Organisational Growth Problems: The Construct and its Empirical Examination
Organisational Growth Problems: The Construct and its Empirical Examination

Summary/Abstract: Company growth is typically accompanied by the emergence or intensification of pressures and organizational problems. The mounting pressure may, in some cases, result in crises, or even present a danger to company existence. This area has long been explored by management sciences, but empirical evidence on the subject at hand is relatively scarce; in fact, the very incidence of organizational growth problems has not yet been verified through quantitative methods. The analyses presented in this paper represent an attempt at bridging this apparent gap. The research was conducted on a sample of 172 Polish companies representing the segment of medium size enterprises. Correlations were tested using Pearson linear correlation coefficient and Spearman’s rank correlation test, while the calculation of dynamics of organizational growth problems was measured on a proprietary scale consisting of 14 statements evaluated by the respondents along a 7 point Likert scale (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.92). The dynamics of organizational growth problems was found to be positively correlated with the increase in both sales and employment figures. Somewhat astonishing was the observation of negative correlations in the group of entities with reported increase in employment. This can be explained as a conscious response of such companies to the anticipated pressure of growth problems associated with sales increases – in this context, the correlation between sales and employment figures seems obvious, and is often accompanied by organizational growth. The most important observation, however, is that the problems associated with organizational growth are a valid construct, and one measurable by quantitative methods.

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