KRISHNA UNIVERSITY

R. NANCHARAIAH

DEPARTMENT OF JOURNALISM

&

MASS COMMUNICATION

Y9JMC101013
Informal Organizations
 Informal Organizations

 The aggregate of the personal contacts and

interactions and the associated groupings of
people
(Chester I. Barnard)
 Informal Organizations

 “The system of relationships and lines of

authority that develops spontaneously as
employees meet and form power centers; that
is, the human side of the organization that
does not appear on any organization chart”
Understanding Business, 6/e, (William G. Nickels )
 Basic Characteristics

 Involves two or more people

 Informal relationships, groupings & interactions
 Repeated contacts but without any conscious
joint purpose
 Involves the human need to socialize
 Includes both friendly and hostile relationships
and interactions
 Basic Characteristics

 Informal association precedes formal organization,

as it requires preliminary (informal) contact and
interaction before establishment
 Scope of Informal Organizations

 Informal organizations exist within:

 Organization
 Community
 State or
 Everywhere
 Effects and Consequences
 Affects knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and
behavior, which may spread across the entire
organization with a chain reaction
 Forms habits, norms, customs institutions
 Creates conditions that may lead to the
establishment of a formal organization
(e.g. families, societies, clubs, company etc.)
 Effects and Consequences

 Informal organization persists and expands with

formal organization through continuity of
interactions
 Repeated interactions imply common
(unconscious) purposes such as social,
professional (unofficial), material
 Lasting interactions are fundamentally based on
human need for action.
 Creation of Informal by
Formal Organizations

 Formal systems of cooperation are inherently

informal in nature
 Formal activities involve people and result in
informal association through continuous
interactions
 Formal organizations provide individuals the
means to fulfill social and individual needs
through social interaction
 Functions of Informal in
Formal Organizations

 Communication (which is largely informal)

 Creates cohesiveness and integration
 Facilitates in creating “social” conditions that
encourage willingness to work, by adding social
motives
 Creates a feeling of independence as informal
interactions are not governed by formal rules and
authority
 Functions of Informal in
Formal Organizations

 Protects individual personality and character

against negative (or corrupt) organizational
influences
 Informal organizations play a significant role in
the development of an organizational culture, that
is the aggregate of the values, norms and attitudes
of its people
 Examples

 Six senior most supreme court judges refused to

take oath under LFO. All were “sacked”. The
informal organization protected their individual
morality from the corrupt influences of the
formal system
THANK YOU!