Carolina QuotesA population ecology perspective on organization-environment relations is proposed as an alternative to the dominant adaptation perspective. The strength of inertial pressures on organizational structure suggests the application of models that depend on competition and selection in populations of organizations. Several such models, as well as issues arising in attempts to apply them to the organization-environment problem, are discussed.
Michael T. Hannan Connected to the Carolinas
Source
p. 929; Article abstract
- work
- "The Population Ecology of Organizations," 1977
- year
- 1977
- locator
- p. 929
Cite this record
“A population ecology perspective on organization-environment…” Michael T. Hannan. Carolina Quotes, record CQ-B924D43CC2. https://carolinaquotes.com/quote/b924d43cc2
More from Michael T. Hannan
Natural selection, as it is actually used in evolutionary population biology, serves mainly as an optimization process. In fact, the reasoning that underlies much evolutionary biology often strikes social scientists as strongly reminiscent of neoclassical economics.
Inertial pressures prevent most organizations from radically changing strategies and structures.
We argue that in order to deal with the various inertial pressures the adaptation perspective must be supplemented with a selection orientation. We consider first two broad issues that are preliminary to ecological modelling. The first concerns appropriate units of analysis. Typical analyses of the relation of organizations to environments take the point of view of a single organization facing an environment.