“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.”

—  Michael T. Hannan

Source: "The Population Ecology of Organizations," 1977, p. 933

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Michael T. Hannan12
US-American sociologist of Stanford University 1943

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“A 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 (1943) US-American sociologist of Stanford University

Source: "The Population Ecology of Organizations," 1977, p. 929; Article abstract

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“Organizations need to undergo fundamental changes, both in order to adapt to the new business environment and to become ecologically sustainable.”

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Michael T. Hannan (1943) US-American sociologist of Stanford University

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“Contingency theory is guided by the general orienting hypothesis that organizations whose internal features best match the demands of their environments will achieve the best adaptation.”

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W. Richard Scott (1992). Organizations: rational, natural, and open systems. p. 89

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Eric Trist (1909–1993) British scientist

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