INFLUENCE OF INFORMAL GROUPS ON PRODUCTIVITY (A CASE STUDY OF UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA TEACHING HOSPITAL, ENUGU).

ABSTRACT
Informal group came into existence through the interaction of people as a result of socialization. When individual meet and interact with one another, there is the tendency for individuals with similar interest and characteristics to form powerful cohesive groups in order to obtain organizational objectives. It therefore, the objective of this research was find out the relationship that existed between informal groups activities on productivity levels in organizations for effective management of the informal groups in Nigeria organizations. A review of the related interactive was made to provide a sound theoretical background of the concept of informal groups. This was done by review of work previously done by scholars on the concept of informal groups. By making use of a case study, questionnaires was distributed or rather administrated to the workers at University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu. The data collected from the filed was analyzed, the hypotheses, which were formulated, were tested through the use of statistical models. The findings of the research were that workers were found to be keenly interested in belonging to informal groups in their work places such as the trade unions. They agreed that they derive benefits groups offered by the groups to workers given the opportunity to work for their benefits. Workers should realize their primary objectives through group association. Managers should realize that team spirit is the important characteristics of informal groups which motivate them to be effective in organization. Informal organization are not officially recognized and do not have any space in organizations organigram. My conclusion is that since informal organizations continue to exist and can not be stopped or terminated in any set up, it should continue to be accommodated as much as it does not adversely affect the attainment of organizational goals. During recruitment, selection and orientation, new employees should be made to join informal groups such as trade union or any other, this makes the workers to socialize and adopt quickly and better to the values existing in the organization. More consultation of the informal groups by the management should be encouraged and suggestions made by the workers be utilized as this motivates the workers more for greater performance.

THE BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The organization development is a vital exercise that must be carried out with a successful conclusion if technological bondage is to be avoided in the nation. In our society today there is need for adopting a creative approach for our technological take off. The reason is to encouraged employees to cultivate the ability of making maximum use of resource available to them, develop new ways of resources utilization that may come in the course of their job.

Since Nigeria independence, the nation has gone through a gradual rise in the level of industrialization and the evolution of both small and complex organization. An organization as defined by Griffin (1984:86) is a combination of people, or human efforts, working in pursuit of certain common purposes called organization goals. It is any group of two or more people working to achieve a goal or goals.
Organization range from the small business units to the very large and complex corporate bodies. There are two groups the formal and informal groups.
The formal group come into being as a result of organizational hierarchy which defines expected relationships among its workers in most cases, a group of people come together and discuss about the problems of the company, individual problems and how the problems should be handled. Also, talk about those with different opinion from other and how such people should be treated or handled. Furthermore, this kind of group will usually have its mission or area of activity spelled out.

Informal groups, on the other hand, Michael (1985:1990).develop in response to the needs of the people making up the group. As a result they do not have an explicitly stated set of goals nor are there institutionally defined in and position of authority. These aspects of an informal group develop as a result of group of individual with the same objectives. Hence, informal groups are not set up by the management of the organization but arise as a result of people with similar interest interacting and also as a result of friendship association. Most cases, group of people come together and discuss about the company’s problems, some individual problems and how they should be dealt with, does who have contrary opinion from others would be convinced, are forced to accept the opinion spell out by other members of the groups.

The above comment succinctly shows the existence of informal groups in an organization. These groups although not created by the management of the organization are very powerful and have considerable influence on individual members. Members are observed to be often committed to the achievement of the group objectives. These objectives of the informal groups sometimes go contrary with organizations objectives.

Therefore it is very important for the management to be aware of the existence of these groups and understand how they work. Some managers fail to realize the fact that informal groups work under certain conditions which dominate the formal organization and neglect the efforts of management.
Moreover, they can be pervasive with some managers themselves belonging to the informal groups. Depending on whether they are favourable or unfavourable, this may result to the increase or decrease in the productivity of the organization. Improper management of the informal groups may also lead to dissatisfaction of workers, absenteeism, personal turnovers, grievances and conflicts and these may adversely affect the stability of an organization.
As a matter of fact, there are potential benefits to be tapped from the existence and activities of the informal groups. The management can only tap the benefits when it is willing to work with them effectively without engaging in measures to suppress the informal organization.