The need for requisite variety to support growth: an organizational life cycle perspective

Purpose: Drawing on the “Giffoni Experience” case study, this study aims to establish a conceptual link between requisite variety and organizational life cycle. The law of requisite variety states that – to be viable – a system should be able to achieve the minimum number of states which are required to deal with environmental uncertainty. Design/methodology/approach: A descriptive case study approach was taken, which allowed a holistic analysis of the subject being investigated. Multiple sources and different techniques were used to collect relevant data, including: document analysis, unstructured interviews with key informants, and participant observation. Findings: The development of requisite variety is intended to fill the gap between the increased environmental complexity and organizational adaptability. The process of requisite variety generation is influenced by the organizational life cycle stages, turning out to be reactive in the early stages of life and proactive in the maturity ones. Ultimately, the development of requisite variety makes the organization able to establish a co-evolving relationship with the environment, which paves the way for greater organizational adaptability and effectiveness. Research limitations/implications: The research findings are not generalizable; besides, the exploratory nature of this study did not allow to point out a consistent relationship between requisite variety and the organizational life cycle. Originality/value: To the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first attempts to examine requisite variety adopting the conceptual lenses of organizational life cycle. Empirical researches dealing with requisite variety are uncommon and generally overlooked by management scholars and practitioners.