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Julie’s Ideas Blog 25: Stages of Organisations

26/4/2018

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In previous blogs I have written about stages of innovation (Blog 7), of change (Blog 9) and, in my separate series of company blogs, about childhood (PIF Blog 1).  Now I am capturing what I have written in the past about stages of organisations - and linking them to ego states.
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In Hay (1990) I wrote that “Stewart & Maxon (1988) point out that organisations experience patterns of growth and transition; from small beginnings and innovation they progress to a size where they must introduce systems and structures, and then on to an integrated stage which is characterised by decentralisation and emphasis on personal leadership at all levels. I would argue that there is yet another stage that is beginning to take effect; that of community.” (p.163).  I then added a list showing Stewart & Maxon’s descriptors of the three stages they had identified, with a fourth column containing my equivalents for the community stage.

 

 

Pioneering

Systems

Integrated

Community

Organisation

Flexibility

Hierarchy

Network

Organism

Objective

Niche/toe-hold

Market share

Market creation

Service

Focus

Pioneer

Institution

Individual

Society

Style

Informal

Structured

Enabling

Empowering

Excitement

Novelty

Stabilisation

Change

Love

Specialist

Don’t exist

Experts

Advisers

Facilitators

Relationships

Informal

Self-sufficiency

Networking

Supportive

Culture

Risk-taking

Precedent

Evolution

Spiritual

Mission

Differentiation

Goals/plans

Identity/values

Contribution

Leadership

Knowledge

Position

Charisma

Wisdom

Quality

State-of-the-art

Affordable best

No compromise

Integrity

Expectations

Excitement

Security

Personal growth

Communion

Status

Egalitarian

Title/rank

Contribution

Mutual respect

Resources

Inventiveness

Cash

Information

People

Advantage

Novelty

Better sameness

Real difference

Meeting needs

Systems

Don’t exist

Controlling

Enabling

Coordinating

Customers

Make or break

Locked in

Influential

Partners

​Based on an original version by Stewart & Maxon, 1988: Community: added
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In Hay (1993) I added a diagram and linked the stages to ego states, explaining that the pioneering stage attracts people who operate mostly from Child “with all the innate energy and creativity that each real child has and that only some of us seem to retain into adulthood. Leadership seems relatively easy, with most interactions being Natural Child-Natural Child.” (p.16).

It is hard for an organisation to grow without someone taking care of routine tasks, so the system stage means that people are brought in to add efficiency to the enthusiasm; these systems people are characterised by the use of Parent as they introduce rules and procedure manuals. “Leadership now tends to focus on Controlling Parent-Adapted Child interactions. In more paternalistic organisations, it may instead be Nurturing Parent-Natural Child.” (p.16).

The systems may overwhelm the creativity so that innovation ceases, people leave, or spend their time finding their way around the system. To survive, more people are brought in to mediate between the pioneers and the systems people. I described these as typically Personnel, Human Resources or Employee Relations and wrote that they help managers recognise the emotional needs of the employees, and the employees to accept the wisdom and experience of the managers.  At the time, I suggested that these would operate from mainly Adult ego state; nowadays I would be referring to that as Functional Adult to make the point that I am describing behaviours here and not whether someone is in the here-and-now. I am also tempted to point out nowadays that some HR professionals might come across as Nurturing Parent, telling the managerial Controlling Parent not to be so hard on the ‘children’.
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In terms of the additional stage that I added, I saw that as needing the shift from one ego state per person mode, creating a three-person symbiosis, into an organisational culture where everyone is enabled, and expected, to use all of their ego states. I pointed out that in my diagram the size of the organisation is shown as reducing at this stage. This is because people do not feel that they are in a true community if the numbers are too large – Gore-Tex work on the basis of no more than 200 people (Rhodes, 1982); Semco in Brazil reached a similar conclusion (Semler, 1993).
​
Stages of an Organisation
Stages of an Organisation (Hay, 1993, P.16)
​Finally, below is my latest version – published in Hay (2012) and renamed so that it provides two donkey bridges: 4 words beginning with C and 4 with E!
​
Stages of Organisation
Stages of Organisation (Hay, 2012, p.59)

​References
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Hay, Julie (1990) Managerial Competences or Managerial Characteristics? Management Education and Development 21:5 305-315

Hay, Julie (1993) Creating Community: The Task of Leadership Leadership and Organization Development Journal 14:7 12-17

Hay, Julie (2012) Donkey Bridges for Developmental TA 2nd edit Hertford: Sherwood Publishing

Rhodes, Lucien (1982) The Un-Manager https://www.inc.com/magazine/19820801/5178.html accessed 24 April 2018
Semler, Ricardo (1993) Maverick, London: Century

Stewart, Andrew & Maxon, Jim (1988) Management succession during organisational change. Paper presented at the Association of Management Education and Development.
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© 2018 Julie Hay​
 
​Julie is a fan of open access publishing so feel free to reproduce any of these blogs as long as you still attribute it to her.
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If you’re interested in learning more TA, Julie runs regular workshops and webinars –  we currently have an offer of a free place on one of our webinars. You can use these toward your CPD and as credit hours in pursuing professional TA qualification
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