Organizations and group behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Organizations and group behavior - Essay Example In accordance with the issues discussed in the paper the increase of competition in all industries has led organizations to search for strategies, which can help them to develop a competitive advantage towards their rivals. In order to identify the key elements of group behavior it should be necessary to understand primarily the characteristics of a group, as part of the organizational life. In accordance with Martin within organizations, different forms of group can be identified: a) individuals working on similar organizational activities may not constitute a group; for example, the lecture staff in the same department of a particular university may not meet or cooperate; these individuals cannot be characterized as a group, b) the sub-sections of certain organizational departments are often parts of formal organizational units and they are likely to help towards the completion of organizational tasks of low importance, c) informal groups within organizations are common for promoti ng specific organizational tasks or ideas; for instance, the case of ‘friendship groupings and task-depended networks’, d) groups related to a particular organizational project can be developed within an organization; these groups, formal or informal, are not permanent, as for example ‘a project group working on the building of a new oil refinery’, e) formal and informal groups can be developed within organizations for completed a particular organizational task; these groups are ‘transient’, as for example a formal group working on the reduction of the organization’s travel expenses by 10%.... within an organization; these groups, formal or informal, are not permanent (Martin 232), as for example ‘a project group working on the building of a new oil refinery’ (Martin 232), e) formal and informal groups can be developed within organizations for completed a particular organizational task; these groups are ‘transient’ (Martin 232), as for example a formal group working on the reduction of the organization’s travel expenses by 10% (Martin 232). The development of group activities within modern organizations has been often related to the trend of firms to imitate the strategies of their rivals (Griffin and Moorhead 2011). In the study of Griffin and Moorhead (2011) reference is made to the risks that such strategy can hide mostly because of the following fact: the use of teams for promoting organizational plans can be beneficial for organizations but the costs involved can be also significant. The case of Ampex is mentioned as an example of the benefits of team development within modern organization: in Ampex, the involvement of teams in organizational activities led to the increase of ‘online customer delivery by 98%) (Griffin and Moorhead 272). In Texas Instruments, the use of teams for developing the daily organizational tasks resulted to the reduction of organizational costs for about 50% (Griffin and Moorhead 272). Also, in Eastman, the development of teams across the organization supported the increase of organizational performance at significant levels; the productivity of the organization was increased for about 70%, a result which was directly related to the involvement of teams in all organizational projects (Griffin and Moorhead 272). In accordance with the above findings, the role of group in the development of organizational performance,