The Informal Organization: Planned or Spontaneous?

Among early researchers who delved into the mysteries of informal organization,
the subtlest discussion of the relationship between the formal and informal comes
from Chester Barnard. According to Barnard, informal organization provides
effective communication within the organization, which improves the ability of the
formal organization to be an effective system for cooperation (or coordination).
Furthermore, informal organization maintains "cohesiveness in formal organization
through regulating the willingness to serve and the stability of objective
authority."[12]Informal mechanisms also provide for the "maintenance of the feeling
of personal integrity, of self-respect, of independent choice," among the members of
the organization. Although often deemed destructive to formal organization, this
aspect of informalities is "to be regarded as a means of maintaining the personality
of the individual against certain effects of formal organizations which tend to
disintegrate the personality,"[13] and indirectly assists in maintaining the viability of
the organization through improved morale.

http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?
docId=ft4d5nb38m&chunk.id=d0e596&toc.id=&brand=ucpress