Structural Inertia

Organizations are selected for reliability and accountability: doing the same thing the same way, and being able to explain it. Hannan & Freeman argued that those same qualities make them slow to change, so inertia isn't a bug, it's a side effect of what makes organizations survive.

Source: Hannan & Freeman, "Structural inertia and organizational change" (1984, PDF).

See also: Active Inertia, Organizational Immortality. From How do organizations throw (AI) stuff away?

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# Oct 23, 2026