Legacy and Change

This book explores how past legacies both enable and restrict opportunities for organizational renewal, social change, and new forms of organizing. On the one hand, tangible and intangible legacies can be a source of authentication, legitimation, and strategy restoration; on the other hand, past legacies can restrict our imagination by enforcing path dependency. Managing legacy can be a challenge for both old and new organizations. Older organizations often find that their legacy is at odds with present realities or future directions. In contrast, newly formed organizations often feel they have a deficit in legacy compared with long-established organizations and seek to boost credibility by engaging in activities that can be retrospectively claimed as their legacy. In either case, when aspects of an organizations raison dtre change, the organizational identity is threatened, and legacy often becomes an obstacle to change. By bringing together varied perspectives on legacy, including memory studies, traditions, storytelling, and imprinting theory, this volume aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the interplay of legacies and imagined futures as it pertains to organizational identity and change.