ABSTRACT
A dominant discourse in management for the last 20 years has been about the virtues of change. In this discourse, change is elevated to a special, even mystical and enigmatic, economic status. Moreover, change is presented as something that needs special attention in a management community of practice that is notable for its inability to deal with it. Indeed, if one were taken in by this discourse, one could be forgiven for thinking that change either did not happen much in earlier times or that throughout human evolution we have not adapted our institutional structures to deal with it. We take issue with this mystifi cation of change because it misrepresents change and how to deal with it. This contemporary change discourse also inhibits wise understandings and practices. Having said this, we acknowledge that change makes life diffi cult because it brings uncertainty. Uncertainty arises because we continually have to learn anew about changed and changing conditions, and because change in human and ecological systems is unpredictable. Managerial life has always been this way though, and managers have performed well in previous generations without having heard of change management. Humans have been dealing with signifi cant change since the beginning of history. Understanding what and how things have or are changing requires good judgment and ontological acuity.
