Importance, Advantages and Disadvantages of informal groups

• Informal groups play an important role within organisations

Advantages /Importance of informal groups

• They satisfy the social needs of their members
• The group members can help each other during times of crisis for example divorce at home and other situations for which there is no formal group help
• Members encourage each other to meet an acceptable level of performance e.g. lazy members may be told to work hard
• Managers can use informal groups to relay information
• Provides an extra channel of communication via the grapevine
• Members motivate each other
• Managers can leak information and use it to gauge the reaction of employees e.g proposed salary cuts

Disadvantages

• They can be a source of conflict within the organisation
• They result in idle time as members chat away during work time
• The grapevine might be cause confusion, anxiety and enmity
• They result in the perpetration of bad practices as new employees are initiated into the group
• Can be a source of resistance to change.

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