Paradox Management Research Articles

Paradoxes et management stratégique des territoires : Étude comparée de métropoles européennes

ABSTRACT Our work is about local and public organizations. More precisely, we are interested in metropolitan organizations. These are public establishments with metropolitan strategic responsibilities such as the development and management of an institutionalized territory. The discussion is oriented towards the paradoxical nature of these organizations. Thus, our aim is to explore the particular case of public organizations with two intentions. First, we want to demonstrate that these organisations experience a situation of paradoxical management. Also, we want to grasp what are the management tools of these organizations. Understanding the modalities of the management of paradoxes is our second goal. The paper is organised as follows. We begin by introducing certain theoretical ideas on paradoxical management that are central to the analysis. We want to explore paradoxes faced by metropolitan organizations in order to understand the inherent constraints of local governance. We then present the methodology of our research process. We illustrate our topic with the results of case studies (Lyon, Nantes, Marseille, Barcelona, Nottingham).

Developing transnational leaders: five paradoxes for success

PurposeAs consultants working with multinational organizations predominantly in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, the authors frequently find themselves working with clients to create strategies for building their talent pipeline and developing leaders at multiple managerial levels. The purpose of this article is to introduce a model and approach for developing transnational leaders that will serve as a basis for learning design going forward.Design/methodology/approachThe authors introduce the reader to five paradoxes: presenting a continuum for each dilemma; listing the key aspects of the dilemma; describing a situation in which this particular paradox has manifested itself; and posing a provocative question to stimulate thinking and dialogue to address the paradox.FindingsThe five paradoxes leaders and managers in the twenty‐first century need to consider to effectively manage for organization success are the: paradox of knowing (self and other); paradox of focus (individual and communal); paradox of communication (direct and indirect); paradox of action (doing and being); and the paradox of response (time focus: short and long‐term).Practical implicationsLeading transnationally is a continuing dilemma to be considered and managed. It requires a willingness to understand the system in which one is operating and requires adaptability and flexibility in response.Originality/valuePrevious leadership development efforts have been primarily designed to offer competency based skills and tools. The authors instead propose that transnational leadership development needs to focus on paradox management, which will develop abilities to manage these dilemmas.

The Paradox of Knowledge Management: Progress, Issues and Future Directions

The Paradox of Knowledge Management: Progress, Issues and Future Directions

The diamond industry as a virtual organization: past success and challenging future

Abstract Having previously dominated diamond supply and exercised near total control over diamond distribution, the diamond industry market leader De Beers now accounts for just 40% of global diamond production and 45% of distribution. In the face of competitive and regulatory pressures, De Beers has recently sought to adapt its role from being the custodian of the industry to acting merely as a major player. However, its retreat from a position of industry dominance is creating tensions within De Beers and among industry participants. This paper seeks to explain De Beers' behaviour and the reaction of the industry in terms of paradox management and identifies the requirement for a new form of leadership to replace the previous monopoly situation and guide the diamond industry into a better future. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

MANAGING THE EXPLORATION/EXPLOITATION PARADOX IN NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: HOW TOP EXECUTIVES DEFINE THEIR FIRM'S INNOVATION TRAJECTORY

Building on structuration theory, we present a conceptual model that illustrates how top executives can guide their firm's new product development (NPD) strategy along a desired innovation trajectory combining different degrees of exploration and exploitation. The model addresses the interplay between executives' actions and the organization's controlling structures in the form of roles, rules, and resources. We describe how transformational leadership behaviors by top executives can be effective in the paradox management needed to shift the exploration or exploitation emphasis of a NPD strategy, whereas transactional leadership can be effective in maintaining a consistent strategic course. In doing this, we propose visual representations of innovation trajectories as wave functions as helpful tools to describe NPD strategies. Illustrative examples of structural changes that support strategic change toward greater exploration or greater exploitation are also offered.

A paradox of alliance management: resource contamination in the recorded music industry

AbstractThis paper deals with the problem of resource contamination in alliances, where incompatible resources may be transferred into or accessed by partner firms, thereby devaluing their own resources. Theory explains how collaborations between organizations can allow mutually beneficial resource combinations through the transfer of, or access to, the assets and/or capabilities of each partner. Research has focused on how to facilitate intended resource transfer while limiting unplanned appropriation of other resources. Here, we address how organizations can protect themselves from contamination by their partners. Resource inimicality arises from idiosyncratic path‐dependent processes that create organizations with very different skills, assets and institutions. Thus, a paradox emerges where resources that are complementary may nonetheless be hostile if brought together in one firm: the exposure of one partner to another may erode the distinctive properties that make the partnership valuable. This paper explores this resource contamination perspective using interview data from managers of one Major music company and several smaller Independent partners. In this industry it is common for collaborations to occur between organizations whose resources are focused on the identification and creation of new artistic products, and partners whose resources exploit such products. These resources are complementary but also potentially hostile. We discuss the role of institutional structures and boundary spanners, individuals who mediate resource transfer across the organizations' boundaries, in resolving this paradox and inhibiting contamination. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Exploring Influences on Community-Based Case Managers' Advance Care Planning Practices: Facilitators or Barriers?

ABSTRACT Community-based geriatric case managers work with an increasingly frail older population in need of advance care planning throughout the end of life. However, little is known regarding factors that influence their professional practices in this area. This qualitative study used four focus groups to explore case managers' (N = 27) perceptions of facilitators and barriers to advance care planning practices. Themes from the study suggest that case managers view five key influences that appear to either assist or impede practices, depending on case manager's perceptions and experiences. Themes include: (1) Paradox of case management and programmatic realities; (2) extent of family presence and involvement; (3) level of proficiency in advance care planning; (4) degree of client receptivity to planning; and (5) limited communication with providers. The findings suggest that case managers vary in their advance care planning practices by differing perceptions regarding clients, families, professional expertise, program effects, and communication within the network of providers. More research is needed to clarify the factors associated with case managers' divergent advance care planning practices in order to enhance professional practice in this area.

L’annonce du diagnostic en sénologie : en fonction de la classification BIRAD

Clinical practice guidelines for psychological care and examples of announcing results are proposed for different categories of Breast Imaging Reporting and Data system (BI-RADS) of the American College of Radiology (ACR).Interpretation and recontextualization are explained for lesions category 2, management of paradox and doubt (probably benign and surveillance) for category 3, acceptance and emotions of patients for the category 4 or 5, psychological distress for the category 6.These models of exchange in doctor-patient relationship have to be modulated and adjusted to the women's profile and attitudes.A meaningful communication is necessary for the comprehension of information, for mammography adherence, for patient satisfactions and in the short and long term, it allows an adapted psychological adjustment for breast cancer.

The three paradoxes of supply chain management: illustrations and managerial implications

For over 15 years, there has been a considerable growth in research devoted to Supply Chain Management (SCM) in the fields of purchasing and procurement. Supply chains can be described as business networks, whereas academics and practitioners are increasingly referring to logistical networks supporting supply chains. The aim of this article is to show that managing interdependent logistical networks generates three inherently paradoxical situations. These paradoxes are: how to mix long-term relations and 'plasticity' in the management of supply chains as business networks? Should one try to influence supply chain members or accept being influenced by them in the monitoring of a supply chain? Is it possible to choose between building innovative and flexible supply chains or building 'controlled' and rigid supply chains? In order to manage such paradoxes, we suggest that firms further develop combined competences of purchasing, procurement and SCM while encouraging greater collaboration and transparency among these three fields. Each paradox is illustrated by one or two cases to highlight managerial implications.

The Risk Management Paradox for Urban Recreation and Park Managers: Providing high risk recreation within a risk management context

This discussion explores the relationship between adventure ideology (meeting the challenge, overcoming the odds, being responsible for one's own actions and experiencing the full meaning of freedom and choice) and adventure practice which in a social climate of individualism has not only necessitated the need to hold persons accountable but in turn has spawned the growth of a risk management industry. While risk, as a negative concept, can be applied to nearly every human action of which the consequences are uncertain, as a component of recreation it is a positive concept and represents a socially acceptable opportunity to engage in behaviours which have risk as an associated, and sometimes, important element. However, the political/institutional need to make environments safe through regulation on the one hand and the increasing public desire to be stimulated through controlled doses of risk‐taking on the other, presents the urban recreation manager with a paradox. To explore this paradox through the literature the meaning of adventure and risk in outdoor recreation is clarified by reviewing the context in which we confront risk in our daily lives, the criteria used to separate adventure and risk recreations from those not normally associated with risk‐taking, the antecedent concepts associated with risk‐taking, and the relationship between risk participation in recreation and risk management.

Governance, Administrative Science, and the Paradoxes of New Public Management

The aim of this article is to determine the role of administrative science with regard to the governance concept. It is argued that governance in the way it is employed in current discussions is not restricted to an analytical function, but comprises certain normative connotations. This leads to risks and potential distortions in the analysis of administrative structures. The paradoxes of New Public Management serve as an example of governance offering an interpretation whose coherence is at least questionable. Against this background, administrative science is depicted as the discipline which offers the methodological tools for preventing possible new interpretations from becoming misconception.

Reconciling Salvage Logging of Boreal Forests with a Natural‐Disturbance Management Model

In North American boreal forests, wildfire is the dominant agent of natural disturbance. A natural-disturbance model has therefore been promoted as an ecologically based approach to forest harvesting in these systems. Given accelerating resource demands, fire competes with harvest for timber and there is increasing pressure to salvage naturally burned areas. This creates a management paradox: simultaneous promotion of natural disturbance as a guide to sustainability while salvaging forests that have been naturally disturbed. The major drivers of postfire salvage in Canadian boreal forests are societal perceptions, overallocation of forest resources, and economic and policy incentives, and postfire salvage compromisesforest sustainability by diminishing the role of fire as a critical, natural process. These factors might be reconciled through consideration of fire in resource allocations and application of active adaptive management. We provide novel treatment of the role of burn severity in mediating biotic response by examining its influence on the amount, type, and distribution of live, postfire residual material, and we highlight the role of fire in shaping spatial and temporal patterns in forest biodiversity. Maintenance of natural postfire forests is a critical component of an ecosystem-based approach to forest management in boreal systems. Nevertheless, presentpracticesfocus heavily on expediting removal of timber from burned forests, despite increasing evidence that postfire communities differ markedly from postharvest systems, and there is a mismatch between emerging management models and past management practices. Policies that recognize the critical role of fire in these systems and facilitate enhanced understanding of natural system dynamics in support of development of sustainable management practices are urgently needed.

The paradoxes of management with particular reference to the conduct of Development Assistance

The paradoxes of management are explored at two levels. The overall challenge of 'getting things done by other people' is broken down into the processes of providing direction, control (presented as planning) and motivation, with their associated paradoxes. These are formulated in relation to the management role of deciding as a fractal model of management and the attendant management contributions discussed. Finally, these issues are placed in the specific context of managing Development Assistance (DA).

Managing Knowledge Flows Through Appropriation and Learning Strategies

In this paper, the management of outgoing and incoming knowledge is modelled as part of the firm's profit-seeking strategy. Firms stem their outflow of commercially-sensitive knowledge through appropriation mechanisms such as patents and secrecy and stimulate inflows of commercially-valuable knowledge through networking, attending conferences and other forms of external interaction. It is probable, however, that some learning styles undermine some appropriation mechanisms. For instance, recent research on the of highlights the conflict between firms' openness and their ability to appropriate innovation profits. We use survey data from over 600 Australian firms to examine this paradox and other effects of firms' management of knowledge flows such as the complementarity between patents and secrecy and the conflict between patents and interactive forms of learning.

The Paradox of Diversity Management, Creativity and Innovation

This conceptual and discursive paper argues that diversity is a recognizable source of creativity and innovation that can provide a basis for competitive advantage. On the other hand, diversity is also a cause of misunderstanding, suspicion and conflict in the workplace that can result in absenteeism, poor quality, low morale and loss of competitiveness. Firms seeking competitive advantage therefore face a paradoxical situation. If they embrace diversity, they risk workplace conflict, and if they avoid diversity, they risk loss of competitiveness. The advantages and disadvantages associated with workforce diversity put organizations in a position of managing a paradoxical situation. To give support to this assertion, the paper considers what is meant by diversity, how it is best managed, what its relationship with creativity and innovation might be and how the problems created by the management of diversity, creativity and innovation might be resolved.

Management and Organization Paradoxes

Management and Organization Paradoxes

Collaboration and competition: the paradox of knowledge management

paper presents a common view of KM as it is understood in a late or post-capitalist organisation which is typically virtual, intelligent and networked, and located in a wicked environment. A wicked environment as described by Yogesh Malhotra refers to an environment in which there is much change happening on a constant and rapid basis. This model is predicated upon a commodified view of knowledge and knowledge production, and relies significantly on information and communication technologies (ICTs). This model gives rise to a number of paradoxes which often cause the failure of KM projects, or, at the least, their transformation into something else. It is suggested that KM offers a number of perspectives that can assist organisations in many ways. However, KM cannot be successful if misunderstood, and simply grafted onto traditional late-capitalist organisational models. Innovation No.27 December 2003: 37-48

Conceptualizing social science paradoxes using the diversity and similarity curves model: Illustrations from the work/play and theory novelty/continuity paradoxes

A major challenge that social science researchers face is the development of a framework that conceptualizes paradoxical concepts across different social science disciplines. We propose that researchers use the logic of the diversity and similarity curves (DSC) model to meet this need by conceptualizing the tension, reinforcing cycles, and paradox management elements of Lewis ( Academy of Management Review, 2000, 25, 760-76). We further make a contribution to the paradox literature by highlighting and representing the interwoven nature of dual tensions that exist within paradoxical phenomena. We use the DSC model to capture the interactive effects of dual paradoxes associated with work/play and job stress/task creativity. The DSC model also allows us to represent the interactive effects of different permutations of theory novelty/continuity on perceived theory complexity and theory assimilation. Finally, we discuss the implications of this article for theory and research on paradox conceptualization.

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY IN MANAGERIAL ADVICE.

The article discusses a study that aims to discover which managerial advice is less prone to failure by studying the content of managerial advice and proposing that in addition to algorithmic rationality, communicative and reflexive rationalities are also needed. The article discusses the place of paradox in organizational life and management, and explains two models, one looking at the uncontrollability paradox and another accommodating both contradictions and diversity. The article discusses algorithmic rationality as a form of judgmental rationality, communicative rationality, and reflexive rationality.

Developing Parallel Routines for Radical Product Innovation

A paradox in innovation management is that firms deploying what is generally recognised 'good practice' can find themselves under threat through disruption caused by some form of discontinuity in their operating environment. Routines suited to dealing with 'steady state' innovation differ from and may even conflict with those needed to explore and exploit discontinuous shifts in technology or markets. This paper explores this 'innovator's dilemma' and reviews the experience of a case study firm working in the medical products field. It argues that firms need to learn to manage innovation but that two complementary learning approaches - adaptive and generative - are needed.