Abstract
How have organization theories influenced reform of the governance of corporations, public bodies, and global affairs? ‘Organizational governance’ explains how organization theory typically focuses on three ideal types of governance: hierarchies, markets, and networks. Each of these types depends on a particular form of governance to coordinate actions. However, it is people, not abstract models, that determine the nature and behaviour of an organization, since organizations are made up of living people and their actions. Social scientists have often adopted formal theories of organization without considering historical narratives about societies and states, and reforms based on such theories have often failed.
