Essential Features of Contemporary Organisations Essay Example for Free

Essential Features of Contemporary Organisations stressThis essay aims to discuss why teams and assemblys be seen as essential features of modern-day organisations. Firstly, it depart examine what simply constitutes a concourse or team, then it will go on to discuss various types of free radicals and teams which hold up within an organisation. Next it will explain why groups and teams argon key to contemporary organisations in particular(prenominal) and finally, it will discuss the disadvantages associated with groups within organisations.Firstly, it is important to distinguish what exactly constitutes a team or a group. As Khan (2010) states, all teams are groups because the individuals in it have some kind of of unifying relationship, except not all groups are teams because the individuals making up a group whitethorn have actually little or no interdependence and they could just as well lead al one and only(a). For the purposes of this essay we will assume that the terms team and group are interchange adequate to(p). Therefore, a group is a collection of individuals who parting a common set of norms, who generally have differentiated roles among themselves, and who interact with one an other(a) toward the join pursuit of common goals (Steers and Black, 1994).Within an organisation different types of groups cost and are essential for the twenty-four hours to day running of the company. Formal and informal groups are the intimately common groups found within organisations where formal groups are the groups brought together by the organisation for a specific purpose for example, the human resources department and where informal groups are the social groups create voluntarily by individuals within the organisation for example, hatful who share common interests.Businesses mountainnot exist without both formal and informal groups. Informal groups provide individuals with a means of gaining help and support to defy out their particula r objectives (which whitethorn or may not be the same as the organisations objectives) (Handy, 1993 as cited in Kahn, 2010). Informal groups provide employees with the social contact they desire which makes them more agreeable in the work environment and as such more ordain to participate actively in their formal groups. rude and closed groups likewise exist within organisations where an open group is one whose membership changes frequently and a closed group is one whose membership is relatively stable. In a closed group posture relationships are produceed among the members, meaning that there will be clear cut racy positioning and low status members. Within an organisation the commission butt end manipulate these different sets of groups in parliamentary law to achieve their goals. For example, keeping decision making groups as open groups means that leadership roles are more difficult to establish amongst the members and thus high status members of the group will find i t hard to establish norms and the team will work to its best potential.Many contemporary organisations are now spread globally, so it is of utmost importance for them to factor in another type of group, the practical(prenominal) group. Virtual groups are able to come together regardless of time and space restrictions to work on resolving any issues. thank to advances of the world wide web, for the first time teams can virtually collocate all of the information they learn to work together and put it all in context (Lipnack and Stamps, 1997). Virtual groups allow the organisation to answer quickly to any market changes, harbor pressure a expression from top management and instil a sense of be farsighteding and importance amongst the employees.The virtual group is an important factor for global organisations as it allows for ethnic diversity in the solutions which are proposed. For example, the Chinese office may have a different way of thinking than the American office, but throu gh virtual groups it is easy to transfer this cultural knowledge to other areas of the business. A more and more technology driven marketplace pressurises organisations to respond quickly to changes but convey to these technological advances, organisations can begin to use the world wide web to their benefit through virtual teams. Virtual teams allow the organisation to slowly spread decision making to trusted individuals rather than entirely to top management.Groups can be essential to an organisations level of productivity. If there is a high level of group cohesiveness the group will experience high morale and will become a wanted entity to be part of within an organisation which means there will be plenty employees willing to compete with each other for a spot in the group, which in turn raises productivity. Managers need to consider the size of groups in order to occlusion at an optimum level of productivity and also press incentives like bonus pay for good performance t o enhance the desirability of the group even foster. Groups also relieve some of the responsibility of the manager, as they do not have to keep a unalterable eye on each individual employee, they can trust that group members will spur on the productivity of the group in order to gain the proposed incentives.Groups can provide an organisation with more than one solution to a proposed problem because as Maier (1967) states, a group has a greater knowledge investment trust than that of any individual. Monitoring the size of groups here is vital from management, as with a large sized group there may be plenty of ideas generated, but they are not necessarily well formed ideas. Splitting groups into smaller member sizes will ensure the ideas are well thought out and in an extremely competitive marketplace, this is the best strategy for managers to ensure they have a variety high gauge solutions to choose from instead of opting for the first good idea that comes to light.As beneficial as groups are to contemporary organisations, it is also useful to be aware of some of the risks that go along with groups within organisations. Even though it is believed that the quality of ideas or decisions make within a group will be higher than from an individual, people have been known to make riskier decisions within a group context than they would ever have made alone. The reason being people want to conform to group norms as shown in the tests conducted by Milgram (1963). Milgram showed how easily people can be influenced to stray from their initial beliefs for the norms of the group and also how easily people go back to their own beliefs if the group is in support of them through his experiments. This all shows how easily influenced people can be and how they will change their behaviour to that of their peers in order to avoid possible conflict.One further disadvantage of groups within organisations is the theory Groupthink which was developed by Irving Janis (1972) which states that once within groups individuals may lose people of the end goal and instead only focus on reaching an agreement. If suffering from groupthink people may become over confident and invulnerable, they may view outsiders in negative terms and disregard their views and they may force different thinkers to conform to their ideas. Football fans tend to be affected by groupthink, for example, they get sucked into the group and follow the behaviour of others which is vastly different from the way they would act in their day to day lives. Managers can combat groupthink through a number of ways and thus maintain the effectiveness of the group entity to the organisation.In conclusion, groups and teams are essential features of contemporary organisations. Groups come in many forms and businesses cannot exist without the merging of all different types of group within the organisation. Virtual groups are key to contemporary organisations as they allow the organisation to stay up to dat e in the technology stakes and also allows them to merge great minds from the different corners of the globe. Groups with high levels of cohesiveness will increase the productivity of the organisation and can be encouraged and manipulated by management to remain productive. Although groups are essential features of organisations they do also come with their disadvantages, groups can lose their individuality and take even riskier decisions than they would ever do alone. From this essay it is clear that groups and teams are essential features of contemporary organisations as long as the top management understands the complexities of the group and keeps renewing membership so as to gain the most benefits for the organisation.ReferencesKahn, H (2010), Groups and Conflict Management (chapter 6), Organisational Behaviour, Heriot Watt UniversitySteers, R. M and Black, J. S (1994) Organisational Behaviour, Prentice HallLipnack, J and Stamps, J (1997) Virtual Teams, online Available at http/ /books.google.co.uk/books?hl=enlr=id=171-FrLDhvUCoi=fndpg=PR17dq=virtual+teams+lipnackots=Bu_xw63cfIsig=Is-ymMKvujoYxynZKxXfIJ_tQs8v=onepageqf=false Accessed 4 November 2011Maier, N (1967) Assets and Liabilities In Group Problem Solving The Need For An Integrative Function Psychological Review, Vol 74(4) online Available at http//psycnet.apa.org/journals/ increase/74/4/239/ Accessed 4 November 2011Milgram, S (1963). Behavioural Study Of Obedience Journal of Abnormal and well-disposed Psychology, 67 online Available at http//www.wadsworth.com/psychology_d/templates/student_resources/0155060678_rathus/ps/ps01.html Accessed 4 November 2011Janis, I. L (1972). Victims of Groupthink A Psychological Study of conflicting Policy Decisions and Fiascoes Houghton Miffin.