The Irrational Organization: Irrationality as a Basis for Organizational Action and Change

How do organizations achieve coordinated action when it is most difficult to do so? In light of a number of topical cases of organizational change, this books develops a theory, which can help us understand and influence the organization’s propensity for action and change. Key concepts in the theory are organizational ideology, expectations, motivation and commitment. It becomes increasingly clear that forceful action conflicts with rationality in the classical sense; therefore the conclusion and recommendations presented in this book differ very much from those traditionally proposed. The book explains why organizations are irrational, and why they should be so.

This new understanding of organizational action and change should be of interest to all students of management, at an undergraduate and postgraduate level, to researchers, or to consultants and managers in both the public and private sector.