ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how modernization programmes are affected by the characteristics of existing institutions. It argues that contemporary modernization programmes are based on an instrumental view of organizational decision-making and change. The chapter examines alternative perspective of the idea that organizations are institutionalized. It also examines some of the implications of the idea for the study of modernization programmes. It shows that while the instrumental view of organizations dominates the way reformers talk and write about modernization, an institutional approach is a better explanatory tool in analysing the activities of reformers and the outcomes of reform efforts. The survival of an organizational form or an individual organization depends on how well they match their environment. The concept of bounded morality challenges the idea that organizational improvement can be evaluated on the basis of a shared purpose or fixed individual preferences. In a world of bounded morality, intelligence, and power, political organizations may be conceptualized as institutions rather than as instruments.
