Importance

We conduct basic research on organizational routines to help understand how organizations can innovate and manage change more effectively.

Inertia. Organizations often find it very difficult to change or innovate. This is sometimes referred to as inertia. Much of this inertia is caused by organizational routines. This phenomenon is evident in all kinds of organizations: healthcare, education, manufacturing, services, government, military, and so on. There is an enormous human and economic cost associated with this lack of flexibility.

Drift. Recent research has highlighted a different aspect of routines that is also very important: gradual, unanticipated change. This is sometimes referred to as drift. Over time, organizational routines can drift away from their original design or intent. This causes all kinds of problems for quality, security, and accountability; organizations invest heavily in controlling and preventing these problems.

Paradox. Organizational routines have a paradoxical quality. One one hand, they tend to stay the same, even when we try to change them (inertia). On the other hand, they tend to change even when we want them to stay the same (drift). Among other things, our research has demonstrated that these paradoxical aspects of routines can be explained in terms of the same underlying phenomenon (path dependence in repetitive patterns of action). Try the action network simulator to see how path dependence works.