Work Groups in Business

According to one researcher, a "group" is "three or more people that can identify itself and be identified by others in the organization as a group" (Shea & Guzzo, 1987, p. 25). Work groups are groups that come together in professional partnerships in order to combine their talents and skills. Together, they try to accomplish what any one of them alone could not (Barrett, 1987, p. 24).

Work groups can be formal, or informal. Formal groups are permanent and formed by management. They are imposed on workers and highly structured. The leader of a formal group is often a supervisor or someone else who formerly occupied a management position. These groups depend on the organization to provide the goal and purpose of the group. Formal work groups are generally static, and resistant to change (Barrett, 1987

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overcome the problem behavior as well as consequences which will be imposed by the group if the member is unsuccessful. The group may also impose a time limit on the member for improving the behavior. The key to teams working in a personnel role is that they are able to provide positive steps to negative problems. They can use peer pressure, team counselling and individual relationships to effect change in the individual. Left to the personnel department, particularly in a large organization, discipline and other personnel-related matters can be cold and distant (Barkman, 1987, p. 60). The Supervisor's Role As work groups take on personnel roles, there is the question of what role the supervisor provides. In some cases, particularly in formal groups, the supervisor is perceived as the team leader and liaison between the work group and management. In other cases, teams have evolved in such a way that supervisors at the line level have been nearly eliminated. One such example is that of a Frito-Lay plant in Kern County, California. This 300-employee plant uses work groups with nearly no direct supervision. Work groups are generally made up of eight people and set their own goals. The groups are responsible for inspec
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Approximate Word count = 3004
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)

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