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Cited by 401Management and Organizational StudiesOrganizational Management and ChangeOrganizational Management and Leadership

Organizational Adaptation and Environmental Selection-Interrelated Processes of Change

Levinthal, Daniel A.·1991·Organization Science
DOI 10.1287/orsc.2.1.140
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Abstract

Research on organizational change has been animated by two conflicting perspectives. One line of research has emphasized organizational adaptation (Cyert and March 1963, Lawrence and Lorsch 1967, Child 1972), while Hannan and Freeman (1977) have posed an alternative paradigm in which variation in organizational forms within a population is explained by differential rates of birth and death. Astley and Van de Ven (1983) and Scott (1987) have offered a reconciliation of these divergent perspectives, suggesting that they are in fact complementary. In particular, Scott (1987) argued that a selection perspective is useful in explaining core features of organizations, survival rates of relatively small organizations, and in accounting for changes over long periods of time. In contrast, Scott proposed that adaptation perspectives are a useful complement in examining peripheral features of organizations, survival of larger and more powerful organizations, and change over shorter periods of time. Much recent research has pursued an empirical agenda consistent with this idea that each approach has its own appropriate domain. Both variation in frequency with which change occurs (Amburgey, Kelley and Barnett 1990; Baum 1990; Haveman 1990) and in impact of change on survival rates of organizations (Singh, House and Tucker 1986; Miner, Amburgey and Stearns 1990; Amburgey, Kelly and Barnett 1990) have been examined. As Winter (1990, pp. 292-293) notes, the emerging consensus is not on a particular sweeping generalization about levels of adaptability/rationality or inertia/irrationality that organizations display, but an emerging agreement that arguing about generalizations is less interesting than sorting out cases and testing strength of competing interpretations. This essay proposes a different conception of relationship of adaptation and selection processes. In reviewing some of most recent advances in literature, essay uncovers a view of adaptation and selection not as mutually exclusive alternatives, each with its own domain of applicability, but rather as fundamentally interdependent processes. On one hand, organizational learning contributes, in part, to organizational inertia, which, in turn, is basis of selection processes. On other hand, far from being incompatible with adaptive learning, inertial forces are a prerequisite for intelligent adaptation. In complex decision problems discovery of optimum is an extremely difficult task, with an astronomical numbers of alternatives. This makes it imperative to use building blocks derived from previous good solutions (Holland 1975) even though so doing contributes to inertia. Retaining elements of prior solutions enhances organizational reliability, as suggested by Hannan and Freeman (1984, 1989), and it also facilitates intelligent adaptation in that it allows for clearer inferences to be made regarding efficacy of any experiment in organizational change. But presence of such inertia implies that organizations cannot adapt perfectly to their

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  • Given that a proven response to an identified problem exists in organizational memory, experimentation with alternatives becomes less attractive, crowding out explorative activities that would go beyond the beaten track.

    “Given that a proven response to an identified problem exists in organizational memory, experimentation with alternatives becomes less attractive, crowding out explorative activities that would go beyond the beaten track (Levinthal, 1991;Levinthal and Myatt, 1994;Sørensen and Stuart, 2000).”

    From On the contingent value of dynamic capabilities for competitive advantage: The nonlinear moderating effect of environmental dynamism (2014) · cites this paper as Levinthal, 1991

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Authors
Levinthal, D. A.
Affiliations
University of Pennsylvania (US)
Corresponding author
Levinthal, Daniel A.
ORCID
Levinthal, Daniel A.
Venue
Organization Science
Publisher
Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
Published
1991-02
Volume
2
Issue
1
Pages
140-145
ISSN
  • 1047-7039 (ISSN-L)
  • 1526-5455
DOI
10.1287/orsc.2.1.140
OpenAlex
W2031011089
Cited by
401
References
25
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 29 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 25 · 2012: 17
FWCI
5.93
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Organization Science (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management and Organizational Studies
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Organizational Management and Change
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Management of Technology and Innovation › Organizational Management and Leadership
Keywords
organizational adaptation, environmental selection, organizational change, organizational learning, organizational inertia, organizational survival, organizational forms, organizational complexity

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