Year: 2011
Type: article
Abstract: As organizational environments become more global, dynamic, and competitive, contradictory demands intensify. To understand and explain such tensions, academics and practitioners are increasingly adopting a paradox lens. We review the paradox literature, categorizing types and highlighting fundamental debates. We then present a dynamic equilibrium model of organizing, which depicts how cyclical responses to paradoxical tensions enable sustainability—peak performance in the present that enables success in the future. This review and the model provide the foundation of a theory of paradox.
Source: Academy of Management Review
Authors: Wendy K. Smith, Marianne W. Lewis
Institutions: University of Delaware, University of Cincinnati
Language: English
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2123841895