Successful Organizational Development and Growing Pains

In order to develop successfully, an organization needs a model of what is required to be built. Flamholtz (1986; 1995) has developed a model for organizational growth, which identifies the key “building blocks of successful organizations.” In this growth model, organizational “form” or structure consists of six key components or “building blocks”: markets selected, products (including services), resources to support growth, operational systems, management systems, and culture. Under this growth model, the challenge of building an organization is to create the appropriate combination of these six key variables or building blocks for the stage of growth an organization is currently in.