In This Paper I Will Discuss the Actual Formation of Groups Within an Organization

Abstract

In this paper I will discuss the actual formation of groups within an organization. Within the document you will find that there are formal and informal groups, and inside those two groups there are subcategories of groups. As we continue on there will be a snap shot explaining the advantages and disadvantages of group decision making. Lastly, you will get an overview on how to effectively manage group behavior during the decision making process. A great manager will recognize that although individuals are now performing as one unit, looking to accomplish the same goal we still have to embrace and encourage the uniqueness of each individual’s diversity. Because through that diversity comes creativity and innovation.

In today’s world our culture is starting to network more and more. We see that organizations are continuously providing teambuilding training. Organizations are always talking of working as a team. Many strive to have unity amongst the members of the organization because everyone there is working towards the same goal. That goal is whatever the mission statement of that organization and following it to provide a good or service. As we talk about teambuilding, we need to think about the group and how to manage group behavior. To do this first we need to define group.

As stated by Ivancevich (2013), “A group is two or more individuals interacting with each other to accomplish a common goal” (p 267, 269). Although that is the basic definition of a group, there are two other requirements to fit the description. Besides having at least two individuals, there has to be evidence of interactions between the group members. With organizations becoming more global these interactions are not limited to face to face. Interactions can occur through email correspondence, telephone conference, video conference, and any other methods used electronically to communicate. More and more projects are being done outside of the traditional office meeting environment. The last requirement to be considered a group is that there must be a common goal. For example, the first day of class our professor stated we needed to divide into groups. Our class has 18 students, and we simply divided into three groups with six students in each group. The common goal for each one of our groups is to come together to discuss the different case studies that are assigned by our professor. Not only do we discuss the case studies and how to apply the reading chapters to the scenario, we then present our findings to our classmates for a grade. The common goal in our groups is to apply the lecture and chapter readings to the assigned case study and present to our class in a professional manner to receive a good grade (Ivancevich, 2013, p 269-270). Our three class groups would be considered a formal group.

Groups fall into two categories formal or informal. Previously,