Informal Groups

Informal groups are set up by people in organizations who have some affinity for one another. It could be said that formal groups satisfy the needs of the organization while informal groups satisfy the needs of their members. One of the main aims of organization design and development should be to ensure, so far as possible, that the basis upon which activities are grouped together and the way in which groups are allowed or encouraged to behave satisfy both these needs. The values and norms established by informal groups can work against the organization. This was first clearly established in the Hawthorne studies, which revealed that groups could regulate their own behaviour and output levels irrespective of what management wanted. An understanding of the processes that take place within groups can, however, help to make them work for, rather than against, what the organization needs.


Group processes


As mentioned above, the way in which groups function is affected by the task and by the norms in the organization. An additional factor is size. There is a greater diversity of talent, skills and knowledge in a large group, but individuals find it more difficult to make their presence felt. According to Handy (1981), for best participation and for highest all-round involvement, the optimum size is between five and seven. But to achieve the requisite breadth of knowledge the group may have to be considerably larger, and this makes greater demands on the skills of the leader in getting participation. The term ‘group dynamics’ is sometimes used loosely to describe the ways in which group members interact, but properly it refers to the work of Lewin (1947). This was mainly concerned with the improvement of group processes through various forms of training, eg T-groups, team building and interactive skills training. The main processes that take place in groups as described below are interaction, task and maintenance functions, group ideology, group cohesion, group development and identification


Channels of communication


Munication within groups were identified by Leavitt (1951) and are illustrated.

● Wheel groups, where the task is straightforward, work faster, need fewer messages to solve problems and make fewer errors than circle groups, but they are inflexible if the task changes.


● Circle groups are faster in solving complex problems than wheel groups.

● All-channel groups are the most flexible and function well in complex, open-ended situations.

The level of satisfaction for individuals is lowest in the circle group, fairly high in the all-channel group and mixed in the wheel group, where the leader is more satisfied than the outlying members.


Task and maintenance functions


The following functions need to be carried out in groups:


● task – initiating, information seeking, diagnosing, opinion-seeking, evaluating, decision-managing;


● maintenance – encouraging, compromising, peace-keeping, clarifying, summarizing, standard-setting.


It is the job of the group leader or leaders to ensure that these functions operate effectively. Leaderless groups can work, but only in special circumstances. A leader is almost essential – whether official or self-appointed. The style adopted by a leader affects the way the group operates. If the leader is respected, this will increase group cohesiveness and its ability to get things done. An inappropriately authoritarian style creates tension and resentment. An over-permissive style means that respect for the leader diminishes and the group does not function so effectively.