INFORMAL GROUPS: HOW TO WORK WITH THEM By José Luis

INFORMAL GROUPS: HOW TO WORK WITH THEM
By José Luis Castro
Two African malaria programmes decided to distribute mosquito bed netting to rural villagers.
One country’s population embraced the concept, and disease declined. In the other country,
the villagers took their nets to the river and used them to catch fish.
The difference in these outcomes is that one national programme recognised the critical
importance of informal groups. This programme educated the village’s respected elders to set
aside their cultural distrust of bed netting, and then enlisted them to reach the others. The
second programme relied solely on external health professionals, whose scientific knowledge
and methods the villagers mistrusted.
In the workplace as well, informal groups can spell the difference between an initiative’s
success or failure as much as does formal organisational structure. Working with informal
groups and their leaders has been recognised globally as a way to influence the work
environment. Wise managers seek buy-in from them to get their plans implemented. As Gandhi
said: “I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with
people.”
Informal groups exist in almost every organisation. They are as real as the formal organisation
structure, but function independent of it. With their own leaders, values and behaviors, they
can exhibit strong cohesion – group members will assist and support each other. In return they
expect loyalty to the group and its norms.
If they are not included, or do not endorse management’s policies, they can work against the
success of an initiative. Many a well-intentioned, properly conceived reform or improvement
has failed because the informal group did not accept it. If the group perceives management’s
rules to be unfair, it may resist actively or passively, visibly or invisibly -- and then devise clever
ways to impose its own preferred norms.
For example, management may expect each worker to personally sign in and out daily. If
informal group culture says that workers should “cover” for colleagues when one is late or
leaves early, you will have difficulty enforcing this rule simply through formal edicts.
Informal groups can also be a force for good. Formal policies, procedures, and standards cannot
alone keep a modern organisation functioning smoothly, so informal systems help get the work
done. One communications manager was responsible for gathering and writing organisation
“best practices,” but she had neither staff nor a formal process to collect these stories. Her
informal network of friends stepped up to provide the information she needed.
Given all this, it is essential to understand the dynamics of informal groups and channel them
positively.
Accept that joining together in a small group is human nature; it makes individuals feel
stronger, less anxious, and more secure. Formal management cannot create, eliminate or
control such groups.
However, you can influence them. Start by knowing what groups exist, and who leads them.
Observe and participate -- in the lunchroom, around the copier, and other informal settings.
Develop relationships with leaders. When need arises, you can use this relationship to develop
group support by winning over the leaders– much as the malaria workers did in introducing bed
netting.
Groups and leaders aren’t won over just because you chat with them occasionally. Underlying
your relationship must be the understanding you gain by listening. Understand their values and
concerns. When introducing a change, analyse how it will affect workers, what concerns they
might have, and how to address them. If you change routines to require people to work
outdoors part of the day, don’t base the plan solely on operational factors like delivery
schedules. Take into account aspects like weather, that affect individuals. You may find they
welcome time outdoors in the morning, but resist it in afternoon heat.
Don’t push too far in seeking to win over group leaders, however. If the group decides that you
have “co-opted” them, it may replace them with a new leader.
Don’t ignore or attempt to blot out the “grapevine” – you can’t. Besides, studies have shown
that it is 75 percent to 90 percent accurate, and often conveys information better than formal
channels. Listen to the grapevine – it can be a useful tool to measure employee sentiment.
Managers who gain the informal organisation’s support are less likely to monitor and micromanage , which enables greater delegation, decentralization, and overall productivity.
Whatever is your organisation’s equivalent of the Africans’ mosquito netting will be used for its
intended purpose, rather than become a lost opportunity.