Page 228 - DMGT106_MANAGING_HUMAN_ELEMENTS_AT_WORK

Managing Human Element at Work

Notes A third characteristic of groups is that members share common interests or goals. For
example, members of a company’s safety committee all share a common goal in keeping
the workplace free of danger.
Fourth, and finally, to be a group, the individuals involved must perceive themselves as a
group. Groups are composed of people who recognize each other as a member of their group
and they can distinguish these individuals from non-members. Whether it is the members
of a corporate board of directors or a company softball team, people know who is in their
group and who is not.

In contrast, the people waiting with you in line at the bank probably do not think of each
other as being members of a group. Although they stand close together and may have
passing conversations, they have little in common (except, perhaps, a shared interest in
reaching the front of the line) and fail to identify themselves with the others in the line.
As these four characteristics suggest groups are very special collections of individuals.
Despite these specific requirements, there are a wide variety of different types of groups that
may be identified within organizations.

In organization grouping steps, the parties must have some impact on
each other to be considered a group.

Types of Groups
Although a military combat unit, the president’s cabinet, and the three-person cockpit crew
of a commercial airliner are certainly all very different from each other, they are all groups.
So, to clarify our understanding of the nature of groups, it is helpful to describe the different
types of groups that exist. In this regard, it is useful to distinguish between formal groups
and informal groups.
Formal Groups: Groups created by the organization and that are intentionally designed to
direct members toward some important organizational goal are known as formal groups.
One type of formal group is referred to as a command group—a group determined by the
connections between individuals who are a formal part of the organization (i.e. those who
can legitimately give orders to others). For example, a command group may be formed by
the vice-president of marketing, who gathers together his/her regional marketing directors
from around the country to hear their ideas about a new national advertising campaign.

A formal organizational group also may be formed around some specific task. Such a group
is referred to as a task group. Unlike command groups, task groups may be composed of
individuals with some special interest or expertise in a specific area regardless of their
positions in the organizational hierarchy. For example, a company may have a committee
on equal employment opportunities whose members monitor the fair hiring practices of the
organization. It may be composed of personnel specialists, corporate vice-presidents, and
workers from the shop floor. Whether they are permanent committees, known as standing
committees, or temporary ones formed for special purposes (such as a committee formed
to recommend solutions to a parking problem), known as ad hoc committees or task forces.
Task groups are commonly found in organizations.
Informal Groups: Not all groups are as formal as those we have identified; many are
informal in nature. Informal groups develop naturally among an organization’s personnel
without any direction from the management of the organization within which they operate.
One key factor in the formation of informal groups is a common interest shared by its
members. For example, a group of employees who band together to seek union representation,
or who march together to protest their company’s pollution of the environment, may be
called an interest group. The common goal sought by members of an interest group may
unite workers at many different organizational levels.

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