Test by discipline

"Management".

Topic 15. Formal and informal groups.

1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..page2

2. Formal groups…………………………………………………………………...page 2

3. Informal groups ………………………………………………………………..p4

4. Manual of formal and informal groups………………………………..p7

5. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………… page 18

6. List of literature used…………………………………………………..page 19

Introduction

Organization is social category and at the same time a means to an end. It is a place where people build relationships and interact. Therefore, in every formal organization there is a complex interweaving of informal groups and organizations that have been formed without the intervention of management. These informal associations often have a strong impact on performance and organizational effectiveness.

Although informal organizations are not created by the will of management, they are a factor that every leader must reckon with, because such organizations and other groups can have a strong influence on the behavior of individuals and on the work behavior of employees. In addition, no matter how well the leader performs his functions, it is impossible to determine what actions and attitudes will be required to achieve the goals in an organization moving forward. The manager and subordinate often have to interact with people outside the organization and with units outside their subordination. People will not be able to carry out their tasks successfully if they do not achieve the official interaction of individuals and groups on which their activities depend. To cope with such situations, the manager must understand what role this or that group plays in a particular situation, and what place the leadership process occupies in it.

One of the prerequisites for effective management is the ability to work in small groups, such as committees or commissions created by the leaders themselves, and the ability to build relationships with their direct reports.

formal groups.

Based on the definition of Marvin Shaw: “a group is two or more persons that interact with each other in such a way that each person influences the others and is simultaneously influenced by other persons”, we can assume that an organization of any size consists of several groups. Management creates groups of its own accord when it divides labor horizontally (divisions) and vertically (management levels). In each of the numerous departments of a large organization, there may be a dozen levels of management. For example, production in a factory can be divided into smaller divisions - machining, painting, assembly. These productions, in turn, can be further divided. Eg, production personnel, engaged in mechanical processing can be divided into 3 different teams of 10 - 16 people, including the master. Thus, a large organization can literally consist of hundreds or even thousands of small groups.

These groups, created at the behest of management to organize the production process, are called formal groups. However small they may be, these are formal organizations whose primary function in relation to the organization as a whole is to perform specific tasks and achieve certain, specific goals.

There are three main types of formal groups in an organization: leadership groups; production groups; committees.

Command (subordinate) group The manager's team consists of the manager and his immediate subordinates, who, in turn, can also be managers. The company president and senior vice presidents are a typical team group. Another example of a command subordinate group is the captain of an airliner, co-pilot and flight engineer.

The second type of formal group is working (target) group . It usually consists of individuals working together on the same task. Although they have general manager, these groups differ from the command group in that they have much more independence in planning and carrying out their work. Working (target) groups are included in such well-known companies as Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, Texas Instruments and General Motors. More than two-thirds of Texas Instruments' total workforce (89,000+) are members of target groups. For improving the overall efficiency of the company, they can receive a 15 percent bonus to their budget. In this company, management believes that the target groups are breaking down barriers of distrust between managers and workers. In addition, by giving workers the opportunity to think about and solve their own production problems, they can meet the needs of workers more high level.

The third type of formal group is Committee . This is a group within an organization that has been delegated authority to perform a task or set of tasks. Committees are sometimes referred to as councils, task forces, commissions, or teams.

All team and working groups, as well as committees, must work effectively - as a single well-coordinated team. It is no longer necessary to argue that the effective management of every formal group within an organization is critical. These interdependent groups are the building blocks that make up the organization as a system. The organization as a whole will be able to effectively fulfill its global tasks only if the tasks of each of its structural units are defined in such a way as to support the activities of each other. In addition, the group as a whole influences the behavior of the individual. Thus, the better the leader understands what the group is and the factors of its effectiveness, and the better he knows the art effective management group, the more likely it is that he will be able to increase the productivity of this unit and the organization as a whole.

informal groups.

Despite the fact that informal organizations are not created by the will of the leadership, they are a powerful force that, under certain conditions, can actually become dominant in the organization and nullify the efforts of the leadership. Moreover, informal organizations tend to interpenetrate. Some leaders are often unaware that they themselves are affiliated with one or more of these informal organizations.

In production conditions, protection is often required, for example, from harmful production conditions, reduction wages, layoffs. This protection can be found in an informal organized group.

Often, informal organizations use informal information, the so-called rumors, which are the subject of satisfaction of the vanity of individuals. In the group, you can also express your sympathies and get satisfaction from communicating with other employees. Informal groups develop their own norms of behavior, and require their members to comply with these norms.

An informal organization is a spontaneously formed group of people who interact regularly to achieve a specific goal. Like a formal organization, these goals are the reason for the existence of such a informal organization. It is important to understand that in a large organization there is more than one informal organization. Most of them are freely networked. Therefore, some believe that an informal organization is essentially a network of informal organizations. The working environment is especially favorable for the formation of such groups. Due to the formal structure of the organization and its objectives, the same people usually come together every day, sometimes for many years. People who otherwise would hardly even meet are often forced to spend more time in the company of their colleagues than in their own. own family. Moreover, the nature of the tasks they perform in many cases forces them to communicate and interact with each other frequently. Members of the same organization depend on each other in many respects. The natural result of this intense social interaction is the spontaneous emergence of informal organizations.

Informal organizations have a lot in common with the formal ones, in which they are inscribed. They are in some ways organized in the same way as formal organizations - they have a hierarchy, leaders and tasks. Spontaneous (emergent) organizations also have written rules, called norms, which serve as standards of behavior for members of the organization. These norms are reinforced by a system of encouragement and sanctions. The specificity is that the formal organization was created according to a premeditated plan. Informal organization is rather a spontaneous response to unmet individual needs.

The difference in the mechanism of formation of formal and informal organizations is shown in the Figure:

Informal groups tend to resist industrial changes that may threaten the existence of the group. In the form of threatening factors may be the expansion of production, the introduction new technology, reorganization. The consequence of these factors is the arrival of new people who can encroach on established relationships in an informal organization.

Leadership of formal and informal groups.

Leadership has a great influence on management as a whole. A manager is a person who, as a leader, effectively manages his subordinates in order to fulfill their permanent tasks. A leader is a person who effectively exercises formal and informal leadership.

In the recent past, competition was concentrated in the field of technological progress, but the essence of modern business determined primarily by people. Each employee of the company performs his function and combines his efforts with the collective to achieve results. A key component of the business is personnel management.

The management of the organization is satisfied when the organization continues to exist as a whole. However, almost always the stereotypes of behavior and attitudes of members of the organization deviate far from the formal plan of the leaders of the organization.

Informal groups that form in an organization can, under certain conditions, become dominant.

Middle managers need to reconcile the demands of the organization's informal groups with the demands of the top management. This need encourages managers to look for non-standard methods of managing people or use existing techniques more effectively to capture the potential benefits and reduce the negative impact of informal groups.

Formal and informal groups

So, there are two types of groups: formal and informal. These types of groups matter to the organization and provide big influence on the members of the organization.

Formal groups- These are groups created by the will of the leadership.

Allocate groups of leaders, working (target) groups and committees.

  • Leadership Group consists of the head and his immediate subordinates who are in the zone of his control (the president and vice presidents).
  • Working(target) group - employees working on a single task.
  • Committee- a group within an organization that has been delegated authority to perform a task or set of tasks. Sometimes committees are called councils, commissions, task forces. Allocate permanent and special committees.

informal group A spontaneously formed group of people who interact regularly to achieve a specific goal. The reasons for joining are a sense of belonging, help, protection, communication.

Informal organizations exercise for their members. There are usually certain norms that each member of the group must comply with. In informal organizations, there is a tendency to resist change. Usually an informal organization is led by an informal leader. The informal leader should help the group achieve its goals and keep it alive.

On performance of formal and informal groups are influenced by the same factors.

  1. 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 (of 2-3 people), people feel personally responsible for making certain decision. It is believed that the optimal group size is 5-11 people.
  2. Compound(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).
  3. Group norms. A person who wants to be accepted by a group must comply with certain group norms. (Positive norms are norms that support goal-oriented behavior. Negative norms are norms that encourage behavior that is not conducive to achieving goals, such as stealing, being late, absenteeism, drinking at work, etc.).
  4. Cohesion. It is considered as a measure of the attraction of group members to each other and to the group. A high level of group cohesion can improve the performance of the entire organization.
  5. group consensus. This is the tendency of an individual to suppress his views on some phenomenon in order not to disturb the harmony of the group.
  6. Conflict. Differences in opinion increase the likelihood of conflict. The consequences of the conflict can be positive, as they allow you to identify different points vision (this leads to an increase in the effectiveness of the group). The negative consequences are to reduce the effectiveness of the group: a bad state of mind, a low degree of cooperation, a shift in emphasis (giving more attention to one's "winning" in the conflict, rather than solving the real problem).
  7. Status of group members. It is determined by seniority in the job hierarchy, job title, education, experience, awareness, etc. Usually, members of a group with a high status have a greater influence on other members of the group. It is desirable that the opinion of high-status group members is not dominant in the group.

Formal groups usually distinguished as structural units In the organisation. They have a formally appointed leader, a formally defined structure of roles, positions and positions within the company, as well as functions and tasks formally assigned to them.

A formal group has the following features:

  1. it is rational, i.e. it is based on the principle of expediency, conscious movement towards a known goal;
  2. it is impersonal, i.e. It is designed for individuals, relations between which are established according to a compiled program.

In a formal group, only official connections between individuals are provided, and it is subject only to functional goals.

The formal groups are:

  • Vertical organization, which unites a number of bodies and a subdivision in such a way that each of them is located between the other two - higher and lower, and the leadership of each of the bodies and subdivisions is concentrated in one person.
  • Functional organization, in accordance with which management is distributed among a number of persons specializing in the performance of certain functions and works.
  • Headquarters organization, characterized by the presence of a staff of advisers, experts, assistants who are not included in the vertical organization system.

Formal groups may be formed to perform a regular function, such as accounting, or they may be created to solve a specific task, such as a commission for the development of a project.

informal groups are created not by orders of the management of the organization and formal regulations, but by members of this organization in accordance with their mutual sympathies, common interests, identical hobbies and habits. These groups exist in all companies, although they are not represented in the diagrams that reflect 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 is formed. Usually these groups have an explicit or implicit leader. In many cases, informal groups can exert equal or even greater influence over their members than formal structures.

Informal groups are a spontaneously (spontaneously) established system of social ties, norms, actions that are the product of more or less long-term interpersonal communication.

Depending on the style of behavior, informal groups can be classified as follows:

  • Prosocial, i.e. socially positive groups. This socio-political clubs of international friendship, funds for social initiatives, groups for environmental protection and the rescue of cultural monuments, amateur club associations, etc. As a rule, they have a positive orientation.
  • Asocial, i.e. groups standing apart 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 that befell this category of people contribute to the development of extreme views among its individual representatives.

Characteristics of an informal group

The life of the group, its functioning is influenced by three factors:

  1. characteristics of group members;
  2. structural characteristics groups;
  3. situational features.

TO characteristics of group members factors that influence its functioning include personal characteristics of a person, as well as abilities, education and life experience.

Structural characteristics of the group include:

  • communication in the group and norms of behavior (who communicates with whom and how);
  • status and roles (who occupies what position in the group and what they do);
  • personal likes and dislikes between group members (who likes whom and who dislikes whom);
  • strength and conformity (who influences whom, who is ready to listen and who to obey).

The first two structural characteristics relate more to the analysis of formal organization, the rest to the question of informal groups.

There are several factors that influence the establishment of friendly relations between people:

  1. Personal characteristics of interacting. People love those who like the same phenomena, things, processes that they like, i.e. people love those who are similar to them, who are close to them in spirit, taste and preferences. People are attracted to those who have the same or close race, nationality, education, system of views on life, and so on. Potentially, people with similar personality characteristics are more likely to form friendships than those with significantly different personality characteristics.
  2. The presence of territorial proximity in the location of these people. The closer the workplaces of group members are, the higher the likelihood that they will establish friendly relations. The same applies to the proximity of their places of residence.
  3. Meeting frequency, as well as the expectation that these meetings will occur often enough in the future.
  4. How successful is the group. In general, success leads to the development of positive attitudes among people towards each other to a greater extent than the unsuccessful functioning of the group.
  5. Having one goal, to which the actions of all members of the group are subject. If group members are separated by solving individual problems, mutual sympathy and friendliness develop less often than if they work on solving a common problem for all.
  6. Broad participation of all group members in decision making. The opportunity to influence group-wide processes stimulates the development of a positive perception of the team among group members.

The presence of sympathy in relations between people, the presence of friendly relations between members of the group has a huge impact on the mood of people, on their satisfaction with their work, their membership in the group. However, it cannot be unequivocally said that friendly relations between members of the group have only positive influence on the results of work and the functioning of the organization as a whole. If people who experience friendships with each other are highly motivated to labor activity, then the presence of mutual sympathy and friendship contributes to a significant increase in the results of their work and thus positively affects the functioning of the group as a whole. If people are poorly motivated to work, then the result will be completely opposite. They will spend a lot of time in useless conversations, smoke breaks, tea parties, etc., constantly distracted from work, sharply reducing the effectiveness of their work. At the same time, they can distract others from the work, creating an atmosphere of idleness and relaxation.

Situational characteristics of the group little depend on the behavior of the members of the group and the group as a whole. These characteristics are related to its size and its spatial arrangement.

In small groups, it is more difficult to reach agreement, and a lot of time is spent on clarifying relationships and points of view. Finding information is difficult in large groups, as group members tend to be more reserved.

The spatial arrangement of group members has a noticeable effect on their behavior. There are three important characteristics of the spatial arrangement of the individual, on which the relationship between the individual and the group depends. First, it is the presence of a permanent or certain place or territory. The lack of clarity in this matter gives rise to many problems and conflicts in interpersonal relationships. Secondly, this is personal space, that is, the space in which the body is only this person. Spatial proximity in the placement of people can give rise to many problems. Thirdly, this is the mutual arrangement of places. If a person takes workplace at the head of the table, then this in the eyes of the other members of the group automatically puts him in a leadership position. Management, knowing these and other questions of the location of group members, can achieve a significant effect only through the correct placement of jobs.

Features of informal groups

1. Social control

Informal organizations exercise social control over their members. The first step towards this is the establishment and strengthening of norms - group standards of acceptable and unacceptable behavior. In order to be accepted by the group and maintain its position in it, a person must comply with these norms. To reinforce compliance with these norms, the group can impose fairly severe sanctions, and those who violate them can face exclusion. It is a powerful and effective punishment when a person depends on an informal organization to meet their social needs.

2. Resistance to change

People use the informal organization to discuss anticipated or actual changes that may occur in their organization. In informal organizations, there is a tendency to resist change. This is partly due to the fact that change can pose a threat to the continued existence of an informal organization. Reorganization, introduction of new technology, expansion of production and, consequently, the emergence of a large group of new employees can lead to the disintegration of an informal group or to a reduction in opportunities for interaction and satisfaction of social needs.

3. Informal leaders

Informal organizations, as well as formal ones, have their own leaders. The informal leader acquires his position by seeking power and applying it to the members of the group. Essentially, there are no major differences in the means used by the leaders of formal and informal organizations to exert influence. The only significant difference is that the informal leader makes a reliance on the recognition of his group. In his actions, he relies on people and their relationships.

The informal leader has two primary: help the group achieve its goals and maintain and strengthen its existence. Sometimes these functions are performed by different people. If this is the case, then two leaders emerge in the informal group: one for fulfilling the group's goals, the other for social interaction.

The emergence of an informal group and its role in the process of functioning of the organization

The reason for the emergence of an informal group in a formal organization is the inevitable limitations of a formal organization, which cannot cover and regulate all the processes of functioning of a social organization.

If people join formal organizations to further the goals of the organization, or if they need to be rewarded in the form of income, or if they are driven by considerations of prestige, then belonging to an informal group can provide psychological benefits as important to them as the salary they receive.

In accordance with A.'s classification, the primary needs are physiological and the need for safety and security, and the secondary ones are social, respect and self-expression. Can a formal organization ensure that all needs are fully met? Obviously not. The emergence of an informal organization is a consequence of a person's natural desire to unite with other people, to form sustainable forms of interaction.

The very first reason for joining an informal group is satisfying the need for a sense of belonging. People whose work does not provide the opportunity to establish and maintain social contacts tend to be dissatisfied. The ability to belong to a support group is closely related to employee satisfaction. And yet, despite the fact that the need for belonging is widely recognized, most formal organizations deliberately deprive people of social contacts. Therefore, people are often forced to turn to informal organizations in order to gain these contacts.

Need for protection is an important reason why people join certain groups. Although it is very rare these days to talk about the existence of real physical danger in the workplace, the very first trade unions originated in social groups that met in pubs and discussed their grievances with superiors. Even today, members of informal organizations protect each other from harmful rules. This protective function becomes even more important when the authorities are not trusted.

The need for communication arises because people want to know what is happening around them, especially if it affects their work. And yet, in many formal organizations, the system of internal contacts is rather weak, and sometimes management deliberately hides certain information from their subordinates. Therefore, one of the important reasons for belonging to an informal organization is access to an informal channel for receiving information - rumors. This can satisfy the individual's needs for psychological protection and belonging, and provide him with faster access to the information he needs to work.

Influence of informal groups on the organization

Some leaders believe that the informal group is the result of poor management, but the emergence of these groups is natural and very common; they are in every organization.

Informal groups carry both negative and positive influence on the activities of a formal organization. False rumors can spread through informal channels, leading to negative attitudes towards management. The norms adopted by the group can lead to the fact that the productivity of the organization will be lower than that determined by the management. A tendency to resist change and a tendency to perpetuate ingrained stereotypes may delay the necessary modernization of production. However, this counterproductive behavior is often a reaction to the attitude of superiors towards this group. Right or wrong, the members of the group feel that they are being treated unfairly and respond in the same way that any person would respond to something that seems unfair to him.

Such instances of backlash sometimes make it difficult for leaders to see the many potential benefits of informal organizations. Since in order to be a member of a group, one must work in the organization, loyalty to the group can translate into loyalty to the organization. Many people turn down higher-paying positions at other companies because they don't want to disrupt the social bonds they have made at that company. The goals of the group may coincide with those of the formal organization, and the performance standards of the informal organization may exceed those of the formal organization. For example, the strong team spirit that characterizes some organizations and generates a strong desire for success often grows out of informal relationships, involuntary actions of management. Even informal communication channels can sometimes help a formal organization by complementing the formal communication system. Finding no way effective interaction with informal organizations or trying to suppress them, leaders often miss out on these potential benefits.

In any case, whether the informal organization is harmful or beneficial, it exists and must be reckoned with. Even if the leadership destroys some group, another group will certainly arise in its place, which, perhaps, will develop a deliberately negative attitude towards the leadership.

Formal organizations

There are two types of organizations:

Firstly, organizations that are created consciously and purposefully to achieve some predetermined goals, within which conditions are formed and maintained to encourage their members to achieve these goals. Leaders are the carriers of such goals., which perceive these goals as their own and to achieve them, they coordinate the activities of the members of the organization;

Secondly, organizations that form spontaneously on the basis of the natural commonality of the goals of their participants, participation in which is determined by the free will of their members. In these organizations, no one makes an effort to secure the emerging structure and ensure the achievement of their own goals. As the common goals that caused the emergence of the organization are achieved, they can disintegrate, but they can also be reborn into organizations of the first type.

Organizations of the first type are called formal. According to one of the classics modern management Herbert Simon, under formal organization we understand the planned system of joint (cooperative) efforts, in which each participant has his own clearly defined role, his own tasks or responsibilities that must be fulfilled. These responsibilities are distributed among the participants in the name of achieving the goals that the organization sets for itself, and not in the name of satisfying individual wishes, even though the two often overlap.

formal organization- an organization that has the right, the goals of which are enshrined in the constituent documents, and the functioning - in regulations, agreements and provisions governing the rights and responsibilities of each of the participants in the organization.

Formal organizations are subdivided into and .

Finally, another formulation that reflects well the specifics of formal organizations says that this is a formal association of people that was formed to ensure the achievement of common goals on a relatively permanent basis (Figure 3.2). This association is characterized by obvious boundaries, norms of behavior, the presence of primary (interpersonal, informal) groups, communication channels, activities aimed at solving certain problems and power relations.

Informal organizations

Informal organizations- These are organizations that are not registered with a state body, either due to their small number, or for some other reason.

informal organization- a spontaneously emerging group of people who interact with each other quite regularly.

Informal organizations are associations of people connected by personal interests in the field of culture, life, sports etc., having a leader and not conducting financial and economic activities aimed at obtaining material profit.

For example, four amateur fishermen constantly for a number of years jointly prepare tackle, go fishing, discuss the results, and enjoy it. This is an informal organization, since all the signs of the system are present - the presence of a goal, elements, hierarchy, interaction. Role in informal organizations very large. In them, people can realize their needs and interests to a greater extent than in a formal one; find your place in life; try out various options behavior, relationships, etc. Help and protection of colleagues, access to informal channels of information (rumors, etc.) are the main reasons for joining an informal organization.

However the emergence of an informal organization within a formal. This is a natural process that occurs when the development of technology, the professionalism of personnel in an organization is faster than the improvement of organizational forms, functions, style and management methods. The first sign of the birth of an informal organization in the subject area of ​​a formal organization is emergence of an informal leader. As it is necessary to act as a leader, we have already considered above.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher vocational education

"NATIONAL RESEARCH

TOMSK POLYTECHNICAL UNIVERSITY"

NOVOKUZNETSK BRANCH

Direction 080200 "management"

Department of Social and Humanitarian Disciplines


Abstract on the discipline: "Management Theory"

Topic: Formal and informal groups in management


Made by Ekaterina Popova

student gr. F-3A20NK, course 1

checked

Associate Professor S.I. Kakovikhina


Novokuznetsk, 2013



Introduction

Formal groups

informal groups

Influence of informal groups

Organization management methods

Conclusion


Introduction


Organization is a social category and at the same time a means to achieve goals. It is a place where people build relationships and interact. Therefore, in every formal organization there is a complex interweaving of informal groups and organizations that have been formed without the intervention of management. These informal associations often have a strong impact on performance and organizational effectiveness.

Although informal organizations are not created by the will of management, they are a factor that every leader must reckon with, because such organizations and other groups can have a strong influence on the behavior of individuals and on the work behavior of employees. In addition, no matter how well the leader performs his function, it is impossible to determine what actions and attitudes will be required to achieve the goals in organizations striving forward. The manager and subordinate often have to interact with people outside the organization and with units outside their subordination. People will not be able to carry out their tasks successfully if they do not achieve the official interaction of individuals and groups on which their activities depend. To cope with such situations, the manager must understand what role this or that group plays in a particular situation, and what place the leadership process occupies in it.

The relevance of the chosen topic lies in the fact that for any successful developing organization in the conditions of modern business, the human factor, namely the relationship of formal and informal groups, plays important role and has a great impact on the life of the organization as a whole. Therefore, it is important to know and understand the role, interaction of formal and informal groups, methods of group management. Managers need to look for innovative ways to manage people or use existing ones more effectively to capture the potential benefits and reduce the negative impact of informal groups.

The purpose of this work is to identify the nature of the interaction of formal and informal groups, their influence on the process of functioning of the organization.

To achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve a number of tasks:

To get acquainted with the concept of groups and their characteristic features;

Consider formal and informal groups;

Determine the characteristics of informal groups;

Consider the influence of informal groups;

To highlight the methods of managing organizations;


The concept of groups and the characteristic features of a group


A fairly general, well-established view of a group is widely accepted as a relatively isolated association of a small number of people (usually no more than 10) who are in fairly stable interaction and carry out joint actions for a sufficiently long period of time. The interaction of group members on a certain common interest and may be associated with the achievement of a group goal. At the same time, the group has a certain group potential and group capabilities that allow it to interact with the environment and adapt to changes taking place in the environment.

The characteristic features of the group are:

Members of the group identify themselves and their actions with the group as a whole, and thus act as if on behalf of the group in external interactions. A person does not speak about himself, but about the group as a whole, using the pronouns we, ours, ours, us, etc.

Interaction between members of the group has the character of direct contacts, personal conversation, observation of each other's behavior, etc. In a group, people directly communicate with each other, giving formal interactions a "human" form

In a group, along with formal roles, if such exists, an informal distribution of roles is necessarily formed, which is usually recognized by the group. Individual members of the group take on the role of generators of ideas, others tend to coordinate the efforts of group members, others take care of relationships in the group, of maintaining good climate in the team, the fourth ones make sure that there is order in the work, everything is done on time and brought to the end. There are people who act as structurizers, they set goals for the group, monitor the influence of the environment on the tasks solved by the group.

These and other roles of group behavior are performed by people according to their abilities and inner calling, so in well-functioning groups, abilities are usually created so that a person can behave in accordance with his abilities for group actions, and is limited by his specific role as a member of the group. .

There are two types: formal and informal. Both of these types are important to the organization and have a great impact on the members of the organization.


Formal groups


Formal groups are legalized

In everyday speech, the word formal has a negative connotation, meaning not interested in the results, indifferent attitude to the implementation official duties. Indeed, the abuse of formalities leads to various kinds of bureaucratic perversions. However, the formal has a number of advantages:

makes the acquired knowledge and, based on it, advanced technologies and methods of work, common property;

establishes uniform norms and rules for everyone, which excludes arbitrariness and - contributes to the objectification of activities;

provides transparency setting the case for control and publicity for interaction with the public, which is certainly important for the democratization of management.

Thus, a formal group has the following features:

It is rational, i.e. it is based on the principle of expediency, conscious movement towards a known goal;

She is impersonal, i.e. It is designed for individuals, relations between which are established according to a compiled program.

In a formal group, only official connections between individuals are provided, and it is subject only to functional goals. The formal groups are:

A vertical (linear) organization that unites a number of bodies and departments 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 departments is concentrated in one person;

Functional organization, in accordance with which, management is distributed among a number of persons specializing in the performance of certain functions and works;

Staff organization, characterized by the presence of a staff of advisers, experts, assistants, not included in the vertical organization system.

Formal groups may be formed to perform a regular function, such as accounting, or they may be created to solve a specific task, such as a commission to develop a project.


informal groups


Informal groups arise as a result of the fundamental incompleteness of formal groups, since job descriptions it is simply impossible to foresee all possible situations that can happen, and formalizing all subjective ideas as norms for regulating social relations is possible only under totalitarian political regimes.

Informal groups are created not by executive orders and formal resolutions, but by members of the organization in accordance with their mutual sympathies, common interests, similar hobbies, habits, etc. These groups exist in all organizations, although they are not represented in the diagrams that reflect 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 is formed. Usually these groups have an explicit or implicit leader. In many cases, informal groups can exert equal or even greater influence over their members than formal structures.

Informal groups are a spontaneously (spontaneously) established system of social ties, norms, actions that are the product of more or less long-term interpersonal communication.

An informal group manifests itself in two varieties:

It is a non-formal organization in which non-formalized service relations have a functional (production) content, and exist in parallel with the formal organization. For example, optimal system business ties that spontaneously develop between employees, some forms of rationalization and invention, ways of making decisions, etc.

Represents a socio-psychological organization, acting in the form of interpersonal relationships that arise on the basis of the mutual interest of individuals in each other, without regard to functional needs, i.e. a direct, spontaneous community of people based on a personal choice of connections and associations between them, for example, companionship, amateur groups, relations of prestige, leadership, sympathy, etc.

The picture of an informal group is extremely varied and variable in the direction of interests, the nature of activity, and in terms of age and social composition. Depending on the ideological and moral orientation, style of behavior, informal organizations can be classified into three groups:

Prosocial, i.e. socially positive groups. These are socio-political clubs of international friendship, funds for social initiatives, groups for environmental protection and the rescue of cultural monuments, club amateur associations, etc. They, as a rule, have a positive orientation;

Asocial, i.e. groups standing apart from social problems;

Antisocial. These groups are the most unfavorable 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 that befell this category of people contribute to the development of extreme views among its individual representatives.

Synthesis of formal and informal in the organization

Any real existing organization as a social system is always a combination of formal and informal elements, it seems to consist of two halves , the relationship between which is very flexible and depends on the degree of formalization or legal regulation in the environment, the age of the organization itself, its culture and the style of business behavior followed by its management.


Features of informal groups


1. Social control

Informal organizations exercise social control over their members. The first step towards this is the establishment and strengthening of norms - group standards of acceptable and unacceptable behavior. In order to be accepted by the group and maintain its position in it, a person must comply with these norms. To reinforce compliance with these norms, the group can impose fairly severe sanctions, and those who violate them can face exclusion. It is a powerful and effective punishment when a person depends on an informal organization to meet their social needs.

Resistance to change

People use the informal organization to discuss anticipated or actual changes that may occur in their organization. In informal organizations, there is a tendency to resist change. This is partly due to the fact that change can pose a threat to the continued existence of an informal organization. Reorganization, introduction of new technology, expansion of production and, consequently, the emergence of a large group of new employees can lead to the disintegration of an informal group or to a reduction in opportunities for interaction and satisfaction of social needs.

Informal leaders

Informal organizations, as well as formal ones, have their own leaders. The informal leader acquires his position by seeking power and applying it to the members of the group. Essentially, there are no major differences in the means used by the leaders of formal and informal organizations to exert influence. The essential difference is only that the informal leader relies on the recognition of his group. In his actions, he relies on people and their relationships.

The informal leader has two primary functions: to help the group achieve its goals and to maintain and strengthen its existence. Sometimes these functions are performed by different people. If this is the case, then two leaders emerge in the informal group: one for fulfilling the group's goals, the other for social interaction.


Influence of informal groups on the organization


It is very important to understand that informal organizations interact dynamically with formal ones. One of the first to pay attention to this factor, as well as the formation of informal organizations, was George Homans, a theorist in the field of group studies. In the Homans Model, activities are understood as tasks performed by people. In the process of performing these tasks, people enter into interaction, which, in turn, contributes to the emergence of feelings - positive and negative emotions in relation to each other and superiors. These emotions influence how people will carry out their activities and interact in the future.

In addition to showing how informal organizations arise from the management process (delegation of tasks that cause interaction), it shows the need to manage an informal organization. Because group emotions affect both tasks and interactions, they can also affect the effectiveness of formal organization. Depending on the nature of emotions (favorable or unfavorable), they can lead either to an increase or decrease in efficiency, absenteeism, staff turnover, complaints and other phenomena that are important for assessing the performance of the organization. Therefore, even if an informal organization is not created by the will of the leadership and is not under its complete control, it always needs to be effectively managed so that it can achieve its goals.

Some leaders believe that the informal group is the result of poor management, but the emergence of these groups is natural and very common; they are in every organization.

Informal groups carry both negative and positive influence on the activities of a formal organization. False rumors can spread through informal channels, leading to negative attitudes towards management. The norms adopted by the group can lead to the fact that the productivity of the organization will be lower than that determined by the management. The tendency to resist all change and the tendency to maintain ingrained stereotypes can delay the necessary modernization of production. However, such counterproductive behavior is often a reaction to the attitude of superiors towards this group. Right or wrong, the members of the group feel that they are being treated unfairly and respond in the same way that any person would respond to something that seems unfair to him.

Such instances of backlash sometimes make it difficult for leaders to see the many potential benefits of informal organizations. Since in order to be a member of a group, one must work in the organization, loyalty to the group can translate into loyalty to the organization. Many people turn down higher-paying jobs at other companies because they don't want to disrupt the social bonds they have made at that company. The goals of the group may coincide with those of the formal organization, and the performance standards of the informal organization may exceed those of the formal organization. For example, the strong team spirit that characterizes some organizations and generates a strong desire for success often grows out of informal relationships, involuntary actions of management. Even informal communication channels can sometimes help a formal organization by complementing the formal communication system. By failing to find ways to effectively engage with informal organizations, or by trying to suppress them, leaders often miss out on these potential benefits.

In any case, whether the informal organization is harmful or beneficial, it exists and must be reckoned with. Even if the leadership destroys some group, another group will certainly arise in its place, which, perhaps, will develop a deliberately negative attitude towards the leadership.


Organization management methods


Solving this or that task of management, the methods serve the purposes of practical management, providing at its disposal a system of rules, techniques and approaches that reduce the time and other resources spent on setting and achieving goals. The management methods discussed below are applied to labor collectives in general and to individual employees in particular. Therefore, they should be interpreted as ways of managerial influence on labor collectives and people.

There are several approaches and classifications of management methods, however, according to the most common classification, they are divided into three groups:

Economic method of management. Economic management methods are methods and techniques of influencing people, based on the economic relations of people and the use of their economic interests.

Economic management methods are a specific mechanism for the conscious use of objective economic laws in practice. The content of economic management methods consists in a targeted impact on the economic interests of the individual, the team, the state, in order to achieve the best results of their functioning with the lowest requirements and material costs.

Economic methods of management should be an interconnected system of stimulation and economic impact on all aspects of the life of the state, the collective and the individual and their governing bodies.

The system of economic management methods includes two large groups methods: direct economic and economic calculation.

Direct economic calculation is based on centralized, planned, directive distribution and redistribution of material, labor and financial resources in order to ensure macro proportions of expanded reproduction. It is planned (ie carried out through the plan) and directive. Directivity means its obligatory nature, gives it the character of a law.

Economic calculation is based on the use of cost categories as regulatory instruments and levers, the correlation of results and costs in the production and sale of products.

Organizational and administrative method of management. The organizational and administrative method includes methods and techniques for influencing the subject of management on the object of management based on the strength and authority of power - decrees, laws, decrees, orders, orders, instructions, instructions, etc.

Organizational and administrative management methods establish the duties, rights, responsibilities of each manager and executor, as well as each link and level of management. They must ensure the personal responsibility of each of the employees of the administrative apparatus for the implementation of the will of higher authorities.

The basis of these methods are organizational relations that objectively exist in any society, any socio-economic system. On their basis, diverse control relations are formed. In reality, any organizational relations are, first of all, subject-object relations, which include relations of rights and responsibilities, authority, and competence.

Organizational and legal methods of management involve:

the presence of a clear division of labor and competence (rights and duties) between various bodies, departments, as well as officials;

the use of administrative power within the framework of legal and moral and ethical standards for solving economic problems;

rational selection and placement of personnel, taking into account business and personal qualities workers.

An important feature division of labor of administrative bodies is that they build their activities on a functional basis, i.e. doing a specific job. When improving the management structure, the separation of management functions, a clear distribution of rights and responsibilities is of exceptional importance. When a decision is made, it becomes very clear who is responsible for it. In cases where the decision is not implemented, it should also be clear who and for what reasons is delaying the case. Transition to quality new level management, a significant increase in the efficiency of management activities in each link of management requires an intensive and balanced development of the organizational, technical, scientific, methodological and personnel potential of the management system.

Socio-psychological method of management.

Socio-psychological methods of management are used in solving the following problems:

selection and placement of personnel (studying the attractiveness of labor processes within various professions; increasing the prestige of certain professions, the effect of naming professions; identifying the individual abilities of employees and determining professional suitability for certain types of work at the enterprise; developing methods for professional selection and evaluation of personnel); the formation of a production team and its development (the study of the psychological compatibility of people in the primary labor collectives, the formation of production teams, departments, sections, etc.);

regulation of interpersonal relations in the production team (studying the behavior of an employee in the work team; identifying the causes conflict situations in the primary labor collective, between managers and subordinates, between managers of different levels of management, etc.);

increasing the effectiveness of individual and collective incentives for employees (the dynamics of the needs and interests of members of the labor collective; development various forms individual and collective incentives for employees of the enterprise, measures to increase the socio-psychological validity of the system of individual and collective material incentives for employees);

increasing the effectiveness of educational work in the team (education of a conscious attitude to work, the formation of a sense of ownership among employees in the affairs of the enterprise, a sense of their place in production, a sense of the owner, a creative attitude to work);

strengthening labor discipline (identifying the causes of violations, developing measures to prevent violations of discipline);

rationalization of labor processes of production and management personnel (fatigue reduction, study of the causes of industrial injuries, occupational diseases).

For the practical solution of these problems at large enterprises, special socio-psychological services should be created.

The socio-psychological climate in the team is a complex of moral and ethical ties between members of the team that arise about production activities And industrial relations.

Analysis of the socio-psychological climate in the team and the choice of the most rational ways of its formation and stabilization is a complex procedure.

Since the participants in the management process are people, then social relations and their respective management practices are important and closely related to other management practices.

These include:

moral encouragement;

social planning;

belief;

suggestion;

personal example;


Conclusion

informal group collective management

In the course of the work done, general concepts groups, the features of informal and formal groups, their characteristics, their emergence and role in the process of functioning of the organization are considered. The methods of organization management are covered.

Informal groups are created not by orders of the leadership and formal resolutions, but by members of the organization in accordance with their mutual sympathies, common interests, identical hobbies, etc. They represent a spontaneously formed system of social ties, norms of action, which are the product of more or less long-term interpersonal communication.

Formal groups are legalized groups are usually identified as structural units within 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.

We have identified the characteristics of informal groups such as: social control, resistance to change, informal leaders. We found out the influence of informal groups on the organization as a whole. The negative aspects include: the spread of false rumors, the loyalty of people to the group, the tendency to resist any change and the tendency to maintain entrenched stereotypes delay the necessary modernization of production, etc. Positive sides activities of the informal organization - loyalty to the group can turn into loyalty to the organization, the goals of the group may coincide with the goals of the formal organization, and the norms of the effectiveness of the informal organization can raise the norms of the formal organization, etc. That will help to find the levers for managing these groups in the future.

We highlighted the most common classification of organization management methods, such as:

Economic method of management. Economic management methods are methods and techniques of influencing people, based on the economic relations of people and the use of their economic interests.

Organizational and administrative method of management. The organizational and administrative method includes methods and techniques for influencing the subject of management on the object of management based on the strength and authority of power - decrees, laws, decrees, orders, orders, instructions, instructions, etc.

Socio-psychological method of management. These include:

moral encouragement;

social planning;

belief;

suggestion;

personal example;

regulation of interpersonal and intergroup relations;

creation and maintenance of a moral climate in the team.

Information regarding the goal set is presented and disclosed.

The nature of the interaction of groups and their influence is revealed. We can say that the topic is fully disclosed.


List of used literature


1.General psychology: A course of lectures for the first stage of pedagogical education. / Compiled by E.I. Rogov. - M.: Humanitarian publishing center VLADOS, 1998. - 448s

.Management: / Comp. O. S. Vikhansky, A. I. Naumov.-4th ed.-Moscow: ECONOMIST, 2008.-669p.

.The concept of management: Proc. allowance / Korotkov E.M. - M.: Deka, 1998. - 304s

.Korotkov E.M. Management. - M.: INFRA-M, 2009. (UMO stamp)


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Working group concept

The working group has a great influence on the motivation of not only its members, but also the leader himself. Since ancient times, it has been noticed that a person behaves in many ways differently when he acts as a member of a group: family, work collective, crowd, etc.

With development in late XIX V. sociology, and then social psychology, the influence of a group on production efficiency has become the object of special scientific research. What is a Primary Working Group?

The primary working group is an association of people to achieve business goals, which in a certain, fairly long period of time, regularly directly interact with each other, and each one contacts with everyone else, and realizes that they are members of the group, identify themselves with it.

A group of 7 people (or 7 + 2) is usually considered optimal in terms of performance. However, depending on the nature of the activity and interests, the group can have from 2 to 15 members. On the basis of primary working groups, secondary working groups are also built - teams of a higher level, for example, departments, workshops, enterprises, associations, etc. There is no regular contact interaction between members of secondary groups. Employees of such teams may not know each other at all.

This chapter will deal only with primary working groups.

There are various classifications of working groups in the specialized literature. In particular, they are divided into command, consisting of the leader and his closest assistants; target (workers), uniting workers performing general task; committees, which are relatively autonomous groups to which authority is delegated to carry out certain tasks, such as quality circles.

Formal, informal and friendly groups

The working group includes formal and informal structures and their corresponding groups (there may be several informal structures and groups), which overlap each other. Formal groups are usually created on the initiative from above, as a rule, by higher management to perform certain organizational tasks, although sometimes they can be created on the initiative from below, for example, in the case when several acquaintances, friends, pool their capital efforts and create a joint venture, say , outlet. However, even in this very rare case, a formal group is formed as a result of the implementation of a consciously made decision.

The hallmarks of a formal group are: a clearly defined composition and structure, including organizational norms; tasks (goals) common to the group; rigid definition and distribution of roles; unambiguous establishment of the statuses, rights and obligations of the members of the group. Examples of formal groups in an enterprise are departments (sectors) of planning, production, marketing, supply, etc. Formal groups ensure the unity of action of all the constituent parts of the organization, the connection of various departments with its common goals. The expediency of the social division of labor underlies the allocation of formal groups.

Informal groups in an organization are always created spontaneously, initiated from below, as a result of new forms of activity and communication that arise on the basis of formal interaction between employees.

The behavior of the members of an informal group is their peculiar reaction to the formal structures of the organization. Informal groups arise on the basis of goals that do not directly coincide with the goals of the organization, as a result of the common interests of the likes and dislikes of their members, manifested in mutual assistance relations, the exchange of knowledge, skills and information, as well as in some other specific activities, including those that are harmful organizations (for example, joint actions of a group of robbers).

Informal groups do not have a clear, stable structure and may be open to new members of the organization. The delimitation of statuses and roles in them is not rigid and pre-planned. It is not set from outside, from above, but is determined by intra-group relations. Informal groups are able to significantly modify the formal structure, and sometimes distort the results of its activities beyond recognition.

The study of informal groups developed especially widely around the 60s in connection with the spread of the influence of the theory of human relations.

Informal groups are divided into interested (or interest groups) and friendly. The former are formed to realize a certain common interest, for example, to present management with demands for the timely payment of salaries or its increase. Usually such groups cease to exist as soon as their interests are satisfied. However, the most cohesive of them often change the purpose of their association, the nature of their activities, and even take shape structurally. Thus, a group of activists defending the interests of workers can become the core of a created trade union organization, a group of innovators and inventors can be constituted in the sector of scientific developments, and so on.

Friendly groups are formed on the basis of personal likes and dispositions. Membership in such groups varies depending on the establishment or rupture of friendships.

Functions of informal groups

Informal groups perform a number of functions that are important to their members. The functions of informal groups include the following:

1) the realization of common material and social interests This may be an interest in rationalization or the development and implementation of an invention, in obtaining additional income, in the joint construction of garages, in solving summer problems, in organizing hiking trips, etc .;

2) protection from excessive pressure from the administration, excessive intensification of labor, higher production rates, layoffs of workers, etc.;

3) receiving and transmitting necessary or interesting information;

4) facilitating communications and establishing mutual assistance in solving both organizational and personal problems;

5) preservation and cultivation of common cultural, social, national, religious and other values;

6) meeting the needs for group membership, recognition, respect and identification. This increases satisfaction with work and stay in the organization;

7) creating a favorable environment for activity and psychological comfort, overcoming alienation, fear, gaining confidence and calmness;

8) adaptation and integration of new and young employees. Their inclusion in the team helps them quickly adapt to the requirements of the organization, allows them to receive valuable advice and assistance, makes it easier different kinds communications.

As can be seen from the above list of functions, informal groups can perform both constructive and destructive functions. Under certain conditions, they can conflict with the goals of the organization, divert the attention and energy of employees, give rise to sharp conflicts and reduce overall performance. However, with a rational formal organization and skillful leadership, informal groups, influencing the formal structure, help to humanize work, adapt the organization of work to the needs and wishes of a person. As a result, job satisfaction and performance increase, labor turnover decreases, absenteeism and other dysfunctional forms of behavior are reduced.

The variety of functions of informal groups must be taken into account in practical management work. The leader must be able to make the correct diagnosis in each specific case, i.e. determine the functional purpose of an informal group, as well as develop adequate actions aimed at eliminating or changing the nature of dysfunctional associations, at encouraging and strengthening functional groups. Favorable conditions should be created for the formation and rallying of groups that contribute to the achievement of the goals of the organization.

Influence on informal groups

The process of formation and functioning of informal groups is largely manageable, amenable to purposeful regulation. At the same time, it is important to take into account that the management of informal groups should be comprehensive, i.e. to cover formal groups as well, since in real life the formal and informal structures of the working group are closely interconnected and are in an inseparable unity. Management of the dynamics of informal groups is facilitated by: 1) overcoming the widespread negative, dismissive attitude towards informal groups, recognition of the informal organization and work with it without threatening its existence. At the same time, it is important to remember that the liquidation of an informal organization and, as a result, the destruction of an informal group can make the formal organization unviable and harm the working group as a whole;

2) careful consideration of the opinions of members and especially the leaders of informal groups, encouragement of those who help achieve the goals of the organization. It is necessary to avoid confrontation between formal and informal leaders in every possible way;

3) constant consideration of the impact of decisions made on informal groups and prevention negative consequences such influence;

4) the mandatory inclusion in the process of making important decisions of the members of the informal group, and primarily its leader. This eliminates or weakens the resistance of such groups to the decisions made;

5) systematic provision of participants of informal groups with reliable information. This minimizes the possibility of spreading various kinds of rumors and the appearance of behavior that is destructive for the organization as a whole.

A developed, efficient working group cannot be just formal or informal. Some authors, reflecting the dynamics of the formation of work groups, distinguish between a plan item and a work group. The first becomes a working group only as a result of the inclusion of people in the processes of fulfilling production tasks and developing communications, thanks to the acquisition of a certain degree of cohesion (solidity).