Motivation in a fast-growing firm - challenges in an environment constantly changing

Abstract

In a world where the competition grows stronger firms are pressured to continuously develop. Fast-growing firms are important to the economy, both by creating jobs and contributing to GDP. These firms meet challenges in the industrial environment, but also internal challenges in the firm, caused by the rapid growth. The case firm was a small firm with 20 employees and started a period of strong growth in 2006 to increase the workforce by approximately 200 people in only four years. This strong growth leads to changes in the firm, which affect all individuals in the firm as well. Changed structures and more focus on administrative tasks as well as external pressures means less focus on the organisational culture and values. By interviewing the CEO, one from the management, one with human resources responsibilities, one middle manager, and two subordinates, we tried to investigate what motivates in this fast-growing firm. The result is that focus on intrinsic motivation is the most important. The fast growth of the firm means hard work from the management and the CEO to strengthen both the leadership and the organisational culture, and to improve the communication, which we think is the key.