INTER-GROUP RELATIONS

INTRODUCTION:

Understanding inter-group relations is important for two reasons: i) it is through the interaction and performance of various groups that the goals and objectives of the organizations can be accomplished. It is therefore important for managers to develop an understanding of the major influence on inter-group behavior and to improve their skills in diagnosing and evaluating inter-group process. Second, the discussion of inter-group behavior will serve as a foundation for our discussion of the larger structure or design of the total organization.

FACTORS AFFECTING INTER-GROUP RELATIONS

Interdependence:

Pooled Interdependence:

When two or more groups are combining their inputs together to form an organizational goal, it is following pooled interdependence. All other things are being equal, coordination requirements between or among groups linked by pooled interdependence are less than with sequential or reciprocal interdependence. For example, the resources of various departments in hospital such as blood bank, anesthesia, nursing, pharmacist, house keeping, surgical section etc are utilized to treat a patient and making them recovered from illness. Similarly in new product development, the manufacturing of new model is being interdependent in a pooled manner with research, development, engineering, and marketing functions during the applied research stage.

Sequential Interdependence:

When one group’s output is used by another group as input, it is called as sequential interdependence. For example, in assembly line the output of one department is input for another department. Similarly, in product development, there are a number of sequential interdependence between research and development and engineering departments. The initial laboratory work in the research laboratory is transferred to the larger scale development engineering pilot plant for further testing and developments. The inputs for the development engineering work are the output of the research function. With sequential interdependence, there is an element of potential uncertainty exist. The input element is dependent on the output element for accurate and timely data and information.

Readjustment must be made when an output element performs improperly or fails to meet the expectation of the input element. If the research function does not interact frequently with the development function or if data is inaccurately transferred or delayed, the performance of the development engineering function will be hampered. Good planning and communication between the concerned departments are necessary to coordinate their tasks.

Reciprocal Interdependence:

Where groups exchange inputs and outputs in order to complete their business activity, it is following reciprocal interdependence. For example, the manufacturing and maintenance departments of a plant are mutually interdependent. The manufacturing department cannot function unless the machines are properly serviced by the maintenance department. The maintenance department will not be able to prioritize its servicing activities unless the production department indicates which of the machines gives them the most trouble and provide a schedule of times when it will be most useful for the production department to remain idle and let the maintenance crew walk in to do the repair jobs. Constant dialogue, mutual adjustment and cooperative behavior are necessary for the two groups to function effectively and achieve the overall goals of the organization.

For inter-group performance, it is important for managers to understand that as one progress from pooled to reciprocal, the three types of interdependence require greater interaction, and it also becomes increasingly difficult to coordinate toward task accomplishment. That is, when advancing from pooled interdependence to sequential interdependence, and finally to reciprocal interdependence, there must be an increased awareness by everyone involved that the activities of the one group are dependent on the action and behavior of the other groups. Inter-group performance is a direct result of how this interdependence is successfully controlled and coordinated.

Task Uncertainty:

The nature of task is varying from highly certain to highly uncertain. In those jobs where the level of uncertainty exists at high level, it requires more processing information. Tasks with low uncertainty tend to be standardized. Further, groups that do such tasks do not have to interact much with other groups. In contrast, groups that undertake tasks those are high in uncertainty face problems that require customized responses. This leads to a need for more and better information. For example, in marketing research professionals are required to interact much more actively with other departments such as marketing, sales, product design, advertising etc than would people in manufacturing department. The degree of task uncertainty varies with two factors such as i) task clarity and ii) the task environment.

Task clarity:

It is the degree to which the requirements and responsibilities in the group are clearly stated and understood. Generally task clarity refers to the extent that rules, procedures and polices are used by groups to direct the every day activities of members. In manufacturing a standardized product in assembly line, the task clarity such as quality, quantity, equipment maintenance etc are very much required to meet the goals. In research and development department, a high degree of creativity and innovation are required in day to day operations. Rules and procedures are generally not available, but usually developed as the development progress. One can see the variation of task clarity in these two extremes of job situations.

Task Environment:

These are the factors which, either internal or external, are relevant or significantly affect the level of the performance of a group. For example, the manufacturing department is relying too much on maintenance, quality control, purchase, finance departments to meet its goals. They also interact with elements external to the parent organization such as raw material suppliers, transportation, and marketing, legal professionals’ etc. Task uncertainty also varies with two factors such as i) the number of different elements, units, or groups and ii) the stable-dynamic nature of the environment.

Time and Goal Orientation:

Two particular work orientations can influence inter-group performance: i) time orientation, and ii) goal orientation.

Time Orientation:

It is the time span required to obtain information or results relating to the performance of a task. For example, in our product development illustration, manufacturing and marketing managers deal with situations or problems that provide rapid feedback about results. The manufacturing manager is concerned with hourly quality control and productivity data, whereas the marketing manager may focus his attention on weekly or bimonthly reports of sales volume. The research scientist tends to have longer-range project which may likely to get results only after a year or two.

Goal Orientation:

It focuses on the particular set of task objectives or goals that are of major concern to individuals in organization. To be effective, managers should focus their attention clearly on goals and objectives that are directly related to their work. Production managers focus on such goals such as raw material costs, processing and storage costs, quality of finished products, where as the marketing manager tend to concentrate on increasing sales volume and revenue, market share and penetration and customer satisfaction. The research scientist’s goals involve developing new product, or translating knowledge into potential market applications.

The different goal orientation provides a basis for establishing criteria for evaluating the performance of the particular group or unit. It is expected that the primary criteria of performance for production department would focus on quality, quantity and costs considerations (techno-economic), sales volume and market share are prime issues for marketing department (market), and the number of new products and contribution to scientific knowledge for research and development (science)

Inter-group Performance:

The major elements of interdependence, task uncertainty and time and goal orientation establish three requirements that influence the quality of inter-group performance.

i) The type of interdependence: The type of interdependence between units or groups influences the nature of the interaction requirements. Interaction requirements refer not only to the frequency and quality of interaction required for task accomplishment, but also to the number of levels or individuals in each group that are required to interact with counterparts in others groups. Interaction requires increase as interdependence moves from pooled to sequential to reciprocal interdependence.

ii) The degree of task uncertainty: The degree of task uncertainty inherent in one or more of the interacting groups influences the degree of information flow requirements that are necessary for task accomplishment. Information flow requirements are the amount of information that must be processed between interacting groups. For example, in R & D work, the high level of uncertainty expect to have a great amount of information to flow between these units during the pilot plant or product refinement stage of development.

iii) Time and goal orientation: Time and goal orientation introduces the concepts of differentiation and integration. Differentiation is the degree to which organizational units differ from one another in time (short term to long term) and goal orientation (techno-economic, market or science). On the other hand, integration deals with the degree of collaboration, cooperation, and mutual trust and understanding required and achieved between the various interacting organizations groups. In the early stages of the group development process, there is a high degree of differentiation between the research units and the marketing unit because of differences in time orientation (long term verses short tern) and goal orientation (science versus market)

METHODS FOR MANAGING INTER-GROUP RELATIONS

Rules and Procedures:

The most basic or simplistic method for managing inter-group performance is to specify in advance, through rules and procedures, the required activities and behavior of group members. Interacting employees learn that when certain situations arise there is a particular set of actions that should be used.

The principle benefit of rules and procedures is that they eliminate the need for extensive interaction and information follow between groups or units. Rules and procedures also provide a means of stability to the organization. Employees may come and go, but the procedures remain for future interaction.

Rules and procedures are limited methods for managing inter-group performance. They are most applicable when inter-group activities can be anticipated in advance and when the responses or required behaviors can be developed. Where there is a high degree of task uncertainty and therefore increased information flow requirements, rules and procedures may prove to be inadequate as in inter-group management strategy.

Hierarchy:

When the use of rules and procedures prove inadequate for effective inter-group performance, the use of hierarchy or common supervisor becomes the primary intergroup managerial strategy. The basic assumption for using the hierarchy or common supervisor as an inter-group managerial strategy is that higher level of managers has the power and authority to make these decisions. Whenever interaction, information flow, and integration requirements increase, the manger’s time may be totally taken up for resolving these exceptions or problems of inter-group relations. Less time can be devoted to more pressing issues, such as planning the construction of a new plant.

Planning:

As the problems between interacting units or groups develop beyond the control of rules, procedures or hierarchy, organizations increasingly use planning activities to improve inter-group performance. Planning activities involve setting goals or targets that can lead to task accomplishments.

The task of constructing a building can be effectively accomplished through the use of plans because the complexities can be controlled and the majority of the future interaction can be programmed. On the other hand, the inter-group processes involved in developing a new product from the laboratory to full-scale market introduction cannot be totally planned. The planning process involves a high level of interaction because of the many varied groups that are involved and because such events as scientific knowledge generation and the pattern of consumer reaction cannot be fully spelled out in advance. Certain inter-group relations are well adapted to the use of plans; other inter-group activities can use plans to manage only selected interactions between units or groups. These inter-group activities must develop and use other strategies to manage their interactions.

Liaison or Internal Boundary Spanning Roles:

When the number of interactions and volume of information between two or more units or groups grow, it may become necessary to establish a specialized role to handle these requirements. Such a role has been variously termed a liaison, or more formally, an internal boundary spanner.

Individuals who operate in this role provide lateral communications and facilitate interaction between the two functions in a number of areas. One important area is the coordination of activity directed toward ascertaining the potential of a new product developed by the applied research unit. The effective interaction provided by the liaison role may enable the group to progress to the development stage more quickly or may force the applied research scientists to revise their work in light of a negative evaluation from the market research unit. In such cases, decision related to the new product may be made earlier than if a liaison role had not been established.

These liaison or boundary spanning roles in organizations serve a number of purposes.

i) they can facilitate the flow of information between two or more interacting units. The normal flow of information between units usually is based on formal, time consuming mechanisms, such as memos and formal meetings. The liaison role provides a more informal mechanism that can reduce the time necessary for accurate information flow.

ii) Due to frequent interactions, the liaison person is generally well acquainted with the nature of the work of each of the interacting groups. This knowledge can provide such benefits such as (a) ability to assist in the coordination of various complex activities; (b) ability to provide the interacting units with a better understanding of each other’s functions and responsibilities; and (c) providing a continuous way of keeping each interacting unit aware of the current progress of inter-group relationships and day-to-day decision making.

Task Forces:

When the complexities of interaction increases, such as when the number of interacting units grows in size beyond two or three groups, the coordinating or decision-making capacity of the liaison role becomes overloaded. One mechanism to overcome these problems is to establish a ‘temporary’ task force consisting of one or more representatives from each of the interacting units. Task forces exist only so long as the problem of interacting units remains. When a solutions is reached, each member returns to his or normal duties. Selected members of the interacting groups are brought together to form a task force. Task forces generally coordinate inter-group activities for a specific period of time, thus they are temporary in nature. They are also limited to an advisory role, leaving the final decision making to higher level managers.

In order to resolve typical problems of developing a new product, the task force can be constituted by nominating member from manufacturing, shipping sales, research and development. The task force is charged with identifying the source of the quality problem, developing and selecting alternatives solutions, and implementing whatever solutions is chosen. When the problem has been remedied, the task force disbanded and each member returns to his or her respective groups.

Teams:

Similar to task forces, teams are a collection of individual member used to manage intergroup activities where there are more than two or three interacting units. The distinguishing aspects of the team concept are that the problem to be solved usually is long term in nature, requiring a relatively permanent formal assignment to the team. Team members maintain a dual responsibility, one to their primary functional unit and the second to the team. When the team has accomplished its task, each member returns full-time to the functional assignment.

Integrating Departments:

As the degree of interaction, information flow, and integration requirements increase, the frequency and magnitude of inter-group relations may grow beyond the capacity of plans, task forces or teams. In response to this situation, organizations may seek more permanent, formal and authority based mechanisms that represent the general manager’s perspective. Such mechanisms are known as integrating departments.

In its basic form, an integrating department consists of a single person who carries a title such as product manager, project manager, branch manager or group manager. These managers rarely supervise any of the actual work required in inter-group interactions. They are held responsible for the effective integration of inter-group activities. Their decision-making authority is acquired through direct reporting relationships to a higher management position.

This authority can be increased in two ways: i) the department head may be given a number of subordinates or staff specialists who report directly to his or her. Collectively, they form a true integrating department. ii) the second way to increase the authority of the integrating department is to give it a major influence in decision making for the intergroup activities. This can be done by including the integrating department in any decision made by functional unit or by giving it a major voice in the budgetary process. These provide the most formal strategies for managing inter-group performance. The department manager generally reports to the highest management level and may be given great decision-making authority, consisting of a large staff and budgetary responsibility.

Superordinate Goals:

Common goals that transcend the immediate goals pursued by individual groups can be termed as a superordinate goal. That is, two or more groups work towards common ends which cannot be achieved by the individual efforts of each of the groups alone. At times of crises situations, the two conflicting departments can set aside their differences and may extend full cooperation to each other to accomplish a common goal. This superordinate or a higher order common goal articulated by the Managing Director of that company will force the two departments to put aside their individual differences and jointly develop common strategies to achieve the common goals of the company. Reward systems can be developed to motivate the interdependent groups to work together to achieve superordinate goals. Profit sharing, gain sharing and other types of incentives offered to the groups help them to focus their energies in achieving superordinate goals.