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Unit 10: Informal Organization

Aid on the Job Notes

In case of accidents or illness, members of an informal organization may help one another.
If a member breaks a company rule they may cover up for him. They may protect one
another from authoritative action. They may increase the group’s efficiency by changing
work assignments or by increasing the specialization of their tasks beyond what is prescribed
in the job description.
Breeding Ground for Innovation and Originality
By enabling members to modify the job situation more to their liking, the informal group
creates the necessary environment for individual innovation and originality. Protected by
his group, the individual can experiment with his novel ideas without having to persuade
the boss before trying them out.

Important Channel of Communication
News travels quickly via informal organizations. It is the clandestine transmitter and receiver
of information before it is officially released. After the news is received by the informal
organizations, they amend, amplify and interpret it. Thus each person gets a larger, more
detailed and meaningful but possibly distorted and erroneous picture of what is going on
in the organization.
Social Control

The informal organization provides all its members a set of norms—”guides to correct
behaviour”. These guides serve as dividing lines between good and bad behaviour, between
moral and immoral acts, between legitimate and illegitimate activities. Members are expected
to conform to these norms. A deviant may be ostracized, condemned or censured.

Check on Authority
Informal organization forces the manager to plan and act more carefully than he would
otherwise. Every manager knows that it is a check and balance on his unlimited use of
authority.
10.7.2 Benefits of Informal Organization to Management

Following are the advantages of informal organization cooperating with the management:
Self-policing

This relieves the management of much of the burden of supervision. When the manager
knows that the group is cooperative among itself, he feels less compelled to check on them
frequently and is encouraged to delegate and decentralize his authority.
Fills in Gaps in a Manager’s Abilities

If a manager is weak in some ability, one of the members of the informal group may help
him without letting others know about the manager’s weakness.

Gives the Manager Feedback about Employees and their Work Experiences
This increases the understanding of the manager as to what he needs to do to be a supportive
manager. It also helps interpret management to the workers so that they may be more
supportive. It makes up for any management failures in communication. Management, in
fact, often depends on it to convey certain types of information which the formal system does
not wish to carry and purposely leaves unsaid. For example, a manager cannot announce
his bad mood officially to his subordinates. The best way to do this would be to put this
information on the grapevine so that it reaches the subordinates informally. Some managers
use the grapevine additionally as a tactical manoeuvre. As an example, one company which

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