Organizations survive by abandoning goals that threaten their existence

Evidence

Gayl Ness and Steven Brechin have pointed out that research shows that “organizations are comprised of individuals and groups who attempt to fulfill their own goals. Consequently, organizations have no uniform goals of their own… [M]ost organizations willingly modify or abandon stated goals if doing so enhances their ability to survive and prosper.” Ness and Brechin contrast this view with earlier functionalist views of international organizations, which saw them as tools of their creators, not “live collectivities interacting with their environments, … containing] members who seek to use the organization for their own ends, often struggling with others over the content and allocation of the product. These dynamics produce a distinctive organizational character over time.” — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 66

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to institutional theory and organization studies; a near-universal principle that also explains firms pivoting away from founding missions. — connects to: Organizations pursue survival through resistance, self-affirmation, and adaptation — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 71; Organizations replace accomplished core missions with new tasks to survive. — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 77; An organization’s value includes preparing successors for its own defeat — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 681 (+7 more)
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: the contrast of organizations genuinely adopting survival-of-the-organization over their stated mission — how far does the corporate analogy hold for a treaty-based military alliance?
• DEEPTHINKING: A compact articulation of the core puzzle — organizational self-preservation overriding stated goals — dense enough to anchor the book’s whole argument.

Broader Connections

• Organizations replace accomplished core missions with new tasks to survive. #exemplifies (0.88) — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 77
• Past success makes leaders escalate commitment into ventures they should abandon. #complicates (0.82) — Georg Schreyögg and Jörg Sydow, The Hidden Dynamics of Path Dependence, 1134
• An organization’s value includes preparing successors for its own defeat #complicates (0.80) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 681
• Sunk costs and identity-locked legitimacy drive organizations deeper into failing strategies. #complicates (0.80) — Georg Schreyögg and Jörg Sydow, The Hidden Dynamics of Path Dependence, 312
• Escalating commitment harms organizations from the start through self-justification and face-saving #complicates (0.80) — Jörg Sydow, Georg Schreyögg, and Jochen Koch, Organizational Path Dependence, 60
• Organizations pursue survival through resistance, self-affirmation, and adaptation #expands (0.78) — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 71
• Successful institutions can dissolve from their own premature success #complicates (0.75) — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 314
• Paths eventually end, but lock-in can outlast the organization trapped in it #complicates (0.75) — Jörg Sydow, Georg Schreyögg, and Jochen Koch, Organizational Path Dependence, 97
• Institutionalization deliberately suppresses alternative thinking to drive organizational success. #complicates (0.73) — Georg Schreyögg and Jörg Sydow, The Hidden Dynamics of Path Dependence, 313
• Performance targets become ends in themselves wherever they are imposed #qualifies (0.72) — Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 93