Routine dynamics and paradox: A revised research agenda

Abstract

This comment reflects on the paper by Rosales et al. (2022) and discusses the role and contribution of paradox theory for our understanding of routine dynamics. Whilst the authors claim that routines serve as rubber bands that enable practitioners to manage the paradoxical relationship between stability and change, in this commentary I want to challenge some of the core assumptions around stability and change in this paper and propose a revised understanding. It is a central tenant of routine dynamics studies that stability and change are mutually enabling – a duality – and hence not contradictory categories. As I outline in this comment this has significant consequences for the way routine dynamics are studied. Furthermore, I propose some areas in which paradox theory and routine dynamics studies may fruitfully be combined to address novel research questions.