h,: 2~!,2_.g3" zuggcz:c.d h~ d,c dde, to adolescence
in the human being, is both appropriate
and incomplete, it is appropriate in that
~here's a considerable uniformity in the
stresses and strains undergone by corporations
as they pass from youth (50 to 200 employees
or fewer) to adolescence (200 to 1,000
employees) and in that organizations find
the adolescence experience to be painful. The
analogy breaks down, however, because the
organizational adolescence is not inevitable
--some organizations can and do reiect the
growing-up process, by choosing to stay small.
Last. unlike human adolescence, organizational
adolescence is ~nmenmes [alal; "..he nrganization
may succumb to its growing pains.
Let's expose the scope of the problem
with a composite case that combines experlerwes
common to a number of companies I
have observed :
The Thatcher Company has ~ employees
today, cGmpared with 150 five years
ago and a mere dozen back in 1958. In the
community, it has the ~-eputation of a fine