When a formal group permanent it is usually called

When individuals with a common interest, goal, attitude, need and perception come together, a team is formed. Individuals need to come and work together to form a team for the accomplishment of complicated tasks. In a team, all team members contribute equally and strive hard to achieve the team’s objective which should be predefined.

In any organization, no one works alone. Every employee is a part of a team and works in close coordination with the team members to perform his level best and in turn benefit the organization. The team members should complement each other and come to each other’s need whenever required.

Teams can be formed anywhere, anytime whenever the task is little difficult and complicated. Let us understand the various types of teams in detail.

1. Permanent teams- These teams perform on a permanent basis and are not dissolved once the task is accomplished. Let us understand the concept with an example.

Mike, Peter, Joe and Ana had a strong inclination towards branding as well as promotions and hence were a part of the branding team with a leading organization. They were primarily responsible for promoting their brand and designing marketing strategies to generate maximum revenue for their organization. They worked extremely hard and always managed to achieve their targets well in advance, but their team was always in place and never dissolved. Their organization never asked them to leave or ever dissolved their team. Such teams are called permanent teams.

Work or no work, the human resources team, operation team, administration team always function effectively through out the year and hence are permanent teams.

2. Temporary teams - Unlike permanent teams, temporary teams loose their importance, once the task is accomplished. Such teams are usually formed for a shorter duration either to assist the permanent team or work when the members of the permanent team are busy in some other project.

When organizations have excess of work, they generally form temporary teams which work in association with the members of the permanent team for the accomplishment of the task within the stipulated time.

3. Task Force - Such teams are formed for a special purpose of working on any specific project or finding a solution to a very critical problem.

The government generally appoints special teams to investigate critical issues like bomb blasts, terrorist attacks and so on. The task force explores all the possible reasons which led to a severe problem and tries to resolve it within a given deadline.

4. Committee - Committees are generally formed to work on a particular assignment either permanently or on a temporary basis. Individuals with common interests, more or less from the same background, attitude come together on a common platform to form a committee and work on any matter.

To organize any cultural event, organizations generally make committees to raise funds, invite celebrities and all the major tasks involved to successfully organize any event. The committee members work together, design strategies to successfully accomplish the task.

In educational institutes, various committees are formed where students with a common interest join hands to organize cultural events and various other activities required for the all round development of students.

5. Organization/Work Force - Such groups are formed in organizations where team members work together under the expert guidance of leader. A leader or a supervisor is generally appointed among the members itself and he along with his team works hard to achieve a common goal. The leader all through must stand by his team and extract the best out of each team member. He must not underestimate any of his team members and take his team along to avoid conflicts.

Samuel was working with a leading advertising firm with two members reporting to him. Samuel always believed in his team members and worked together with his team and no doubts his team always did wonders and was way ahead of others.

6. Self Managed Teams - Self Managed Teams consist of individuals who work together again for a common purpose but without the supervision of any leader. Here as the name suggests every individual is accountable for his individual performance. The team members of self managed teams must respect each other and should never loose focus on their target. No leader is appointed and the team members have to take their own responsibility. Individuals take the initiative on their own and are their own guides and mentors.
7. Cross Functional Team - Let us understand this with the help of an example.

Maria and Andy both were part of the branding team. They got an assignment from their superiors to be completed within two days. Unfortunately Andy met with an accident and was advised complete bed rest. To avoid delays, Peter from the operations team was shifted to the marketing team to assist Maria for the time being and form a team. Such teams are called cross functional teams. Ideally the employees should be more or less on the same level to avoid ego hassles. Individuals from different areas come and work together for a common objective to form a cross functional team. In such teams, people from different areas, interests and likings join hands to come out with a unique idea to successfully complete a task.

8. Virtual Teams - Virtual teams consist of individuals who are separated by distances and connected through computer. Here individuals communicate with each other online through internet. Sam at Los Angeles can form a team with Mandy at Mexico and Sara at Denver all working for a common objective but the communication is totally digital through internet. Such teams are helpful when employees need to connect with each other and are located at different places. Individuals supporting any community in social networking sites such as facebook or orkut also form a virtual team as all the members are from different locations but support a common community. They all have a common objective -to support and promote their community.

Definition: A group that an organization deliberately creates to achieve an objective is known as a formal group. This group has defined criteria for members to join, an operating procedure and structure, and is led by a leader. A formal group is also known as a planned group.

Types of Formal Groups

A formal group can be defined in many ways. Some classifications are as follows:

1. Temporary Group
2. Permanent Group
3. Command Group
4. Functional Group
5. Task Group
6. Committee

Temporary Group: These groups are created for the short term. Once they achieve the objective, they cease to exist.

Permanent Group: These groups are permanent and stay for a long time.

Command Group: These groups are permanent and exist in every organization. They can be called sections or departments.

Functional Group: These groups are defined according to group members’ position in an organization, such as engineers, clerks, supervisors, etc.

Task Group: This group is temporary and created to achieve a specific task. Usually, these groups consist of influential stakeholders.

Committees: Members of this group are appointed by organizations to resolve issues. This group is permanent and consists of stakeholders with high positions.

Summary

Formal groups are regulated, have defined procedures, and are headed by a manager or group leader. The formal group exists in all organizations, and they can be temporary or permanent. Permanent groups help organizations achieve their goal and run the organization, while temporary groups help achieve short-term objectives.

From an organizational point of view, there are basically two types of groups. These are formal groups and informal groups.

Formal Groups

A group is formal when it is purposely designed to accomplish an organizational objective or task. It is created via formal authority for some defined purpose.

A formal group can be a command group or a functional group that is relatively permanent is composed of managers and their subordinates who meet regularly to discuss general and specific ideas to improve products or services.

The formal groups usually work under a single supervisor, even though the structure of these groups may vary. For example, in one form of a group such as in production, the members of the workgroup depend on each other as well as on the supervisor, and in another form of group, such as salesforce, the members of the group work fairly independently and their common contact may be the district sales manager.

Other types of formal groups include task forces and committees. The task forces are temporary in nature and are set up for some special projects. The committees can be permanent, such as a planning committee, a finance committee, or a budget committee, and may become an integral part of the organizational structure.

A committee can also be temporary such as a special task force that is set up for a particular purpose and is then disbanded when the purpose is achieved. For example, the committee to reelect the President is temporary in nature and is disbanded after the election.

Informal Groups

Whereas formal groups are established by organizations to achieve some specific objectives, informal groups are formed by the members of such groups by themselves. They emerge naturally, in response to the common interests of organizational members. They are formed spontaneously, without any formal designation, and with common interests such as self-defense, work assistance, and social interaction.

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They exist outside the formal authority system and without any set rigid rules. Though officially unrecognized, they exist in the shadow of the formal structure as a network of personal and social relations that must be understood and respected by the management.

Informal work groups are based upon socio-psychological support and reasoning and depend upon the member’s interaction, communication, personal likings, and dislikings and social contacts within as well as outside the organization. How powerful these informal groups can be seen from the fact that if one member of the group is fired, sometimes all workers go on strike in support of that member of the group.

The bonds between members are very strong and bring in a sense of belonging and togetherness. This togetherness can have a powerful influence on productivity and job satisfaction since employees motivate each other and share each other’s burdens by training those who are new and by looking up to old timers for guidance, advice, and assistance.

Informal groups may have their own leaders and followers, group goals, social roles, and working patterns. They have their own unwritten rules and a code of conduct that every member implicitly accepts.

The leadership of the informal groups develops from within rather than a formal election. An individual, who is working in a group for a long time and has a good rapport with other members, may emerge as a leader due to his technical expertise and his seniority. For any problem within the group, either technical or social, the members would go to this leader rather than the formally assigned supervisor.

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Some Other Aspects of Informal Groups are as follows:

1. Group Norms

Parallel to performance and other standards established by the formal organizational structure, the informal groups have their own norms as rules of conduct and a standard of behavior that is expected of all members.

2. Groups Roles

There is an unwritten assignment within the group as to which task will be done by whom and under what conditions. Some job roles are assigned by the management by matching the job description with the person’s qualifications and some other roles develop within the group. For example, some members may informally be technical advisors to others as to how to do the job better and others may act as arbitrators in social problems or other differences that may arise among members.

3. Group Goals

The goal of the informal group, whether it be profitability that conflicts with the organizational goals or customer service which is in accord, heavily influences productivity. It is necessary to integrate the group goals with the organizational goals for the purpose of improvement and success.

4. Leadership

The informal leader emerges from the group either because of his personal charisma, his social status, or his technical expertise. He is not formally elected but is accepted in the minds and hearts of the workers. These leaders influence the behavior of others and remain leaders as long as they are sincere to the group interests.

Group Cohesiveness

Cohesiveness refers to the degree and strength of interpersonal attraction among members of the group. The high degree of cohesion is highly motivating in achieving group goals. Members help each other and support each other.

The degree of cohesiveness depends upon the commonness of the perceived group goal, the size of the group, and the ability of the group leader to facilitate cohesion. Group cohesion also has synergetic effects where together they produce much more by the collective efforts than the sum product of the individual efforts.

Informal groups are powerful instruments in all organizations and sometimes can make a difference between success and failure. A cooperative group makes supervision easier, thus lengthening the effective span of management. The group is also there to make sure that the basic principles of the formal organization are not violated.

For example, if a manager misuses his authority and promotes an unqualified person, the informal group may use its influence in making sure that it does not happen. The informal group also serves as an additional channel of communication to the management about conditions of work when such information may not be available through official channels.

One problem with an informal group is that it is primarily centered on human elements, which can be highly unpredictable affecting the smooth operations of the organization. Due to rules and procedures being unwritten, they can change from situation to situation. Also, the informal group can be considered subversive in nature if their goals conflict with the formal organizational goals.

In such situations, managers often view them with doubt and suspicion. They tend to see informal groups as potentially harmful to the formal organization. For that reason, some managers seek the support of informal groups and their leaders in order to reduce such a threat. They tend to view such informal groups as valid, stable, and structurally sound and hence show consideration and respect for their existence and their views.