A small company, growing fast. Started out as a "Mom and Pop" operation
working on a shoestring budget. Didn't hit the cutting edge of the field
but, through the hard work and dedication of those early entrepreneurs,
managed to gain a reputation of being very customer-friendly and veru
competent.
Company gets "acquired" (bought) by some investors. The future gets very
large and diverse as these new people bring their dreams and visions into
play. "Mom and Pop" are still on board running the show since the
investors know little or nothing about this business. The inevitable
power struggle begins to rear its ugly head as past and present principals
vie for control.
There is perceived a need for a more advanced ifrastructure that can set
the stage for future expansion and then support that expansion. A number
of people see this need. An idea is begun and begins to grow as to what
this infrastructure should look like. The problem is that the old
principal wants to keep things as they were and uses terms like "flat
organization" and "team" to implement this desire. The end result, people
are uncertain about to whom they report, problems are solved very
informally with no dissemination of information to other members, and
behind-the-scenes games abound.
My interest: I want to manage this infrastructure. I want to plant the
seeds and grow them to a (relatively) mature state. Then I want to hand
it over to someone else and look for a new challenge.
My problem/situation: Is there sufficient value in the achievement to
warrant the level of frustration and simple bad management that currently
exists and will continue for, at least, a while. Or is this a situation
of diminishing returns whiuch I should help as much as I can while I am
there but continue to seek another opportunity?
Any thoughts? I think I am a little too close to be totally objective in
this assessment right now.
--Clyde Howell orgpsych@csra.net
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>