McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved Chapter 12 Informal and Formal Groups

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved GROUP DYNAMICS Types of Groups Formal groups -Organization establishes -Public identity -Goal to achieve Informal groups -Common interests -Proximity -Friendships -Types of formal groups 1. Meeting 2. Team

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved THE NATURE OF INFORMAL ORGANIZATIONS Comparison of Informal and Formal Organization - Informal power attaches to a person -Formal authority attaches to a position How Does the Informal Organization Emerge? 1.Employees act differently 2.Employees often interact with different people 3.Workers may embrace a set of attitudes, beliefs, and sentiments

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved THE NATURE OF INFORMAL ORGANIZATIONS Figure 12-2 Formal and informal organizations and their effects

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved THE NATURE OF INFORMAL ORGANIZATIONS Member Status and Informal Leaders Informal leader Sanctions Identifying and Rewarding Informal Leaders Some Cautions Benefits of Informal Organizations Cohesiveness

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved THE NATURE OF INFORMAL ORGANIZATIONS Problems Associated with Informal Organizations Norms Reference group Monitoring Informal Organizations Network charts

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved THE NATURE OF INFORMAL ORGANIZATIONS Figure 12-4 A sample network chart of task interactions at work

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved THE NATURE OF INFORMAL ORGANIZATIONS Influencing Informal Organizations - Management guidelines 1. Accept and understand 2. Identify 3. Consider 4. Integrate 5. Keep

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved FORMAL GROUPS - Negative attitudes about time spent in committee meetings Committees Systems Factors to Consider Size Composition Agendas Surface agenda Hidden agendas Leadership Roles Task leader Social leader

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved FORMAL GROUPS Structured Approaches Brainstorming -Basic guidelines Deferred judgment Electronic brainstorming Nominal Group Technique Delphi Decision Making Dialectic Decision Method (DDM)

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved FORMAL GROUPS Figure 12-8 Steps in dialectic decision making

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved FORMAL GROUPS Potential Outcomes of Formal Group Processes Support for Decisions Quality of Decisions Individual Development Social facilitation Consensus: A Key Issue in Decision-Making Groups -Specific ideas for facilitating consensus

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved FORMAL GROUPS Weaknesses of Committees Slowness and Expensiveness Groupthink Devil's advocate Polarization Risky shift Escalating Commitment Divided Responsibility Overcoming the Weakness Emerging Directions Group decision support system

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved Questions