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 a theory is developed, which can help us both to understand and to 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. An attempt is made to explain why organizations are irrational, and why they should be so. This book gives a new understanding of organizational action and change and should be of interest to all those concerned with management, at an undergraduate and postgraduate level, as researchers, or as consultants and managers in both the public and private sector. Nils Brunsson is Professor of Management at Stockholm School of Economics and Chairman of Stockholm Center for Organizational Research (SCORE).