Building Teams And Resolving Conflict

There are many different types of groups that can exist in an organization, and these will often vary depending on the size and type of organization. Using your company, or one you are familiar with, discuss the following questions:

What are the similarities and differences of formal and informal work groups?

What role does diversity play in a group? What are the advantages and disadvantages to having a highly diverse group on a project?

What role does organizational culture play in the level of success in a work group?

1. What are the differences and similarities of formal and informal group?

Differences

·        The formation of a formal group is mainly through the management while the formation of an informal group is due to personal relationship between members in the formal groups

·        The goals of formal group are well stipulated by the officials and are to be accomplished by the members while the goals of informal groups are mainly to achieve personal gain or interest

·        Formal groups are mostly large consisting of quite a large number of member s while an informal group will have comparatively smaller number of members

·        The duration of existence of a formal group is always given and known while in the latter case, the duration is dependent on the members.

·        A formal group has a hierarchical structure where there is a manager for example and the subordinated members while in an informal group, in most cases the members are at the same level.

Similarities

·        Both are formed to achieve a given task be it an organizational target or personal target

·        In both good interpersonal relationships needed for them to succeed, be it between managers and the subordinates or between friends.

·        The members of a group have common interests and thus decide to come together.

·        In both settings the group members will end up sharing information and benefiting from the other partners in the group

2. What role does diversity play in a group? What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a highly diverse group on a project?

Diversity in a group will always lead to a better output from a given group. The differences in the members of a given group, be it in terms of knowledge or experience brings to the table a wide variety of knowledge and the best decision is made and agreed upon as per the members.

Advantages of having a diverse group

·        A highly diverse group will have a wide pool of knowledge from were the best is chosen and these lead to better decisions being made and conclusions in contrary group that is not diverse will have only little information which may not be optimal but they still have no choice but agree on it.

·        A highly diverse group will always benefit the members. In this kind of group the members are able to learn from the other members.

·        Creativity is greatly promoted in a diverse group. The difference In thinking and level of knowledge will always encourage the members to think beyond the obvious and be creative in their special area, while on the other hand people with the same thinking will always tend to think the same old fashioned way.

·        In a business setting diversity in the group will help understand many cultures and thus expand the business to many cultures

Disadvantages of a highly diverse group

·        In a highly diverse group members may tend to conflict especially were one does not agree with the idea of the other due to their differences .This will always lead to failure in a given group.

·        Diversity in culture brings with it a good deal of ideas but the communication between members in this kind of group may be hampered.

·        When it comes to training, people with similar, attributes, knowledge and culture require one similar trainer but when a group is diversified every different group member has to be catered for making it expensive.

·        The differences may bring about competition which is healthy at some point but when it becomes personal then this may have adverse negative effects.

3. What role does organization culture play in the level of success in a workgroup?

Organization culture brings out the uniqueness of a given organization  to the staff. It gives them a sense of belonging and makes them have that collective responsibility to achieve a common goal for the organization or a group