Summary of the Study

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         The literature suggests that both public and private organizations change over time and experience a life cycle; early birth stage, growth stage, maturity stage and decline stage.  This study attempted to confirm the existence of a life cycle in cities and to determine whether the culture in these different stages of the life cycle were different.  The existence of an organizational life cycle in municipal government was tested by seeking to determine whether the growth rates in population and revenue varied depending on the age of the city.  Given that growth rates were a significant characteristic of life cycle stages, the study further sought to determine whether the organization culture within young and growing cities experiencing in excess of a 15 percent of growth rate in population and revenue differed significantly with the culture in older, more mature cities experiencing less than 15 percent of growth rate.  Based upon the literature, the Kilmann-Saxton Culture-Gap Survey was selected as the best instrument for measuring organizational culture.  Specifically, this instrument measures the gap between actual and desired cultural norms as perceived by organizational employees.  The literature suggests that this gap will be wider in organizations that are older, more mature and in the latter stages of their life cycle.
        If the study could find a linkage between the culture and the life cycle stages, it could provide the executive the ability to prepare for changes, then control and make adjustments that will allow the organization to be more effective.  As described before, The statistical procedure of a one-way analysis of variance was utilized to test the null of hypotheses that there is would be 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).  If the null hypothesis were rejected, it would suggest that cities do experience some kind of cycle of growth and stability based upon age.
        For the hypothesis 2 through 5, the primary statistical procedure of a t Test for independent samples was used to test the null hypotheses of no difference.  Twelve municipalities were divided into two groups: young/growing and older/mature.  The Kilmann-Saxton instruments were administered by to the staffs of the community development and planning departments as representatives of the cities employees.  If the data showed that the null hypotheses could be rejected, this would suggest that culture does vary in different growth stages.  Knowing this, municipal leadership could anticipate these changes and take steps to mitigate their impact on organizational effectiveness.
        In addition to testing hypotheses two through five, the researcher also analyzed the mean scores of cultural gap scores these twelve cities, using the Kilmann-Saxton guidelines, to determine if they were wide enough to warrant concern by the management of the cities and departments involved in the study.

Study Conclusions

        Based upon the results of the study, the researcher came to the following conclusions:

Hypothesis 1
        There is some but minor evidence that there is a significant difference in the rate of population and revenue growth in cities based upon their age.  These findings challenge the theorized existence of a life cycle within municipalities.

Hypothesis 2-5
        The study found that the technical, professional and administrative staff in municipalities in their early birth and growing stage do not perceive significantly less gap in actual versus desired cultural norms in three of the four categories, Task Support, Task Innovation and Personal Freedom, than their counterparts in municipalities that are older and not growing.  A significant difference was only found in one of the four categories, Social Relationships.  It is difficult to conclude, therefore, that municipal staffs in young/growing cities are happier and more satisfied with the support, flexibility and opportunity to make an individual contribution than staffs in older, more stable and well-established organizations.
        Based upon an analysis of the size of the culture gap scores in all twelve cities, it was evident that none of the gap scores were of sufficient width or magnitude as to raise concerns for the leadership of these cities and departments.  This overall satisfaction of staffs in both groups of cities with their working culture suggests that cities at all stages of growth and age can maintain a positive working culture.

Implications of the Study

        This study found that literature in organizational life cycle theory asserts a similarity of the characteristics between private and public organizations supporting the premise that both evolve in a consistent and predictable manner.  Although the life cycle theory was first applied to private, commercial organizations, for decades, researchers have also applied the life cycle perspective to public organizations: Levine (1978), D'Aunno and Zuckerman (1987), Gray and Ariss (1985), Kimberly and Miles (1980), Quinn and Cameron (1983), Hasenfeld and Schmid (1989), Schmid and Yanay (1990), Cosier (1991), Cosier and Aplin (1980), Downs (1967), Kimberly (1980), and Miller and Friesen (1984).  Quinn and Cameron (1983), for example, review nine models of organizational life cycle and identify four common stages.  Among the literature reviewed by Quinn and Cameron (1983), there are several that propose the life cycle in public organizations.  These include Downs (1967), Kimberly (1980) and Miller and Friesen (1984).  Miller and Friesen (1984) suggest that the birth stage lasts until the organization reaches the age of ten, while most phases, especially those of growth, maturity and revival often last ten years or more (Miller and Friesen 1984, 1176).
        The findings of this study tend to contradict the life cycle model for municipalities.  The age of the city did not seem to be related to rate of growth in either population or revenue.  Perhaps the nature of cities is such that they represent an anomaly to the theory.  Unlike most organizations in the government bureaucracies, city growth in population and revenue does not appear to be linear but may be impacted by such other variables as availability of land for development, significant shifts in tax base, demographic trends, etc.  Hence, it seems apparent that age is insufficient as an independent variable to explain variations in growth among cities and is not a good predictor of cycles of stability and growth.
        Over all, this study also did not appear to support the premise in the literature that as public organizations get older and more stable, they tend to become more conservative, less flexible and more driven by rules and regulations (Downs 1967). This principle is especially applicable to bureaus because they are relatively insulated from competition (Downs 1967, 20).  Downs contends that as time passes, bureaus, like private firms, tend to diversify to protect themselves from fluctuations in demand.  Also, he notes that the older a bureau is, the less likely it is to die.  In this regard, when organizations become mature they tend to decline unless they can find ways to renew.
        Municipalities, perhaps, are not like other government bureaus in that their performances have to meet the demand of the community they are serving.  Because there is no inevitable linear sequence of stages in organizational life, there may be remarkable similarities among the developmental pattern of certain clusters of organizations but not among others.  Organizations may simultaneously exhibit characteristics of several stages or move from conception to maturity in a few years while another may take decades to follow the same course (Kimberly 1980).  Organizations’ life cycles are not necessarily tied to chronology.  Municipalities may represent a cluster of organizations that are different from others public organizations, and the characteristics of their stages of growth may need to be further studied.
        The study did shows that one of the four categories of cultural norms, Social Relationships, did prove to be significantly different in the two groups of municipal staff.  In fact, the mean scores the staff in the young/growing cities showed zero gaps in this cultural norm whereas the gap perceived by the staff in the older/mature cities was +1.  Why this difference on this norm?  Perhaps, it might be speculated that the technical, professional and administrative staffs of municipalities in their early birth and growing stage experience too much workload.  In Kilmann studies, he found that in some social service agencies where workload was very great, staffs spend too much time socializing rather than getting the work done (Kilmann 1985, 61).  It would take additional study to determine if this is in fact the cause.  A competing explanation implied in the life cycle literature is that staff in young and growing cities found more enjoyment in their work.  Staffs have typically not worked together for years so negative and chronic patterns of relationships have not had time to develop.  It is very conceivable that positive working relationships between peers can exist even in a culture that does not allow for ideal flexibility in task innovation or personal freedom.
        Further studies may wish to examine in greater detail the way in which different factor of characteristics of the life cycle of public organizations, and especially the ways in which their culture change.  The discussion of the further study can be found in the next section on recommendations for practitioners and recommendations for further research.
        Finally, the implications for city leadership of the size and width of the culture gaps that were recorded would seem to be positive.  Regardless of age and level of growth, none of the cultural gaps were of sufficient magnitude as to indicate a problem for city or department management.  One explanation for these positive scores could be found in the fact that the Kilmann-Saxton instrument was administered in only those cities where permission and cooperation was extended by the community and planning department's director.  It could be reasoned that only those directors who felt confident about the culture in their departments were willing to participate.

Recommendations for Practitioners

        Although the data from this study provided little support for the research hypotheses, the literature on life cycle in government organizations does provide reason for practitioners and even policy makers to be concerned about the culture that can develop in public organizations over long periods of time.  Based upon this study, the researcher would recommend that public managers should, from time to time, obtain measures of gaps in employee perceptions of ideal and actual working conditions to alert them to problems in a timely manner.  Interventions at an early stage would probably work much more effectively than if cultural conditions were allowed to deteriorate over many years.

Recommendations for Future Research

1. It is recommended that this study be replicated with a larger sample of municipal organizations participating in the instrument surveys.
2. Future studies should involve the technical, professional, and administrative staffs in others departments and at different levels of the hierarchy.  The inclusion of diverse staff perspectives in the research would determine whether norms were truly representative of all municipal organization employees
3. It is recommended that future research focus on utilizing additional objective and subjective measures for culture norms and culture-gap.  For example, utilizing the Organizational Culture Inventory (OCI; Cooke and Lafferty 1984, 1989), and the Norms Diagnostic Index (NDI; Allen and Dyer 1980) may give additional insights into these questions.
4. It is recommended that future study of the existence of life cycles in municipal organizations examine additional organizational characteristics other than age, population, and revenue.  For example changes in rates of growth of staff and expenditure and organization structure; measurements of changes in decision making patterns; and, controlling for such variables as availability of land for development, demographic changes and economic trends.

Summary

        The practical significance of this study will help cities managers gain better insight into a continuous process of adaptation and unique set of characteristics in each developmental stage of the organizational life cycle of cities.  Having the ability to recognize organization’s particular stage of development could help the formulation of its strategies to identify risk and opportunity during their management for change.
 

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