Organizational Change and Leadership: Out of the Quagmire

Abstract

MAD statement The intention of this annual editorial is to Make A Difference (MAD) through outlining suggestions to where we need to direct future organizational change and leadership discourse, research and practitioner efforts. Engaging in immensely important fields of study and practice, we have a responsibility to assist the sustainable development of organizations and the wider society. Much good work is undertaken in support of the further development of both theory and practice. However, I do observe in my role as editor-in-chief a sustained tendency amongst both scholars and practitioners of being stuck in a quagmire peddling a dominant orthodoxy that is somewhat lacking in progress, initiative and imagination (it still sells articles, books, courses and seminars though …). Becoming unstuck through reframing the challenges faced is required for our work to stay relevant, and it takes real and conscious effort to make this happen. Or blood, toil, tears and sweat as Churchill would put it.