Labelling the New and destroying the Old. Managerial Rhetoric in Changing organizational Realities

This paper sets out to analyse organizational changes through the concept of neophilia in the world of management. Under this perspective, changes come to life from the opposites new and old. In other words, old and new must be seen as the X and Y chromosomes of the word change. So we begin by investigating the definition of novelty. What does “new” mean? What is the relationship between the new and the old? These enquiries lead to two important considerations: a) “new” is always the ad hoc combination of logico-grammatical units which are familiar rather than an original creation using such elements; b) like any other text, organizations are there to be read and interpreted. We introduce the concept of “enantiodromia” to demonstrate that old and new, neophilia and neophobia, come to be seen as complementary or polar aspects of a single frame of reference, in spite of their apparent incompatibility. We refer to the business of management consulting to illustrate some practical implications. A textual analysis of a text on management consulting and rhetoric allows us to pass from the idea of consultant as fashion setter to its complete opposite, consultant as constructor of new realities.