Informal%20and%20Formal%20Groups

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LESSON 11
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Informal and Formal Groups

• DR. MARIO A. FETALVER, JR.
• Professor

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Group Dynamics

• What is group dynamics?
• the social process by which people interact
  face-to- face in small group.
• comes from the Greek word meaning force
• refers to the study of forces operating within a
  group

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• Two important Historical Landmarks to understand
  the small groups
• Research of Elton Mayo
• Showed that workers tend to established informal
  groups that affect job satisfaction and
  effectiveness.

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• Experiment in the 1930 of Kurt Lewin
• showed that the diff. kinds of leadership
  produced diff. responses in groups

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Types of Groups

• Formal Groups established by the organization
  and have a public identity and goal to achieve.

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• 2. Informal groups which emerge on the basis of
  common interest, proximity, and friendships.

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Roles of Informal Leaders

• may help socialize new members into the
  organization, and they may be called upon by the
  group to perform the more complex tasks.
• plays several useful roles for a work unit.

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• will likely play a dominant role in applying
  various forms and degrees of punishment to the
  individual to induce the desired behavior in the
  future.

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• often engages in a range of behaviors to help
  build and sustain the informal groups level of
  cohesiveness.

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Formal Groups

• Committees is a specific type of group meeting
  in which members in their group role have been
  delegated the authority to handle the problem at
  hand.

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Structured Approaches

• Brainstorming
• is a popular method for encouraging creative
  thinking in groups of about eight people. It is
  built around four basic guidelines for
  participants
• .

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• Generates as many ideas as possible.
• Be creative, freewheeling, and imaginative
• Build upon (piggyback), extend, or combine
  earlier ideas.
• Withhold criticism of others ideas.

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• Two main underlie brainstorming.
• 1. Deferred judgment by which all ideas even
  unusual and impractical ones are encouraged
  without criticism or evaluation. Ideas are
  recorded by a group member as fast as they
  suggested they are evaluated for usefulness at a
  later time. The purpose of deferred judgment is
  to separate idea creation from idea censorship.

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• This principle encourages people to propose bold,
  unique ideas without worrying about what others
  think of them. The second principle is that
  quantity breeds quality. As more ideas come
  forth, eventually higher-quality ones will be
  developed.

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• 2.Electronic brainstorming in this process,
  group members sit at personal computer terminals
  sometimes in scattered location and receive a
  question, an issue, or a request for establishing
  priorities. In response, they type in their own
  ideas as they arise .

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• .
• B. Nominal Group Technique exists in name only,
  with members having minimal interaction prior to
  producing a decision.

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Steps

• Individuals are brought together and presented
  with problem.
• They develop solutions independently, often
  writing them on cards.

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Steps

• 3. Their ideas are shared with others in a
  structured format ( a round robin) process that
  ensures all members get the opportunity to
  present their ideas.
• 4. Brief time is allotted so that questions can
  be asked but only for clarification

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• 5. Group members individually designate their
  preferences for the best alternatives by secret
  ballot.
• 6. The group decision is announced.

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C. Delphi Decision Making

• a panel of relevant people is chosen to address
  an issue. Members are selected because they are
  experts or have relevant information to share and
  the time available to do so. A series of
  questionnaires are sequentially distributed to
  the respondent, who do not need to meet
  face-to-face. All responses typically are in
  writing. Panelists may be asked to identify
  future problems, project market trends, or
  predict

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• a future state of affairs. Explanations of their
  conclusions also can be shared. Replies are
  gathered from all participants, summarized, and
  fed back to the members for their review. Then
  the participants are asked to make another
  decision, on the basis of new information. The
  process may be repeated several times until the
  responses converge satisfactorily and a final
  report is prepared.

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D. Dialect Decision Methods

• groups converge too quickly one alternative while
  overlooking others. Their incomplete evaluation
  of options may reflect either the participants
  dislike of meetings or their lack of willingness
  to raise and confront tough Some face-to-face
  decision-making issues.

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• Potential Outcomes of Formal Groups Process
• Support for Decisions
• Quality of Decisions
• Individual Development

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Figure121.1 Differences between Informal and
Formal Organizations

• Basis of Comparison Informal Organization
  Formal Organization
• General Nature Unofficial
  Official
• Major Concepts Power and Politic
  Authority and Responsibility
• 
  
• Primary focus Person
  Position
• Source of leader power Given by group
  Delegated by management
• Guidelines for behavior Norms
  Rules and policies
• Source of control Sanctions
  Rewards and penalties

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Systems View of Effective Committees
Inputs
Processes
Outcomes
Size
Leadership roles
Support
Composition
Group structures
Quality
Agendas
FEEDBACK
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TASK AND Social Leadership
Task Roles
Social Roles
Define a problem or goal for the
group. Request facts, ideas or opinions from
members. Provide facts, ideas or
opinions. Clarify a confused situations give
examples provide structure.
support the contributions of others, encourage
them by organization sense the mood of the
group and help ,members become aware of
it. reduce the tension and reconcile
disagreements modify your position, admit an
error
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summarize the discussion determine whether
agree- ment has been reached check for
con- sensus. test for ethicality
facilitate participation of all
members. evaluate the groups
effectiveness. deal team stress.