Examples of the “putting out fires” problem are easy to find. In one company, a lack of planning caused orders to be needlessly rushed, resulting in excessive pressure on employees. Drivers had to be hired on weekends and evenings to deliver orders, some of which were already overdue. In other companies, lack of planning can produce other short-term crises. For example, lack of planning can result in shortages of salespeople. Because of these shortages, a company may be forced to hire new people and put them to work almost immediately, sometimes without adequate training. This, in turn, can contribute to short-term productivity problems because the new people do not possess the skills necessary to be good salespeople.
Fires were so prevalent at one $50 million manufacturing company that managers began to refer to themselves as “fire fighters,” and senior management rewarded middle management for their skill in handling crises. When it became apparent that managers who had been effective in “fire prevention” were being ignored, some of them became “arsonists” to get senior management’s attention.
People Are Not Aware of What Other People Are Doing. Another symptom of organizational growing pains is that many people are increasingly unaware of the exact nature of their jobs and how these jobs relate to those of others. This creates a situation in which people and departments do whatever they want to do and say that the remaining tasks are “not our responsibility.” Constant bickering between people and departments over responsibility may ensue. The organization may become a group of isolated and sometimes waning factions.
These problems typically result from the lack of an organization chart and precise role and responsibility definitions as well as effective team building. Relationships between people and between departments as well as individual responsibilities may be unclear.
The isolation of departments from one another may result in duplication of effort or in tasks that remain incomplete because they are “someone else’s responsibility.” Constant arguments between departments may also occur over territory and organizational resources.
People Lack Understanding About Where the Firm Is Headed. Another typical growing pain is a widespread lack of understanding of where the firm is headed. Employees may complain that “the company has no identity” and either blame upper management for not providing enough information about the company’s future direction or, worse, believe that not even upper management knows what that direction will be. Basically, there has been a communication breakdown. This was one of the critical problems at Wang Laboratories that led to the resignation of Frederick Wang, son of company founder An Wang. It appears that the senior management at Wang failed to develop and/or communicate their strategy for maximizing market opportunities. As a result, salespeople became confused about which market Wang wanted to pursue.
When insufficient communication is combined with rapid changes, as is often the case in growing firms, employees may begin to feel anxious. To relieve this anxiety, they may either create their own networks for obtaining the desired information or come to believe that they know the company’s direction even though management has not actually communicated this information. If anxiety increases to the point where it becomes unbearable, employees may begin leaving the firm. Turnover of this kind can be very costly to a firm.
