Formal and informal associations of people. Summary: Formal and informal groups. Rumors and gossip
Question 21. Formal and informal groups in the organization. Theories and stages of the formation process. Formal group types.
So there are two types of groups: formal and informal. These types of groups are important to the organization and have a great impact on the members of the organization.
Formal groups are groups created by the will of the leadership.
There are groups of leaders, working (target) groups and committees.
Leadership group consists of the head and his direct subordinates, who are in the area of \u200b\u200bhis control (president and vice presidents).
Working (target) group - employees working on one task.
Committee - a group within an organization that has been delegated authority to perform a task or a set of tasks. Sometimes committees are called councils, commissions, 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 - a sense of belonging, help, protection, communication.
Informal organizations exercise social control over their members. Usually, certain norms are established that each member of the group must comply with. IN informal organizations there is a tendency towards resistance to change. Usually an informal organization is headed by a informal leader. The informal leader should help the group achieve its goals and maintain its existence.
The performance of formal and informal groups is influenced by the same factors:
Band size... As the group grows, communication between members becomes more difficult. In addition, informal groups with their own goals may arise within the group. In small groups (2 - 3 people) people feel personally responsible for making a certain decision. It is believed that the optimal group size is 5-11 people.
Structure (or the degree of similarity of personalities, points of view, approaches). It is believed that the most optimal decision 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 the achievement of goals, for example, stealing, being late, absenteeism, drinking alcohol in the workplace, etc.).
Cohesion. It is considered as a measure of the gravitation of group members to each other and to the group. A high level of group cohesion can improve the efficiency of the entire organization.
Group like-mindedness... This is the tendency for an individual to suppress his views on some phenomenon, so as not to disturb the harmony of the group.
Conflictness. Differences of opinion increase the likelihood of conflict. The consequences of the conflict can be positive, as they allow to identify different points of view (this leads to an increase in the effectiveness of the group). Negative consequences are in a decrease in the effectiveness of the group: poor state of mind, low degree of cooperation, a shift in emphasis (giving more attention to one's "victory" in a conflict, rather than solving a real problem).
Group member status... It is determined by seniority in the job hierarchy, job title, education, experience, awareness, etc. Usually, high-status group members have a greater influence on other group members. It is desirable that the opinion of members of the group with a high status should not be dominant in the group.
Formal groups are usually identified as structural units 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.
The formal group has the following features:
it is rational, i.e. it is based on the principle of purposefulness, conscious movement towards a certain goal;
it is impersonal, i.e. is designed for individuals, the relationship between whom is established according to the compiled program.
In a formal group, only service connections between individuals are provided, and it is subject only to functional goals.
Formal groups include:
A vertical organization that unites a number of bodies and a subdivision 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 subdivisions is concentrated in one person.
Functional organization, according to which management is distributed among a number of persons specialized in the performance of certain functions and works.
A headquarters organization characterized by the presence of a headquarters of advisers, experts, 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 target task, for example, a commission to develop a project.
Informal groups are created not by orders of the organization's management and formal decisions, but by members of this organization in accordance with their mutual sympathies, common interests, and the same hobbies and habits. These groups exist in all companies, although they are not represented in diagrams reflecting the structure of the organization, 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. Usually, these groups have an explicit or implicit leader. In many cases, informal groups can exert an equal or greater influence on their members than formal structures.
Informal groups represent a spontaneously (spontaneously) formed system of social ties, norms, actions, which 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 social and political clubs of international friendship, foundations for social initiatives, groups for environmental protection and rescue of cultural monuments, club amateur associations, etc. They have, as a rule, a positive orientation.
Asocial, i.e. groups away from social problems.
Antisocial. These groups are the most disadvantaged part of society, causing him anxiety. On the one hand, moral deafness, inability to understand others, a different point of view, on the other hand, often their own pain and suffering, which befell this category of people, contribute to the development of extreme views among its individual representatives.
A person needs to communicate with his own kind. Most actively seek interaction with other people, and if two or more people spend a lot of time in close proximity to each other, they gradually begin to psychologically become aware of each other's existence.
The time required for such awareness, and the degree of awareness, very much depend on the situation and on the nature of the relationship between people. However, the result of this awareness is almost always the same. The realization that others think of them and expect something from them makes people in some way change their behavior, thereby confirming the existence of social relationships. When such a process occurs, a random gathering of people becomes a group.
Each of us belongs to many groups at the same time. We are members of several family groups: our immediate family, families of grandparents, cousins \u200b\u200band brothers, relatives of a wife or husband, etc. Most people also belong to several groups of friends - a circle of people who see each other quite regularly. Some groups turn out to be short-lived and their mission is simple. When a mission is completed, or when group members lose interest in it, the group falls apart. An example of such a group would be several students who get together to prepare for an upcoming exam. Other groups can exist for several years and have a significant impact on their members or even on the external environment. An example of such groups can be associations of teenage schoolchildren.
Merton (1968) defines a group as a collection of people who interact with each other in a certain way, are aware of their belonging to this group and are considered its members from the point of view of other people.
The first essential feature of groups is a certain way of interaction between their members. These characteristic patterns of activity and interaction determine the structure of groups. Observed different ways interactions within groups, including such as fraternity, women's organization, club, tank crew in the army.
The second important feature of groups is membership, a sense of belonging to a given group. According to Merton, people in groups are perceived by others as members of those groups. The group has its own identity from the point of view of outsiders.
Group identity is much more stable than one might think. If we meet a person and find out that he is a member of a religious group (for example, Jewish Christians) or an ethnic group (for example, a Russian of Greek descent), we usually assume that the group is influencing him and believe that his actions are performed under pressure. other group members. For example, if a Russian of Greek descent votes for a Greek candidate for a post, it seems to us that the group exerted some pressure on him.
Despite the fact that this topic is relevant recently, there is no canonized definition of a small group, since this is a rather flexible and subject to the influence of circumstances.
The following definitions of a small group are known:
J. Homane: "A small group represents a certain number of persons interacting with each other for a certain period of time and small enough to be able to contact each other without intermediaries."
R. Merton: "A small group is a set of people who in a certain way interact with each other, are aware of their belonging to it and are considered members of a given group from the point of view of others."
R. Bales: "A small group is a certain number of people actively interacting with each other during more than one face-to-face meeting, so that everyone gets a certain idea of \u200b\u200beveryone else, sufficient to distinguish each person personally, to react to it or during meeting, or later, remembering him. "
The number of definitions of a small group in the literature is approaching one hundred. When you get to know them, attention is drawn to their composite nature: as a rule, in each of them several signs of the phenomenon under study are combined.
Most often, scientists point to the following signs of a small group.
- 1. A limited number of group members. The upper limit is 20 people, the lower one is 2. If a group exceeds the "critical mass", then it breaks up into subgroups, cliques, and factions. According to statistical calculations, most small groups include seven or fewer people.
- 2. Stability of the composition. A small group, in contrast to a large one, rests on the individual uniqueness and indispensability of the participants.
- 3. Internal structure. It includes a system of informal roles and statuses, a mechanism of social control, sanctions, norms and rules of behavior.
- 4. The number of links increases exponentially if the number of members increases in arithmetic. In a group of three, only four relationships are possible, in a group of four, 11, and in a group of seven, 120 relationships.
- 5. The smaller the group, the more intense the interaction in it. The larger the group, the more often the relationship loses its personal character, becomes formalized and ceases to satisfy the members of the group. In a group of five, its members receive more personal satisfaction than in a group of seven. A group of 5-7 people is considered optimal.
- 6. The size of the group depends on the nature of the group's activities. Financial committees of large banks, responsible for specific actions, usually consist of 6-7 people, and parliamentary committees engaged in theoretical discussion of issues include 14-15 people.
- 7. Membership in a group is prompted by the hope of finding in it the satisfaction of personal needs. A small group, as opposed to a large one, satisfies greatest number vital human needs. If the amount of satisfaction received in the group falls below a certain level, the individual leaves it.
- 8. Interaction in a group is only stable when it is accompanied by mutual reinforcement of the people participating in it. The greater the individual's contribution to the success of the group, the more encouraged others to do the same. If one ceases to make the necessary contribution to meeting the needs of others, then he is expelled from the group.
A fairly general, well-established view of a small group is widely accepted as a relatively separate association of two or more persons who are in a fairly stable interaction and carry out joint actions for a sufficiently long period of time. The interaction of group members is based on a certain common interest and can be associated with the achievement of a common goal. At the same time, the group has a certain group potential or group capabilities that allow it to interact with the environment and adapt to changes taking place in the environment.
At the same time, the group performs a number of important functions both from the point of view of the organization and from the point of view of the people associated with this group.
Assigning groups from an organizational point of view:
- distribution of work;
- work management and control over the course of its implementation;
- problem solving and decision making;
- encouraging people's participation in decision-making;
- collection, processing and transmission of information;
- coordination and communication;
- negotiating and / or resolving conflicts;
- research / study of past activities (accumulation of experience, competencies).
Assigning groups from the point of view of individuals:
- participation and assistance in joint activities;
- satisfaction of social needs;
- personality formation;
- receiving help and support in achieving personal goals, even if personal goals do not coincide with the goals of the organization.
Traditionally, the following types of groups are distinguished:
Primary group - characterized by frequent direct personal contacts (family, team);
Secondary group - less frequent contacts and, as a rule, a large number (union, hobby club, company);
Membership group - the group to which the person belongs;
Reference group - the group with which a person compares himself, analyzes his status.
The classification of groups is carried out according to various criteria, but the most common is the distinction between formal groups created by the organization and informal groups arising on the basis of common interests. Both of these types of groups are important to the organization and have a great impact on the members of the organization.
Formal groups usually stand out as structural units in an organization. They have a formally appointed leader, a formally defined structure of roles, positions and positions within the group, as well as formally assigned functions and tasks. The essential difference between a formal group is that it is always created on the initiative of the administration and is a unit in the organizational structure and staffing of the enterprise. Formal groups are created by the will of the leadership and therefore are conservative to a certain extent, since they often depend on the personality of the leader and the people who are assigned to work in this group. But as soon as they are created, they immediately become a social environment in which people begin to interact with each other according to different laws, creating informal groups.
One of the main differences between formal groups proper is the period of their existence. Some groups are allowed a short life span as they are formed for short-term tasks. An example of a temporary group is members of one of the company's committees who are tasked with implementing a certain program. General discussion by group members of problems occurs at meetings or meetings. In addition to temporary groups, the organization has long-term working groups, whose members solve certain problems as part of their job responsibilities. Such groups are commonly referred to as teams. They play a large role in modern organizations and are discussed in detail below.
The formal group has the following features:
- it is rational, i.e. it is based on the principle of purposefulness, conscious movement towards a certain goal;
- it is impersonal, i.e. is designed for individuals, the relationship between whom is established according to the compiled program.
In a formal group, only service connections between individuals are provided, and it is subject only to functional goals. Formal teams can be formed to perform a regular function, such as accounting, or they can be created to accomplish a specific target, such as a commission to develop a project.
Behind the veil of formal relations, each company has more than a complex system social relationships between many small informal groups.
Informal groups are created not by orders of the leadership and formal decisions, but by members of the organization in accordance with their mutual sympathies, common interests.
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. Usually, these groups have an explicit or implicit leader. In many cases, informal groups can exert an equal influence on their members even more than formal structures.
Informal groups represent a spontaneously (spontaneously) formed system of social ties, norms, actions, which are the product of more or less long-term interpersonal communication.
The informal group comes in two flavors.
- 1. It is an informal organization in which informal service relations carry functional (production) content and exist in parallel with the formal organization. For example, the optimal system of business ties that spontaneously develops between employees, some forms of rationalization and invention, ways of making decisions, etc.
- 2. Represents a socio-psychological organization, acting in the form of interpersonal relationships that arise on the basis of the mutual interest of individuals to each other without regard to functional needs, i.e. a direct, spontaneously emerging community of people based on a personal choice of connections and associations between them (companionship, amateur groups).
Now is the time to move from the concept of "group" to the more relevant concept of "team".
Team - a team, where the problems of the group are understood and perceived by employees as personal.
Modern organizations require new approaches in leadership theory, where teamwork provides an optimal balance of factors of production, contributing to the formation of predictable relationships between individuals, technologies, work assignments and resources. And whenever there is a need to combine the efforts of people, the positive results of their activities can be achieved only through this or that form of organization.
A team is a way of building an organization based on the real qualities of its employees. The organized joint activity of people obeys general laws, regardless of the nature of the organization. Therefore, management theory often uses analogies, borrowing examples of effective management from the world of sports, politics or military life. The idea of \u200b\u200bteamwork methods arose by analogy with sports teams. Often, coaches, explaining the success of a team made up of ordinary players, refer to the famous saying: "Order beats the class." It turned out that this is also true in relation to production groups, where one of the highest achievements of an effective leader is the creation of a close-knit team of like-minded people.
Team management (teamwork) is a means of mutual mobilization, when a team achieves much more than what they could do acting alone (Table 5.1). Consider in which situations it is preferable to work alone or in groups, and in which - in teams.
Table 5.1
Features of the use of individual-group and team forms of work organization
|
Working alone or in groups |
Working in teams |
|
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The team is the foundation of a modern organization. You can describe the team as a specific group. However, the team is more than the group. For the team, the main features are:
- it consists of two or more people;
- team members, in accordance with their assigned role, participate to the extent of their competence in the joint achievement of the set goals;
- the team has its own face that does not coincide with the individual qualities of its members;
- the team is characterized by established ties both within it and with other teams and groups;
- the team has a clear, orderly and economical structure, focused on achieving the goals and tasks; the team periodically evaluates its effectiveness;
Usually, the goals and tasks facing the team cannot be achieved by its individual members, due to the limited time and resources, as well as the inability to possess one necessary knowledge and qualifications.
Examples of sports teams or orchestras illustrate these points. Obviously, teams and groups are overlapping entities and there is no insurmountable difference between them. Each of them can deal with the development of their members or organization, as well as the management of change processes.
The processes of team building in organizations, due to their complexity, are difficult to study and purposeful management, since in order to identify the true factors of regulation organizational behavior, it is necessary to penetrate into the deep layers of interpersonal relations.
A special place is occupied by management teams and their formation. Specialists in the field of highly effective management, organizational development and social psychology started talking about management teams and their creation in the 60s and 70s. XX century The first studies of team activity were published in the early 1960s. They were devoted to finding ways to improve the efficiency and productivity of managerial work.
The emergence of interest in the team approach is also associated with trends in the development of organizations and high performance management.
At first, modern organizations have pronounced tendencies to complicate and increase their structural and functional composition, which requires the introduction of more effective organizational forms and methods of collective management, which would minimize the time for making a managerial decision and at the same time improve its quality, i.e. productivity, feasibility and timeliness. The situation can be resolved by creating a "tight-fitting" (well-formed) management team that improves the resolution of large and interdisciplinary problems.
Secondly, almost all successfully developing and highly competitive firms and corporations, both in our country and abroad, build their development, both on the basis of meeting the needs of today's consumers and the needs of tomorrow, creating departments for new technology, problem-promising laboratories, etc. Their successful functioning is based, in particular, on increasing the innovative abilities of the research group by creating a "field of ideas", an atmosphere of creative search, as well as a team of like-minded people who take responsibility for the prospects for the development of the organization together with the administration, which is essentially a manifestation of a team approach in innovation management.
Thirdly, Considering the productivity of a manager as the productivity of the organization he heads or on which he has an indirect impact, the researchers note that a further increase in the productivity of managerial labor depends on the awareness of the fact that a manager of any rank is associated with the creation of a collective product of labor. The belonging of an individual employee to the philosophy of the "common cause", i.e. the development of "team spirit" is of great importance as a motivating factor for increasing the productivity of the organization as a whole.
Managers' understanding of the rules of a team game determines a quick and effective solution to situations such as an unclear distribution of responsibilities during the implementation of a project, an increase in motivation to engage in substantive activities and an awareness of the reasons for the low personal contribution of a particular group member, elimination of interpersonal friction and others in which personal motives and needs clash organizations.
Fourth, recognition of the very existence of the team approach is associated with recent research in the field of development of the organization and the idea of \u200b\u200bthe latter as having a special culture, values, symbolic rituals. Corporate culture is one of the components of team management, since it is closely related to symbolic ways of representing management activities. To increase the efficiency of the latter, it is of great importance, along with research on existing organizational and structural forms, i.e. morphology of the organization, the study of the influence of the value aspect of the coexistence of members of management groups on the performance of the organization.
Let's consider the stages of the team building process.
In this case, team building is understood as the development from a formal, approved by the management of the management structure into a working group with the subculture "team". Researchers identify six stages of team development.
- 1. Adaptation. From the point of view of business activity, it is characterized as a stage of mutual information and analysis of tasks. At this stage, the group members are looking for the optimal way to solve the problem. Interpersonal interactions are cautious and lead to the formation of dyads, the stage of verification and dependence begins, which presupposes orientation of the group members regarding the nature of each other's actions and the search for mutually acceptable behavior in the group. Team members get together with a sense of alertness and constraint. The effectiveness of the team at this stage is low, since the members are not yet familiar and are not confident in each other.
- 2. Grouping. This stage is characterized by the creation of associations (subgroups) by sympathies and interests. Its instrumental content consists in the opposition of group members to the requirements imposed on them by the content of the task, due to the identification of the discrepancy between the personal motivation of individuals and the goals of group activity. An emotional response of group members to the requirements of the task occurs, which leads to the formation of subgroups. When grouping, group self-awareness begins to take shape at the level of individual subgroups that form the first intragroup norms.
The peculiarities of the existence of groups at this stage are characteristic of working management groups with subcultures of the "clique" type. There is a unification of all members of the subgroup around its leader, which can cause an uncritical perception of the latter by individual members of the group.
- 3. Cooperation. At this stage, there is a realization of the desire to work on solving the problem. It is characterized by more open and constructive communication than in previous stages, and elements of group solidarity and cohesion appear. Here, for the first time, an established group appears with a distinctly expressed sense of "WE". The instrumental activity becomes the leading one at this stage, the group members are well prepared for its implementation, and organizational unity is developed. However, in such a group there are no sufficiently pronounced psychological connections. The peculiarities of the existence of groups at this stage are characteristic of working management groups with subcultures of the "circle" and "combine" type.
- 4. Rationing of activities. At this stage, the principles of group interaction are being developed. The sphere of emotional activity is becoming dominant, the importance of the “I – \u200b\u200bYOU” relationship is sharply increasing, and personal relationships are becoming especially close. One of the characteristic features of this stage of group development is the absence of intergroup activity. The process of separating a close-knit, well-prepared group, united in organizational and psychological terms, can turn it into an autonomy group, which is characterized by isolation on its own goals, egoism.
- 5. Functioning. From the point of view of business activity, it can be viewed as a decision-making stage characterized by constructive attempts to successfully solve a problem. The stage of functional-role correlation associated with the formation of the team's role structure, which is a kind of resonator through which the group task is played. The group is open to the manifestation and resolution of the conflict. The variety of styles and approaches to problem solving is recognized. At this stage, the group reaches the highest level of socio-psychological maturity, distinguished by a high level of preparedness, organizational and psychological unity, characteristic of the command subculture.
- 6. Disbandment. Sooner or later, the most successful groups, committees and project teams are disbanded, the intense social relations of their members gradually fade away.
The process of developing groups in an organization. When studying group behavior in organizations, three main questions arise:
- 1) about the mechanism of group formation;
- 2) the reasons for the functioning of the group as a whole;
- 3) the reasons for the effectiveness of the group.
The search for an answer to the first question led to the creation of a number of theoretical concepts, of which the most influential was the concept of the American sociologist J. Homans.
According to this concept, any social system, to which the social group in an organization certainly belongs, exists in a three-dimensional environment: physical (terrain, climate, material environment), cultural (norms, values \u200b\u200band goals) and technological (level of knowledge and skills). This combined environment has a definite effect on the interactions between members of this system, causing the emergence of emotions and feelings (moods) in people in relation to each other and to the environment.
The emerging combination of actions, interactions and feelings (moods) is initially determined and directed by the environment, which is why it can be called an external system (in general, it corresponds to the concept of a formal structure). Actions, interactions and feelings are interdependent: the more group members communicate with each other, the more chances for positive feelings to arise, and the stronger the positive feelings, the more likely it is to increase the level of interactions.
However, the external system does not exist on its own. As the number of interactions increases, people form new feelings that are not prescribed external environment and not directly dependent on it, as well as new norms and new activities. This creates new system - internal system (informal organization). Internal (informal) and external (formal) systems develop norms that determine how the vital activity of these systems should be organized, methods of action, attitudes.
Changes in the external environment produce changes in both formal and informal working group... Ultimately, the activities and norms of the internal system will change the physical, cultural and technological environment. Team members, using informal methods in solving production problems, can generate new ideas in the field of technology, develop new norms of relationships between employees and managers. For example, the introduction by group members of their own control over product quality, which was previously performed by line managers, will inevitably lead to a change in the relationship between these groups of members of the organization.
Homans' concept of group behavior distinguishes between mandatory and unexpected behavior. So, if in the process of activity it is necessary to perform certain actions, they are necessarily accompanied by appropriate interactions and the appearance of feelings about these working actions. For example, an employee of the sales department established contact with a client, agreed with him to sell a batch of computers, entered into a certain relationship with him - provided information about the parameters and technical characteristics computers. Further, the relationship "buyer - seller" can be formed on the basis of feelings of trust, anxiety, concern, etc. The obligation of such behavior is due to the fulfillment of role requirements and is closely related to the achievement of the goals of the interaction participants. However, in the process of selling computers, sales personnel may be involved in other activities that generate different types of interactions and sentiments. In particular, the seller may be interested in the lifestyle of buyers, their attitudes, feel feelings of sympathy or antipathy towards individual customers, distinguishing them from others; to react to jokes, rudeness, stupidity, or, conversely, the politeness of customers, not as a member of the organization, but simply as a person. Obviously, this behavior of a member of the organization cannot be predicted by those who give him tasks and control the actions.
Stages of development of a group in an organization. The effectiveness of the activities of formal and informal groups largely depends on what stage of development they are at. For example, one of the departments of an organization consists of two internally heterogeneous informal groups: the first includes employees of the department who worked under the previous leadership and adhere to certain traditions; the second includes new members of the group who did not have time to perceive the traditions of corporate culture and cannot establish interaction with the first part of the group. In this case, a conflict between the two groups of the department is possible and it takes time to establish common norms for all members of the department within the organization. This example proves that groups in an organization can be at different stages of their development.
According to the concept of B. Tuckman and M. Jensen, groups go through five clearly defined stages of development: 1) the stage of the emergence of the group, 2) the stage of conflict, 3) the stage of acceptance of group norms, 4) the stage of execution and 5) the stage of interruption of activity. The process of group development and the transition from one stage to another can be slow, not all groups go through the listed stages, some of them remain at intermediate levels, which makes the group's activities ineffective.
- 1. The stage of the emergence of a group is characterized by the establishment of initial contacts between the members of the group and the search for ingroups and primary groups to deepen intragroup interaction. During this period, each member of the group finds out what values \u200b\u200bare accepted in a given environment, what attitudes and moods dominate. In addition, primary communication norms are established. Group members determine their place in the system of relationships and try to make a proper impression on others (by demonstrating their qualities and personal resources). In the field of interpersonal relationships at this stage, much depends on the leader, since most members of the group experience a feeling of insecurity and uncertainty, they need guidelines in the social and psychological space of the group, which the leader represents, defining the primary rules of behavior.
- 2. The conflict stage, or the stage of self-affirmation, is the most unpleasant period for the organization's activities in the development of the group. Having formed primary groups, its members are trying to assert themselves in their roles, to expand the boundaries of their own significance, to define relationships of interdependence and intragroup hierarchy. Actions to achieve these goals can cause blockade of the needs of other group members and manifestations of aggression, which in turn leads to interpersonal conflicts. Individuals reveal their personal aspirations, as a result of which hostility inevitably arises, which manifests itself in the subsequent conflict when trying to control from other members of the group, trying to stand out from others, etc. In the course of the conflict, the primary relations formed at the previous stage of the group's development can be broken. At the second stage of development, the key aspects of creating normal interpersonal relationships within the group can be considered the management of the conflict in the direction of reaching a compromise and the orientation of the efforts of the group members towards achieving common goals.
- 3. Stage of norm formation and adoption of norms. At this stage, the main attention is paid to the organization of the product production process itself, the development of technologies. As team members do their work, they develop closer relationships and a sense of camaraderie. The main issues are questions of functional involvement in the product manufacturing process: who, what, where and how will do in order to achieve common goals. On the basis of norms of behavior and distribution of role responsibilities, rules for joint activities are developed and adopted. In this way, a functional structure is created in the group in which each member of the group can establish personal contact with other members. As a result, a system of conciliatory role expectations of group members in relation to each other arises, as well as the inability of individual members of the group to meet the expectations. Interpersonal relationships within the group are focused on increasing cohesion. Group members feel that the conflict relationship has been overcome and have a sense of belonging to the group. At this stage, contacts are established with other social groups in the organization, the volume of information coming to the members of the group increases, the members of the group become more open.
- 4. The executive stage. By the beginning of this stage, the group has already established an effective working structure, and its main concern is the actual implementation of goals and objectives. Thus, a fully developed group is functioning at this stage. But not all groups in their development reach this stage, some of them "get stuck" on early stagesless productive from the point of view of the production process of the product in the organization. Interpersonal relationships at this stage are characterized by interdependence, mutual trust and mutual assistance. Group members are ready to work alone, in subgroups and as part of the entire group as a whole. Functional competition and cooperation arise between them, there is an understanding of the importance of group goals, a sense of obligation. In general, the work of the group at this stage can be characterized as an activity aimed at solving the problems of the organization.
- 5. The stage of interruption is the final stage of the group's development, which threatens the group with disbandment both due to the inability to achieve group goals, and due to the departure of its members. Ultimately, each group sooner or later comes to such a line. Usually, in this case, the management of the organization begins to form a new team, corrects group goals. The group's development process begins again.
This model of group development has been tested in numerous studies and explains many of the problems associated with the work of groups in an organization. In particular, if a group works using only half of its potential, then this is probably because some problems at earlier stages of group development are not fully worked out, such as the problem of leadership, an insufficiently clearly defined goal, and objectives are not agreed (at the same time, members groups can use group activities to achieve personal goals).
Factors affecting group cohesion in an organization. To improve the effectiveness of teams in an organization, leaders must consider many factors. For example, in order to eliminate the feeling of frustration among members of social groups, they should take into account the needs of individual individuals, ensure that a high level of identification in the group is maintained and group cohesion. The level of group cohesion is greatly influenced by a large number of factors.
Among the so-called internal factors, group cohesion is most influenced by those factors that are associated with group membership, i.e. with the conditions for including an individual in a group: the size of the group (as a rule, small groups have more opportunities to create a cohesive team), the constancy of the composition of the group, psychological compatibility, but most importantly, the identification of each member of the group with the group, a strongly developed sense of the in-group.
In addition to internal factors, external factors are distinguished that affect the level of cohesion, of which the most significant should be considered the working environment of the group, i.e. the type and complexity of the goals-tasks, which are presented in the form of tasks to be solved, the physical environment of the group (working conditions, place of work, spatial differentiation of group members, etc.), the communication system in the group, technology.
Factors contributing to group cohesion:
- coincidence of interests, views, values \u200b\u200band orientations of the group members;
- a sufficient level of homogeneity of the composition of the groups (especially in terms of age - it is undesirable to combine persons over 50 and under 18 in one group);
- an atmosphere of psychological safety, benevolence, acceptance;
- active, emotionally rich joint activities aimed at achieving a goal that is significant for all participants;
- the attractiveness of the leader as a model, a model of an optimally functioning participant;
- qualified work of the leader, using special psychotechnical techniques and exercises to enhance cohesion;
- the presence of another group that can be seen as competing in some way;
- the presence in the group of a person who is able to oppose himself to the group, sharply different from the majority of participants (as the sad experience of not only trainings, but also everyday life, people especially quickly rally not in the fight for something, but in the fight against someone).
The reasons for the decrease in group cohesion can be:
- the emergence of small subgroups in the training group (this is especially likely in groups exceeding 15 people; however, sometimes a kind of competitiveness that appears between subgroups accelerates group dynamics and contributes to the optimization of training); acquaintance (friendship, sympathy) between individual members of the group before the start of the training - this leads to hiding some private information from the rest of the group members, to the desire to protect each other and not to enter into polemics, to alienate such a dyad from the group;
- inept leadership from the leader, which can lead to excessive tension, conflicts and the collapse of the group;
- the absence of a single goal, captivating and uniting the participants, and joint activities organized by the presenter; sluggish group dynamics.
Cohesion determines the success of work if only because it makes the group more resistant to situations accompanied by negative emotional experiences, helps to overcome crises in development. In some cases, achieving high group cohesion becomes the most important goal of psychological training (it is not always advisable to inform participants about this). Cohesion and team building trainings are held in organizations and institutions, whose effective activity directly depends on the degree of unity and mutual understanding of employees.
A community that communicates regularly and constantly interacts with each other is called a group. There is no place on earth where this phenomenon is absent. People everywhere create a certain community plan, which can be divided into formal and informal groups. Within each such community there should be two or more people, and the influence of all of them on each other should be mutual.
Definition
A formal group is a small separate team created by purely leadership and purposefully in the general team, which is aimed at organizing production process... That is, it is an organization with specific functions, specific tasks and clearly defined goals. Unlike formal groups, informal groups arise spontaneously and have no status.
The organization itself and each of its divisions are also groups, whose members have common values, attitudes, rules, and standards of behavior. If employees value their organization, they behave appropriately. This means that a formal group is a community, reinforced by an understanding of a behavioral norm. The internal connections of each organization also form groups - both formal, that is, created by the head and documented, and informal, which have developed spontaneously through interpersonal relationships and are not officially designated anywhere.
Major differences
The following analysis can be made according to the difference criteria. A formal group is one that was created by an organization purely for its needs, its behavioral traits can be influenced by a certain position of the job description, and the influence itself extends only from top to bottom. The characteristics of a group are clearly defined using formal channels, even interpersonal relationships are prescribed by the organization, and the leader is appointed by the will of the superiors.
Informal groups arise spontaneously, goals satisfy the needs of purely within the group, individuals influence each other, and not from top to bottom, but often vice versa. Characteristics are unstable, variable, relationships arise spontaneously, a leader, if he appears, then only by the will of the group itself. That is, formal and informal groups differ from each other in almost all respects.
Types
Before determining the type of group, it is imperative to find out on what foundation the given community is built: whether it is friendly or industrial relations. In any case, the foundation of any group is the organization. A formal group can be of one of three types:
- Leading group: the main leader and his closest subordinates, also leaders. For example, the president and vice presidents.
- Working group (or production, or target): people who perform the same task, planning it, rather independently, rather than collegially.
- Committee or public organization: an intra-organizational group that makes decisions at a general meeting, since it was created to coordinate the actions of various departments. There are committees working on a permanent basis and created to carry out a specific task, that is, temporary
Interaction
A formal organization created by the will of the authorities is also for all kinds of interaction between people, and not always according to the instructions of the leadership. Such social relationships sometimes give rise to numerous friendly groups within the general, and as a whole they represent one organization. Formal and informal social groups also have their similarities and differences.
Each person in the community necessarily influences others and in the process of communication he himself is influenced - both positive and negative. This is how the personality traits of each member of the group and behavioral norms within this community are formed. An individual person can influence the entire group as much as he wants, it depends on the authority, which is determined by both the unofficial part of the team and the official one.
Purpose of creation
A community formed within an organization is people who spontaneously interact for certain common goals, and created for production is based on a well-thought-out plan. However, formal and informal groups in an organization are similar in many ways. Both there, and there can be tasks, leaders can appear and a hierarchy can be built.
The difference is that informal groups are an unintended reaction to any individual needs that are not met by the organization, while formal groups are created according to a certain plan.
The purpose of the formal group is also clear and understandable: people join it for professional interest, prestige, or income. The reason for the emergence of an informal group is usually more "soulful": it is close communication and interest, common interests, mutual protection, mutual assistance, and so on.
Reasons for joining
First of all, the reason for joining formal and informal groups is the social need to belong to it. This is how self-knowledge, self-affirmation, self-determination are acquired, needs are activated, and an environment for their satisfaction is created. In second place is the reason for seeking trust and mutual assistance. Whenever they face any difficulties, people turn to colleagues rather than managers. With such a relationship, group interaction appears. The goal of a formal group is a healthy, workable team, and therefore the creation of informal groups is usually monitored by the leader, and if necessary, relations in them are regulated.
To protect personal or group interests, for example, harmful conditions, problems with wages, and so on, they also most often turn to the group. in a formal group, team cohesion is usually promoted. Often the basis for communication in groups is a common interest, the same hobbies, shared spiritual values, as well as obtaining information of various kinds, not necessarily just production. And, of course, friendly communication and mutual sympathy play a huge role in the creation of the group. So people can avoid loneliness, feelings of uselessness, loss, and also receive moral help in cases of personal dramas.
Specifications
In informal organizations there is always over all group members. First of all, this is the strengthening of behavioral norms. If changes in the team threaten a peaceful existence, that is, common interests, positive emotions or general communication experience will suffer, then the informal group will actively resist all formal formations of the organization.
Any formal group structure and any unstructured informal one can have a leader. The formal leader will have official authority, while the informal leader will have authority in the team. In the event of a struggle of priorities, it is difficult to predict the winner, since the stake on people and the presence of good relationships are almost more expensive than any official status. Smart leaders understand this and channel the energy of the informal group in the right direction, usually production.
Informal group management
All group formations within the team necessarily interact, and dynamically. The general emotional attitude greatly influences both the interaction and the performance of the tasks facing the team. The effectiveness of the formal group in everything depends on the mood of the informal groups. Therefore, their rapprochement is the most important goal of any leader, so negative manifestations in the relations of team members to each other will disappear, "informals" will be positively oriented, they will easily fit into the public production space.
The cohesion of the team is the result of the coincidence of the interests of the formal and informal groups, it is in such conditions that labor productivity is the highest. On the contrary, with a mismatch of interests, rules and norms, even an authoritative leader will find himself in a difficult position, the struggle between the structures of the team always hinders the growth of productivity. Informal relationships can help here; for this, personnel management techniques are created.
Formation mechanisms
If formal groups are created on a planned basis, then informal groups are always self-organizing. Sometimes it also happens that an informal group receives the status of an amateur collective or a public organization. Each team has contacting formal and informal groups, and the interaction has both positive and negative aspects. A smart leader will always be able to manage informal groups competently so that they help achieve the company's goals.
Problems associated with the emergence of informal groups in a team most often relate to the distribution false rumors, resistance to change, decrease in labor efficiency. But the benefits are much more interesting: it is the emergence of loyalty to the enterprise, the spirit of teamwork. Performance increases significantly if they begin to surpass the officially established ones. Negative manifestations must certainly be fought by listening to the opinions of informal leaders, dispelling rumors with official full information, and positive principles must be supported by allowing members of informal groups to participate in decision-making.
Small formal group
This is too flexible a phenomenon to have a standard definition. But characteristic features formal small groups certainly do. A separate association of people, which is a small group, is characterized by frequent interaction with each other, the obligatory definition of oneself as members of one group, the separation of almost all interests as common. All members of the small group take part in the system of distribution of roles, there is an identification of themselves in the same objects and ideals. The small group cooperates with all its members in interdependence for a sense of the most complete unity. With regard to the environment, the small group coordinates its actions.
In a small formal group, the number of members rarely reaches ten, which helps coordinate joint actions for quite a long time. Such groups are incredibly tenacious. They will not only do the work for which they have united, but also get the result, coupled with the reward. In addition to performing a certain task, it is positive here that an environment for self-affirmation and self-knowledge arises, which is a completely objective need of any person.
19. Formal and informal groups in organizations.
In any organization, there are groups - formal and informal.
Formal groups are groups that arise at the initiative of the administration and are part of a certain division in the organizational structures and staffing of the enterprise. There are different types of formal groups:
Group of managers (team) - consists of the head of the enterprise (its division) and immediate deputies and assistants to the head
Functional group - unites the head and specialists of a functional unit (department, bureau, service) who implement a common management function and have similar professional goals and interests.
Production group - includes a manager and employees engaged in performing a certain type of work at the grassroots level of management (link, brigade, site) Members of the group working together on one task, the incentive is the end result, and the differences between them are associated with the distribution of types of work between group members depending on the qualifications of the workers.
a committee is a group within an enterprise that is delegated authority by senior management for any project or task. The main difference between a committee and other formal structures is group decision making, which is sometimes the most effective means of solving complex problems and achieving goals.
Informal groups are freely formed small social groups of people who enter into constant interaction to achieve personal goals.
Informal groups are created not by the leadership through orders and formal decisions, but by the members of the organization, depending on their mutual sympathies, common interests, the same attachments, etc. These groups exist in all organizations, although they are not reflected in structural diagrams.
Informal groups have their own unwritten rules and norms of behavior; people know well who is included in their informal group and who is not. In informal groups, a certain distribution of roles and positions develops; these groups have an explicitly or implicitly defined leader.
Informal groups are usually formed spontaneously within formal groups with which they have much in common, namely:
Have a certain organization - hierarchy, leader and tasks;
They have certain unwritten rules - norms;
Have a certain education process - stages;
They have certain varieties - types of informal groups according to the degree of maturity
The reasons for the formation of informal groups can be different: the desire to belong to a certain social group and have certain social contacts, the ability to receive help from colleagues in the team, the desire to know about what is happening around, to use informal communication channels, the desire to be closer to those who sympathize ...
There are significant differences between formal and informal groups both in the purpose for which they are created and in the forms of influence of their leaders on other members of the group.
The main differences between formal and informal groups
|
Classification |
Specifications |
|
|
Formal groups |
Informal groups |
|
|
Determined by the organization according to the group's place in the formal structure |
Meeting social needs beyond the interests of a formal organization (hobbies, friendship, love, etc.) |
|
|
Conditions of occurrence |
According to a pre-developed project of building an organization |
Created spontaneously |
|
Appointed by the organization |
Recognized by the group |
|
|
Communications |
Formal channels with other structural elements and within the group |
Mostly informal channels both within and outside the group |
|
Interaction between group members |
Based on production objectives |
Develop spontaneously |
|
Forms of influence on group members |
All forms, but dominated by economic and administrative nature |
Mostly methods of personal psychological influence |
Informal groups are in every organization and a serious aspect in the activities of a leader is the need to understand the importance of the existence of these groups and their management.
One of the first scientists who began to pay attention to these issues was the theorist in the field of research of groups George Homans, who created a model called the Homans model.
The essence of this model lies in the fact that in the process of joint activity, people enter into interactions, which in turn contribute to the manifestation of feelings - positive and negative emotions for each other. These emotions affect the way people carry out their activities and lead to an increase or decrease in its effectiveness.
The state of the team is optimal, in which formal and informal groups coincide as much as possible. This overlap of formal and informal structures ensures team cohesion and increases productivity.
One of the most important tasks of a leader is to bring formal and informal structures closer together, to positively orientate informal groups and to combat negative manifestations in the team.
Individuals very rarely work in isolation from others. This can only happen in those exceptional cases when an 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 mostly independently.
However, most of the situations that arise in the course of organizational activity characterize precisely 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. At the same time, the features of the work performed by this organization do not matter.
The behavior of individual group members in an organization, as shown by numerous studies, is greatly influenced by the group. Leaders in an organization need to recognize that there is group pressure to help the group act more effectively towards common goals.
Groups in an organization are characterized by the content and direction of their activities. There are different ways to define the content of the group members' activities. For example, the members of the group can be said to interact; have a common purpose; know about each other.
Imagine the goals that a group can serve in an organization: sometimes groups arise to solve other, less formal tasks (some of them may not contribute to the achievement of the goals of the organization). At the same time, the group's leadership should:
Distribute work among group members;
Manage and monitor the performance of work;
Solve problems and make decisions;
Carry out information processing;
Collect ideas and information for group activities;
Review and ratify decisions regarding group members;
Coordinate and establish connections with the external environment of the group;
To instill in subordinates a sense of responsibility and involvement in business;
Negotiate with group members and resolve conflict situations in the group;
Investigate and inquire about the past activities of group members.
Features of group activities. The group activities of people within the organization (and not the activities of individual employees) can be considered a necessary condition for achieving organizational goals. Let's highlight the main features of group activity:
1. Apparently, groups provide a person with a psychological home.
2. The group as a whole produces better ideas, although generates fewer ideas than individual members of the group. However, the group's ideas are distinguished by better elaboration, comprehensive assessment, and a greater degree of responsibility for them.
3. The group makes more risky decisions than individual members of the group. A certain type of groupthink is likely to develop in which the group feels invulnerable.
Types of behavior of members of the organization in groups. In order to successfully complete the work assignments necessary for 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, interdependent relationships, 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 result of unplanned social processes. In this regard, it is important to determine the nature and characteristics of the functioning of formal and informal groups in the organization.
Formal groups.By formal we mean groups in the organization, deliberately created to achieve the collective goals of the organization.These groups carry out formal functions such as carrying out specific tasks, generating ideas, maintaining connections, etc., which help to achieve the goals of the organization. It is clear that the achievement of each goal requires the creation of a certain structural unit (in some cases, several structural units), acting quite autonomously, and, according to the requirements of cooperation and the implementation of joint labor activities, this structural unit should be formally linked to other structural units of the organization.
Formal groups tend to remain relatively stable, although their composition may vary. 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 for the implementation of a specific task. Formal groups can be classified on many grounds, such as differences in membership, tasks performed, positions within an 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 the 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, in communication, in 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 an employee to another, spatially remote part of the organization or moving vertically to another management level. In some cases, an informal group can simultaneously be a formal or part of a formal group (an asset of a department, department, sector, or even an 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, the informal leader reflects the attitudes and values \u200b\u200bof the group members, helps to resolve conflicts, leads the group to achieve goals, establishes connections outside the group and uses them, which contributes to the adaptation of the group in the organization. The informal leader often changes depending on the situation. In some cases, the informal leader simultaneously serves as a 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 against group members.
Informal groups are very important for the successful operation of the organization, therefore 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 closeness and affection for each other, should be supported by the leadership of the organization. Otherwise, the natural informal structure will either not develop, or it will develop in forms that are undesirable for the organization, interfering with the achievement of objectives-tasks. A natural group can be grown artificially and become a family group of 8-30 members. Further, the process of developing and strengthening a sense of attachment within 6-12 months should lead to the formation of one organized group, consisting of united by an extensive network of communications on the scale of the organization of family groups, each of which includes several natural groups. Such an organized troupe can be viewed as a social organization, all members of which are bound by common intentions.
So, groups in an organization can be both formal and informal; informal groups are not part of the formal organizational structure; they may be headed by employees who have little or no formal power in the organizational structure. However, such groups can be very powerful and helpful in completing assignments.