Cascading organizational change

Hannan, M.T.; Pólos, L.; Carroll, G.R.

doi:10.1287/orsc.14.5.463.16763

Cascading organizational change

Hannan, M.T.; Pólos, L.; Carroll, G.R.

Authors

M.T. Hannan

Professor Laszlo Polos laszlo.polos@durham.ac.uk
Professor

G.R. Carroll

Abstract

This article develops a formal theory of the structural aspects of organizational change. It concentrates on changes in an organization's architecture, depicted as a code system. It models the common process whereby an initial architectural change prompts other changes in the organization, generating a cascade of changes that represents the full reorganization. The main argument ties centrality of the organizational unit initiating a change to the total time that the organization spends reorganizing and to the associated opportunity costs. The central theorem holds that the expected deleterious effect of a change in architecture on the mortality hazard increases with viscosity and the intricacy of the organizational design.

Citation

Hannan, M., Pólos, L., & Carroll, G. (2003). Cascading organizational change. Organization Science, 14(5), 463-482. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.14.5.463.16763

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Sep 1, 2003
Deposit Date	Mar 22, 2007
Publicly Available Date	Sep 22, 2014
Journal	Organization Science
Print ISSN	1047-7039
Electronic ISSN	1526-5455
Publisher	Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	14
Issue	5
Pages	463-482
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.14.5.463.16763
Keywords	Organizational change, Cascades, Organizational mortality.
Public URL	https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1601069