The role of informal groups in organizational management

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The role of informal groups in organizational management The case study "Personnel Changes in City Government" by Curtis Copeland examines the impact of informal groups on the organizational performance. It also shows how informal groups within formal systems and their activities have an undeniable impact on organizations’ progress. In the same time, we can see how managers sometimes fail to realize the pressures of informal groups that influence individuals’ behavior. All the action takes place in 1980's, in a small town from Texas, Groveton. The city of Groveton is governed and administrated under a council-manager form of government. The council has five members, selected in nonpartisan elections for a two years period. The city hall has nearly 500 employees. The other people of the town are working in the forest local companies. I will start my analysis on this case with a quote from Gandhi that can also be a motto for this essay: "I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people." I think that thing the two managers didn't do. They didn't get along with people. People that for many years did the same thing, in the same manners with the same people. And much more than this, they liked it, they thought that what they are doing is good for them. And suddenly, after thirteen years as city manager, Taylor decides to resign and leaves his place to a younger man. But that's not all. That younger man is coming from outside. Even if he was born and lived his childhood in Groveton, Drummond has been studied and worked in another city than Groveton. The younger man, the new city manager of Groveton is starting well his job. He is holding meetings with the department heads both separately and as a group to explain his philosophy of management, based on his experience and what he has studied and also to hear their

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