top management teams set agendas and structure meetings can make an enormous difference in their efficiency and effectiveness. Michael C. Mankins When core groups function well, the entire organization moves naturally and smoothly toward high levels of performance, responsibility and creativity. Art Kleiner Types of Groups
There are many ways of classifying groups.
Formal groups, Which are established by the organization and have a public identity and goal to achieve Informal groups, which emerge on the basis of common interests, proximity, and friendships. Another fundamental distinction is between two types of formal groups. Temporary group. Some have a relatively temporary life, they are created to accomplish a short term task and then disband. An example of a temporary group is a committee or task force. Team. The other type of formal group is a more natural and enduring work group. This type of group is formed when people regularly perform tasks together as part of their job assignments and is called a team.
The event at which group members discuss ideas
or solve problems is generally called a meeting. Definition of informal organization Informal organization is a network of personal and social relations not established or required by the formal organization but arising spontaneously as people associate with one another. The emphasis within the informal organization is on people and their relationships, whereas the formal organization emphasizes official positions in terms of authority and responsibility. Informal power
Informal power, therefore, attaches to a
person, whereas formal authority attaches to a position and a person has it institutional. Difference between Informal and Formal Organization Basis of Comparison Informal Organization Formal Organization
General nature Unofficial Official
Major concepts Power and politics Authority and responsibility
Primary focus Person Position
Source of leader power Given by group Delegated by management
Guidelines for behavior Norms Rules and Policies
Effects of the informal organization First, employees act differently than required. They may work faster or slower than predicted, or they may gradually modify a work procedure on the basis of their experience and insight. Second, employees often interact with different people or with different frequencies, than their jobs require. Georgia may seek advice from Melissa instead of Todd, and Candy may spend more time helping Jose than Steve. Third, workers may embrace a set of attitudes, beliefs and sentiments different from those the organization expects of them. Instead of being loyal, committed and enthusiastic about their work, some employees may become disenchanted, other are openly alienated. Potential Benefits and Problems Associated with the Informal Organization Benefits. • Makes a more effective total system. • Lightens workload on management. • Helps get the work done. • Tends to encourage cooperation. • Fills in gaps in a manager’s abilities. • Gives satisfaction and stability to work groups. • Improves communication. • Provides a safety valve for employee emotions . • Encourages managers to plan and act more carefully. • Contributes to higher cohesiveness. Problems. • Develops undesirable rumour. • Encourages negative attitudes. • Resists change. • Leads to interpersonal and intergroup conflicts. • Rejects and harasses some employees. • Weakens motivation and satisfaction. • Operates outside of managements control. • Develops role conflicts. Influencing Informal Organizations Management did not establish informal organization and it cannot abolish them. Not would it want to do so. But management can learn to live with them and have some measure of influence of them. Management guidelines for action include the following: Accept and understand informal organization. Identify various levels of attitudes and behaviours within them. Consider possible effects on informal systems when taking any kind of action. Integrate as far as possible the interests of informal groups with those of the formal organization. Keep formal activities from unnecessarily threatening informal organizations. Formal Groups Factors that contribute to the often pervasive negative attitudes about time spent in committee meetings: • A lack of trust causes participants to withhold their true feelings. • A negative mind set exits that ‘’meeting aren’t real work’ and hence people don’t take them seriously (e.g, they come late or leave early, they miss them completely, or the are distracted while there). • Missing or incomplete information prevents participants from making important decisions when appropriate. • Meetings are poorly run (the person in charge fails to have an agenda, a plan to follow, a finite length for the session or the discipline to keep the discussion moving). • Meetings are viewed as the end result, not the means to an end (the group fails to focus on creating a product or outcome. Committees A committee is a specific type of group meeting in which members in their group role have been delegated the authority to handle the problem at hand. The group’s authority usually is expressed in terms of one vote for each member. This means that if a supervisor and a worker serve as members of the same committee, both usually have equal committee roles. Committees Factors to consider while forming a committee: Size. Composition Agenda Leadership roles. Task leader and social leader Effective surface agendas are critical to the success of a committee meeting. Agendas should: • Clearly specify the date, time and place of the meeting. • Indicate a primary purpose for the meeting. • List presenters, the time allotted to them and the time available for discussion. • Help the group to focus on decisions, not just discussions. • Have room for new items to be added. • Address items in priority order (Highest to lowest). • Identify the date, time and place of the next meeting. Potential Outcomes of Formal Group Processes Support for Decision. Probably the most important by product of face to face group meetings is that people who participate in making a decision feel more strongly motivated to accept it and carry it out. Quality of Decisions. In addition to supporting decisions, groups often are effective problem-solving tools. Individual Development. When working in decision making groups, some individuals are naturally more passive than others and may withhold their ideas. Facilitation skills. Facilitation is the process of helping a group attain resounding success, maximize efficient use of time and feel satisfied with its effort