Mudanças not removalists

All successful innovation, including effective human factors interventions, needs to address the problems of organizational inertia as well as active opposition and resistance. Yet our common understanding of how to "manage" such problems - described in this article as the management of organizational change - embodies a restricted and ineffective view of change management. The author proposes an alternative approach, viewing change management as an activity of leading changing institutions. This approach captures the fluid character of change(ing) as an emergent process, the complex social character of human institutions, and the crucial role of leadership in constructing collective goals and purposes in situations of conflict and uncertainty.