Bureaucratic immune response

Bureaucratic immune response is the set of organizational mechanisms by which institutions resist reform, expel change agents, and maintain homeostasis against external perturbations. The term is deliberately biological: just as the immune system identifies and destroys foreign cells, bureaucratic systems identify and neutralize threats to the existing order — not by evaluating whether the threat is beneficial, but by evaluating whether it is foreign.

The mechanisms are diverse but structurally similar. Procedure proliferation buries innovation under layers of required approvals, each controlled by stakeholders with veto power. Ritualized critique creates formal channels for dissent — suggestion boxes, town halls, feedback surveys — that absorb dissent without acting on it. Personnel filtration promotes individuals who demonstrate institutional