ABSTRACT
A general hypothesis about the developmental stages of an organization is helpful in organizing the initial interviewing around the problem; the feedback people receive will form the basis of a more focused hypothesis around issues specific to that organization and its members. This chapter describes three phases in the organizational life cycle. At the beginning, the organization develops from the inspiration of a few people. This is called the pioneering phase. At some point in this phase, members of the organization start giving feedback like, 'It's getting too big' or 'We want guidelines', and this provokes a crisis in which the organization has to act in response to the feedback if it is to continue to develop effectively. This is called the systemization phase. The organization needs to respond by devoting more concern to the customer, decentralizing and giving more freedom and autonomy to its members. This is called the integration phase.
