Assignment Prompt & Instructions
In your response to Benita and Kristy post, address the following:
Compare the scaling challenges that you have chosen to the choices of your peers. Explain the importance of communication style and work collaboration processes in overcoming these challenges.
Do you agree with the characteristics of managers identified by your peers? Justify your view.
Benita Post
My name is Benita. I am an MBA candidate focusing on operations and supply chain management. I also love what I do as a strategic program manager for a major telecom provider and one of the Big 4 here in Philly. When I’m not solving problems, creating culture and rocking it as a PM, you can find me reading, vibing to music, or building Lego models with my wife, Natalie. My life is pretty predictable, and that is by design.
Change is not easy, but it’s necessary for growth. As someone in corporate spaces where I am consistently preparing for or coaching people through situations that require change, I hope to learn more about effective ways to address the organization and its stakeholders about issues, the art of addressing resistance and challengers to organizational change, and how to maintain positive team moral when working through an organizational change.
Forbes (2022) describes scaling or scalability as “the ability of a company to increase its qualitatively constant output or revenue without the input resources or costs increasing to the same extent.” As an organization is looking to increase or grow its output or revenue, one key challenge it may come across is having inefficiencies in production or operations and not addressing these inefficiencies prior to expanding and adding more pressure (Francis, 2025). Another challenge that may be a factor is the speed at which the organization decides to scale. Scaling too fast can cause inefficiencies and unhappy stakeholders. If an organization decides to take their time, they are at risk of losing demand to its competitors.
Middle managers are truly the neck of any operation. Supervisors, team leaders, and managers typically have the buy-in of their team and should know how to motivate each employee through any change, to get things done. They are also privy to each employees’ strengths and talents, making it so that building a diverse team with a remarkable skill set is part of their arsenal.
I have seen and learned over time that the characteristics middle managers and team leaders should have to support a growing organization are highly effective communication skills, resilience, and attention to detail. These characteristics are key to delivering strategies, handling setbacks and stress in a highly stressful situation, and having the ability to address all elements of work, keeping focus on the organization’s goal and mission.
Kristy Post
My name is Kristy Rapp, and I am a licensed mental health counselor currently working as the Director of Quality Improvement for a small health plan in Massachusetts that primarily serves Medicaid members. Our plan operates in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire and, in addition to Medicaid, offers Exchange and Medicare lines of business. This course is particularly timely, as we recently insourced behavioral health services from a long-term vendor, and managing this expansion of day-to-day operations has presented several change management challenges. I believe this course will help me become more intentional about navigating change and better supporting my team through periods of growth.
One key challenge an organization faces when scaling is maintaining operational efficiency and consistent performance. As organizations grow, informal processes that once worked well often become insufficient. According to Greiner (1998), organizational growth introduces predictable periods of crisis that require changes in structure, leadership, and coordination. Without formal systems and clear role definitions, scaling can lead to inefficiencies, miscommunication, and declining performance.
A second challenge organizations encounter during growth is preserving organizational culture. Rapid expansion often requires onboarding new employees quickly, which can dilute shared values and norms if leadership is not intentional. Research by Klein et al. (2013) suggests that leadership behavior strongly influences organizational culture and overall effectiveness. When leaders fail to reinforce values consistently during periods of change, employee engagement and alignment may suffer.
Middle managers and team leaders play a critical role in navigating these challenges. They serve as the connection between executive leadership and frontline employees, translating strategic goals into daily actions while providing feedback upward. During growth, middle managers help stabilize teams by clarifying expectations, reinforcing cultural norms, and managing performance across expanding teams (Greiner, 1998).
To effectively support a growing organization, middle managers and team leaders should demonstrate strong communication skills, adaptability, and leadership awareness. Klein et al. (2013) emphasizes that effective leaders influence culture through their behaviors, decision-making, and interactions with employees. Additionally, middle managers must be capable of guiding teams through change, addressing uncertainty, and maintaining accountability as organizational complexity increases.
Overall, organizational growth presents both opportunities and challenges. By recognizing the predictable issues associated with scaling and empowering capable middle managers, organizations can sustain performance and culture throughout the growth process.