Understanding Continuous Change Through Temporal Folds

The contribution of this paper is to offer an extended theory of continuous change to take account of the effortful and creative activity of connecting different events from across time. To advance our understanding of continuous change we follow a line of argument from Whitehead to Deleuze. First, we draw on Whitehead’s epochal theory of time to extend the notion of organizational continuity from indivisible continuity to include epochal continuity. Second, we turn to Deleuze’s concept of (temporal) folds to offer a solution to the problem of ontological oscillation engendered by views that try to combine exogenous episodic change with endogenous continuous change. The geometry of the fold helps us develop a theory that takes account of changes along the actors’ trajectory through time, and which may be combined with an indivisible continuity view of change. We conclude by developing features of a theory of continuous change and discussing its implications to explain temporal change in organizations.