Our argument is that understanding change as part of a continuing work in progress
calls for a much broader canvas that seeks out competing voices, and works
with the resulting ambiguities, contradictions and tensions of messy reality. We
advocate a multi-philosophy approach because continuity depends on change as
much as change depends on continuity. They are both essential for organizational
growth and survival. Continuity underpins the search for new meaning and new
understandings. As Evans (1992: 256–257) argued, ‘almost all qualities of an
organization have a complementary opposite quality, and excessive focus on
one pole of a duality ultimately leads an organization into stagnation and
decline (undue continuity), while the corrective swing to the opposite pole leads
to disruptive and discontinuous crisis (excessive change)’.