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On a ONE WHOLE SHEET OF INTERMEDIATE PAPER, Write an Essay discussing the
Benefits and the Limitations of Informal Groups. Make sure to number your individual
points.
According to John Donne "No man is an island" it is a phrase known by many which
actually means that no one is self-sufficient and we are independent, we rely on the
company and comfort of others in order to survive and perhaps achieve bigger goals
and task in this challenging world, thats why most individuals nowadays belong in a
group wether it is intentionally created or it just spring up spontaneously. There is
actually two types of groups the formal and the informal but now let me take you to
the world of the Informal Groups.
Informal groups always exist in a formal one and emerge by default, people end up
creating them by interacting with each other. In this group personal attitudes,
prejudices, likes and dislikes determine human relationship, depending on this
factors people find there self in the group. In the informal groups policies and
procedures from formal groups do not play a role in their creation, ranks and
functions of people is not important here. People generally tend to interact more
with those whom they can relate that's why personal prejudices and attitudes are
important in this group and things like social, political, cultural, religious outlook are
important in this regard. Informal groups function basically to maintain cultural
values of people, when we associate ourselves with others we feel a sense of
togetherness and somehow informal group also provide social satisfaction among
others. Informal groups also provide an effective means of communication to its
members so they can interact freely and efficiently and because of this they can
unify and address problems collectively. Informal groups also has a leader but
leaders are informally elected by group members, those choosen are the ones who
strongly influence the group.
Amidst the amazing things informal groups can bring it can also become a source of
resistance to change, people mostly do not positively respond to changes of things
in a group and might as well become the reasons for conflicts and misbehaviors of
the group. Informal structure does not form a structure for smooth working of an
organisation and since this group is driven by social and psychological needs it gives
more importance to satisfaction of individual interest as compared to organizational
interest. So given all of those things would you still be in an informal group?
I think it is important to have the two groups in one organization its just a matter of
balance and how will the leader leads his members and manage the whole group.
Let the two kinds of group work together in one organization because even if they
have limitations there are things that a formal can do to what informals can't and
vise versa. Formalities can fix the informalities and informalities can fix the
formalities, In one organization they're both relevant and emperishable. In work we
have formalities and informalities, when we're with friends we have lots of
informalities together so what's making it more challenging and fun is how we do
things together… no man is an island isn't it?