Organisational life cycle

Question 1

what are the 5 stages

Answer 1

Existence 
Survival 
Success
Renewal 
Decline

Question 2

Existence is also known as the

Answer 2

Known as the entrepreneurial or birth stage

Question 3

What does the existence stage mark

Answer 3

Marks the beginning of organisation development

Question 4

what is the main focus of the existence stage

Answer 4

The focus is viability or simply identifying a sufficient number of customers to support the existence of the organisation

Question 5

how are decisions made in the existence phase

Answer 5

Decision making is made by one or a few

Question 6

what do businesses do when in the survival stage

Answer 6

seek to grow, develop some formalisation of structure, and establish their own distinctive competencies.

Question 7

what is the Primary goal of the survival stage

Answer 7

generation of enough revenue to continue operations and finance sufficient growth to stay competitive

Question 8

what happens to organisations when in the survival stage

Answer 8

Some grow large and prosper well enough to enter stage 3, some ‘hit and miss’ earring marginal returns in some fiscal cycles, and others fail to generate sufficient revenue to survive

Question 9

what happens in the success stage

Answer 9

Organisational form where formalisation and control through bureaucracy are the norm

Question 10

changes that occur in the success stage

Answer 10

Job descriptions, policies, procedures and hierarchical reporting relationships have become much more formal

Question 11

what do some organisations do once in the success stage

Answer 11

Some organisations advance from the survival stage, growing to a point where they seek to protect what they have gained, rather than targeting new territory.

Question 12

role of staff in the success stage

Answer 12

Top management team focuses on planning and strategy, leaving daily operations to middle managers.

Question 13

what happens in the renewal stage

Answer 13

Organisations desire to a leaner time where collaboration and teamwork foster innovation and creativity

Question 14

organisational decision making when in the renewal stage

Answer 14

The organisation is still large and bureaucratic

Question 15

organisational members are encourages to do in the renewal stage

Answer 15

But organisational members are encouraged to work within the bureaucracy without adding to it

Question 16

prioritisation of staff v customers in the renewal stage

Answer 16

The needs of customers are placed above those of organisational members

Question 17

what is the decline stage characterised about

Answer 17

Characterised by politics and power

Question 18

problem with the members within the decline stage

Answer 18

Organisational members become more concerned with personal goals than they are with organisational goals.

Question 19

why does the organisation decline

Answer 19

The inability to meet the external demands of a former stage has led them to a period of decline where they experience a lack of profit and a loss of market share

Question 20

decision making when in the declining stage

Answer 20

Control and decision making tend to return to a handful go people, as the desire for power and influence in earlier stages has eroded the viability of the organisation