Growing Pains: Building Sustainably Successful Organizations 5th Edition, Kindle Edition

Since the first edition of this book appeared more than thirty years ago, it has become the classic reference for understanding the theory and process of organizational success and failure at different stages of growth.

Fully revised and updated, the fifth edition of Growing Pains offers business leaders, potential entrepreneurs, and investors a definitive guide to the lifecycle of an organization, and the optimization strategies that can make a company stronger and ultimately, sustainable. Whether a company’s growth is rapid, slow, or not occurring at all, Eric G. Flamholtz and Yvonne Randle provide a wealth of effective tools and suggestions for an organization to get things right.

This new edition puts the spotlight on all stages of growth, not just the transition stage, from start-up to a well-established company. It includes new ideas, concepts, and comprehensive case studies of the applications of the frameworks and tools presented including the results of those applications in various international organizations. It also contains new empirical research and recent data on strategic organizational development.

Growing Pains outlines three proven frameworks for understanding organizational efficiency and transitions: an organizational effectiveness model, an organizational life-cycle model, and a model to explain the origin and underlying causes of “growing pains.” The authors include a detailed explanation of the seven stages of organizational growth, the challenges common to each stage, and a method for determining when a company is in a particular stage. They also reveal the most significant managerial tools for building sustainable successful business enterprises and offer a tool to measure and understand the severity of an organization’s growing pains. Designed to be practical, the text includes a “leadership molecule” with advice for CEOs on the vital transitions to be employed throughout the business lifecycle as well as a set of organizational development tools that leaders can put in motion.

Based on feedback from the previous editions, if the ideas and methods described in this book are conscientiously applied, organizations will have a significantly improved likelihood of attaining sustainable success.

THE CLASSIC RESOURCE AND PRACTICAL TOOLKIT FOR MANAGING ORGANIZATIONAL GROWTH!

“The overall purpose of this book is to help readers understand what it takes to continue to grow an organization successfully after a new venture or entrepreneurship has been established. Specifically, it provides a lens or framework and related tools to help people understand how to manage organizational growth successfully at different stages from a start-up to a dominant world-class company like a Starbucks.”
―From the Preface

“It was over twenty years ago that I first read Growing Pains and began using the tools and frameworks in my work as an organizational development professional. In Growing Pains, Drs. Flamholtz and Randle provide a step-by-step roadmap for developing any organization’s effectiveness. This book provides practical suggestions to address the evolving leadership challenges of organizational growth and every manager will benefit from having this as their go-to resource to help create a high performance company.”
―Bryan Lawton, PhD, Chief, Corporate Development, The Doctors Company

“In 50+ years of business experience, we found the most important ingredient to growing shareholder value is the employment of a well-defined management and strategic planning process. After trial and error, the process incorporated in Growing Pains proved our most efficient and effective management system―sending performance in our family business to new heights, year in and year out. Try it, your stakeholders will love it, and it’s suitable for any business, regardless of size or shape.”
―Tim Carter, Retired CEO of Bell-Carter Foods, Inc.

“I have personally applied the concepts in this book to every nonprofit that I have worked with and managed the transition of each to their next level of growth. Hence, I am especially excited about this edition that includes a new chapter entitled ‘Building Sustainably Successful Nonprofits’. I am a true believer that when you marry mission to the principles outlined in Growing Pains, it increases the capacity of nonprofits and their people to do better while doing good. As with all organizations, it is critical for nonprofits to perform at their peak and drive toward sustainable success that ultimately benefits society at large―and Flamholtz and Randle’s Growing Pains provides the blueprint for doing exactly that.”
―Helen Han, Past President and CEO, National Association of Women Business Owners, Senior Strategist, LeadersUp

“Eric Flamholtz and Yvonne Randle have been instrumental in assisting us in our transition from an entrepreneurial to a professionally managed financial services firm. The framework which Eric has perfected over many years has allowed us to identify systemic challenges in the organization, develop a structure to address them and measure our progress. When I’m asked who I see to ensure my firm’s continued healthy development, I tell them that they have provided a practical guide in Growing Pains and I’m just following it!”
―Scott Minerd, Chairman of Investments/Chief Investment Officer, Guggenheim Partners