Informal groups and communication in them. Formal and informal organizations. The structure of the informal group
Signs of joint activities
Cooperative activity
Topic 5. Group behavior in the organization
All organizations achieve their goals through the joint activities of employees.
1. The presence of a single goal in all participants included in this activity. This allows you to form a community from these people.
2. Availability of a single collective motive .
3. The necessary distribution of the activity process into separate functional and related actions, operations and their distribution between participants. This leads to the creation of a certain formal structure in the enterprise.
4. Strict matching, coordinating the implementation of certain actions (assumes the presence of a specific program) .
5. The presence of a single end result achieved through joint efforts.
6. Unified Space-Temporary Participants .
Participation in joint activities leads to the formation of groups as specific subjects of activity.
The behavior of people in the group in terms of its characteristics differs from the behavior of people as individuals. Consequently, to effectively manage the behavior of people in the organization, an understanding of the psychological foundations of group behavior and those processes that occur in groups are necessary.
Group -relatively separate association of people interacting, interdependent and mutually informing each other, created to achieve specific goals coordinating joint activities and considering themselves as part of the whole.
Each organization has a formal and informal structure, and the corresponding formal and informal groups.
Formal groups - Groups created at the initiative from above, as a rule, by superior guide to perform certain tasks associated with the objectives of the organization. Features formal group:
¨ Clearly defined composition and structure, including organizational norms
¨ common task group (goals)
¨ Hard definition and distribution of roles
¨ Unambiguous definition of statuses, rights and responsibilities of group members
The basis of the allocation of formal groups is the feasibility of public division of labor.
Allocate the following types of formal groups:
Team (cozeny), or administrative, group, or group of manager
Working or operational, group
The committee
Informal groups As a consequence of individual efforts and are developing on the basis of common interests and sympathies, and not on the basis of a deliberate plan. These are natural groups of people in a working situation created to meet social needs.
Informal groups in the organization are divided into:
v Interest Group Members are united to achieve a certain goal that does not have a relation to the objectives of the Organization.
v band based on friendship, sympathy, common interests.
Functions of informal groups in the organization:
¨ Satisfaction of the need for group supplies, recognition, respect and identification
¨ Implementation of common social and material interests (joint innovation, receipt of additional income, solving country issues, organization of turcomers, etc.)
¨ Protection against excessive pressure of the organization, excessive intensification of labor, increasing the norms of production, etc.
¨ Receiving and transferring the necessary or interesting information.
¨ Communication facilitation and the establishment of mutual assistance in solving both organizational and personal tasks.
¨ Preservation and cultivation of common cultural, social, national, religious and other values.
¨ Creating a favorable environment and psychological comfort, overcoming alienation, fear, finding confidence and calm
¨ Adaptation and integration of new and young employees
See also:
|
So, there are two types of groups: formal and informal. These types of groups are important for the organization and provide big influence on members of the organization.
Formal groups are groups created by the will of the manual.
Allocate groups of managers, workers (targeted) groups and committees.
· A group of managers consists of the head and its immediate subordinates in the zone of its control (president and vice presidents).
· Working (Target) Group - Employees working on performing one task.
· Committee - a group inside an organization that delegated authority to perform any task or task complex. Sometimes the committees call advice, commissions, target groups. Allocate permanent and special committees.
An informal group - spontaneously emerging a group of people who regularly enter into interaction to achieve a specific purpose. Causes of entry - sense of belonging, help, protection, communication.
Informal organizations carry out social control over their members. Usually set certain rules that each member of the group must comply. In informal organizations, there is a tendency to resist change. Usually an informal organization is headed by an informal leader. The informal leader should help the group in achieving its goals and maintain its existence.
The efficiency of formal and informal groups is influenced by the same factors:
1. Group size. As the group increases, communication between members is complicated. In addition, informal groups with their goals may occur inside the group. In small groups (of 2 - 3 people), people feel personal responsibility for making a certain decision. Think that optimal size Groups 5 - 11 people.
2. Composition (or degree of similarity of personalities, points of view, approaches). It is believed that the most optimal solution can be taken by groups consisting of people who are in different positions (ie, unlike people).
3. Group standards. A person who wants to be accepted by the group must comply with certain group standards. (Positive norms - norms that support behavior aimed at achieving goals. Negative norms - norms that encourage behavior that does not contribute to the achievement of goals, such as theft, lateness, absenteeism, use of alcoholic beverages in the workplace, etc.).
4. Cohesion. It is considered as a measure of the group members to each other and to the group. The high level of cohesion of the group can increase the efficiency of the entire organization.
5. Group Odinky. This is the trend of suppressing his views on some phenomenon in order to not disturb the harmony of the group.
6. Conflict. The difference in opinions increases the likelihood of conflict. The consequences of the conflict can be positive, as they allow you to identify different points of view (this leads to an increase in the effectiveness of the Group). Negative consequences are to reduce the effectiveness of the Group: the poor state of the spirit, the low degree of cooperation, the shift of the emphasis (giving more attention to its "victory" in conflict, and not to solve the real problem).
7. The status of group members. It is determined by seniority in a hierarchy, the title of position, education, experience, awareness, etc. Usually members of the group with high status have a greater impact on other members of the group. It is desirable that the view of the members of the group with high status is not dominant in the group.
Formal groups are usually allocated as structural units in the organization. They have a formally appointed leader, a formally defined structure of roles, posts and positions within the company, as well as formally fixed functions and tasks.
The formal group has the following features:
1. It is rational, i.e. It is based on the principle of feasibility, conscious movement to a certain goal;
2. It is impersonal, i.e. Designed for individuals, the relationship between which is established according to the prepared program.
In the formal group, only service links between individuals are provided, and it obeys only functional objectives.
TO formal groups relate:
· A vertical organization that combines a number of organs and division in such a way that each of them is between two others - above- and lower-way, and the management of each of the organs and units is concentrated in one person.
· A functional organization in accordance with which management is distributed between a number of persons specializing in the implementation of certain functions and works.
· A staff organization characterized by the presence of the headquarters of advisers, experts, assistants not included in the vertical organization system.
Formal groups can be formed to perform a regular function, such as accounting, and can be created to solve a specific target task, for example, a commission on the development of a project.
Informal groups are created by non-regulations of the management of the organization and formal decisions, and members of this organization in accordance with their mutual sympathies, common interests, the same hobbies and habits. These groups exist in all companies, although they are not represented in the schemes reflecting the structure of the organization, its structure.
Informal groups usually have their unwritten rules and norms of behavior, people know well who enters into their informal group, and who is not. In informal groups there is a certain distribution of roles and positions. Typically, these groups have a clearly or implicit leader. In many cases, informal groups can have an equal effect on their members equal or even greater than formal structures.
Informal groups are spontaneously (spontaneously) a current system of social relations, norms, actions that are a product of more or less long interpersonal communication.
Depending on the style of behavior, informal groups can be classified as follows:
· Prostial, i.e. Socio-positive groups. it public and political International Friendship Clubs, Social Initiatives, Groups environmental protection and salvation of cultural monuments, club amateur associations, etc. They have, as a rule, a positive direction.
· Asocial, i.e. Groups standing away from social problems.
· Antisocial. These groups are the most unfavorable part of society, causing his alarm. On the one hand, the moral deafness, the inability to understand the others, a different point of view, on the other - often their own pain and suffering, which fell out this category of people, contribute to the development of extreme views from its individual representatives.
The life of the group, its functioning is under the influence of three factors:
1. Characteristics of group members;
2. Structural characteristics of the group;
3. Situational characteristics.
The characteristics of the group members affecting its functioning include personal characteristics man, as well as abilities, education and life experience.
The structural characteristics of the group include:
· Communications in a group and norm of behavior (who with whom and how to contact);
· Status and roles (who occupies what position in the group and what does);
· Personal sympathies and antipathy between group members (who likes and who does not love anyone);
· Strength and conformism (who has an impact on who is ready to listen to and to whom to obey).
The first two structural characteristics are more to the analysis of the formal organization, the rest - to the question of informal groups.
The establishment of friendly relations between people have a significant impact of several points:
1. Personal characteristics of interacting. People love those who like the same phenomena, things, the processes that like them, i.e. People love those who look like them, who are close to them in spirit, taste and preferences. People are attracted to those who have the same with them or close race, nationality, education, a system of views on life, etc. Potentially people with similar personal characteristics have more chances to establish friendly relations than those who have personal characteristics differ significantly.
2. The presence of territorial proximity in the location of these people. The closer the jobs are located, the higher the likelihood that they will establish friendly relations. The same refers to the proximity of their place of residence.
3. The frequency of meetings, as well as from the expectation that these meetings will occur quite often in the future.
4. How successfully the functioning of the group. In general, success leads to the development of a positive attitude towards each other to a greater extent than the unsuccessful functioning of the group.
5. The presence of one goal, which is subordinated to the actions of all members of the group. If the members of the group are disassembled by solving individual problems, mutual sympathies and friendliness are less common than if they work on solving a common task for all tasks.
6. Wide participation of all members of the Group in decision making. The ability to influence the general group processes stimulates the development of a group of positive perception of the collective.
The presence of sympathies in relations between people, the presence of friendly relations between the members of the Group has a huge impact on the mood of people, their satisfaction with their work, with their membership in the group. However, it is impossible to unambiguously say that friendly relations between members of the Group have only a positive impact on the results of the labor and functioning of the organization as a whole. If people who experience friendly relationships towards each other have high motivation to work, then the presence of mutual sympathies and friendship contributes to a significant increase in the results of their labor and thereby positively affects the functioning of the Group as a whole. If people are weakly motivated to work, the result will be completely opposite. They will spend a lot of time in useless to work conversations, smoke, tea drinking, etc., constantly distracted from work, sharply reducing the effectiveness of his labor. At the same time, they can distract from the work of others, creating an atmosphere of idleness and relaxation.
The situational characteristics of the group depend on the behavior of the members of the group and the Group as a whole. These characteristics are associated with its size and its spatial location.
In small groups there are more difficulties with reaching agreement, and much time goes to find out relations and points of view. In large groups, difficulties are observed with the search for information, since the group members usually behave more restrained.
The spatial location of the group members has a noticeable effect on their behavior. There are three important characteristics of the spatial location of the individual, on which the relationship between the person and the group depends. First, this is the presence of a permanent or definite place or territory. The lack of clarity in this issue generates many problems and conflicts in interpersonal relationships. Secondly, this is a personal space, that is, the space in which the body of only this person is located. Spatial proximity in the placement of people can generate many problems. Thirdly, this is a mutual location of the places. If a person occupies workplace At the head of the table, this in the eyes of other members of the group automatically puts it in the position of the leader. Guide, knowing these and other issues of the location of the group members, can achieve a significant effect only due to the correct placement of jobs.
19. Formal and informal groups in organizations.
In any organization there are groups - formal and informal.
Formal groups are groups arising at the initiative of the administration and enter a certain division into organizational structures and staff schedule of enterprises. There are various types of formal groups:
A group of managers (team) - consists of the head of the enterprise (its divisions) and immediate deputies and assistants of the head
The functional group - combines the head and specialists of the functional division (department, bureau, service), which implement the overall management function and have close professional goals and interests.
Production group - has a head and workers in its composition, busy fulfillment A certain type of work at the lower level of management (link, brigade, plot) Members of the group together working on one task, incentive - the final result, and the differences between them are associated with the distribution of types of work between members of the Group, depending on the qualifications of employees.
the Committee is a group inside the company, which is delegated to the authority of the highest link of management to fulfill any project or task, the main difference between the Committee from other formal structures lies in the decision-making of the decision, which is sometimes the most effective means of solving complex problems and achieve goals.
Informal groups are freely educated small social groups of people who enter into permanent interaction to achieve personal goals.
Informal groups are created not by management by orders and formal decisions, but members of the organization, depending on their mutual sympathies, common interests, identical attachments, etc. These groups exist in all organizations, although they are not reflected in the structural schemes.
Informal groups have their unwritten rules and norms of behavior, people know well who enters them informal to the group, and who is not. In informal groups there is a certain distribution of roles and positions, these groups have a clearly or implicitly defined leader.
Informal groups are usually produced spontaneously within the formal groups with which they have a lot of common, namely:
Have a specific organization - hierarchy, leader and tasks;
Have certain unwritten rules - norms;
Have a certain process of education - stages;
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 specific social group and have certain social contacts, the ability to receive assistance from colleagues in the team, the desire to know about what is happening around, use the informal communication channels, the desire to be closer to those who are sympathetic .
There are significant differences between formal and informal groups both in the goal with which they are created and the forms of influence of their leaders on other members of the Group.
The main differences of formal and informal groups
|
Classification |
Characteristics |
|
|
Formal groups |
Informal groups |
|
|
Determined by the organization in accordance with the Place of the Group in the formal structure |
Satisfying the social needs outside the interests of the formal organization (hobbies, friendship, love, etc.) |
|
|
Conditions of occurrence |
According to a predetermined project to build an organization |
Created spontaneous |
|
Appointed by the Organization |
Recognized as a group |
|
|
Communications |
Formal channels with other structural elements and inside the group |
Basically informal channels both in the group and beyond |
|
Interaction between group members |
Based on production tasks |
Develop spontaneous |
|
Forms of impact on group members |
All forms, but dominate economic and administrative nature |
Mostly methods of personal psychological impact |
Informal groups are in every organization and a serious aspect in the work of the head, the need to understand the importance of the existence of these groups and the management of them.
One of the first scientists, which began to pay these questions was the theorist in the field of research by George Homans Group, who created a model that called the Homance model.
The essence of this model is that in the process of joint activities, people enter into interactions, which in turn contribute to the manifestation of feelings - positive and negative emotions to each other. These emotions affect how people will carry out their activities and lead to an increase or decrease in its effectiveness.
Optimal is the state of the collective, in which formal and informal groups are most coincided. Such a coincidence of formal and informal structures ensures the cohesion of the collective and improves the performance of its work.
One of the most important tasks of the head is the rapprochement of formal and informal structures, positive orientations of informal groups and the struggle against negative manifestations in the collective.
Individuals very rarely work in isolation from others. This can only occur in those exceptional cases when the employee performs a strictly individual task controlled by only the highest management of the organization when it autonomously contacts with external environment And makes solutions mostly independently.
However, most situations arising during organizational activities characterize exactly group relations. Groups in organizations are the basis of the effect of synergies, and, as a rule, members of the organization simply do not think their activities outside the social group.
A distinctive feature of the organization is that the work in it is always carried out inside groups or teams. At the same time, no value of the work performed by this organization has no importance.
The behavior of individual members of the Group in the organization, as has shown numerous studies, the Group has a great influence. The leaders of the organization need to be aware of the presence of group pressure to help the group act more effectively towards the achievement of common goals.
Groups in the organization are characterized by the content and direction of their activities. It is possible to determine the content of the group members in different ways. For example, we can say that members of the group interact; have a common goal; Know about each other.
We will present the goal to which the Group can serve in the organization: Sometimes groups arise and to solve other, less formal tasks (some of them may not contribute to the achievement of the organization's goals). At the same time, the Group's management should:
Distribute work between members of the group;
Control and control over performance;
Solve problems and make decisions;
Carry out information processing;
Collect ideas and information for the Group's activities;
Check and ratify decisions against group members;
Coordinate and establish links with the external environment of the group;
Bring up a sense of responsibility and involvement in cases;
Negotiate with members of the group and resolve conflict situations in the group;
Conduct investigations and guide the past of the group members.
Features of group activities. Group activities of people within the organization (rather than the activities of individual workers) can be considered a necessary condition for achieving organizational purposes. We highlight the main features of group activities:
1. Apparently, groups provide a person psychological house.
2. The group as a whole gives the best ideas, although it gives rise to less ideas than individual members of the group. However, the group's ideas are distinguished by the best working, a comprehensive assessment, greater degree of responsibility for them.
3. The group takes more risky solutions than individual, members of the group. Probably develops a certain type of group thinking, in which the group feels invulnerable.
Types of behavior of members of the organization in groups. To successfully fulfill the work assignments necessary for the organization, employees should be coexled and integrated into groups. The process of cooperation and integration will be successful if members of the groups follow certain social standards, perceive social control through group pressure, feel a sense of identification between members of the group, relationship of interdependence, the impact of the group's leader, and the like.
Groups can be formed as a result of pre-planned actions of the organization's management as some of the formal structure. But sometimes there are informal structures of the organization as a result of non-planned 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.Under formal, we will understand the groups in the organization deliberately created to achieve collective objectives of the organization.These groups carry out formal functions, such as performing specific works, generation of ideas, maintaining relations, etc., which contributes to the achievement of the organization's goals. It is clear that the achievement of each goal requires the creation of a certain structural unit (in some cases of several structural units), which is rather autonomously, and, in accordance with the requirements of cooperation and the implementation of joint work, this structural unit must be formally associated with other structural units of the organization.
Formal groups tend to preserve relative stability, although their composition may vary. This is due to the imperference of the formal structure - there are only statuses in groups regardless of individuals that occupy these statuses. Of course, temporary formal groups can be created in the organization to implement a specific task. Formal groups can be classified for many grounds, for example, by difference in membership, according to the tasks being performed, at positions within the organizational structure.
Informal groups.As already noted, informal groups exist in the formal structure of any organization. These groups are based mainly on interpersonal relationships, satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) of psychological and social needs that are not related to formal goals and tasks. In this case, members social groups The organization is not focused 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, such as communication, in other social motivations that are not in purely working situations, especially in conditions industrial enterprises or in profit firms.
Membership in the informal group may be discontinued through a formal structure, in particular by transferring an employee to another, spatially remote part of the organization or vertical transition to another managerial level. In some cases, the informal group can simultaneously be a formal or part of the formal group (asset department, control, sector or even an organization as a whole).
Members informal group Usually put forward their own leader, which has informal power only within this group. As a rule, the informal leader reflects the installation and values \u200b\u200bof the group members, helps to resolve conflicts, leads a group to achieving goals, establishes links 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 performs the functions of the formal leader. However, this situation is not typical for the organization, since the informal leader, which received a formal status, usually loses informal authority, being forced to apply formal sanctions to members.
Informal groups are very significant for the successful activity of the organization, therefore attempts to artificially create such groups are made. Natural groups consisting of three - six employees who during the interactions developed a high level of proximity and attachment to each other must be supported by the management of the organization. Otherwise, the natural informal structure either will not develop, or will develop in forms, unwanted organizations that prevent the achievement of targets. The natural group can be artificially grown and turn into a family group of 8-30 members. Further, the process of development and strengthening the sense of attachment within 6-12 months should lead to the formation of one organized group consisting of the combined communication network of communications on the organization of family groups, each of which includes several natural groups. Such an organized troupe can be considered as public OrganizationAll members of which are associated with common intentions.
So groups in the organization can be both formal and informal; Informal groups are not part of the formal organizational structure; They can be headed by workers who have only a small power (or do not have formal authorities at all) in the organizational structure. However, such groups can be very strong and useful when performing tasks.
Formal and informal
In regulations, the management of the harmonious functioning of the organization is constantly emphasized. According to many authors, if you find the right formula, the organization will act as a well-lubricated mechanism.
Speaking about what role the human resource management system is played in the development of the company, one of the executives of the American company 3M noted that the effective management of "human resources" is highlighted in the number of critical factors of economic success. In the nearby past, the competitive struggle was concentrated in the field of technical progress, improvement of technology, organizational structures, marketing, after-sales service. But the essence of business is determined primarily people.
Each employee of our company performs its function and combines efforts with others in achieving general results. The key component of our business today is to manage frames. It provides a favorable environment in which employment is being implemented, personal abilities are developing, people get satisfied from the work performed and social recognition of their achievements.
Organization's management workers are satisfied if the organization continues its existence as a single organism. However, almost always real stereotypes of behavior and relationships of members of the organization are slightly or very far away from the formal plan of the management of the organization.
Informal groups that are formed in organizations are a powerful force, which under certain conditions can actually become dominant in the organization and there is no leading effort. Informal groups can also carry in themselves a positive effect on the activities of the formal organization.
Middle managers need to reconcile the requirements of informal groups of the Organization with the requirements of the guideline standing on them. This necessity encourages managers to find non-standard people management techniques or use available techniques more efficiently with the aim of using potential benefits and reduce the negative impact of informal groups.
The unequivocal definition of the group does not exist, since this is quite flexible and influenced by the circumstances. The phenomenon is widely accepted. . The interaction of the group members is based on some general interest and may be associated with the achievement of a common goal. At the same time, the group has a certain group potential, or by group capabilities that allow it to enter into relationships with the outside world and adapt to changes occurring in the environment.
The characteristic features of the group are the following:
· Group members identify themselves and their actions with a group as a whole and thus in external interactions act as if on behalf of the group. A person speaks not about himself, but about the group as a whole, using the pronoun "we".
· The interaction between members of the group is the nature of direct contacts, personal conversation, observing the behavior of each other, etc. In the group, people directly communicate with each other, giving the "human form" formal interactions.
· In the group, along with the formal distribution of roles, if any, it is necessary to develop an informal distribution of roles, usually recognized by the group. Separate members of the Group take on the role of ideas generators, others are inclined to coordinate the efforts of the group members, the third takes care of the relationship in the group, to maintain good climate In the team, the fourth follows that there is order in work, everything was carried out on time and communicated to the end. There are people who fulfill the role of structuralizers, they put in the target of the target, track the influence of the environment on the problem solved by the problem.
There are two types of groups: formal and informal. These types of groups are important for the organization and have a great influence on members of the organization.
Formal groups Usually stand out as structural divisions in the organization. They have a formally appointed leader, a formally defined structure of roles, posts and positions within the company, as well as formally fixed functions and tasks.
The formal group has the following features:
1. It is rational, i.e. It is based on the principle of feasibility, conscious movement to a certain goal;
2. It is impersonal, i.e. Designed for individuals, the relationship between which is established according to the prepared program.
In the formal group, only service links between individuals are provided, and it obeys only functional objectives.
Formal groups include:
· Vertical (linear) organization, which combines a number of organs and division in such a way that each of them is between two others - above- and lower-way, and the management of each of the organs and units is concentrated in one person.
· A functional organization in accordance with which management is distributed between a number of persons specializing in the implementation of certain functions and works.
· A staff organization characterized by the presence of the headquarters of advisers, experts, assistants not included in the vertical organization system.
Formal groups can be formed to perform a regular function, such as accounting, and can be created to solve a specific target task, for example, a commission on the development of a project.
Informal groups They are created by non-regulations of the management of the organization and formal decisions, and members of this organization in accordance with their mutual sympathies, common interests, the same hobbies and habits. These groups exist in all companies, although they are not represented in the schemes reflecting the structure of the organization, its structure.
Informal groups usually have their unwritten rules and norms of behavior, people know well who enters into their informal group, and who is not. In informal groups there is a certain distribution of roles and positions. Typically, these groups have a clearly or implicit leader. In many cases, informal groups can have an equal effect on their members equal or even greater than formal structures.
Informal groups are spontaneously (spontaneously) a current system of social relations, norms, actions that are a product of more or less long interpersonal communication.
The informal group is manifested in two varieties:
1. It is an outformal organization in which informalized official relations carry a functional (production) content and exist in parallel with the formal organization. For example, the optimal system of business relationships, spontaneously emerging between employees, some forms of rationalization and invention, ways to make a decision, etc.
2. It is a socio-psychological organization that protrudes in the form of interpersonal relations arising from the mutual interest of individuals to each other is out of connection with the functional needs, i.e. Direct, spontaneously emerging community of people, based on the personal choice of connections and associations between them (friendly relations, amateur groups, relationship of prestige, leadership, sympathy, etc.).
The picture of the informal group is extremely plead and changeable in the direction of interest, the nature of the activity, by age and social composition, etc.
Depending on the ideological and moral orientation, the style of behavior informal groups can be classified as follows:
· Prostial, i.e. Socio-positive groups. These are socio-political clubs of international friendship, social initiatives, environmental protection groups and rescue cultural monuments, club amateur associations, etc. They have, as a rule, a positive direction.
· Asocial, i.e. Groups standing away from social problems.
· Antisocial. These groups are the most unfavorable part of society, causing his alarm. On the one hand, the moral deafness, the inability to understand the others, a different point of view, on the other - often their own pain and suffering, which fell out this category of people, contribute to the development of extreme views from its individual representatives.