Introduction

        The basic purpose of this research is to seek to determine whether municipal organizations show evidence of progressing through a life cycle and to examine the relationship between this life cycle and organizational culture.  Specifically, the research was designed to (1) analyze the population, and revenue patterns of municipal organizations in Southern California according to age for evidence of the existence of a life cycle; and (2) determine how the culture gap (difference between desired norms and actual norms) may vary between cities in their young and growing cycle and those in their mature stable cycle.

        This chapter presents the results of the study designed to answer the following research questions:
1. Is there a life cycle in municipal organizations?
2. What is the relationship between revenue andpopulation characteristics of municipal organizations and  their age?
3. Does the culture of municipal organizations vary according to their stage in the life cycle?

        The following hypotheses were proposed for this study:
Hypothesis 1: Municipal organizations in their early birth (under 10 years of age) exhibit significantly more growth in revenue and population from year to year than municipal organizations that are in their growth stage (over 10 years of age) and their mature stage (over 20 years of age.)
Hypothesis 2: Technical, professional and administrative staff in municipalities in their early birth and growing stage will perceive significantly less gap in actual versus desired norm of Task Support than their counterparts in municipalities that are more than twenty years of age.
Hypothesis 3: Technical, professional and administrative staff in municipalities in their early birth and growing stage will perceive significantly less gap in actual versus desired norm of Task Innovation than their counterparts in municipalities that are more than twenty years of age.
Hypothesis 4:  Technical, professional and administrative staff in municipalities in their early birth and growing stage will perceive significantly less gap in actual versus desired norms of Social Relationship than their counterparts in municipalities that are more than twenty years of age.
Hypothesis 5:  Technical, professional and administrative staff in municipalities in their early birth and growing stage will perceive significantly less gap in actual versus desired norms of Personal Freedom than their counterparts in municipalities that are more than twenty years of age.

Null Hypotheses

        To examine the research problem, the following null hypotheses were generated and tested at the .05 level of significance.
Hypothesis 1: There is no difference in the rate of growth of revenue and population of municipal organizations in their early birth (under 10 years of age) and growth stage (11 to 20 years of age) compared to municipal organizations that are in their mature stage (over 20 years of age.)
Hypothesis 2: There is no difference in the culture-gap scores (actual norm versus desired norm) of Task Support between the technical, professional and administrative staff in municipalities in their early birth and growing stage and  their counterparts in municipalities that are more than twenty years of age.
Hypothesis 3: There is no difference in the culture-gap scores (actual norm versus desired norm) of Task Innovation between the technical, professional and administrative staff in municipalities in their early birth and growing stage and their counterparts in municipalities that are more than twenty years of age.
Hypothesis 4: There is no difference in the culture-gap scores (actual norm versus desired norm) of Social Relationships between the technical, professional and administrative staff in municipalities in their early birth and growing stage and their counterparts in municipalities that are more than twenty years of age.
Hypothesis 5: There is no difference in the culture-gap scores (actual norm versus desired norm) of Personal Freedom between the technical, professional and administrative staff in municipalities in their early birth and growing stage andtheir counterparts in municipalities that are more than twenty years of age.

        To test hypothesis one, the population and revenue data of 45 municipal organizations in Southern California were used to determine the change of the cities in their stage of growth over time. Population and revenue data for the years 1990-1998 were gathered from municipal government in five counties of Southern California (Los Angeles County, Orange County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, and San Diego County) incorporated from 1960 to 1989, with populations fewer than 100,000.  .
        An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the statistically significant differences of the municipal organizations’ change in population and revenue over time during the period of their early birth, growth, and mature stage.
To test hypotheses two through five, the Kilmann-Saxton Culture-Gap Survey instrument was used to identify staff perceptions of the organization's cultural characteristics and the gap between desired and actual cultural norms in young and growing cities as compared to older mature cities. administrative, professional and technical personnel in the community development and planning departments of the municipal organizations participated in the survey.
        A t test was computed to determine if there are significant differences in sample means of the four variables: Task Support, Task Innovation, Social Relationships, and Personal Freedom response between the group of young/growing cities and the group of older/mature cities.
        In addition to testing the four study hypotheses, the Kilmann-Saxton results were also used to determine if the culture-gap scores of young/growing cities or the older/mature cities were of sufficient magnitude that they constituted a problem for the cities' leadership. Kilmann and Saxton (1983) give the following interpretations of scores in the four categories of culture-gap in Task Support, Task Innovation, Social Relationship, and Personal Freedom:
        A score of +3 or greater (filled bar) in any quadrant represents, potentially, a very significant Culture-Gap.  It signifies a desire for more Task Support, more Task Innovation, or more Personal Freedom.  A score of +1 suggests an insignificant Culture-Gap.  A score of +2 is borderline.
        A negative score (unfilled bar) in any quadrant represents, potentially, a very significant Culture-Gap.  It signifies a desire for less Task Support, less Task Innovation, less Social Relationships, or less Personal Freedom.  Since unfilled bars occur infrequently as compared to filled-bars, any unfilled bar should be considered seriously as a culture problem.
        If as many as three or four scores in any Culture-Gap profile is found to be significant according to these diagnostic guidelines, then a rather broad-based culture problem is evident.  Here a variety of Culture-Gaps is jointly hindering the performance and morale of the work unit (Kilmann-Saxton 1997, 16).