What is an informal relationship in an organization? This is a relationship that ceases to be just business and becomes personal. This happens all the time. Indeed, sometimes colleagues can be seen even more often than family members. It is not surprising that a person is trying to build relationships at work that will make him want to go to the office.
Definition
Informal relationships are relationships that are difficult to call business. Usually they arise in small organizations. Employees of such companies communicate too closely, and sometimes they are relatives or best friends. There are frequent cases when good friends begin to build a joint business. Young people welcome familiarity in the team, they even encourage it. What can it be expressed in? In the joint celebration of holidays, corporate parties, and just spending the weekend in a close circle.
Employees who adhere to informal relationships know not only the business acumen of their colleagues, but also their personal lives. People are aware of who they are meeting with, who have how many children 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, perforce, become part of one team. In some offices, it is possible to avoid the establishment of informal relations, and in some not. What determines the formation of too close a connection?
- A sense of belonging. A 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 man consoles himself with the thought that his colleagues cannot cope without him, and often this really happens.
- Interest. When a person likes the workplace and the whole organization as a whole, he will direct all his efforts to help the company develop. Interest in a common cause brings people together.
- Mutual assistance. A person feels sympathy for those who come to his rescue. And when a team member is confident in his colleagues, he builds trust. And trust is the basis 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 in themselves. They share them with others, ask for advice, and work together to find a solution.
- Mutual protection. When a person feels sympathy and trust in his colleague, he will try to protect the person. Mutual cover of each other in front of the authorities brings together.
Characteristic
In any close-knit team, its members will maintain good relations. And what can be characterized by informal communication?
- Identification with the group. People working in a team of close friends will perceive the result of activity not as their own, but as a group. From the members of such a team you can hear not the word “I”, but the word “we”. A person will identify himself as a member of one large family.
- Personal contact. In which team can a warm relationship be created? In the one in which everyone has the opportunity to speak frankly with each other. If people do not crouch in front of their friends, their relationship will be informal.
- Distribution of roles. As in any team, in the informal there will be a clear gradation of personalities. Each person is unique, and it will be seen. One individual will be wary, another too open, and it will be difficult for the third to hide his frankness.
Behind
Both formal and informal relationships have advantages and disadvantages. The following are the merits of those teams in which close communication is encouraged.
- Nice atmosphere. People go to work with pleasure. They perceive their service as a trip with friends in a cafe. Due to this, the team rarely has contentions and quarrels. The general mood of colleagues is most often positive.
- Devotion to the company. Good professionals who find true friends in the company will think twice before quitting their job. Even if a qualified master is offered a higher salary in another organization, he will most likely refuse the offer, as he will not be interested in creating new social ties.
- The pursuit of company development. Each team member, in which informal relations dominate, will strive to develop his organization. Why? Good relations with the management and colleagues will contribute to more efficient work.
Against
Informal relationships are not things to strive for. So most managers think. Why are they of 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 one of the colleagues doesn’t succeed, everyone else will look at the flaws with their eyes closed. This situation often happens: the employee is a good storyteller, but a poor employee.
- Gossip. Where there is close communication, there is always room for rumors and omissions. Gossip loves to pass on to each other, not only women, but also men. Slander and slander can undermine healthy relationships in any team.
- Inhibition of progress. A close-knit team often resists any innovations. It seems to people that their fragile world, which they had difficulty building, could collapse if the boss recruits a few more employees, sends someone to study, or acquires new equipment.
Structure
Informal relations in an organization can be considered both as a blessing and as an attack. The close relationship between colleagues affects their work and, as a result, their effectiveness. To successfully manage such a team, the boss must be a good psychologist. The director must analyze the relationship between his subordinates. The structure of informal relations is as follows:
- Friends and strangers. In the group in which informal communication reigns , there is a clear boundary that runs between them and the rest. Team members have their own roles that are secretly distributed. It is difficult for a person to enter into such a circle of communication from outside, and sometimes it is simply impossible to do.
- Promotion through the hierarchy. Each group has leaders and outsiders. In a team in which informal communication reigns, it will not be difficult to change their social role.
- The oppression of the lower classes. Authorities often enjoy their privileged position. Therefore, often newcomers or those people who have not yet managed to become members of the team, are oppressed by the rest.
- Compliance with unspoken rules. The “Code of Honor,” which all members of the collective must observe, is not written down anywhere, but its violation can lead to serious disagreements in the collective.
The leaders
The informal nature of the relationship contributes to the emergence of individuals in the group who occupy a dominant position. Such a person is informally considered a leader. He solves all the questions that arise, it is he who is asked for help, and he is the one who communicates better with the bosses than others. What qualities does a leader have? He must be active and able to enter into trust. An outgoing person knows everything and everyone. It is he who spreads the rumors and creates the mood in the team. If necessary, the leader can make colleagues “make friends” against one or another member of their downed group. No one chooses leaders. Therefore, if the team does not like something, a person may lose his authority and someone else will take a vacant place.
Bosses
Informal employment forms leadership. It is the director that helps bring his subordinates closer together. If management 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 member of the group. He will know the weaknesses and strengths of each member of the work collective. The boss will also be aware of all personal issues. The director can help both morally and financially overcome life's difficulties with all his wards.
Novels
An informal relationship scenario usually includes a love triangle, which is formed from colleagues. Employees show liberties with each other, as a result of which a stormy romance is struck between two colleagues. But usually these stories do not have a happy ending. The employee or employee already has a husband or wife, as well as a child. A novel at work is perceived as entertainment or an affair. Even there is 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 misunderstanding, problems that will be transferred from the office home will quickly destroy people's happiness. And further communication between former lovers will be very strained.
Examples
There are many examples of scenes from informal relationships. Female colleagues who have been working in the office for more than a year can spend their weekends together. They will meet families, go to visit each other or travel together to the sea during the holidays.
An example of informal communication in a team is frequent corporate events. Such events are not held in a restaurant, where the opportunity to chat is minimized, but directly in the office itself. The director, along with his subordinates, can drink alcohol, joke, tell obscene jokes and discuss funny cases from his practice.
Good or bad
To be or not to be informal communication - decides the leadership. And most often company directors come to the conclusion 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 ensure that each of the employees respects each other. People come to work to work, rather than discuss personal issues. Specialists should primarily be engaged in improving their skills, rather than discussing urgent matters. Only a small business, whose management does not seek to expand, can allow informal communication of subordinates.