ABSTRACT
The concept of reform brings a special perspective to bear on the processes of organizational change and the way organizations function, as well as on internal leadership and power. In a reform perspective administrative change is assumed to be the result of deliberate goal-directed choices between alternative organizational forms. The reform perspective belongs to a rational, instrumental tradition in organizational research. Organizations can be said to be institutionalized insofar as their behaviour is determined by culturally conditioned rules which manifest themselves in certain routines for action and which give meaning to those actions. The concepts of ‘organizations’ and ‘institutions’ stand for continuity and predictability. Organizations are also judged by the use they make of the structures, processes and ideologies which significant groups in their environment consider to be rational, efficient, reasonable, fair, natural or up to date. Organizations live in partly institutionalized environments. The organization’s ideology, the opinions it expresses, may also influence its external support.
