When an organization has not been fully successful in developing the internal systems it needs at a given stage of growth, it begins to experience growing pains. These growing pains are problems in and of themselves. However, they are also symptoms of a deeper, systemic problem: the need to transition to a different infrastructure to support the current and anticipated growth and size of the organization.
This chapter examines in detail the most common organizational growing pains, showing through examples how these growing pains emerge in real-life companies. It also presents a self-scoring method of measuring organizational growing pains and a way to interpret the extent to which they signal the need for further organizational development. The chapter then discusses the degree to which different sizes and types of businesses experience growing pains. We also include information about the percentage of companies at each level of growing pains scores, based on an analysis of a database that includes more than 5,000 companies. Next, we examine the relationship between growing pains, company growth rates, and infrastructure. We will also discuss the relationship between growing pains and financial performance. Finally, the use of growing pains scores as a tool in helping to facilitate organizational transitions and measure their effectiveness is illustrated in the case example of Guangzhou Construction, previously ...
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