musical chairs
noun phrase

- a rearrangement, as of the elements of a problem, having little practical influence or significance

- a game in which players walk to music around a group of chairs containing one chair fewer than the number of players and rush to sit down when the music stops. The player left standing in each round is eliminated.

(The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

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WORD ORIGIN

MUSICAL CHAIRS is a game played by a group of people (usually children), often in an informal setting purely for entertainment such as a birthday party. The game starts with any number of players and a number of chairs one fewer than the number of players. The chairs are arranged in a circle (or other closed figure if space is constrained; a double line is sometimes used) facing outward, with the people standing in a circle just outside of that.

A non-playing individual plays recorded music or a musical instrument. While the music is playing, the players in the circle walk in unison around the chairs. When the music suddenly stops, everyone must race to sit down in one of the chairs. The player who is left without a chair is eliminated from the game, and a chair is removed to ensure that there will always be one fewer chair than there are players. The music resumes and the cycle repeats until there is only one player left.

Figuratively speaking, MUSICAL CHAIRS refers to a change that in effect doesn't really change things at all. This stems from the idea that like in the children's game, there is lots of activity, but at the end of the day there are still people sitting in chairs. The game then repeats itself constantly.

MUSICAL CHAIRS is often used to describe executive-level personnel changes, particularly when they happen frequently without impacting the company's operation or business strategy.

MUSICAL CHAIRS can also refer to changes to systems, processes or programs that involve shifting or moving elements or components around without actually yielding any improvements or solving a problem.

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SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:

"A new CEO will just mean another round of MUSICAL CHAIRS."