While it seems a law of nature that all things grow and decline,

foresightful management of the attitudes and style of an organization’s

managers may provide a means for ensuring a long and effective life to an
organization.

Ovganizufional
Passages-

Diagnosing and Treating

LifecycleProblems of
n . I’

Uvganzzahons

Ichak Adizes

4 n general
tion must
results for
terms,

which
a well-managed
be effective:
it exists.
organiza-
It must Produce
It must
the
also
sure that an organization can have a lifespan
longer than that of any of its key managers,
the fourth role--Integration-is necessary to
achieve its results efficiently: It must be Ad- build a team effort. Effective and efficient
ministered, that is, its decisions must be made management over the short and long term
in the right sequence and with the right tim-
ing and right intensity. In the long run, a
The title was borrowed from Gail Sheehy’s book on the
well-managed organization must adapt to its predictable phases in adult life, Passages.
external environment. The Entrepreneurial This article is an elaboration of a chapter from my book
role focuses on adaptive changes, which re- How to Solve the Mismanagement Crisis, scheduled for
quires creativity and risk taking. And to en- publication by Dow Jones/Irwin this summer.

Organizational Dynamics, Summer 1979. 0 1979, AMACOM, a division of

American Management Associations. All rights reserved. 0090-2616/79/0014-0002/$02.00/l 3
 requires that all four roles-PAEI-be per- paEi: The Courtship Stage
formed well, a theme I have developed more
At the courtship stage there is no organiza-
fully in How to Solve the Mismanagement
tion. At this passage the most pronounced
Crisis. The weight of each of these roles will
role is E, entrepreneuring. Founders are
vary from job to job, and the skill with
basically dreaming about “what we might
which each role can be handled will vary
do.” There is excitement. Promises are made
from manager to manager.
that later, in retrospect, might appear to
As a model for diagnosing
have been made irresponsibly, without suffi-
managerial performance, this role concept
cient regard for the facts and reality. The ex-
has proved useful for analyzing managerial
citement is accompanied by frantic activity.
behavior and subordinates‘ coping style, for
One gets a sense that the founders are in love
identifying and classifying patterns of
with their idea. They behave like mission-
behavior, and for predicting how managers
aries searching for an audience to convert.
will behave in various situations-the deci-
It appears as if this process of sell-
sions he will make and how he will make
ing the idea to others is actually a process of
them. The same model can be used to predict
reinforcing their own commitment. Solidify-
organizational behavior and to prescribe in-
ing a commitment to the idea is indispen-
terventions likely to be successful. Experi-
sable if the founders are to succeed in build-
ence with more than 50 organizations
ing an organization from scratch. It is
around the world that have ranged in size
analogous to the way a pilot revs the engines
from about $2 million in annual sales to
before taking off: He builds up a tremendous
almost $2 billion, and the reports of
forward thrust while standing still, and this
managers who have used the model, have
thrust is necessary if the plane is going to
verified its usefulness. Organizations have
take off.
different and distinctive patterns of behavior
at different stages of their lives that provide
a basis for classifying them-and prescribing
Paei: Infant Organization
for them.
One major sign that an organization was
born or is going to be born is that there are
ORGANIZATIONAL PASSAGES significant expenses to be paid. There is risk
involved.
People, products, markets, even societies, The introduction of task-generated
have lifecycles-birth, growth, maturity, risk leads to a significant change in behavior.
old age, and death. At every lifecycle The frenzy of creating ideas is discouraged.
passage a typical pattern of behavior The entrepreneurial role (E) declines rapidly
emerges. and is replaced by the P role, producing
Organizational behavior can be results. What counts at this stage of organi-
analyzed using the PAEI model. As the zational life is not what one thinks but what
organization passes from one phase in its life one does. The dreamers of yesterday are
to the next, different roles are emphasized shunned and discouraged. “I have no time
and the different role combinations that to think,” will be the typical complaint of the
result produce different organizational manager of the Infant organization. “There
4 behavior. is just too much to do.”
 no track record or experience, so a mistake
in product design, sales, service, or financial
planning can have fatal repercussions. Such
mistakes have a high probability of occur-
ring since the organization is usually a
shoestring operation with no capital to af-
ford the complementary team that is
necessary if well-balanced business decisions
Ichak Adizes is associate professor of are going to be made.
Managerial studies at the Graduate School of The Infant organization is usually
management. University of California at Los very busy doing. Inundated by short-term
Angeles. and president and senior associate of
pressures, usually of a tactical nature,
MDOR institute, Inc., Los Angeles. He received
his B.A. degree from Hebrew University,
management has a tendency to miss long-
Jerusalem, and his M.B.A. and Ph.D. degrees range opportunities. If the management of
from Columbia University. He has lectured and the Infant organization does succeed in iden-
consulted with fop management groups tifying such long-range opportunities (E),
worldwide and has been a visiting professor at then the organization might enter into its
Stanford University, Hebrew University, and Tel
Go-Go stage.
Aviv University. He has also been u regular
lecturer with the Columbia University
Graduate School of Business Executive
PaEi: The Go-Go Stage
Programs since 1969. Among his publications are
How to Solve the Mismanagement Crisis (Dow This stage is analogous to the baby who can
Jones/Inuin, 2979), Industrial Democracy
finally see and focus. The whole world opens
Yugoslav Style (Free Press, 1971), and Self-
before its eyes. Everything looks like an op-
Management: New Dimensions to Democracy
(ABC Clio, 1975). His boo&s and articles have portunity, and only in retrospect does the
been translated into Spanish, Swedish, Danish, baby realize that some opportunities are
French, Japanese, Hebrew, and Serbo-Croatian. threats that should have been avoided.
A Go-Go organization has the
same results orientation (P) an Infant
organization has, but with a vision and a
The infant organization has hardly horrendous appetite (E). It moves fast, often
any policies, systems, procedures, or even makes decisions intuitively since it lacks ex-
budgets. The administrative system might be perience, and almost every opportunity
“on the back on an old envelope” in the seems to become a priority. Its interest span
founder’s vest pocket. Most people in such is short. It moves from task to task trying to
an organization, including the president, are cover them all simultaneously. One major
out selling, doing. There are hardly any staff danger a Go-Go organization faces is that of
meetings. It is highly centralized and is best spreading itself so thin that it might run out
described as a one-person show. of capital, and a major setback might “do it
Such an organization is like an in- in.” Another danger is the personification of
fant: It requires its “milk” (operating capital) its managerial process-the founder’s trap.
every so often. It is also vulnerable. It usual- What allowed the Infant organiza-
ly has no managerial depth-no one else tion to survive a hostile environment is the
capable of leading if the founder dies. It has motherlike commitment of its founder. 5
 Figure 1
PREMATUREMORTALITY

Aging = f (Aspirations)

Desired conditions
Aspirations = f
Existent conditions >

While this commitment is indispensable for ever, costs money and takes time away from
the survival of the Infant organization, it producing results (P) in the short run. Top
becomes dysfunctional after the Go-Go management might refuse to allow this to
stages. The loving embrace becomes a happen. Since the administrative orientation
stranglehold. The founder refuses to deper- must take time from somewhere, manage-
sonalize policies and institutionalize his ment has to spend time planning the “how”
leadership, that is, to establish workable sys- at the expense of time for analyzing the
tems, procedures, and policies that do not “why,” which means that the growth in ad-
require his personal judgment. To avoid the ministration (A) is at the expense of entre-
founder’s trap, the A role-administrative preneuring (E). Such a case could be classi-
systems-has to grow in importance in the fied as premature aging: The organization
organization. (See Figure 1.) becomes more short-run (PA) rather than
long-run (E) oriented.
A “healthy” adolescence is when
pAEi: The Adolescent Organization
the growth in administrative effort (A) is at
When the administrative role (A) rises in im- the expense of producing results CPJ. Man-
portance, more time is spent on planning- agement consciously decides to invest the
and-coordinating meetings. A computer is time necessary for entrenching-getting or-
installed. Training programs are developed. ganized. Part of the time that was spent sell-
6 Labor policies are established. This, how- ing-doing-is spent on organizing.
 A conscious decision to cool off the The Prime organization has a re-
growth rate for awhile to permit new growth sults orientation (P). Furthermore, it has
over the long run is not easily achieved. A plans and procedures to achieve efficiency
pAEi style requires behavior that is intrin- (A), and at the same time, it has not lost its
sically in conflict. Administrative behav- awareness of what is happening “out there”
ior seeks stability, while enterpreneuring (E). While in the Go-Go organization the
is change oriented. The conflict between the rate of growth in sales and profits is helter-
two orientations exhibits itself in clique for- skelter, these rates are stable and predictable
mation. One clique is entrepreneurship (E) for the Prime organization. One knows that
oriented and would like to stop designing their quarterly prediction will be met, and
bureaucratic systems and “get back to their performance sets the standards for the
work.” “What really counts in our business,” industry. (See Figure 2).
its members say, “is selling and not which The aging process. Staying in
computer you have or the quality of your Prime is not assured, however. With time,
policy manuals.” They want further growth. aspirations of top management change. As-
They feel that the other group is stagnating. pirations are a function of the disparity be-
The other clique usually disagrees. Burned tween the desired and the expected. If what
by several bad investments in the Go-Go management desires is higher than what it
stage, its members want reasonable stability. expects to achieve, there will be energy and
They claim that policies and organizational aspiration for change. If the managerial
systems are necessary if ‘the company is go- group is satisfied with the existent conditions
ing to survive or be profitable.
If the Adolescent organization is a Desired conditions _ 1 = o
partnership, this is the time when the part- Expected conditions
ners might get “divorced.” The original com-
mitment, which they built during courtship, there will be a tendency to keep the existent
has been consumed by day-to-day fighting stable.
for survival or in deciding how to grow and The level of aspirations is affected
by now might have been depleted to zero. mainly by three factors: (1) the age in terms
The psychological contract is broken and of mental activity of people in strategic
usually there is a split in the partnership. power positions, (2) relative market share,
One partner or a group of people continues and (3) the functionality of the organization-
in the PAei mode-that is, in the conserva- al structure:
tive, less ambitious route-and the other ?? Age. At a certain age, chronolog-
partner or partners become the unfulfilled ically different for different individuals,
entrepreneurs (paEd who are bought out and people wish to enjoy rather than add to their
look for another opportunity to start over accomplishments.
again. ?? Market When a company
share.
arrives at a stage where further growth in its
markets is perceived to be economically, po-
PAEi: The Prime Organization
litically, or legally not cost effective, the ex-
If the organization sails safely through ado- istent state of affairs is accepted as the de-
lescence, it may enter the Prime stage of the sired, and the aspiration for growth and
organizational lifecycle. change is reduced. 7
 Figure 2
ORGANIZATIONAL PASSAGES

Aging = f (mental age, relative mar&et share, functionality of the organizational structure)

?? Functionality of organizational tion, people had different and relatively

structure. As the organization grows from
Infancy to Prime, new people, products,
markets, and departments are added. Often
it is done under pressure, determined more
by tactical than by strategic factors. The end
result can be a ponderous and confusing or-
ganizational structure with ambiguity as to
who has what authority and who really re-
ports to whom. When an organization
comes too ponderous to handle, a reduction
in aspiration can be sensed and a period of
inward entrenchment begins.
If for any of these three reasons
the aspirations are held low for a prolonged
period of time, the entrepreneurial role (E)
will eventually decline.
With a decrease in entrepreneur-
ship, the integrating role (I) increases. Until
this stage, integration could not be high. As
the organization has grown and changed,
8 fought its growing pains, and sought a direc-
strong opinions as to what needed to be done
and when. Thus people were in conflict most
of the time. What kept the conflict from
becoming dysfunctional was that its resolu-
tion produced growth, and the results, in a
sense, justified the emotional investment.
When entrepreneurship (E) declines, how-
ever, the sense of urgency and desire to grow
be- and change decline. The organization starts
enjoying the fruits of yesterday’s efforts and
an inward orientation toward better in-
terpersonal relations develops. This is when
an organization enters the Mature stage.
PAel: The Mature Organization
Characteristic of the Mature organization
are its results orientation (I’) and institution-
alized systems (A)-that is, procedures and
policies, a system for getting things done. A
climate of friendship (I) emerges, tempered
by the beginning of a period of decline-no The Garden of the Finzi-Continis is
real eagerness to challenge the market or a novel that dramatizes the lifestyle and atti-
each other (e). People spend more time with tudes of an aristocratic Italian-Jewish family
each other than working on producing just prior to World War II. While the Fascists
results. Disagreements that were quite vocal were just beginning their persecution of the
before are now expressed with a sheepish Jews, the Finzi-Continis refused to believe
grin. The sense of urgency is lost. Spending anything serious was going to befall them.
time in meetings, previously an activity “We have been here too long,” they said.
spurring adamant opposition, is now ac- “They need us. We are one of the most
cepted. distinguished families of Italy,” and they
The climate also becomes more for- continued business as usual. While each
mal. New ideas are received without excite- family member was individually fearful, as a
ment, criticism, or enthusiastic acceptance. group they would not express it. They were
The Mature organization spends less and less paralyzed by the admiration for their past
on R&D and marketing research. Its budget and the determination not to upset the pre-
for change and adaptation decreases. Even- sent.
tually, the results orientation (P) is affected The Aristocratic business organiza-
as well: As the eagerness to excel (E) is re- tion behaves similarly. First of all, such or-
duced, the results orientation declines. ganizations usually have a spacious (palatial)
building with space usually allocated non-
functionally. Their executives have an uncon-
pAel: The Aristocratic Organization
scious fear about the competition, the com-
The climate in the Aristocratic organization pany, and its future, but in formal meetings,
is relatively stale. What counts in this organ- they do not express their doubts. They rely on
ization is not what you did and why you did their past to carry them through the future.
it, but how you did it. “As long as you lie They seem to be paralyzed by their admira-
low long enough and make no waves, you tion for their past, and no one dares to make
can survive and even get promoted regard- the first wave.
less of what you’ve produced.” The total The Aristocratic organization can
behavioral pattern can be described as the be distinguished from other organizations by
Finzi-Contini Syndrome. the clothes managers wear, how they ad-

“Aspirah’onsare a function of fhe disparify between

the desired and the expected. If what managemenf
desires is higher fhan what it expecfs to achieve,
there will be energy and aspiration for change.If 9
 dress one another, by their mode of speech, era of Courtship. In the Adolescent stage it is
and where they meet. a mixture of the two-direct and emotional,
Managerial uniforms. Dress has no full of contradictions but presented in a very
meaning in the Infant organization. “As long opinionated manner.
as you can produce results, you can wear In the Prime organization, people
your shirt inside-out-who cares?” said one measure what they say and speak slowly as
executive. In the Go-Go organization ties if verifying the weight and the impact of
and jackets appear, but are not required. By their every word. They use visual aids but
the time the organization has entered the use them selectively. By the time the
Aristocratic phase, managers dress as if for organization is in its Aristocratic stage, the
a funeral or a wedding, as if trying to outdo mode of delivery is the essence-the medium
one another in the amount they spend on is the message. People overdo the use of
suits. Three-piece suits are de rigueur, the visual aids, and in meetings they hedge,
darker the better. using endless double negatives and quali-
Mode of address. In the Infant fiers. Listening in on such a meeting, one
organization, nicknames are frequently wonders, “What did they really say?” The
used. In the Adolescent stage, the mode of transcript of an Aristocratic meeting is often
address is unprintable. And in the Aristocra- a mumbo jumbo of hints, insinuations, and
tic organization, last names are used almost veiled suggestions.
exclusively. During meetings, Mr. Such-and- Where to meet. In the Infant organ-
Such will be used, despite people having ization they meet anywhere, anytime. In the
known each other for years and commonly Go-Go organization, the meeting is a round-
addressing each other by their first names table in the president’s office. In the Adoles-
outside the meeting room. cent organization, meetings take place in
Mode of speech. In the Courtship various rooms, corridors, or locations, de-
stage, people speak vaguely about what they pending on which clique is involved.
think and feel. They repeat themselves, con- For the Prime organization there is
tradict themselves, are easily annoyed, and a specially designated room for meetings.
show their sensitivities. Mode of speech in The lights are bright. The tables are arranged
the Infant organization is short and direct. in a U-shape. Flip charts from the last meet-
It is even somewhat offensive in its honesty, ing are still taped on the wall. It is somewhat
a sharp departure from the earlier romantic messy, but alive. By the time the organiza-
tion is Aristocratic, the board room has
heavy drapes, The lights are low. There is a
long table with very soft chairs around it.
Life-size paintings of the founders look down
on the participants. The whole setup is one
of formality and tends to make one com-
pliant. While outside the room people may
be concerned about the market situation, in-
side the room the tone changes. Reports are
given. No threatening questions are asked.
Business as usual. When the speaker faces
10 them collectively and points to the threats
from competition, they are inclined to reply, there was little time or respect for ritual. The
“Don’t worry. We’ve been here long enough. Aristocratic organization is just the op-
They need us. We have a name, a tradition, posite. It requires budgets in a certain form
a know-how. . . .‘I But individually they by a certain time with certain details-all of
agree with the consultant: The situation is which stifles the Go-Go side.
bad and “someone” (usually someone other In the case where the Go-Go organ-
than the complainer) should do something. ization acquires the Aristocratic organiza-
Not being results (what) oriented tion, it is like the small fish that swallowed
(P), nor entrepreneurial (why) oriented (E), the whale: Digestion takes a very long time.
the organization begins to lose markets and The Go-Go organization finds itself in over
revenues. In their budgets, instead of allocat- its head in its efforts to cope with the prob-
ing to the producing results (P) and entre- lems of the Aristocratic organization. Milk-
preneuring (E) functions, such as marketing ing the cash from the Aristocratic organiza-
research and development, they allocate tion does not convert it into a Prime organi-
more to administrative systems (A) and in- zation; it only accelerates its decline. The
tegrative efforts (I)-more control systems, waves of change introduced by the Go-Go
bigger and better computers, and more train- management are sudden and forceful, some-
ing programs rather than development pro- times paralyzing the Aristocrats with fear,
grams. making a workable merger even more diffi-
Mergers and acquisitions. The cult. The Go-Go organization might lose its
Aristocratic organization is cash heavy. growth momentum and orientation for sev-
Demands for investments from its internal eral years while it tries to digest its latest
sources are low. The organizational climate prey. If the Aristocracy is a very old one and
of accepting the existent as the desired is the Go-Go organization cannot easily solve
stronger than the aspirations of any in- the inherent problems of old age, the
dividual within the organization. Thus few, Aristocratic organization consumes all the
if any, risk-taking endeavors are proposed. time of the Go-Go executives, with the result
The Aristocratic organization seeks to ac- that both organizations might suffer.
quire avenues for growth other than internal To maintain growth in revenues,
ones. It seeks to buy growth companies- an Aristocratic organization is inclined to
most frequently the Go-Go ones. raise prices rather than generate new pro-
The reverse can happen, too. The ducts or penetrate new markets. Raising
Aristocratic organization, being cash heavy,
is a prime object for takeover, most proba-
bly by a Go-Go organization that, in its
eagerness to grow, does not have limits to its
appetite.
In both cases the marriage is not
easily consummated. When the Aristocratic
organization buys the Go-Go organization,
the latter feels suffocated. What made the
Go-Go organization exciting and vigorous
was its flexibility, its speed of decision mak-
ing. Many decisions were made intuitively; 11
 prices eventually brings its products’ prices take the blame. So periodically someone
to the inelastic portion of their demand becomes the sacrificial lamb, blamed for the
curves. And the reduction in quantities of adverse conditions of the company. The
products sold finally expresses itself in paranoia stems from the fact that no one
reduced total revenues. really knows who will be selected to assume
the blame next. So they watch each other
with suspicion. This paranoia is manifested
-A-i: The Early Bureaucracy
in the explanations that are given for what is
When the artificial face-lifts of raising prices happening. For instance, if the sales manager
eventually have no further effect, and the day decides to give a discount, the other execu-
of reckoning arrives with revenues and market tives do not explain it in rational terms, re-
share steadily and hopelessly falling, the ferring to competitive conditions as they
mutual admiration society of the Aristocratic would in the Go-Go or Prime stage. Instead,
organization is dissolved and the knives are they attribute it to the sales manager’s Machia-
unceremoniously drawn. The fight for vellian strategy, in order to discredit the
personal survival begins, and a new and de- marketing department and expose the
structive phenomenon emerges-managerial incompetence of the marketing vice-president
paranoia. and all the rest.
In the Aristocratic situation there is In such an organization, the
the silence before the storm. People smile, managers’ behavior accelerates the organi-
are friendly, and handle each other with kid zational decline. Managers fight managers,
gloves. When in the Early Bureaucracy the spending most of their time turned inward,
bad results are finally evident, instead of building cliques and coalitions. Their cre-
fighting competition as they should, the ative capabilities are not directed toward
organization’s executives start fighting each creating better products, developing a better
other-and there are no gloves anymore, just marketing strategy, and so on, but into en-
bare knuckles. suring personal survival by eliminating and
A ritual of human sacrifice ensues. discrediting each other. Performance then
Since the results are bad, someone has to declines further, making everyone even more

“ln full-blown Bureauamy very Me, if anything,

gets done. Tkeue is no fighting; fkeve is an
afmospkeve of peacefulness. Suck organizations’
managers me among the nicesf to work wifk.
12 They agree a lot. But nofking ever happens.‘I
paranoid. The better people, since they are organization has been short-circuited. The
feared, either are fired or leave. This process left hand does not know what the right hand
can continue as a vicious circle. The end is doing. What one department requests,
result is bankruptcy. But if the organization another one rejects. ‘They show you one card
can secure external sources of supporting at a time, never the whole hand.”
funds despite its objective achievements When an old person’s organs stop
(like tax-moneysupported government agen- operating normally, he or she can be put on
cies), the result is full bureaucracy. machines that provide a bypass system, such
as an artificial kidney, and in the protective
environment of a hospital. The same anal-
-A--: Bureaucracy
ogy seems to apply to the bureaucratic or-
In Early Bureaucracy one could get something ganization.
done if one knew the right person. Thus the Businesses that have to work with a
small i. In full-blown Bureaucracy very bureaucracy will usually have a special de-
little, if anything, gets done. There is no partment whose full-time task is to provide
fighting; there is an atmosphere of peaceful- the bypass system. These departments have
ness. Such organizations’ managers are among different names. In some organizations, they
the nicest to work with. They agree a lot. are called forthrightly government relations
But nothing ever happens. There is no results or public relations. These departments get to
orientation, no inclination to change, no know the inner workings of the bureaucracy
teamwork-only systems, rules, procedures, and attempt to manipulate it to produce the
forms. results desired by the client.
One of the most distinctive char- The monopoly that bureaucracies
acteristics of a bureaucracy is worship of the have on certain activities, the captive audience
written word. If a client or another executive that is forced by law to ‘buy” their services,
asks for or suggests anything, the typical provide the hospital-like, nonthreatening
answer will be, “Put it in writing.” The files environment. The synergy of such a protected
are engorged. environment and the external bypass sys-
Such an organization isolates itself tems provided by the clients of the organi-
from the environment and builds layers zations keep them functioning. Pulling the
of isolation. Its connection to the external plug would put many of these bureaucracies
world it serves is usually through very narrow out of business, and the taxpayers’ revolt of
channels. Examples of narrow channels are late 1970s is one way to do that. (I am not
having only one telephone line or only one predicting, however, that cutting taxes
window to direct customers, which is open will enhance the administrative health of
only a very few hours a day. If one writes to government agencies; it would rather speed
such an organization, it might take months to up the death of some of them.)
get an answer, and then it will be a form
answer that frequently does not address the
----: Death
main points raised in the original letter.
Often, however, the correspondence is When death occurs there is no results (P),
simply ignored; what better way to break administrative (A), entrepreneurial (E), or
contact with the real world. people (teamwork) (I) orientation. The
It’s as if the “nervous system” of this organization stops acting and is dissolved. 13
 Figure 3
MOMENTUMvs. INERTIA

Aging = f (Aspirations)

ANALYSISAND PRESCRIPTION ple assume that unless something is explicitly

assigned and permitted, it probably is not
Up to maturity (Area X of Figure 3), an or- allowed or expected. Thus people do not
ganization works on momentum. In its de- take chances, do not initiate, basically wait
cline (Area Y), it works on inertia. to be told what to do. In the political power
Up to maturity, relatively speaking, game, the finance and accounting people
everything is permitted unless specifically wrestle control from the marketing people.
forbidden. From maturity on (Area Y), rela- Every expenditure needs justification with
tively speaking, everything is forbidden increased backup data.
unless specifically permitted. This is a signi- Up to maturity, function is more
ficant change in the organizational climate. important than form; function determines
Up to maturity, E dominates the form. From maturity on, form is more
organizational culture. People take initiative important than function.
and are willing to face the consequences. In Up to maturity, the people who get
the political power structure represented by hired are hired according to what they can
Area X, the clout is in the hands of the contribute and despite their personality or
marketing and sales people. They lead and how well they get along. From maturity on,
have the first and last words in decisions. they get hired because of how well they can
In the decline part of the lifecycle get along.
(Area Y), the administrative role (A) domi- Up to maturity, an integral agent of
14 nates. The climate changes very subtly. Peo- change can facilitate organizational develop-
 Figure 4
SPECIFIC
TREATMENTS

A’S/M Therapy

Reorganize ond
Decentralize pAel

Rekindle the

Euthonos ia

I
I
____ I’Caretakers”
I
Treatment
I
I

Aging = f (Aspirations)

ment. In later stages (Area Y), an external
agent is necessary. (It is easier to direct a rise
than to stop a decline, that is, it is easier to
direct a momentum than to change an iner-
tia.) Up to maturity, the organization
growing, and attempts to create are not nec-
essarily perceived as threats. Communica-
tions are usually open, and a person within
the organization can facilitate
change and still be acceptable.
Furthermore, what is necessary up
to maturity (Area X) is to facilitate conver-
gent thinking, which a trained facilitator can
do without making too many waves or
threatening the positions of too many
people. From maturity on, however, the
need is to facilitate divergent thinking
(“What else can be done?“). The facilitator in
this case has to build aspirations by increas-
ing the perceived disparity between the de-
sired results and the expected-that is, to
stimulate overt dissatisfaction. He or she
has to do this by changing the collective
consciousness of the organization or, at
least in the beginning, of the top managerial
is group. That means making waves. In such
an organization the consultant turns out to
be an “insultant,” and if it is an internal per-
son, she or he is either fired or co-opted by
necessary peers or superiors. Facilitation at these stages
of the organizational lifecycle requires an in-
dependent, trusted external agent for change
on a long-term contract-to provide the pro-
tection a prod to necessary but often un-
pleasant actions needs.
SPECIFICTREATMENTS
Organizations at each lifecycle stage require,
or can be helped by, different specific treat-
ments. Taking each stage in turn, these 15
 Figure 5
REORGANIZATION
AND DECENTRALIZATION

Aging

specific treatments have proved useful. (See
Figure 4.)
Courtship stage. The infant or-
ganization has no resources to pay a board or
hire external help. Thus an advisory board
consisting of a lawyer, accountant, friends,
and even employees can provide economically
some of the necessary know-how. This should
not be a “strong” board, because such a
board might constrain the founder in ways
that cause the losing of the factor essential
for survival of the Infant organization-his
commitment. Commitment is usually bound
up with the unrestricted accountability-
freedom-a person has.
Go-Go stage. The Go-Go organiza-
16 tion needs a strong directive board of directors
consisting mostly of nonemployees to help
converge its Go-Go thinking and improve
the typically sloppy planning of an organiza-
tion at this growth stage and to begin the
necessary process of depersonalizing the
leadership and institutionalizing the policies
and plans of the organization. (Often the
Go-Go founder strongly resents an external
board. This may be the first sign that he is
falling into the founder’s trap.)
Adolescence stage. An adolescent
organization must focus on the tasks at
hand, not on any form of interpersonal
therapy such as sensitivity training or trans-
action analysis. If a consultant is invited in
because the partners can’t stand each other
anymore, the consultant should ignore their
demands that he or she judge the merits of When an organization is decentra-
their mutual personal accusations of the other. lized, managers at lower organizational levels
The consultant should rather facilitate sessions are expected to show leadership, which
for analyzing the future, identifying threats involves taking initiatives (E) and motivating
and opportunities, determining goals, and subordinates to follow those initiatives (I).
designing strategies. He or she should work Decentralization develops E and I experien-
to build a new level of commitment to the tially.
organizntion, trying to repeat the Courtship The suggested treatment of a Prime
stage in a different form. The clearer the plan organization is, then, to reorganize for fur-
and its components, the faster an administra- ther decentralization. (See Figure 5.) New
tive system will be established and inter- ways of organizing activities (markets, prod-
personal relations stabilized. This does not ucts, profit centers) are created so that de-
mean that the partners will operate together centralization can occur and management’s
as well as they did in the past, but the situa- attention properly focused.
tion will be bearable. In the short run there is A healthy organization should
no love, but there are no hostilities either. consist of an “extended family,” with the
After a renewal commitment has been Artistocratic, the Prime, and the Infant
created, interventions that focus on inter- organizations clearly identifiable. (See Fig-
personal dynamics and personal growth can ure 6.) Treatment of a Prime organization in-
be of value. volves periodically reviewing the organiza-
Prime stage. Organizations at the tion chart and its market and technological
Prime stage usually do not ask for external activities. Was “anything born” since the last
treatment. In the collective consciousness of review that should be put into the nursery of
a Prime organization’s managers there is no business development7 Has any Infant busi-
sense of need. These managers think they are ness grown big enough to stand on its own as
doing fine. This is a trap, however, because a profit center since the last review?
the Prime stage is the beginning of the end. As a rule, one has to watch care-
The goal is not only to reach Prime but to fully that an Infant organization does not
remain in Prime, and that requires measures report to a Go-Go organization or a Go-
to prevent aging. To do that, measures to Go report to an Aristocratic-a phenomenon
maintain a high entrepreneurial (E) orienta- that can be called organizational incest. What
tion need to be taken. would be functional behavior for one or-
ganization in such dyads could be a suffo-
cating experience for the other; the measures
Decentralization
of success ‘are different for an organization
Producing results and administering (P and depending on where it is in its organizational
A) roles involve relatively programmed deci- lifecycle. Measures of success, like styles of
sions that can be delegated. Entrepreneuring dress, relate to age.
and integrating (E and I) roles involve non- As suggested in Figure 5, with long-
programmed decisions. To stimulate and range planning an organization can plan for
develop entrepreneuring and integrating roles, its growth, for its future endeavors-markets,
a developmental rather than a training technologies, and so on-and can anticipate
treatment is necessary. This is done via de- its future organizational structure. In a PAEI
centralization. organization, all roles can be achieved. E and 17
 Figure 6
A FAMILY OF STRATEGICBUSINESSUNITS

Vice-President

Aristocracy Prime Divestiture: Nursey Business Development

(Cash Cows) (Stars) Early Bureaucracy, (infants) (Go-Go)
Infant Mortality,
Suicide
(Dow) Problem Children

I are incompatible, however, when the plan- sults and good interpersonal relations.)
ning is short range: Entrepreneuring and team-
work are incompatible because entrepreneurs
are by nature individualistic. Thus even in a TREATING THE MATURE AND

Prime organization, i is in lower case. When ARISTOCRATIC ORGANIZATIONS

there is long-range planning, however, entre-

preneurs can be integrated into the emerging Mature and Aristocratic organizations require
organization and teamwork and creativity a process of organizational intervention
achieved. (This, in itself, is another argument called therapy, to distinguish the treatment
why long-range planning is indispensable to from surgery, where management is fired,
good management-to achieve both good re- sudden changes in responsibilities made, and
so on. Surgery is not necessary for Mature
and Aristocratic organizations since both
are still cash heavy and still have time to
rejuvenate without taking the drastic mea-
sures that are necessary when there are time
and economic pressures.
A method called AS/M has been
developed to rejuvenate Aristocratic organi-
zations and applied with varying degrees of
success to more than 50 organizations world-
wide. Basically, the method attempts to
change the consciousness of an organiza-
18 tion by changing the aspirations of its mana-
gem. It widens their horizons while at the created to solve the problems and taught how
same time providing tools for teamwork that to work together as a team, while avoiding
make people feel better able to effectuate the trap of trying to manage by committee.
change successfully. The method reverses Phase 3. A vertical participative
the sense of helplessness that is characteristic system is established parallel to the existing
of managers of organizations in decline. organization structure, to deal with the de-
As a process, AS/M starts by velopment of the organization.
attacking the Finzi-Contini Syndrome. During Phases l-3 intervene both on pro-
a diagnostic meeting-a synergetic diag- cess and structure simultaneously (see Figure
nosis (Syndag)-management approaches 7). They create a new process of decision
the problems of the company constructively. making-teamwork-and a new vertical
The meeting ends with a plan of action for hierarchical parallel structure (bottom-up)
solving the problems that no one alone could for decision making.
solve but which the organization’s managers Phase 4. Once both the processes
can solve together-and want to solve and structure of the organization have
because of their perceived critical importance. been affected so that the organization desires
Through constructive criticism and team- to change-Syndag-and senses it can
work, the organization moves from reactive change-teamwork and hierarchy of parti-
to proactive behavior, which takes it into the cipation-a definition of mission is drafted.
Prime phase or the organizational lifecycle. This involves a process intervention since in
An AS/M intervention has 11 this phase AS/M teaches how members of
phases that alternate between focusing on the organization can jointly and cooperatively
structure or on process. For effective long- define its mission and thereby ensure that all
term organizational change, both the or- members of the organization are committed
ganizational structure and the decision- to the same mission. It is not an MB0 pro-
making process have to be changed. The gram, which uses the normal hierarchical
sequence of phases is: channels to negotiate commitments. In AS/M
Phase 7. A Syndag involving a a process for forming commitments together
meeting of people from three levels of the within a learning environment is provided.
managerial group for four days is arranged Phase 5. The AS/M method is cas-
so the group can discuss in a highly organized caded to lower and lower levels of the
fashion areas of the company’s operations
that potentially could be improved. The
Syndag is highly structured and disciplined
so no interpersonal sensitivities may emerge.
It is a task-oriented discussion that ends with
a plan of action: Which problems should be
dealt with now, which problems can be
ignored for the present; and who should solve
the problems of present concern and by what
date. The Syndag unfreezes the organiza-
tion and moves it from its present equilibri-
um to a more “open” state.
Phase 2. Groups-synerteams-are 19
 Figure 7
A’SIM PHASES

10

1. Syndag (Synergetic diagnosis) 7. Information systems

2. Synerteams 8. Strategic planning
3. Conduit systems 9. Budgeting
4. Mission definition IO. PAEI organizational design

5. Cascading A’SIM 11. Incentive systems

6. Organizational design

organization, affecting further both the or- sense of potency: Change can be effected.
ganization’s structure and processes. The Phase 3 creates an awareness of the possi-
cascading is not undertaken, however, until bility of multi organizational level coopera-
the top management group has already ad- tion for change. Phase 4 produces the pre-
vanced beyond Phase 4, that is, until top scription for change: What should the or-
management already knows what its sub- ganization change to. Thus a push strategy,
ordinates will be learning. Cascading means that is, away from the problems identified in
starting Phases 1, 2, 3, and 4 on lower Syndag, and a pull strategy, that is, toward
levels of the organization. the desired mission of the future, in conjunc-
Phase 6. The first five phases of tion with the tools-teamwork and parallel
AS/M create a new consciousness and structure-to effect change from the one situa-
propensity to change within the organization. tion to the other change the climate of the or-
The Syndags (Phase 1) create a desire for ganization and increase its propensity to
20 change. The teamwork in Phase 2 creates a change its organizational structure. Knowing
what is desired, Phase 4, and cascading this centives can motivate for achievement rather
desire to change, Phase 5, enables the organi- than a windfall.
zation to establish a new organization struc- A Syndag is repeated annually like a
ture. medical checkup of an individual or main-
Phase 7. To make the new structure tenance of a machine after x hours of opera-
viable, the organization’s information systems tion.
have to change to reflect the new structure It takes an organization about two
and the new mission. years to learn the 11 phases of AS/M. There-
Phase 8. New strategies in marketing, after it will spend a month per phase each
product development, finance, and human year proactively checking its present problems;
resources have to be developed. its teamwork; its bottom up, vertical coopera-
Phase 9. These new strategies have tion; and its mission, structure, information
to be reflected in new budgets. system, plans, budgets, and incentives.
Phase IO. The operation of the AS/M is a proactive preventive
horizontal and vertical cooperative systems managerial process designed to identify and
of AS/M have to be verified for the whole solve problems so an organization can
organization since the cascading has pro- arrive at and stay in the Prime stage of its
gressed throughout the organization as the lifecycle. By and large AS/M has been
top management group has gone through successful. Organizations in countries as dif-
Phases l-9. ferent as Ghana, Sweden, Mexico, and the
Phase II. An incentive system is United States have applied it to ensure
established. This is the last step in the AS/M balanced growth toward Prime for organiza-
process since to have a viable incentive system, tions from Infancy on (avoiding premature
the problems of the organization have to be aging and death) and to rejuvenate organiza-
identified and solved, the mission agreed upon, tions from Early Bureaucracy to Prime.
the structure suitable for proper account- The average treatment lasts for three years at
ability, and the information necessary for a the rate of one day per month.
manager to know when he or she met an AS/M is different from classical
accountability must be available so that in- behavior facilitation or traditional prescrip-

“AS/M is a proache preventive manageviM

process designed fo identify and solve pvc7blemsso
an organization cm mrive at and sftiy in fke
PviMzesfage of ifs lifecycle. By and loge A S/M
has been successful, ” 21
 tive consulting. In AS/M, a successful appli- AS/M deals with deep organiza-
cation involves teaching and prescribing the tional problems, which take longer to
group dynamics in the how of operating suc- solve, but once the structure and process of
cessfully, and the what-the desired deci- self-rejuvenation is established, solving new
sions. In classic behavior science interven- problems turns out to be swift.
tions, in comparison, more emphasis is put While organizational therapy-and
on how a decision is made than on what de- AS/M is one approach to it-is feasible
cision is made. The traditional prescriptive during Maturity and Aristocracy, it turns out
consultant, on the other hand, emphasizes to be an insufficient treatment for the next
the decision to be made and deemphasizes passages of the organizational lifecycle, Ear-
how it was made and implemented. In ly Bureaucracy and Bureaucracy, often the
AS/M, equal importance is given to the beginning of the end.
what and the how.
In traditional consulting, the se-
Treating Early Bureaucracy
quence is to define the mission and the
strategies and then to design the structure. In The backbiting that characterizes such
AS/M, internal problems (Syndag) are organizations requires immediate attention.
identified first, the sense of potency that Prompt surgical treatment is usually necessary.
change can be produced effectively is increased Managers whose attitudes are negative and
and then the mission is defined. Defining the thus poison the climate or who are totally
mission without creating a sense of potency ineffective have to be replaced. This
is equivalent to daydreaming. Nor is it surgery has to be done only once and very
possible to go to strategy. The structure is sparingly. If several surgical interventions are
most probably inadequate. So there is a high done in succession, organizational paralysis
chance that the strategy will reflect the con- may result. Management’s suspicions and
stellations of power in the present structure. paranoia, which run high during this stage
So, after the mission has been defined, the of the lifecycle, may run rampant. In other
structure is changed to reflect the mission. words, the treatment may exacerbate the
With a new and better allocation of powers, neurosis instead of treating it.
a new strategy can be developed, especially After the surgery, the same AS/M
after the new information system that re- therapeutic treatment given to the Aristo-
flects the new structure is operating. cratic organization is applied, except that the
rate of intervention-the dose of treatment
-is much higher. A one-day-a-month inter-
vention is prescribed when AS/M is applied
to an Aristocratic organization, but with an
Early Bureaucracy usually the required dos-
age is three days a month and sometimes
even that is not enough.

Bureaucracy and Death

I have had no experience with treating these

22 types of organizations.
POSSIBLE PITFALLS organization’s life, asking the founder to
decentralize, that is, to pass control to some-
A good model should have counterintuitive one else, might threaten and alienate the
prescriptions. May I suggest some I think founder from the organization and reduce
follow from the PAR model. his or her commitment.
Newborn animals abandoned by
their mothers after they have been touched
Delegation Treatment
by humans provide an analogy of sorts.
One hears repeatedly that the main problem Founders, I find, sometimes act similarly to
of a founder is that he doesn’t delegate. such mothers. The time and dedication
This is true for a Go-Go organization. If a necessary to develop a company from scratch
founder doesn’t delegate, he will fall into the is enormous. It is unstintingly given as long
founder’s trap. But the treatment is not easy as the founder identifies personally with the
to apply. organization. But for others to identify with
If an organization is in its Infancy their offspring might alienate them to the
(where the founder works even harder than in point of departing. In treating Infant organi-
the Go-Go stage), delegation is not only zations, premature decentralization, that
unpalatable to the founder, it is even dan- is, forced decentralization by premature dele-
gerous to the organization’s health. Further- gation, might cause such alienation.
more, it is difficult to delegate nonpro- Delegation of the founder’s functions
grammed decisions. An Infant organization should start at the advanced stages of Go-Go.
is still in its formative stages. Decisions that By that time, it is clear that there is too much
serve as precedents are just being made. for everyone to do and the founder should
Delegating nonprogrammed deci- not feel that by delegating he is giving all the
sions is equivalent to decentralizing, which fun (control) away. Furthermore, approaching
for an Infant organization means passing the Adolescent stage, administrative systems
control from the founder to someone else. should be planned, and programming should
First, it is almost impossible to do this be- be under way. The healthy Go-Go organiza-
cause the organization has no managerial tion needs policymaking-what not to do-
depth. Typically, a founder will question a which is also tantamount to decision pro-
consultant who recommends delegation by gramming. The more programmed the deci-
asking in an irritated voice, ‘Delegate? Fine, sions, the easier it will be to delegate without
but to whom?” He has hardly anyone in his
organization who is as good as he is in leading
the company. If there were such employees
they would probably not be employees of an
Infant organization; they would probably
establish their own companies.
Second, even if there were someone
to delegate to, actual decentralization is not
a welcome treatment for a founder. What
keeps a founder going is his or her unlimited
dedication to the organization created by
his or her labor. At this stage of such an 23
 losing control. Thus the validity of the then the real “pain” of adaptation starts. The
recommendations to delegate, often given to pain can be acute enough to cause managers
the small organizations’ ever-busy managers, to refuse to complain about problems any-
should be analyzed in light of where the more. They fear that if they point to
organization is in its lifecycle. The timing is problems, another surgical treatment might
crucial if the treatment is to succeed. follow. They would rather suffer quietly
with their problems.
While organization change is indis-
Ill-timed and Unnecessary Surgery
pensable for a long-run success (See Figure
Surgery-changing top management-is the 5), if it is induced for curative purposes at
fastest way to produce change. But it is also the wrong time, the organization may refuse
the most painful and dangerous treatment. to submit to it. Surgery applied ineffectively
It is often used because it can be done quick- and exclusively for curative purposes, and
ly and is highly lucrative (to the consultant). thus extensively painful, may cause an or-
Unfortunately, few “organizational sur- ganization to refuse to be operated on for
geons” stay long enough to see the results of preventive purposes, when the problem is
their surgery or accept the responsibility for not even evident. Often we reorganize only
the post-surgical complications-which can when there is a crisis, for example, with an
breed irresponsibility. Early Bureaucracy. At such a stage, surgery
A successful medical surgeon is not is inevitable. The treatment, however,
necessarily one who cuts fast but rather one should have been applied when its effects
who monitors sensitively and well the post- would not have been so painful-at the
surgical complications that might occur when Prime stage of the organization’s lifecycle.
the patient’s body is weak and vulnerable. At that time, the organizational climate is
Many organizational consultants suggest a conducive to change. There is growth, and
new organization chart and help in locating since there are positive expectations for the
the people to fill the boxes, collect the fee, future, the perceived threats from a change
and consider their task done. But it is only are much smaller and can even be minimized
further. In Early Bureaucracy, however,
when economic results are bad and the at-
mosphere is already rife with suspicion,
change reinforces fears rather than removing
them.
If the organization is an Aristo-
cracy, on the other hand, A’S/M recom-
mends a no-firing policy. Then for six
months, AS/M facilitates changing the
climate to reflect expected opportunities for
external growth, which is necessary to gain
acceptance for internal change. Only then is
the reorganization (usually with no firing,
however, just a reallocation of resources)
24 and the retraining of staff effected.
Convergent vs. Divergent thinking management style, that is, the extent to which he
or she emphasizes producing results (P), admin-
Some people are by nature more divergent istering (A), entrepreneuring (E), or integrating
(EI) in their thinking than convergent (PA) (I), and the demands of the work situation for a
and vice versa. A consultant who likes to given role emphasis, Obviously, when an indivi-
provide divergent inputs (“What more can dual’s style matches the role demands of the job,
we do”) can be dysfunctional to organiza- his or her behavior will be much more effective
tions in their Infancy, Go-Go, and Adoles- than would otherwise be the case. A further de-
cent stages, and at the same time, he can be velopment of these ideas can be found in my book
highly functional for organizations in the How to Solve the Mismanagement Crisis (Dow
Jones/Irwin, 1979). This book deals with the
Mature and Aristocratic stages. The op-
implications of the PAEI model for the training of
posite is true for consultants who prefer con-
individual managers and managerial teams and as
vergent inputs. Thus different consulting
a tool for avoiding mismanagement and for main-
styles are called for depending on where the
taining a healthy, growing organization.
organization is in its lifecycle.

SUMMARY

In this article a model for identifying organi-

CD
zational styles is presented. Such a typology
has been found to be repetitive as a pattern ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
in a significant number or organizations and
it has been verified by hundreds of ex-
ecutives as reflecting their experience. I wish to thank Bill Delaney for editorial and typ-
The model enables an organization ing aid in preparing this article, and to express too

to foresee the problems it will face as it grows late my appreciation to the late Dr. William F.
Dowling, whose persistence as editor of Organiza-
over time. Furthermore, it provides tools for
tional Dynamics led me finally to write it.
prescribing effective organizational treat-
ments-organizational therapy and surgery.
It is a contingency model in that it presents
a framework for prescribing the treatments
most likely to be effective depending on the
lifecycle stage of the organization.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

The role model represented by PAEI was intro-

duced in my article “Mismanagement Styles”
(California Management Review, Winter 1976,
pp. S-20). The focus of that article was on the
relationship between an individual manager’s 25