Session 3

Question 1

What is Greiner’s theory?

Answer 1

It is a theory of organizational life cycles, with a focus on growth

Question 2

What are Greiner’s major claims?

Answer 2

Organizational growth is characterized as a series of developmental phases
Management practices that work well in one phase bring on a crisis in the next.

Question 3

Greiner: Concept List

Answer 3

Age of the organization
Size of the organization
Stages of evolution: Creativity, Direction, Delegation, Coordination, Collaboration
Stages of revolution: Leadership, Autonomy, Control, Red tape
Growth rate of industry
Management style
Organizational structure

Question 4

What are the 5 Phases of Growth?

Answer 4

1. Creativity
2. Direction
3. Delegation
4. Coordination
5. Collaboration

Question 5

What are the 5 Phases of Revolution and which Phases of Growth do they follow?

Answer 5

Crisis of leadership follows Creativity
Crisis of autonomy follows Direction
Crisis of control follows Delegation
Red-tape crisis follows Coordination

Question 6

When does the cycle restart?

Answer 6

After the fifth phase: the Phase of Collaboration

Question 7

What are the characteristics of the Stage of Creativity?

Answer 7

The stage of creativity is the stage in which creation takes place. It is when ideas are made, products are produced, etc

Question 8

What are the characteristics of the Stage of Direction?

Answer 8

It is when the higher ups take on roles of leadership and direct those that work under them. They tell them what to do, how to do it, and when they should be finished with the assigned tasks

Question 9

What are the characteristics of the Stage of Delegation?

Answer 9

It is the stage where managers are given more power and are delegated tasks by the company leader which gives them more power to make decisions within the company

Question 10

What are the characteristics of the Stage of Coordination?

Answer 10

This is when teams are allowed to work with each other by giving them the ability to meet with each other, deal with tasks together, work through situations together, etc.

Question 11

What are the characteristics of the Stage of Collaboration?

Answer 11

It is when the all parts of the company collaborates with each other, allowing them to enter into new industries which causes the cycle to start over

Question 12

What are the issues that lead to the Crisis of Leadership?

Answer 12

Lack of direction is what leads to the Crisis of Leadership so direction is the solution

Question 13

What are the issues that lead to the Crisis of Autonomy?

Answer 13

The crisis of autonomy occurs as a consequence of employee’s desire to be autonomous in their area of expertise in the company so delegation is the solution

Question 14

What are the issues that lead to the Crisis of Control?

Answer 14

This crisis occurs when delegation is not done well. The right controls need to be put in place in order to ensure the health of the company so coordination is the solution

Question 15

What are the issues that lead to the Red-tape Crisis?

Answer 15

The red-tape is when success is gained but checks and balances are put in place. This creates restrictions that remove the freedom that the employee’s had before these rules and regulations were put in place (they make sure that stagnation does not occur) so collaboration is the solution

Question 16

What are Greiner’s secondary claims?

Answer 16

Organizations should not try to skip phases
Top managers whose style is no longer appropriate should remove themselves
Growth is not inevitable

Question 17

What are the advantages of large, bureaucratic organizations?

Answer 17

Hierarchical authority
Specialization of sub-units
Management by rules
And being impersonal

Question 18

What do the advantages of large, bureaucratic organizations promise?

Answer 18

Hierarchical authority promises control and responsibility
Specialization of sub-units promises accountability, control and expertise
Management by rules promises control and consistency
And being impersonal promises objectivity, consistency and equality

Question 19

What is a claim?

Answer 19

It is a central idea that the author is trying to persuade you to accept

Question 20

What is evidence?

Answer 20

It is any statement that is a response to the question ‘Why is this true?’

Question 21

What is an argument?

Answer 21

It is a combination of a claim and the evidence for it

Question 22

What does evidence consist of?

Answer 22

It consists of statistics, details of past events, anecdotes, quotes, ect.

Question 23

What are the criteria to test the quality of evidence?

Answer 23

Accuracy
Precision
Sufficiency
Representativeness
Authority
Clarity of expression

Question 24

What is Accuracy?

Answer 24

We often use proxies or other cues to decide whether information is accurate. One cue is whether or not the author makes obvious errors
Difficult to judge without an independent source of information

Question 25

What is Precision?

Answer 25

Overuse of ambitious and abstract words such as: a great deal, many, often, a high probability, few, usually, etc., is indicative of low precision
* Comes from numbers and quotes
* 18.4% is better than “quite well” or “almost 20%”
* Ambiguous words should not be overused
* Numbers and direct quote should be provided
* Precision creates the impression of accuracy
* Beware of over-precision

Question 26

What is Sufficiency?

Answer 26

When the evidence is not sufficient to support a claim, we say that the author is guilty of the “fallacy of hasty generalization”
* A fallacy is defined as an erroneous but frequently persuasive way of being led from a reason or circumstance to a conclusion

Question 27

What is Representativeness?

Answer 27

Variety in the sources of evidence should match the variety in the population
Fallacy of hasty generalization

Question 28

What is Authority?

Answer 28

When we accept the testimony of someone who has no expertise in the relevant area, we commit the “fallacy of false appeal to authority”
“Arguementum ad populum” is a fallacy known as “appeal to the people” or the bandwagon effect

Question 29

What is Clarity of Expression?

Answer 29

Be explicit about what the information signifies