Cascading Organizational Change

Michael T. Hannan (), László Pólos () and Glenn R. Carroll ()
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Michael T. Hannan: Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305
László Pólos: Erasmus University, Rotterdam, and Loránd Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary
Glenn R. Carroll: Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305

Organization Science, 2003, vol. 14, issue 5, 463-482

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.

Keywords: Organizational Change; Cascades; Organizational Mortality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:14:y:2003:i:5:p:463-482

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