Informal Organization: Meaning, Features and Management

Characteristics of the informal organization

It has characteristics that differentiate it from the formal organization, such as:

• Spontaneity in its origin. It’s not planned and forms naturally.
• It’s a consequence of the rigidity of the informal structure.
• It complements the formal organization. This is one of the most important characteristics because it helps achieve goals, but only if management knows how to take advantage of it by understanding, accepting and managing it correctly.

Organizational Behavior

Regarding behavior and its relationship with formality, it’s the set of beliefs, values and previous experiences of individuals that influence their behavior both outside and inside the organization. These behaviors may be in favor of organizational objectives or of the individual interests.

Organizational behavior can be formal, informal or non-formal.

• Formal behavior. It’s what is expected of individuals in the organization and occurs when they act according to the instructions of the formal organization.
• Informal behavior. It’s informal if you seek to satisfy social needs by establishing social and emotional relationships.
• Non-formal behavior. It’s when the objectives of the organization are pursued, but deviating a little from the means or procedures formally established for this purpose, by resorting to different ways of doing things. Non-formal behavior occupies an intermediate place between formal and informal.

Processes of the informal organization

There are processes that make its existence, harmony and coordination possible, and they are:

• Setting standards

It consists of the existence of norms that guide the behavior of the members and that, despite not having been explicitly established, they are accepted and respected by the group. For example, a work group in an office may make it a rule to help each other on special assignments in order to get the job done on time.

• Informal communication

It’s the reception and dissemination of information through channels other than the hierarchical structure, so that people communicate through channels that are created by the same informal relationships. That is to say, that the information is not transmitted following the formal structure, but it does so using the informal relations between people, it’s an exchange of information in an unofficial way. (1)

An example of this is when a worker finds out about outbreaks of COVID-19 at a company through another worker and not through the corresponding authorities. On the contrary, if it were the workers indicated by the hierarchical structure that disseminated this information, the communication would be formal.

Informal communication networks

The degree of selectivity of the people to whom the information is transmitted can generate effective communication or even simple gossip if the messages are disseminated indiscriminately. And that is why, even if the communication is informal, it should be responsible and pertinent. There are three chains of communication, namely the simple chain, compound chain and gossip.

• Cohesion

Cohesion is the union and loyalty between members, as when they come together and support each other to achieve a common goal.

Importance of the Informal organization

The informal organization is of utmost importance because it allows the satisfaction of human needs, which in turn increase satisfaction within the work.

Among these needs is to relate in a more intimate and personal way with other people, in this case, their co-workers, and feel that they belong to a group and identify with it and feel supported.

The informal organization also satisfies the need to feel secure because, as a group, one has more influence in the organization and, furthermore, mutual support also arises here, which contributes to improving the skills of individuals when teaching each other occurs.

If a person feels isolated or excluded from the group, this will affect their work performance because there are human needs that are being neglected and this has negative psychological effects. (2)

Management of informal organization and groups

The informal organization is present in almost all the activities of the organization itself and should not be ignored or eliminated. On the contrary, it must be accepted, understood and managed to use it in favor of the organizational objectives, since it helps to cover certain failures.

It cannot be denied that some informal organizations are not good, and that is why it is necessary to know how to direct them so that they are beneficial for all.

It must be done starting by understanding the causes of negative behavior and making sure to meet the basic needs of its members such as security through a decent wage, the need for self-esteem, stability and social needs as already mentioned.

Good administration of the informal organization requires being able to identify and influence it, but since it’s not a legal entity with a name, members and objectives, and It’s something implicit and of spontaneous origin, its identification is made by observing the behavior of the workers, how they relate, how they act, what they say and what they do not, etc.

And the way to influence her is by demonstrating authentic and not ill-intentioned acceptance and recognition, listening to it and attending to it in order to integrate formal interests with informal ones.

Conclusion

Contributing to the personal fulfillment and happiness of employees results in an organizational, social and individual win-win.

Finally, it is observed that formality and informality are simultaneous, an organization should not be so rigid as to cause dysfunctionalities and much less inflexible with the social nature of people.

It must adapt to reality, or it will fail by not attending to its most important resource, the human resource.

It is evident that it is the environment that determines what the organization does and a fundamental requirement for it to exist and succeed is adaptability, individual and organizational adaptation.