Answer to Question #214110 in Management for Maame Esi

Question

Organization should be absolutely formal, to what extent do you disagree

Answer 1

An Organization should not be Absolutely Formal

Introduction

           Many organizations prefer working in a formal manner unlike the informal way. Stereotypically, a formal organization is believed to better compare to the informal organization with the aspect that a formal organization does have an hierarchical arrangement of work to its employees and the supporting staff. The managers form a systematic working system which ensures that the resources are well utilized hence given the name formal organization. (Hashaw 2019) However, an organization should not be formal for it to perform its operations smoothly. An informal organization is where individual (employees) are assigned certain jobs but they can freely interact with anyone in the organization in order to develop social groups in the organization. The main reason for the existence of an informal organization is achieving psychological satisfaction. For the creation of jobs in the informal structure in an organization is mainly brought out by the social interaction of the employees. Though a formal structure is better than the informal structure it does not necessarily mean that an informal structure is not preferred.

Structure and Benefits of an informal organization

           An informal organization is more likelihood to change at any time because it does not have rigid structure as to the formal one. It is also gets created without efforts of the managers because of the social interaction of the supporting staff. In this structure, employees do not follow a channel towards passing of information hence it enables easy communication and interaction of the staff members and employees. Decision in this structure is easily made because employees are free and able to pass information to the managers without any fear. This form of structure is brought up by the workers in order to get a psychological satisfaction without the efforts of the managers.

Reasons for Choosing an Informal Structure over the Formal Structure

There are several reasons why people choose to have an informal stricture in an organization than the formal structure. There reasons are as follows; there is easy and fast communication between the workers unlike the formal structure where the employees follows a channel for him or her to reach the managers. This can lead to easy decision making in the organization because ideas are freely shared among the members of the organization which is advantageous to the organization. Secondly, the informal structure helps managers to get the correct feedback from the employees. Finally, the informal structure helps all the members in different levels of management to fulfill their social needs unlike in the formal structure. This aspect motivates the employees and helps them to work as a team hence promoting team work. The formal structure does not support team work.

Conclusion

           The above discussed points clearly give the advantages of an informal structure over the formal structure therefore this information disagrees the fact that organizations should be absolutely formal. It is also evident that in the current situation that many organizations are gradually changing from a formal structure to informal structure.

                                                                                

           

 

References

1.    Hashaw (2019), Business Model and Organizational Structure,  Small Businesses <span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:200%;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">https://smallbusiness.chron.com/difference-between-informal-formal-organization-18282.html</span>