The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Paradox

by Smith, Wendy K.; Lewis, Marianne W.; Jarzabkowski, Paula; Langley, Ann

• ISBN13: 9780198840183
• ISBN10: 0198840187
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2019-05-14
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Author Biography

Wendy K. Smith, Associate Professor of Management, the Lerner College of Business and Economics, University of Delaware,Marianne W. Lewis, Dean and Professor of Management, Cass Business School City, University of London,Paula Jarzabkowski, Professor of Strategic Management, Cass Business School, City University London,Ann Langley, Professor of Management, HEC Montreal, Canada

Wendy K. Smith is Associate Professor of Management in the Lerner College of Business and Economics at the University of Delaware, and Research Fellow of the Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation. Her research explores how leaders and their organizations manage strategic paradoxes. She has published articles on strategic paradoxes in journals such as the Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, and Harvard Business Review, and is cofounding a blog on paradox www.leveragingtensions.com. Her missions is to help create a better world through 'and' thinking.


Marianne W. Lewis is Dean of the Cass Business School, City University of London Her research explores leadership paradoxes in managing tensions, conflicts, and contradictions. Her paper, "Exploring Paradox: Toward a More Comprehensive Guide" received the Academy of Management Review Best Paper Award in 2000. Her work also appears in such journals as the Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Journal of Operations Management, and Harvard Business Review. As a dean, she consistently applies her theories and theorize the applications.


Paula Jarzabkowski is a Professor of Strategic Management at Cass Business School, City University London. Her research focuses on strategy-as-practice in complex contexts, such as regulated firms, third sector organizations and financial services, particularly insurance and reinsurance. Her work has appeared in a number of leading journals including Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management Studies, and Organization Studies. Her book Making a Market for Acts of God: The Practice of Risk-Trading in the Global Reinsurance Industry was published by Oxford University Press in 2015.


Ann Langley is Professor of Management at HEC Montreal, Canada and holder of the Chair in Strategic Management in Pluralistic Settings. Her research focuses on strategic change, inter-professional collaboration and the practice of strategy in complex organizations. In 2013, she was co-guest editor with Clive Smallman, Haridimos Tsoukas, and Andrew Van de Ven of a Special Research Forum of Academy of Management Journal on Process Studies of Change in Organizations and Management. She is also coeditor of the journal Strategic Organization, and co-editor with Haridimos Tsoukas of the book series Perspectives on Process Organization Studies published with Oxford University Press. She is Adjunct Professor at Universite de Montreal, and University of Gothenburg.

Table of Contents

Foreword, Bob Quinn and Mrudula Nujella,
Introduction, Wendy Smith, Marianne Lewis, Paula Jarzabkowski, and Ann Langley
Part I: Foundations and Approaches
1. Ad Fontes: Philosophical Foundations of Paradox Research, Jonathan Schad
2. Psychoanalytic Theory, Emotion and Organizational Paradox, Michael Jarrett and Russ Vince
3. A Roadmap of the Paradoxical Mind: Expanding Cognitive Theories on Organizational Paradox, Josh Keller and Erica Wen Chen
4. What Paradox?: Developing a Process Syntax for Organizational Research, Robin Holt and Mike Zundel
5. Organizational Dialectics, Stewart Clegg and Miguel Pinha de Cuhna
6. Cultural: Eastern vs. Circumventing the Logic and Limits of Representation: Otherness in East-West Approaches to ParadoxApproaches, Robert Chia and Ajit Nayak
Part II: Paradoxical Phenomena in and Beyond Organizations
7. Critical Management Studies and Paradox, Koen van Bommel and Andre Spicer
8. Beyond Managerial Dilemmas: The Study of Institutional Paradoxes in Organization Theory, Paul Tracey and Doug Creed
9. Paradoxes of Organizational Identity, Marya Besharov and Garima Sharma
10. Alternate Prisms for Pluralism and Paradox in Organizations, Mariline Comeau-Vallee, Jean-Louis Denis, Julie-Maude Normandin, and Marie-Christine Therrien
11. Paradox in Positive Organizational Scholarship, Kim Cameron
12. Managing Normative Tensions Within and Across Organizations: What can the Economies of Worth and Paradox Frameworks Learn From Each Other?, Jean-Pascal Gond, Christiane Demers, and Valerie Michaud
13. The Role of Irony and Metaphor in Working through Paradox During Organizational Change, John Sillince and Ben Golant
14. Reflections on the Paradoxes of Modernity: A Conversation with James March, Richard Badham
15. Paradox at an Inter-firm Level: A Coopetition Lens, Maria Bengtsson and Tatbeeq Raza-Ullah
16. Pathways to Ambidexterity: A Process Perspective on the Exploration-Exploitation Paradox, Sebastian Raisch and Alexander Zimmermann
17. Gender and Organizational Paradox, Linda L. Putnam and Karen L. Ashcraft
18. Navigating the Paradoxes of Sustainability, Jason Jay, Sara Soderstrom, and Gabriel Grant
19. The Paradoxes of Time in Organizations, Natalie Slawinski and Tima Bansal
20. On Organizational Circularity: Vicious and Virtuous Circles in Organizing, Hari Tsoukas and Miguel Pinha de Cuhna
21. Tensions in Managing Human Resources: Introducing a Paradox Framework and Research Agenda, Ina Aust and Julia Brandl
22. Looking at Creativity Through a Paradox Lens: Deeper Understanding and New Insights, Ella Miron-Spektor and Miriam Erez
23. "I am...I said": Paradoxical Tensions of Individual Identity, Matthew Sheep, Glen Kreiner, and Gail Fairhurst
24. The Paradoxical Mystery of the Missing Differences Between Academics and Practitioners, Eliana Crosina and Jean Bartunek
25. Paradox in Everyday Practice: Applying Practice-Theoretical Principles to Paradox, Jane Le and Rebecca Bednarek
Part III: Engaging Paradoxes
26. Methods of Paradox, Costas Andriopoulos and Manto Gotsi
27. Expanding Paradox-Pedagogy Links: Paradox as a Threshold Concept in Management Education, Eric Knight and Sotirios Paroutis
28. Paradox and Polarities: Finding Common Ground and Moving Forward Together: A Case Study of Polarity Thinking and Action in Charleston, South Carolina, Cliff Kayser, Margaret Seidler, and Barry Johnson