COMM 222 Study Guide - Group Cohesiveness, Informal Sector, Work Unit
Document Summary
A group consists of two or more people interacting interdependently to achieve a common goal. Interdependence simply means that group members rely to some degree on each other to accomplish goals. Formal work groups are groups that organizations establish to facilitate the achievement of organizational goals. They are intentionally designed to channel individual effort in an appropriate direction. The most common formal group consists of a manager and the employees who report back to him. Informal work groups are groups that emerge naturally in response to the common interests of organizational members. The situation is often ambiguous and members are aware of their dependency on each other: storming: conflict often emerges. Confrontation and criticism occur as members determine whether they will go along with the way the group is developing. Sorting out roles and responsibilities is often the issue here: norming: members resolve the issues that provoked the storming and they develop social consensus.
