Organizations across the world have
one aim in common, and that is growth. Growth can mean
different things to different firms, for some it’s about
diversification and economic prosperity and for others
it could be brand and client creation. The goal for
growth depends on which stage of the life cycle the
organization is standing at, and which stage it is
looking at accomplishing.
<strong>The Organization Life Cycle model</strong> shows
the various stages which are prevalent in the growth of
a company’s life cycle. This is not to say that a
company necessary progresses from one level to another,
but is more of a hierarchy of sorts which can mean that
depending on performance and eternal environmental
factors which can hamper or aid an organizations growth,
a firm can easily slip back into one of the earlier
levels of existence or jump to next level without much
effort.
The Organization Life Cycle model has 7 stages of
development. It begins with the most basic of states
which is Survival, and moves onto Stability and
Sustenance, followed by Achievement and Expansion,
Branding, Recognition, Autonomy and finally comes the
stage of Maturity and Social Awareness.
Each of these stages can be better understood by getting
into the symptoms that characterize each one of these
stages. The first stage in the Organization Life Cycle
is survival. Survival is the most basic instinct of a
human being to survive in his or her environment. Just
as the basic human needs includes food, warmth, water,
and other bodily needs, an Organization at this stage is
looking at fulfilling its basic needs; to be able to
survive in a highly competitive open market.
Stability and sustenance comes second, it refers to an
organizations ability to maintain its space in the
competitive sphere of the industry. This also refers to
financial stability for the organization.
The third level in the Life Cycle model is about
Achievement. At this level, an organization is aiming at
expansion. The organization puts efforts into growing
and expanding its business and venturing into new fields
and focuses on expanding its existing base.
Branding is the next level; this is an important level
in the life cycle of an organization because here the
organization is building its brand value and credibility
in the market space. Once an independent organization
has stabilized itself and has learnt to sustain itself
in the market place and has created clientele, it
establishes a niche, which is the Branding stage. A firm
may use Advertising & PR extensively at this stage.
Once an organization’s goal of brand credibility is
complete, it must aim at gaining recognition &
living up to its reputation, which can be a very
delicate commodity. This denotes the next level –
Recognition. Recognition is the next step that an
Organization strives towards, where it aims to build a
reputation in industry and live up to the brand name and
reputation it has created.
The second last level in the life cycle model is the
Autonomy. This Step in Org Development is characterized
by Self Governance and Independence. This is when the
Objectives and Goals of a company are clearly etched
within the nature and in the DNA of the organization.
Here the various stakeholders in the departments gain
autonomy and learn self governance. At this stage the
organization is an autonomous body.
The final level of development in the Life Cycle of
Organization model is of Self Actualization and
Maturity. "What a man can be, he must be", is the way
Maslow expresses it, in short the self actualization
state is when a being, human or organization, reaches
its maximum potential. Maslow’s describes Self
Actualization to be: <em>“an episode or spurt in which
the powers of the person come together in a particularly
and intensely enjoyable way, and in which he is more
integrated and less split, more open for experience,
more idiosyncratic, more perfectly expressive or
spontaneous, or fully functioning, more creative, more
humorous, more ego-transcending, more independent of his
lower needs, etc. He becomes in these episodes more
truly himself, more perfectly actualising his
potentialities, closer to the core of his being, more
fully human. Not only are these his happiest and most
thrilling moments, but they are also moments of greatest
maturity, individuation, fulfilment - in a word, his
healthiest moments.</em>” To draw a further analysis to
Org Development, this is a state at which the
Organization is at its healthiest. Growth, Expansion
& Profitability take a back seat and social issues
and conditions take a fore front. Self fulfilment
becomes important and takes precedence over trivialities
of production.
The Life Cycle of Organization development is an
important diagnostic tool for a firm to understand and
identify where it stands, where it was and where it
wants to be, because you can’t know where you want to
go, if you don’t know where you’ve been.
