| Course | WMBA 6000 Dynamic Leadership |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 1 |
| Paper type | Discussion post |
| Length | About 540 words, 3 pages |
| Format | Discussion post, APA 7 citations |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | Master of Business Administration (MBA) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for WMBA 6000 Week 1
Week 1 Discussion: Leadership and Organizational Growth
Downbeat Software Has Reached Greiner's First Crisis: Three Signs That the Founders' Hands-On Style No Longer Reaches Everyone, and the Hire It Implies
The organization I am using this term is Downbeat Software, a composite startup of about 40 people that sells scheduling and billing software to independent music schools. It is run by its two founders: a technical chief executive who wrote the first version of the product and a sales-minded chief operating officer who signed its first hundred schools. Revenue has roughly doubled in each of the past two years, and headcount has grown from 12 to 40 in eighteen months.
Greiner (1997) described organizational growth as alternating periods of steady evolution and sharp revolution, in which each phase's management style eventually creates the crisis that ends it. The first phase, growth through creativity, runs on founders' energy and informal communication, and it ends in a crisis of leadership: the company outgrows what the founders can manage personally. Downbeat is at that crisis. Three signs support the placement. Decisions queue for the founders: product priorities, refunds and even vendor renewals wait for one of two people. New hires learn priorities from rumor, because the founders' direction travels by hallway and chat rather than by any written plan. And two managers hired from larger software firms left within six months, each saying privately that they had responsibility without authority.
The decision Greiner's model implies is bringing in a strong business manager who can install structure, someone whose job is to run the company's operations so that the founders' attention can return to product and customers. That is harder than it sounds. Founders often resist the very management they need, and research on fast-growing firms has found that those that manage growth well tend to build management systems before the strain becomes severe (Hambrick & Crozier, 1985). For Downbeat, the two managers who left suggest the founders have not yet given anyone real authority, which a new hire alone will not fix. Before recruiting, the founders would need to write down which decisions the new manager will own outright, such as vendor contracts and hiring outside engineering, and agree not to reopen them. Without that, a third capable manager would likely follow the first two out the door.
Does your organization show signs of a phase crisis, and did its leaders see it before or after people started leaving?
Reply to Jordan
Jordan, you placed your hospital system in Greiner's crisis of red tape, citing the number of approvals a new program needs. I agree with the placement, and I wonder whether the system has tried the collaboration phase's remedies, such as cross-functional teams, or whether it is still adding controls. Greiner's point was that each crisis is solved by moving to the next phase's style, not by doing more of the current one.
Reply to Priya
Priya, your nonprofit seems to be between phases, with a founder still central but a board that has started demanding reports. Flamholtz and Randle (2016) describe the transition from an entrepreneurial firm to a professionally managed one as a period of growing pains, which fits your description of staff who feel the old informality slipping away. Which pain do you think the board's reports are meant to relieve?
References
Flamholtz, E. G., & Randle, Y. (2016). Growing pains: Building sustainably successful organizations (6th ed.). Wiley.
Greiner, L. E. (1997). Evolution and revolution as organizations grow. Family Business Review, 10(4), 397-409. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-6248.1997.00397.x
Hambrick, D. C., & Crozier, L. M. (1985). Stumblers and stars in the management of rapid growth. Journal of Business Venturing, 1(1), 31-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/0883-9026(85)90005-9
WMBA 6000 Week 1 instructions, in plain terms
The opening discussion in a leadership course often asks students to describe an organization and analyze its leadership challenges using a growth or life-cycle model. Prompts commonly name Greiner's model and ask students to place the organization in a phase, support the placement with evidence and say what the model implies for leaders. Replies usually test a classmate's placement. Instructors expect specific signs rather than general descriptions, and an implication the organization could act on. The initial post is generally kept near 350 words, and each reply near 100. Some prompts let students use a composite or anonymized organization instead of their employer. Because the same organization often returns in later weeks, the first post also sets up a case the rest of the term can build on, so it pays to describe size, age and leadership carefully now.
How this WMBA 6000 Week 1 example is built
The post describes the company by type, its founders and its recent growth, with headcount moving from twelve to forty in eighteen months. A paragraph introduces Greiner's model and places the company at the crisis of leadership, with three signs drawn from daily work. A third paragraph names the decision the model implies, cites research on firms that manage rapid growth well and adds what must happen before a new manager arrives. A question invites classmates' examples and asks whether leaders saw the crisis before people started leaving. One reply applies the model's logic about solving each crisis with the next phase's style to a hospital stuck adding approvals; the other connects a classmate's nonprofit to Flamholtz and Randle's account of growing pains. Margin notes beside each part explain what it contributes.
Where the marks sit in the WMBA 6000 Week 1 rubric
Graders look for a placement supported by observable signs, not adjectives. Explaining why each sign fits the model's description of the crisis shows understanding. Naming the decision the model implies, and its difficulty, earns more than restating the phase. Citing research beyond the model adds weight, here a study of fast-growing firms that built management systems early. Replies earn credit for applying the model to a classmate's case rather than agreeing with it. Labeling a composite organization as composite keeps the post honest. Discussion rubrics in MBA courses usually reserve a share for timeliness and for posting on separate days, so the replies matter as much as the initial post. Clear, short sentences and correct citations finish the grade, and a reference list in APA style is expected even in a discussion forum.
WMBA 6000 Week 1 help: mistakes that cost marks
Describe your organization's size, age and leadership in a few sentences. Read Greiner's description of each phase and crisis, then list the signs you see. Choose the phase that the signs fit best and say what the model suggests leaders do next. Ask yourself what would have to change first for that step to work. Keep the post short and specific. A common mistake is to place an organization in a phase because of its age alone, when the model ties each crisis to the strains of the previous style. Another is to describe the crisis without saying what leaders should decide. In replies, avoid simply agreeing; ask what evidence would move the classmate's organization one phase earlier or later. For a custom sample post built around your own organization, send us a description.
Get a WMBA 6000 Week 1 example written to your instructions
Paste the Week 1 thread prompt with its participation rubric, and describe an organization whose growth you have watched. The post and two replies are ready in 24 to 48 hours, first one free. This startup is a composite; if you use a real employer, only its size and type need appear.
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WMBA 6000 Week 1 questions, answered
Where can I find a free WMBA 6000 Week 1 sample paper?
The growth phase discussion post on a forty-person software startup, with both replies, appears in full on this page.
What does Greiner's model describe?
Growth as alternating phases of evolution and revolution, each ending in a characteristic crisis.
Which crisis has the company reached?
The crisis of leadership, when founders' informal style no longer reaches everyone.
What signs support the placement?
Decisions queue for the founders, new hires learn priorities from rumor and two outside managers left quickly.
What does the model imply?
Bringing in a strong business manager, with real authority defined before the hire.