Change

Change is the act or process of becoming different, derived from the Old English ceowan and Old French changier, both from the Latin cambiare meaning “to exchange, to alter” (Harper, 2024). Its earliest English uses in the thirteenth century referred to substitution or exchange, before extending to transformation in state, condition, or form (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989). Change is therefore both movement and alteration, signifying the passage from one state to another. As Lewin (1947) articulated in his foundational work on social systems, change involves a dynamic process of “unfreezing, moving, and refreezing,” highlighting its systemic and cyclical nature. Within leadership and organisational practice, change is best understood as the intentional or emergent transition that reconfigures patterns of action, relationships, and meaning, enabling renewal and adaptation across collective life.