Preface to the third edition vii
Preface to the first edition ix
Introduction xi

1. Organizations and Inconsistent Norms 1
    A Traditional View 2
    Institutional Environments 4
    Inconsistent Environments 8

2. The Political Organization Principle 13
    The Ideal Type of Action Organization 14
    The Ideal Type of Political Organization 19
    Organizations in the Real World-Politics and Action 32
    Politics in Organizational Processes 38

3. Politics in Practice 40
    Attempts at Action Produce Politics 43
    Politics Again 55
    Inconsistencies in Ideologies and Roles 59
    The Dominance of Politics 68

4. Decisions as Transition Between Politics and Action 71
   The Case of Greaton 73
    Decision-makers as Defensive Scrutineers 76
    Opinion-making 84
    Implementation 91
    Decision-makers as Bearers of Responsibility 94

5. Responsibility as an Impediment to Influence-The Case of Budgeting 104
    Budgeting 104
    Budgeting under Stagnation 108
    Roles and Actors in the Budget Process 110
    The Allocation of Responsibility 116
    Control-Supply and Demand 122
    Budgeting as an Instrument for Financing 125

6. The Responsible Organization 130
    Society as Hierarchy 131
    Implementation or Legitimation 133
    An Illustration 136
    Stanby-Implementation or Legitimation? 138
    The Role of Politics 146

7. Projects and Organizations 149
    Two Projects 152
    Strategies for Meeting External Demands-
    Delegation, Rationality and Ideology 157

8. Ideas, Decisions and Actions in Organizations 167
    Ideas and Actions 168
    Alternative Interpretations of Organizational Decision-making 175
    Decision-making and the Allocation of Responsibility 179
    Decisions as Legitimation 188
    Four Roles of Decisions 189

9. The Dynamics of Hypocrisy 194
    The Paradoxes of Presentation and Result 194
    Public Organizations and the Publicness of
    Organizations 205
    Implications for Organizational Stakeholders 217

References 236

Index 241