Humans are social beings. We all feel the need to identify with groups. Most of us belong to formal groups -- work, church, clubs and trade associations, for example. But within all of these are informal groups -- people who connect and form a subculture within the overall organization. The impact of informal groups can be great -- either for or against the mission of your organization.
You have probably seen some informal groups in your small business. There are people who have lunch together, carpool and play together and maybe work together. These informal groups emerge for a variety or reasons -- common interests, language or other personal relationships. Workers who have been assigned to another location frequently maintain informal relationships with their former coworkers. Informal groups maintain "the grapevine" in your business that communicates quicker and often more effectively than formal corporate memos.
Informal groups are effective in maintaining your corporate culture. Informal groups cross organizational structure and can facilitate getting work done more quickly. "I used to work with Joe in the other division. Let's see if he can expedite..." is the sort of informal line of communication that can bypass corporate hierarchy. This appears in small businesses as well as large ones. Informal groups also provide a support structure for workers under adverse conditions. Whether you have a seasonal rush requiring overtime or a challenging work environment, the support that workers provide each other augments formal structures.
recognition.
Group pressure to conform to production standards can have a negative effect if the group's performance norms are lower than what your company expects. The group may have its own work standards about “breaking the curve” by producing too much or understandings between members about not telling management anything that would be detrimental to another group member. Informal groups are very effective in punishing workers who violate the group's standard. Sarcasm, hiding tools and other forms of gentle harassment can give way to sabotage and other criminal acts if the violation of group norms is considered to be severe enough.
Your employees may not act as you expect. While your employee handbook lays out the general rules and job descriptions specify certain tasks, the actual work environment may be different. Your employees see things from a different perspective. Thy have different attitudes, form relationships not prescribed by the organization chart and may have different working habits. They may find shortcuts to speed up the work flow. To make your small business thrive, you must identify the informal group relationships and embrace those that work while defusing those that do not. The success of Starbucks in transitioning from a small business to an international giant has been credited in part to the corporate culture created by the informal group structure.
In service or product industry, there are formal groups developed by the management to perform certain duties: formal groups have some set goals and objectives to attain in an organization; some examples of formal teams include human resources management team and project management teams.
Alongside formal groups, some informal group results not from deliberate management making but they exist by the virtue that human beings are beings and tend to live in groups. Mutually shared interests among members of informal groups hold the groups together; some examples of informal teams are social welfare groups, security, knowledge acquisition and groups to purporting to liberate the organization (Newstrom & Scannell, 1998). This paper discusses the role of teams/groups in the telecommunication industry.
The role of teams and groups in the telecommunication industry
Scientific innovation and invention has resulted to an increased development in communication industry; there are a number of communication channels and modes.
The industry is one of the fast growing industries in the world. Currently the influx of mobile phones and internet communication has shaped world communication strategies some of the major international companies include Nokia Phone Company, Motorola Phone Company and Apple Inc. The role of formal groups in the industry varies with the role that a specific group has been assigned to undertake.
For instance, in the industry, there is need for massive research to develop and differentiate ones products, a team made for this task has the mandate of ensuring that the task has been conducted effectively for the general welfare of the company. Different tasks in an organization are given to different groups that are made of human resources with varying talents and those who can merge their strengths for the good of the organization they are operating.
Groups are the brooders of innovation and creativity, when people are working in different groups, they come up with strategies and different ways of doing things that can be beneficial to the entire organization.
Apple, the world leading company in phone and electronic industry attributes its success to robust and orchestrate teams that support each other to develop and invent products that are responsive to market needs. Ericson is one of the oldest phone manufacturers but the trailing performance of the company has been attributed to weak teams operating in the company.
Informal groups operate for the interest of its members; the members have some personal interests; the groups pay a major role in fulfilling psychological interests of team members. They create unity and job satisfaction. A company as a whole can be taken as a team that aims to fulfill its mission and vision; it also has some objectives it aims at fulfilling; in the larger company groups, there are small teams that play part in the fulfillment of the organizations roles. Teams may be in departments, tasks allocation and
How to develop and maintain an effective team
To develop an orchestrate team, an organization need to take deliberate measure to ensure that it makes groups with the right combination of people. For efficiency in a team, a company needs to have an optimal combination of personalities, talents, intellectual properties, experience and age.
The initial stage in developing teams is to define the task that the team is undertaken; the task determines the personalities and people that are required in the team. With the task, the next step is analyzing the potential that the organization has; if the available resources have the human capital to undertake the task, then the process of selecting team members begin.
If the company fails to have the required human capital, experience and capacity, then recruitment of team members begin. Companies dealing in this industry need to be innovative and robust so as they can always be ahead of their competitors (Wheelen & Hunger, 1998).
With the required team at hand, the management should then give the project to the team, team members may need to go for a mentorship program where their roles and obligations of every team member are defined. The team leader is given the role of managing the team and focusing it to the expected direction.
He is also mandated with the task of developing a team spirit that will operate in the teams. A team leader should not be seen as an outsider of the group but as a member who have extra responsibilities. The management has the role of training and mentoring a team leader for an effective team management.
To avoid conflicts and have effective channels of solving problems, the management should have well defined frameworks for this task. Communication is an integral part in team management: a company’s management should develop appropriate communication channels among its teams. For effective coordination amongst teams, employees and management, organizations need to maintain effective communication channels (Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy, 2009).
Conclusion
To fulfill organizational goals and objectives, management should develop orchestrate teams to undertake different tasks in the organizations. The management should understand the effects that formal and informal teams have on their company’s performance; in case of shortcomings in the teams, appropriate and timely measures should be taken to rectify the situation.
References
Hughes, R.L., Ginnett, R.C., & Curphy, G.J. (2009). Leadership: Enhancing the lessons of experience. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Newstrom, J.W., & Scannell, E. E.(1998). The big book of team building games: Trust building activities, team spirit exercises, and other fun things to do. New York: McGraw-Hill
Wheelen, L.,& Hunger, J.(1998). Strategic Management and Business Policy: Entering 21st Century Global Society. Massachusetts: Addison Wesley.
Need a custom Essay sample written from scratch by
professional specifically for you?
801 certified writers online