The effects of informal groups on organizational - journal ...

ijcrb.webs.comINTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESSAPRIL 2012VOL 3, NO 123. Research Hypotheses and methodology:In this study, the research methodology was survey and data were gathered byquestionnaire and interview. <strong>The</strong> main hypothesis is:Main Hypothesis: <strong>The</strong> existence <strong>of</strong> <strong>informal</strong> <strong>groups</strong> has a positive effect onorganizational performanceTo evaluate organizational performance, Based Scorecard model was adopted as thebasis <strong>of</strong> instrumentation for this study. This model introduced by Kaplan and Morton in1992 and has been modified several times by them to masseur organizationalperformance and strategic objectives and strategy maps (Kaplan, 2010). <strong>The</strong> modelconsists <strong>of</strong> four perspectives: (1) Financial consisted <strong>of</strong> cost structure and pr<strong>of</strong>itabilityand measured by residual income (2) Customer comprised <strong>of</strong> product-service attributesand market share indexes (3) Process included operation management process, customermanagement process, innovation process, and regulatory and social process thatcalculated by productivity, product leadership, and public responsibility, and finally (4)Learning and growth with metrics personnel development, employee attitudes, andbalance between short-range and long-range objectives.Because <strong>of</strong> some limitations the study does not cover financial dimension so accordingto the other perspectives three alternative hypotheses are considered:Hypothesis 1: <strong>The</strong> existence <strong>of</strong> <strong>informal</strong> <strong>groups</strong> has a positive effect on the customersatisfactionHypothesis 2: <strong>The</strong> existence <strong>of</strong> <strong>informal</strong> <strong>groups</strong> has a positive effect on processHypothesis 3: <strong>The</strong> existence <strong>of</strong> <strong>informal</strong> <strong>groups</strong> has a positive effect on employees’learning and growth<strong>The</strong> research focused on IT industry <strong>of</strong> Iran and sampling was conducted at the biggestIranian IT company consists <strong>of</strong> 26 main firms and 20 Subsidiary firms scatteredthroughout Iran. <strong>The</strong> company has 600 full time employees so 320 questionnaires sentout and 290 questionnaires were thoroughly completed and returned.To design main questionnaire, at first, a random sample including 25 employees andmanagers were interviewed to determine how they express their opinion to the <strong>effects</strong> <strong>of</strong><strong>informal</strong> <strong>groups</strong>. Eight factors were mentioned by respondents as the most importantadvantages <strong>of</strong> <strong>informal</strong> <strong>groups</strong> which are displayed in table 1:Table 1: <strong>The</strong> benefits <strong>of</strong> <strong>informal</strong> <strong>groups</strong> according to the respondentsFactors n Frequency (F) f % RankingImproving motivation 25 21 84 1Job security 25 19 76 2Enhancing involvement 25 18 72 3Innovation 25 16 64 4Modifying job problems 25 15 60 5<strong>The</strong> sense <strong>of</strong> identity 25 12 48 6Improving communication 25 11 44 7Developing efficiency 25 8 32 8COPY RIGHT © 2012 Institute <strong>of</strong> Interdisciplinary Business Research 368