishes connections outside the group and uses them, which contributes to the group’s adaptation in the organizational environment. The informal leader often changes depending on the situation. In some cases, the informal leader simultaneously performs the functions of the formal leader. However, this situation is not typical for an organization, since an informal leader who has received formal status usually loses informal authority, being forced to apply formal sanctions to group members.
Informal groups are very significant for the success of an organization, so attempts are even made to artificially create such groups. Natural groups of three to six employees who through interactions have developed a high level of intimacy and affection for each other should be supported by the organization's leadership. Otherwise, the natural informal structure will either not develop, or will develop in forms that are undesirable for the organization and that interfere with the achievement of goals and objectives. A natural group can be artificially grown and become a family group of 8-30 members. Further, the process of developing and strengthening a sense of attachment over a period of 6-12 months should lead to the formation of one organized group, consisting of family groups united by an extensive network of communications across the organization, each of which includes several natural groups. Such an organized troupe can be considered as a social organization, all members of which are bound by common intentions.
So, groups in an organization can be either formal or informal; informal groups are not part of the formal organizational structure; they may be led by employees who have little or no formal power in the organizational structure. However, such groups can be very powerful and useful in completing tasks.