Organizational Psychology

Purpose. The aim of the study is to explore the relationship between the effectiveness of production groups and the informal subgroups existing in them, namely: the relationship between the number of informal subgroups in groups and two types of group effectiveness — performance and social. Study design. The sample includes 78 groups from different organizations and with different content of professional activity, and the total number of participants is 655 people. To identify informal subgroups, a special formalized algorithm was used, and two author’s questionnaires were used to study group effectiveness. The leaders and members of the groups according to two indicators (implementation of the plan and tasks, performance success in challenging conditions) assessed the performance of the group separately. Socio-psychological efficiency was also measured by two indicators (group satisfaction and psychological comfort of members in the group) based on employee ratings. An empirical study was carried out on personal computers using the program “Group Profile— Universal”. Findings. It was found that both indicators of the socio-psychological effectiveness of subgroups are significantly higher than these indicators of groups. Statistically significant differences between performance (according to two indicators) of subgroups and groups were not found. However, there is a tendency for subgroups to have a higher rate of fulfillment of the plan and tasks compared to groups. The number of subgroups in groups is significantly negatively related to the satisfaction of employees with their group, and creates an indirect negative effect on two indicators of the performance of groups, which is moderated (mediated) by the satisfaction of group members. The number of informal subgroups also mediates the relationship between group size and group membersatisfaction. In other words, an increase in group size leads to an increase in the number of subgroups, which, in turn, reduces the satisfaction of members with their group as a whole. Values of results. The effectiveness of subgroups in some aspects is higher than the effectiveness of groups, and the numberof informal subgroups creates direct and indirect effects on group effectiveness. The article indicatesseveral promising directions for further research on the role of informal subgroups in the effectiveness of production groups and management teams.