Top Management Teams' (Small Business Managers') Influence on Organizational Life Cycle Donald L. Lester, Arkansas State University John A. Parnell Texas A&M University-Commerce Len Frey, Arkansas State University ABSTRACT When organizations are studied over a period of time, distinct life cycle stages can be identified. Several factors contribute to the establishment of a definitive life cycle stage, including situation, strategy, structure, decision-making style, and how top management perceives the environment. The following study examines three small businesses over a period of twenty years, identifying distinct life cycle stages. The founders and top managers of these firms are interviewed in a non-directive manner in an effort to explain what changes took place in their organizations over the course of the study and their influence on each organizational life cycle stage. INTRODUCTION Many organization theorists agree that the concept of an organizational life cycle is viable (Jawahar & McLaughlin, 200 1; Kimberly& Miles, 1980; Mintzberg, 1984; Quinn & Cameron, 1983). A review of the literature reveals an impressive body of works delineating particular stages of an organization's life, viewed from an evolutionary perspective (Downs, 1967; Greiner, 1972; Lippitt & Schmidt, 1967; Lyden, 1975; Scott, 1972). Others have attempted to demonstrate the role of strategic choice in life cycle models (Drazin & Kanzanjian, 1990; Kimberly & Miles, 1980; Lester & Parnell, 1999; Lohdal & Mitchell, 1980; Miller & Friesen, 1984; Tichy, 1980). The deterministic approach to life cycle development is intuitively appealing because organizations are at some point born (Tichy, 1980) and many eventually die (Kimberly & Miles, 1980). In contrast, the influence of strategic choice into the life cycle model allows organizations to progress from one developmental stage to another through the efforts of the top management team. This progression is accomplished by finding a fit (Venkatraman, 1989) among four internal factors including situation, strategy, decision-making style, and structure. Miller and Friesen (1984) refer to "situation" as the general state of affairs of the organization, including its size, age, number of owners, influence of customers on decisions, and the heterogeneity and/or hostility of its environment. Top managers tend to focus more attention on external problems in early life cycle stages and internal problems in later stages as organizations grow and mature (Dodge & Robbins, 1992). Strategies recognized in the literature to be innovative or growthdirected are predicted for the existence, survival, and renewal life cycle stages, while maintenance strategies are predicted for the decline and success stages. Following the lead of Daft and Weick (1984), Miles and Snow's (1978) typology will be employed in the study to identify strategic types. Decision-making style is part of the administrative personality of an organization, and it is predicted to become more participative and decentralized as an organization develops (McNamara & Baden-Fuller, 1999). And, structure involves three main categories: information