The organization is the main method of achieving the goal for its constituent participants, but at the same time it is a social category. Organization is a place through which interaction between people is ensured. It is here that they can build relationships of a very different plan.
In the classic version, with the word “organization”, the average person represents a formal one, but it should be understood that in any such group there are informal groups that interact with each other in a complex way. Their formation occurs without the influence of the head of formal education. Unions that have appeared informally often prove to be very strong and can affect how efficient the system as a whole is, how well it can work.
general information
A key aspect that distinguishes from formal informal organizations is the reason for the emergence of such communities. Here the desire or unwillingness of the leader of a group of people does not play a role; the creation takes place independently. Moreover, modern informal organizations are such that any reasonable leader should reckon with them. It is customary to say that such "undercurrents" largely control the activities of the organization as a whole through the impact on individuals.
Some formal organizations have really good leaders who successfully manage their functions. There are those who are less fortunate and the main person is not able to maintain power over a group of people. Nevertheless, in both cases it is impossible to know in advance how it will be necessary to work in the future. This is associated with the need for regular interaction with a large number of external persons.
It is impossible to achieve real success when people cannot interact correctly within the team and outside it. It is important to establish a work process with all persons who somehow influence the work process. This primarily falls on the shoulders of the organization’s managers, who are forced to determine which informal groups influence the current process. And those, there is no doubt, there are. It is important to understand who and how leads the informal group, and based on this draw conclusions that will help lead the formal organization to success.
Use the right tools
In order for the workflow to have maximum efficiency and effectiveness, it is necessary to teach all the people involved in it to work in a group. And for this, project managers and managers must know the signs of informal organizations and be able to identify their unspoken leaders. Correct interaction with them simplifies the task.
The head of a formal organization can create commissions, committees, which are in plain sight, official and legal. His next task is to train people to interact within such a structure. If it is possible to ensure that all persons involved in the organization learn to build relationships with others, this will help smooth out the negative influence of shadow groups and apply them to the benefit of the main goal.
Where does this come from?
To understand the concept of “informal organization”, you first need to figure out where such an education comes from. According to experts, the formation is spontaneous and interfaced with socially active members of the team, from time to time interacting with each other.
Identify the reasons for the formation of informal groups associated with the need for:
- protection;
- help;
- communication;
- social affiliation.
Important aspects
Features of informal organizations formed due to the needs of its participants in communication are such that they lead to an overestimation of the level of awareness of each member. Largely for this reason, the participant's ability to adapt increases. With the correct development of such a group, each of its members masters new skills of contact with external objects, which can be used for the benefit of the organization.
If a participant has joined an informal group in order to feel belonging to some social community, thereby he seeks comfort. If it is not possible to achieve the desired, a person feels a sharp negative effect on relationships with other participants in the organization and on his ability to work.
We are organizing!
Every group - formal, informal, including various classes of people or allowing only those belonging to one - is an organization. And it, as the word itself already implies, is an object that needs to be organized. That is, it is impossible to imagine a group that would not need a method of organization.
The easiest way is to identify the group, analyze its members and among them find the one who coordinates the group's actions. In the case of formal groups, everything is simple, the leader is officially selected and appointed before everyone's eyes. But members of an informal organization need a leader, but he must be informal, at the same time powerful enough to maintain control over everyone. Any manager striving for success in an organization must be clearly aware of the difference between informal and formal leadership in order to learn how to use this for their own benefit.
Some features
It is no secret that informal youth organizations can smoothly transform one into another. Not all leaders think that this is characteristic not only of young people, but also of the older generation. In addition, informal organizations can gradually become formal, and a reverse transition is possible. In current realities, there is no absolute separation.
Even if some social groups have arisen under the influence of various mechanisms, they share the same features:
- the presence of a leader;
- structure;
- “Led” members;
- social, psychological phenomena.
And if more?
Formal, informal organizations are further subdivided into subgroups. Moreover, in the case of a formal leader, he must not only assume the presence of an informal organization within the main organization, but wait for this and always be ready for it. The informal are almost always inside the formal. Exceptions are extremely rare.
If you study the structure of the organization deeply enough, you will notice that there are two methods of structuring the participants:
- informal;
- formal.
Both of them interact very closely. Many managers say that the similarity of these methods of structuring a group of people brings considerable difficulties, making it difficult for members of the organization to manage.
Indeed, experts agree that close interaction within the organization is a difficulty, which is not always possible to deal with. Therefore, if you are entrusted with a social organization, first of all clarify for yourself: there are two types that require two approaches, two methods of leadership, two ways to control participants.
Terminology specifics
As already clear from the above, all types of informal organizations need their own chapters. Moreover, there may be various informal organizations within a formal organization. All these structures are in constant close interaction, combination. At times, they diverge and even come into conflict. And yet, each such structure always has a major face.
For any group built “vertically”, the concept of “leadership” is characteristic, that is, the system consists of those who dominate and those who obey. To refer to official management, the term "manager" is used. When it comes to unofficial, they talk about "leadership."
Scientific approach
For the first time, informal organizations attracted the attention of representatives of the scientific sphere when the Hawthorne experiments were delivered. Their results turned out to be rather mixed, but they definitely showed that any company consists not only of people between whom there is a business relationship, but also with time it turns out to be connected internally by friendly interactions, unofficial connections.
The definition of the discovered phenomenon was proposed by F. Rotlisberger. He also expressed the idea of formulating the essence of such a phenomenon as a complex social network connecting the group members. At the same time, it was supposed to pay attention to the types of membership and standards, as well as the beliefs and actions of all involved people. The informal organization touched upon the aspects of communication that existed both within the group and between it and external characters.
The story does not stop there
It soon became clear that informal social organization was indeed a very important phenomenon, requiring more in-depth study. It attracted the attention of Homans, Simon, Likert, who expanded the presentation of Rotlisberger.
Their characteristic of informal organization was supposed to talk about the object of social and cultural regulation of human behavior, through which it is possible to control interpersonal relations and the main function of the organization. It was also possible to identify that through informal it is possible to supplement the formal organization, and in other cases to press it out.
After some time, the phenomenon attracted the attention of scientists Prigogee and Dabin, who defined the informal system as consisting of two additional structures:
- extra-formal;
- socio-psychological.
The first is responsible for promoting common tasks for the entire organization, but using informal techniques. The second reflects the existing relationship and is not directly related to the tasks being solved.
What about today?
Organizational theory, in the form in which it exists today, says that in an informal organization additional subsystems arise because it is impossible to standardize the activity, the emerging relationship. It is impossible to reduce all interactions between people strictly to business ones, from here informal social groups appear.
In order to regulate human behavior, it is necessary to resort to universal values and norms in our society, as well as to control interpersonal interactions of all members of the organization, including direct contacts.
The informal organization is dynamic and flexible, which differs from the formal one. This is its undoubted advantage, at the same time, this factor complicates the control of the situation for the project manager. In informal organizations, so-called group sanctions may apply. This applies to situations where the behavior of certain members deviates from the norm. The situation is complicated by the fact that these standards are unofficial, that is, they are not fixed anywhere. There is some idea of labor and behavioral standards, and those who are admitted to this informal group, which often has spontaneous goals, norms, must comply with them.
"Administrator Functions"
That is the name of the book of C. Barnard, in which an outstanding scientist made an attempt to clarify the logic of interaction between official and unofficial organizations, and also tried to determine how they influence each other.
In the publication you can find a clear terminology highlighted by Barnard, somewhat more capacious than previously used.He paid attention to the constituent elements of organizations, various power aspects, important for every leader who wants to stay in power. Barnard concluded that an informal organization always has a formal one, as if a double, since it reflects the interconnections of people, the nature of such a social group is unconscious.
What does it look like in reality?
It is not very difficult to give a clear idea of how formal, informal organizations look in reality. Examples of formal are the usual departments of any modern company. They are clearly formulated, recorded in documents and recognized by all. Their work is controlled by the head of the department, and the whole situation at the enterprise as a whole is monitored by the general director or other official manager.
What then are informal organizations? Examples are: a group of people who came to demand a timely payment of wages from the head or brought a request for an increase in wages. It is formed suddenly, against the background of general interest. Perhaps tomorrow the group will be dissolved if all the requirements are met or the leader of such a group is found and removed from the workplace.
At the same time, such informal groups arise that consist of close-knit people who have friendly, family, and other close ties. Such groups can exist for a long time, exerting both positive and negative effects on the organization as a whole.
Do not try to deny
It is impossible to imagine such an organization, in the structure of which there would be no shadow social groups. These are provoked already by the fact that people have the opportunity to communicate with each other. No scheme can be built for such shadow groups. The main task of the leader is to make the situation so that the shadow group does not become ruling. As soon as it begins to dominate, the organization goes to its end.
This is even surprising: at work, competence, formality, and productivity are important, independent of friendship or love, nevertheless it is precisely such irrational connections that have an incredibly strong influence. The more people are involved in them, the more powerful the shadow group becomes, and the more it affects the work process of the organization as a whole. Often, over time, even their own secret method of communication is developed, called the "secret telegraph" in science. On this channel, any news is transmitted much faster than on the official, and often in a distorted form. Informal communication is one of the most effective methods for informal organizations to control their participants.
To learn how to manage shadow social groups, you first need to figure out how they formed. If basic motivation is identified, countermeasures can be developed on its basis. An informal organization can work for and against a company. The task of the leader is to achieve the first or destroy the shadow group. For this, it is necessary to identify informal leaders and develop mechanisms for managing them, as well as influence the situation so that the goals of informal groups coincide with the main task of the organization as a whole.