The dualities philosophy: ‘changing tensions’

Aaron C.T. Smith, James Skinner and Daniel Read

Chapter 13 in Philosophies of Organizational Change, 2026, pp 306-328 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Chapter 13 details the dualities philosophy, which argues to abandon change management decision making based on an either/or choice between change and stability. Organizational change cannot always be a matter of reducing one kind of activity to offset another kind. In fact, often organizations need more of both change and stability. The chapter explains that a duality can be understood as two opposing poles that can vary between conflicted and complementary as the context changes. According to the dualities philosophy, the challenge lies in encouraging both change and stability at the same time. It explores ‘modular’ and ‘ambidextrous’ theories, where competing approaches work together and difference outperforms one extreme or the other. A dualities approach is also sympathetic to the strategy-as-practice trend wherein strategy transforms into organizing and strategizing, where the latter two embrace a dynamic change employing iterative and reciprocal action. The chapter observes that the dualities philosophy prescribes few tangible change actions, making its implementation challenging in practice. It explains how paradox thinking, boundary heuristics and hybrid work models help organizations navigate competing demands. The chapter shows that embracing tension, rather than resolving it, can unlock innovation, resilience and adaptive capacity.

Keywords: Dualities; Poles; Modular; Ambidextrous; Strategy-as-Practice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035372164
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