Pułapka aktywnej inercji i zmiana zarządczych stereotypów
The active inertia trap and changing managerial stereotypes

Summary/Abstract: In his pursuit of success every manager makes choices and takes actions whose consequences may help or hinder the growth of their business. When circumstances change, managers should align their stereotypes accordingly if they want their company to continue on the growth path. Managerial stereotypes in such areas as financial investment, contracting, public announcements or business relationships with customers determine the direction of the organisation’s future development. While they help managers in terms of performance, they also bring certain limitations. All is well as long as the organisation’s competitive landscape allows it to keep its status quo. However, any radical change of its operating environment may devalue the organisation’s traditional formula for success. Managers see the changes around them but try to respond without leaving the comfort zone of their predominant success formula or get stuck in it even more. The behaviour, when the response to even the most disruptive change is by reliance on traditional activities, is called active inertia. This article discusses the nature of what is termed active inertia and shows how it sets itself within the organisation when the elements of the company’s successful formula start to “congeal”. Even though a frequent phenomenon, active inertia is not easy to diagnose. Managers rarely realise that the success formula they rely on has ossified to the extent that they can no longer effectively respond to change.

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