Thursday, September 17, 2009

Business Life Cycle (Where are you?)

I liked this summary.

The typical life cycle of a business:

Business is created.

Growth occurs through CREATIVITY.
A Crisis of Leadership occurs as the business grows and creativity is not longer enough, structure is needed.

Growth continues through DIRECTION. Often this involves adopting a Functional structure to the organization.
A Crisis of Autonomy occurs as the business is hindered from further growth by too much structure.

Growth continues through DELEGATION. Often this involves adoption a Decentralized structure in the organization.
A Crisis on Control occurs as the business is hindered from further growth due to a lack of coordination among the decentralized units.

Growth continues through COORDINATION. Often this involves a Segmentation or Matrix structure.
A Crisis of Red Tape occurs as the business is hindered from further growth due to an overwhelming burden of policies, procedures, and processes.

Growth continues through a return to BASICS and the process repeats all over again.

The question is, where is your organization on this continuum?

1 comment:

  1. Definitely, definitely at a Crisis of Red Tape.

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