Analysis of senior management teams in organisations that have demonstrated a proclivity for growth.

The majority of organisations that survive in the UK economy do not have a proclivity for growth. The main objective of the leaders of these 'lifestyle' organisations is to create the status desired and to generate sufficient income to meet
their lifestyle needs. 'Growth' organisations, which have a proclivity for growth year on year, are in the minority. Growth organisations generally have a senior management team of two or more individuals, with one individual as leader.
This three-phase study used a combination of methods within an emergent research design focusing on the constructs of team working, enterprise, vision, and leadership
in organisations that have demonstrated a proclivity for growth. Each phase entailed researching the entire senior management team, involving a total of ten organisations.
Phase one used a questionnaire survey of five growth and five lifestyle organisations utilising the General Enterprise Tendency (GET) test developed by Caird, and the Self-Perception Inventory (SPI) developed by Belbin. This provided the basis to develop a model that identified the primary characteristics of the leader and the senior management team in a growth organisation. A case study of the senior management team of a growth organisation from Phase one was then carried out using semi-structured interviews. The final phase was also a case study using semistructured interviews, but of the senior management team of a lifestyle organisation
from Phase one. This facilitated a comparison of the behavioural characteristics between the leader of the growth organisation and the leader of the lifestyle organisation. The growth organisation model was modified as a result of Phases two and three. Statistical analysis was carried out on the Phase one results. Phases two and three analyses were primarily inductive.

This study indicated:
• Clear differences exist between the senior management teams in the growth and lifestyle organisations in relation to team working, vision and leadership characteristics;
• Leaders in both growth and lifestyle organisations tend to have higher than average levels of enterprise as measured by Caird's GET; and
• The direction of vision of the leader towards growth and the possession of leadership characteristics as measured by Belbin's SPI are essential if the result is to be an organisation with a proclivity for growth.