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Abstract
Organizational life cycle models have generated interest in the research communities for decades, resulting in various iterations of definitions, stages and impacts. This article explores the foundational research as well as the current state of the research. The assessment was completed using the General Method of Theory Building for Applied Disciplines. A framework for evaluating research related to theory building was used on selected academic research followed by implications for future research and theory.
Keywords: Organizational life cycle models; theory-building; framework
"Many parallels can be drawn between organizational and individual pathologies" (Kets de Vries & Miller, 1984, p.35). The organizational life cycle model suggests that organizations, like the organic body, tend to progress in a linear fashion through predictable and definable stages (phases) of development sequentially from birth to decline and ultimately death. The life cycle stage is a loosely comprised set of organizational activities and structures (Dodge, 1990; Quinn & Cameron, 1983). According to Van de Ven (2007), the key is to understand how these activities and structures change over time. Greiner's (1998) model of organizational growth provides the foundation of the life cycle stages that organizations pass thorough in their evolutionary journey. Research shows all firms go through some form of birth, growth, maturity, and decline stage, though the actual number of stages varies according to the researcher. Some of the more recent research emphasizes the terminal stage of the life cycle. This article argues that in order to adequately define, comprehend and explain life cycle models, research needs to engage more with the challenges of researching change over time, and ground the theorizing of intuition and population more firmly in empirical research. The article then identifies some of the problems and oversights of current research and discusses possible solutions.
Methods
This assessment and evaluation of the organizational life cycle model was assessed using the phases of theory building for applied disciplines (Lynham, 2002); Swanson & Chermack, 2013). The Lynham (2002) and Swanson & Chermack (2013) general method of theory building in applied disciplines was chosen as a theoretical evaluation for its methodical and comprehensive approach to organizational development and human resource development. This article is focused on the theorizing in the context of discovery and the context of justification to...