Greiner's Growth Model
Updated 2026-08-13
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Greiner's growth model, published by Larry Greiner, describes organizational development as a sequence of evolutionary phases, each ending in a revolutionary crisis: creativity gives way to a leadership crisis, direction to an autonomy crisis, delegation to a control crisis, coordination to a red-tape crisis, and collaboration to a further crisis. The core proposition is that each phase's successful method becomes the next phase's obstacle. The key qualification is that the sequence is a diagnostic lens rather than a schedule, and industry context alters both timing and order.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Phase locate: identify which evolutionary phase your organization is currently passing through right now. - Crisis name: name the specific crisis that the current phase is steadily heading toward. - Method review: ask which practice produced your current success and will obstruct the next phase.
Anchor fast decisions
Each phase succeeds by centralizing or decentralizing in a particular way, and that arrangement eventually becomes the constraint. The crisis is not a failure of management but the signal that the previous solution has exhausted its usefulness. Organizations that anticipate the transition can restructure deliberately; those that wait experience the same change as a forced upheaval.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizational_life_cycleverified
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