The degree of transformative change occurring in organizations due to the COVID-19 pandemic is extensive, with large-scale downsizing, rightsizing, workplace changes, structural transformation, and a general unease taking place. The sheer scale of these changes has not been seen for a generation. Technically, this situation represents an opportunity for organizational change researchers to dive deep and make sense of what has occurred to organizations globally, particularly because we already have the tools to understand change and transformation, what it looks like, how to manage it, and ways of reorienting to it. The assumption is that we have the instruments and knowledge to make sense, interpret, and deal with the challenges of Coronavirus wrought change. Yet it is precisely the unprecedented magnitude of this change taking place and the call for a response with quick fixes restoring the “normal” that also increases the risk for change scholarship of conforming new change to old models. As a provocation, this editorial note calls out what it is that change research does, of template matching and modularity. Change research coexists with a degree of comfort that has become an existential problem for the field and its researchers. With this note, we promote a call to arms—raising challenging questions for challenging times. It is time to rethink how we “do change.” We don’t provide answers. And that’s precisely the point, because tackling what we don’t know should be the outcome of collective intellectual effort.

中文翻译：

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当渡渡鸟灭绝时：为什么不应对大流行重新思考变革

由于 COVID-19 大流行，组织中发生的变革性变化的程度是广泛的，大规模裁员、调整规模、工作场所变化、结构转型和普遍的不安正在发生。这些变化的规模之大是一代人都未曾见过的。从技术上讲，这种情况为组织变革研究人员提供了深入了解全球组织发生的事情的机会，特别是因为我们已经拥有工具来了解变革和转型、它的样子、如何管理它以及方法重新定位它。假设是我们有工具和知识来理解、解释和应对冠状病毒带来的变化的挑战。然而，正是这种变化发生的空前规模以及对快速修复恢复“正常”的响应的呼吁，也增加了使新变化符合旧模型的变化学术风险。作为挑衅，这篇社论指出了变革研究的作用，即模板匹配和模块化。变革研究与舒适度共存，这已成为该领域及其研究人员的生存问题。在此说明中，我们提倡武装呼吁——在充满挑战的时代提出具有挑战性的问题。现在是重新思考我们如何“改变”的时候了。我们不提供答案。这正是重点，因为解决我们不知道的事情应该是集体智力努力的结果。