THE FORMAL EFFECTS OF INFORMAL GROUPS IN AN ORGANIZATION

We know that groups are vital to the understanding of organizational behavior because they are the building blocks of the larger organization. In today’s organization, where productivity and efficiency demand collaboration within and across functional, physical and hierarchical boundaries, collaboration in employee networks has become critical to innovation, and to both individual and company performance. The heavy emphasis on teams and group decision making in today’s organizations only increase the importance of understanding teams and groups for managers.

As we have discussed in our class, groups are usually divided into formal and informal groups. Formal group is one deliberately formed by the organization to accomplish specific task and achieve goals. And most managers would put so much emphasis on the creation, maintenance and control of formal structure in getting things done to achieve organizational objectives. According to Parker and Cross (2004), most managers have little understanding of how their employees actually interact to get work done. In fact, organizational charts fail to reveal the often hidden social networks that truly drive or hinder an individual’s performance.

Mullins (2010) articulates that informal groups are very powerful social net works which are constructed in response to and through actions of their members. Mullins (2010) further articulates that managers and supervisors frequently face problems due to failure to recognise that within every organisation there are often informal group pressures that influence and regulate individual behaviour. Informal groups formulate an implicit code of ethics or undesirable set of standards establishing acceptable behaviours for a group of employees, (Mullins 2010).

According to Greenberg (2010), Informal groups can exist in an