Environmental Selection and Organizational Structuring: Steps Toward a Theory of Inertia and Adaptation in Organizations (Classic Reprint) - Hardcover

William Ocasio

9780331253726: Environmental Selection and Organizational Structuring: Steps Toward a Theory of Inertia and Adaptation in Organizations (Classic Reprint)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0331253720 ISBN 13: 9780331253726

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2018

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Explore how organizations stay the same or adapt in changing environments—and why inertia often persists.

This scholarly work reexamines structural inertia and organizational change by linking environmental selection with internal structuring. It discusses when rigid, traditional forms survive and when flexible designs emerge, highlighting the roles of coercive environments, organizational slack, and ambiguity. The author presents boundary conditions and testable propositions to interpret past findings and guide future research.

Key ideas include how the frequency and variability of environmental change shape organizational forms, the impact of coercive pressures on change, and how internal processes interact with external demands to produce inertia or adaptation. The discussion also situates change within broader debates on rationality, legitimacy, and the autonomous influence of political, cultural, and economic forces.

How frequency and variability of change affect core versus peripheral structures.
The role of organizational slack in enabling or hindering change.
Interaction between environmental demands and internal structuring processes.
Boundaries and propositions to test inertia, adaptation, and change in organizations.

Ideal for readers of organization theory, management, and applied social science seeking a rigorous framework for inertia and adaptation.

Nonfiction

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