Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL LIFE CYCLE Organizational Life Cycle Organizational Life Cycle Organizations go through different life cycles similar to those of people. For example, people go through infancy, child-hood and early-teenage phases, which are characterized by rapid growth over a short period of time. Similarly, Organizations go through start-up, growth, maturity, decline, renewal and death. Employees in these phases often do whatever it takes to stay employed. (Ciavarella, 2001) In the start-up phase of an organizational life cycle, employees are eager to make a name for themselves and often act impulsively, making highly reactive decisions based on whatever is going on around them at the moment. Struggling to survive. This is just one of the many challenges a manager will face during this phase of change. To help staff understand the complexities of the early phase of organizational development. The manager must provide a clear understanding of the purpose of the organization to the employees. Emphasizing the importance of recognizing the direction the company is going and how its methods of working can be improved. Plus, explaining the identification of general objectives would lead to the clarification of responsibilities and purpose at each level of the organization. When a manager discusses these issues with his team, he is encouraging ownership by the employees. (Moore, 2004) The distinction between the start-up and growth stages in not easily defined. The distinction lies in the revenues, profits are stronger and are consistent with an increase in customers, as well as, new and exciting opportunities for the employees to pursue. Managers can look forward to many managerial challenges, perspective policy issues and re-evaluating the business plan for revisions. A manager’s focus should be in the running of the business, with a greater emphasis on accounting and human resource management systems. New staff will have to be hired, trained and prepared for the influx of business. Managers should be ready to teach the importance of decision-making skills and reinforcing organizational policy. Avoiding hasty, careless decisions, which can have devastating results on the manager's unit or the entire organization. Decisions made with forethought, using the many managerial tools available will lead to better and more profitable operatio... ... middle of paper ... ...ity of purpose and direction for an organization. We create and maintain the internal environment in which people can become fully involved in achieving the organization's objectives. Managers are responsible for changing behaviors. Which is probably the most critical area in the organizational life cycle. Finally, managers empower and involve people to achieve the organization's objective. (Lester, Parnell, & Carraher, 2003) References Adizes, I. (2004, Mar/Apr). Embrace One Problem After Another. Industrial Management, 46(2), pp. 18; pp.7. Ciavarella, M. A. (2001). High Involvement Environments to the Organization Life Cycle: A Descriptive and Prescriptive Approach. Academy of Management Proceedings, , pp. C1; pp. 6. Lester, D. L., Parnell, J. A., & Carraher, S. (2003). Organizational Life Cycle: A Five Stage Empirical Scale. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 11(4), pp. 339; pp. 16. Middlebrook, B., Caruth, D., & Frank, R. (1984, Summer 85). Overcoming Resistance to Change. Management Journal, 50(3), pp. 23. Moore, G. A. (2004, Jul/Aug). Darwin and the Demon: Innovating Within Established Enterprises. Harvard Business Review, 82(7/8), pp. 86; pp. 7.
Kotter, J. P., & Schlesinger, L. A. (2008). Choosing strategies for change. Harvard Business Review, 86(7/8), 130-139.
Spector, B. (2013). Implementing organizational change: theory into practice. (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ
Kelley,T. (2005, Oct.). The 10 faces of innovation. Fast Company, 74-77. Retrieved 6th March’ 2014 from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=9&sid=1d6a17b7-c5f7-4f00-bea4 db1d84cbef55%40sessionmgr10&hid=28&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=bth&AN=18386009
Phase 1 – Infancy: The infancy phase of an organization is also known as the entrepreneurial stage. The primary goals of this stage are to get the organization started and then trying to take it to the next level. They also focus a lot on survival. At this point, the organization is small and nonbureaucratic. The structure is...
Kegan, R. & L. Laskow Lahey. (2009). Immunity to Change: How to overcome it and unlock potential in yourself and your organization. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press.
Kegan, R., & Laskow Lahey, L. (2009). Immunity to change. How to overcome it and unlock the potential in yourself and your organization. Boston: Harvard Business Press.
Graetz, F., & Smith, A. C. T. (June 2010). Managing organizational change: A philosophies of change approach. Journal of Change Management 10(2), 135–154.
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As the organization grows in this stage, the entrepreneurs must learn how to manage the organization. It is at this point that a crisis of leadership emerges. In the beginning, the organizational is so busy getting started and developing new products and markets that they fail to understand the importance of managing the organizational resources. The crisis can be averted, and growth can continue to stage two, if the organization can learn the skills necessary to manage the organization.
Kotter, J. P & Schlesinger, L. (2008). ‘Choosing strategies for change’. Harvard Business Review, July-August, 130-139.
When organizational change proves necessary, all people at all levels of the organization should address change as a “how,” “what,” and “why” problem in order for the change to be sustained over time.
The manager should be able to select and know these factors. As organization is created systems by people, the internal factors are mainly the result of management decisions. Not all of the internal factors are completely controlled by the management. Organization is influenced by many environmental factors. In the new millennium we have to learn how to live in a market economy. And the most important condition for this is a highly skilled managers. Ability to identify and analyze the internal elements of the organization and external factors is the key to the success of the business. The main factors in the organization that require management attention are objectives, structure, tasks, technology and people. An organization can be seen as a means to achieve the objectives that allows people to perform collectively what they could not carry out individually. Goals are desired outcome, which aims to achieve a group working together. The main objective of most organizations is profit. Income is a key indicator of the organization. People are the basis of any organization. Without people there is no organization. They shape the culture of the organization and its internal climate. They determine what the organization is. Manager generates frames, establishes a system of relations between people and include them in the process of
Cummings, T. G. (2008). Organizational Development Diagnosis. Handbook of organization development (pp. 137-147). Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.
OLLIER-MALATERRE, ARIANE; ROTHBARD, NANCY P.; BERG, JUSTIN M. Academy of Management Review (Oct2013), Vol. 38 Issue 4
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