What is the Importance of group in an Organization?

In the modern management scenario the importance of groups and its values and norms is influencing the positive behaviour in an organization. A group is a collection of two or more people who work with one another regularly to achieve common goals. Groups help organizations in accomplishing important tasks. Groups are important to improve organizational outputs and to influence the attitudes and behaviour of members of the organization.  We can say that in any organization it is necessary to understand the nature of the groups and group behaviour to improve the performance of the organization.

CATEGORIZATION OF GROUPS

When we speak of a group, we mean something more than just a number of persons having opportunities for close and frequent contacts. A group is a collection of individuals who have relations to one another that make them interdependent to some significant degree.

As so defined, the term group refers to a class of social entities having in common the property of interdependence among their constituent members. We can classify groups in various categories. There are some formal groups their task is to deliberate and systematic grouping of people in an organization so that organizational goals are better achieved. Now any organization would have a certain formula. They are very essential for the efficient functioning of the organization.

Formal groups can either be permanent or temporary. Informal groups are the natural and spontaneous grouping of people whenever they work together over a period of time. Whenever people interact and work together over a certain period of time, it’s very natural for them and it comes very spontaneously for them, that they form informal groups.

Groups to which an individual really belongs, is known as Membership group, while a Reference group is the one with which one identifies or to which one would wish to belong.

Primary groups are those which have a formal or informal claim on the names associated with their groups or projects. On the other hand the people in a secondary group interact on a less personal level than in a primary group, and their relationships are temporary rather than long lasting. Since secondary groups are established to perform functions, people’s roles are more interchangeable. The terms small group and primary group are often used interchangeably. All small groups are not primary but all primary groups are small.