The rediscovery of the human being and the future of change management

Abstract

Change management means change, but it cannot theoretically or practically be envisioned without a sense for the “opposite” state that it is built on. If change is understood as the difference between two distinct states, then change would refer to one (defined and observed) state that is distinct from another (undefined and unobserved) state. There are good reasons to consider that state a state of stability. This perception has been lost in the recent past—and with it the ability to manage change successfully and, above all, sustainably. Without stability, change becomes an empty construct, bereft of substance and revolving eternally around itself. This essay recovers the individual as a structural component of organizations that is able to establish the stability that change needs in order to function, i.e. to create a substantial difference in hyperdynamic organizational life.