Informal Relationships: Pros and Cons of Informal Relationships in an Organization

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

What is an informal relationship in an organization? These are those relationships that cease to be just business and become personal. This happens all the time. Indeed, sometimes colleagues can be seen even more often than family members. No wonder a person tries to build a relationship at work that will make them want to go to the office.

Definition

Informal relationships are relationships that can hardly be called business. They usually occur in small organizations. Employees of such companies communicate too closely, and sometimes they are relatives or best friends. It is not uncommon for good friends to start building a joint business. Young people welcome familiarity in the team, they even encourage it. In what way can it be expressed? In the joint celebration of holidays, corporate parties and just spending the weekend in a close circle.

Employees who maintain informal relationships know more than just businessgrip of their colleagues, but also their personal lives. People know who is dating whom, how many children they have, and how they spend their leisure time. Informal relationships are more common in women's groups. This is not surprising when you consider that closeness between employees is achieved through frequent, frank conversations.

Formation

People who are forced to be in close contact with their colleagues 5 days a week willy-nilly become part of the same team. Some offices manage to avoid establishing informal relationships, while others do not. What determines the formation of too close a bond?

• Feeling of belonging. The person likes to be part of a team. The very realization of the fact that you are not just a person, but a cog in the mechanism of a common cause, raises self-esteem. A person comforts himself with the thought that his colleagues cannot cope without him, and often this is true.
• Interested. When a person likes the workplace and the whole organization as a whole, he will direct all his efforts to help the company grow. Interest in a common cause strongly unites people.
• Mutual assistance. A person feels sympathy for those who come to his rescue. And when a team member is confident in his colleagues, he develops trust. And trust is the foundation for any close relationship.
• Close communication. People who communicate with each other every day over a cup of tea or coffee simply cannot keep personal problems to themselves. They share them withothers, asking for advice, and working together to find a solution.
• Mutual protection. When a person feels sympathy and trust for his colleague, he will try to protect the person. Mutual cover for each other in front of the authorities brings them together.

Characteristic

In any close-knit team, its members will maintain good relations. And how can you characterize informal communication?

• Identification with the group. People working in a team of close friends will perceive the fruit of the activity not as their own, but as a group. From the members of such a collective one can hear not the word "I", but the word "we". The person will identify as a member of one big family.
• Personal contact. In what team can warm relationships be created? In one in which everyone has the opportunity to speak frankly with each other. If people don't curry favor with their friends, their relationship will be informal.
• Distribution of roles. As in any team, in an informal one there will be a clear gradation of personalities. Every person is unique and it will show. One individual will act wary, another will be too open, and a third will find it difficult to hide his frankness.

For

Both formal and informal relationships have their advantages and disadvantages. Below are the virtues of those teams that encourage close communication.

• Good atmosphere. People are walkingto work with pleasure. They perceive their service as a trip with friends to a cafe. Because of this, there are rarely strife and quarrels in the team. The general mood of colleagues is most often positive.
• Loy alty to the company. Good professionals who have found real friends in the firm will think twice before quitting their job. Even if a qualified craftsman is offered a higher salary in another organization, he is likely to refuse the offer, as he will not be interested in creating new social ties.
• Striving for the development of the company. Each member of the team, which is dominated by informal relationships, will strive to develop their organization. Why? Good relations with management and colleagues will contribute to more efficient work.

Cons

Informal relationships are not something to strive for. This is what most leaders think. Why do they hold this opinion?

• Lack of self-realization. When a person knows that he is loved and appreciated, he loses interest in development. The team is like a family. If something does not work out for one of the colleagues, everyone else will look at the flaws with their eyes closed. It often happens that an employee is a good storyteller, but a bad worker.
• Gossip. Where there is close communication, there is always a place for rumors and omissions. Not only women, but also men like to pass gossip to each other. Slander and slander can undermine he althy relationships in any team.
• Slowdown of progress. A close-knit team often opposes any innovation. People feel that their fragile world, which they have worked hard to build, may collapse if the boss hires a few more employees, sends someone to training, or purchases new equipment.

Structure

Informal relationships within an organization can be seen as both a boon and a bane. The close relationship between colleagues has an impact on their work activities and, as a result, efficiency. To successfully manage such a team, the boss must be a good psychologist. The director must analyze the relationship that has developed between his subordinates. The structure of informal relationships is as follows:

• Own and others. In a group in which informal communication reigns, there is a clear boundary that lies between them and the rest. Team members have their own roles, which are secretly distributed. It is difficult for a person from the outside to enter such a circle of communication, and sometimes it is simply impossible to do so.
• Promotion up the hierarchical ladder. Every group has leaders and outsiders. In a team where informal communication reigns, it will not be difficult to change your social role.
• The oppression of the bottom. Authorities often take advantage of their privileged position. Therefore, often newcomers or those people who have not yet become members of the team are oppressed by the rest.
• Compliance with the unspoken rules. The “code of honor”, which all members of the team must observe, is not written anywhere, but its violationcan lead to serious disagreements in the team.

Leaders

The informal nature of the relationship contributes to the fact that individuals appear in the group who occupy a dominant position. Such a person is informally considered a leader. He solves all emerging issues, it is to him that they turn for help, and it is he who communicates with superiors better than others. What qualities does a leader have? He must be active and be able to gain confidence. A sociable person knows everything and everyone. It is he who spreads rumors and creates a mood in the team. If necessary, the leader can force colleagues to "befriend" one or another member of their downed group. Nobody chooses leaders. Therefore, if the team does not like something, a person may lose his authority, and someone else will take the vacant position.

Chiefs

Informal labor relations are shaped by leadership. It is the director who contributes to the rapprochement of his subordinates. If leadership does not support informal communication, then it will not be able to take root. Another thing is when the director is a liberal. He can encourage familiarity and communicate with his subordinates on you without any hesitation. Such close relationships lead to the fact that the boss becomes a direct participant in the group. He will know the weak and strong points of each member of the labor collective. The boss will also be aware of all personal problems. The director can help both morally and financially overcome life's difficulties with all hiswards.

Novels

The scenario of informal relationships usually includes a love triangle, which is formed from colleagues. Employees show liberties in relation to each other, as a result of which a stormy romance develops between two colleagues. But usually such stories do not have a happy ending. An employee or employee already has a husband or wife, as well as a child. The novel at work is perceived as entertainment or an affair. There is even sympathy between two colleagues who are not married, they are not destined to live a long and happy life together. Constant communication at work, gossip and misunderstandings, problems that will be carried home from the office, will quickly destroy people's happiness. And further communication between former lovers will be very strained.

Examples

There are many examples of scenes of informal relations. Female colleagues who have been working in the office for more than a year can spend their weekends together. They will meet with families, visit each other or go to the sea together during the holidays.

An example of informal communication in a team is frequent corporate parties. Such events are not held in a restaurant, where the opportunity to communicate is minimized, but directly in the office itself. The director, along with his subordinates, can drink alcoholic beverages, joke, tell obscene jokes and discuss funny cases from his practice.

Good or bad

To be or not to be informal communication - management decides. And most often directors of companies come toopinion that friendship is friendship, and service is service. Only inexperienced businessmen encourage familiarity. A director who wants to have a strong and stable business will demand respect from his subordinates. In turn, the manager will make sure that each of the employees respects each other. People come to work to work, not to discuss personal problems. Specialists should first of all be engaged in improving their skills, and not discussing pressing matters. Only a small business, whose management does not seek expansion, can allow informal communication of subordinates.