---
title: "Michael L. Tushman"
type: "entity"
entity_kind: "person"
status: "hub"
canonical_name: "Michael L. Tushman"
aliases: []
first_seen: "2026-07-09T00:00:00.000Z"
writer_model: "claude-sonnet-5"
connects_to: ["Elaine Romanelli","punctuated equilibrium (organizations)","reorientation","executive succession","Connie Gersick"]
seek_code_commit: "290e6f6"
---


American organizational theorist and management scholar, a central figure in the punctuated-equilibrium model of organizational change — the theory that firms alternate long "convergence" periods of incremental adaptation with brief, discontinuous "reorientations," often triggered by executive succession or environmental shock. He is the constant co-author across the vault's whole organizational-punctuated-equilibrium research cluster: the 1985 *Research in Organizational Behavior* chapter with Romanelli that first names convergence and reorientation, the 1986 *California Management Review* article with Newman and Romanelli that carries the "3x more likely" frame-breaking-change figure, the 1992 *Organization Science* paper with Virany and Romanelli, and the 1994 *Academy of Management Journal* empirical test with Romanelli (author order reversed).

## References
- [[claim-tushman-romanelli-1985-reorientation-exogenous-trigger]] — the theoretical chapter locating the trigger for reorientation in exogenous jolts and executive succession.
- [[claim-vault-reorientation-quote-blends-two-tushman-romanelli-constructs]] — a correction: the vault's recorded 1985 "reorientation" quote conflated two distinct constructs.
- [[claim-punctuated-equilibrium-trigger-findings-belong-to-romanelli-tushman-1994]] — a correction: findings the vault attributed to 1985 were verbatim the 1994 paper's abstract.
- [[claim-gersick-1991-attributes-3x-figure-to-tushman-newman-romanelli-1986]] — confirms Gersick's page-cited attribution of the "3x" figure to the 1986 paper.
- [[claim-tushman-newman-romanelli-1986-3x-figure-unverified-against-primary]] — the 1986 primary itself remains unread by the vault; the figure is still one hop from direct confirmation.