In large modern organizations there is often a strong belief in reform - that it is possible to change organizational structures, processes and ideologies from above through rational choice and design. However, reforms are often the result of attempts at modernization, shifts in administrative fashions, the existence of insoluble administrative problems, and a tendency to forget previous reform experiences. The contents of reforms are determined by rationalistic conceptions of organizations and administrative trends that may stabilize and legitimize present conditions, rather than lead to real changes and better results. The book is based on a large number of studies of attempts at administrative reform in private and public organizations.

10 The implicit effects of reform -- Decentralization -- The power shift -- Legitimation -- Education and ideologies -- Reforms as roller-coasters -- Reforms as symbolic accomplishments -- 11 Reform as a learning process -- Accounting reform -- Reform as learning -- Closed or open learning processes? -- 12 Reform and power -- Reformers as agents -- Reform as opinion-building -- References -- Index

In large modern organizations there is often a strong belief in reform - that it is possible to change organizational structures, processes and ideologies from above through rational choice and design. However, reforms are often the result of attempts at modernization, shifts in administrative fashions, the existence of insoluble administrative problems, and a tendency to forget previous reform experiences. The contents of reforms are determined by rationalistic conceptions of organizations and administrative trends that may stabilize and legitimize present conditions, rather than lead to real changes and better results. The book is based on a large number of studies of attempts at administrative reform in private and public organizations.

Originally published in 1993. The central concern of this study is to analyze the reforming process within organizations and assess its impact. This title questions the relationship between the changes that can be seen occurring in organizations all the time and these conscious internal attempts at reform.

Large contemporary organizations seem to be in an almost continual state of change. Whether in public or private organizations, managers are trying to implement new organizational forms, introduce new procedures or systems, or change the attitudes of employees. Such reforms often yield disappointing results, and so new reforms are deemed necessary.In this book, Nils Brunsson considers why reform takes place. He looks at why reforms occur when they do, why they propagate certain ideas to the exclusion of others, and what their consequences are. He emphasizes the role of social institutions, fashions, and hope. He argues that reform represents not only change but also stability, and that a failure to implement reforms is sometimes a solution rather than a problem for organizations.Nils Brunsson has long been one of the most probing analysts of organizational life, often taking unorthodox approaches. He draws on both European and American traditions to develop a distinctive voice and stance of his own. Based on extensive empirical studies in private and public organizations, Brunsson's new book will be of interest to academics and advanced students of organizational change, organizational theory, and public management.

The book explores how international organizations (IOs) have expanded their powers over time without formally amending their founding treaties. IOs intervene in military, financial, economic, political, social, and cultural affairs, and increasingly take on roles not explicitly assigned to them by law. The proposed book will contend that this 'mission creep' has allowed IOs to intervene internationally, most often in the Global South, in a way that has allowed them to recast institutions within and interactions among states, societies, and peoples on a broadly Western, liberal model. Adopting a historical and interdisciplinary, socio-legal approach, it supports this claim through detailed investigations of historical episodes involving three very different organizations: the International Labour Organization in the interwar period; the United Nations in the two decades following the Second World War; and the World Bank from the 1950s through to the 1990s. The book draws on a wide range of original institutional and archival materials, bringing to light little-known aspects of each organization's activities, identifying continuities in the ideas and practices of international governance across the twentieth century, and speaking to a range of pressing theoretical questions in present-day international law and international relations --Front flap of the book.

There is now considerable unanimity that international organizations such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization (WTO), Bretton Woods Institutions and the international economic architecture need to be reformed in order to achieve greater democratic governance to tackle the myriad of challenges facing the world. Written by leading members of the international community under the auspices of the World Forum of Civil Society Networks - UBUNTU, this book provides a diverse and rich resource on all aspects of the reform of international organizations. The book introduces the reader to the main organizations of the international multilateral system, presents proposals for reform and provides an analysis of the political action required to achieve global democratic governance.