Paradox as a Metatheoretical Perspective Sharpening the Focus and Widening the Scope / Lewis, Marian
By: Lewis, Marianne W
Material type:
ArticlePublisher: 2014Description: 128-149Subject(s): Tensions | Metatheoretical Perspectives | Metatheory | Paradox
In:
Journal of Applied Behavioral ScienceSummary: Organizations are rife with tensions-flexibility versus control, exploration versus exploitation, autocracy versus democracy, social versus financial, global versus local. Researchers have long responded using contingency theory, asking Under what conditions should managers emphasize either A or B? Yet increasingly studies apply a paradox perspective, shifting the question to How can we engage both A and B simultaneously? Despite accumulating exemplars, commonalities across paradox studies remain unclear, and ties unifying this research community weak. To energize further uses of a paradox perspective, we build from past reviews to explicate its role as a metatheory. Contrasting this lens to contingency theory, we illustrate its metatheoretical nature. We then dive deeper to sharpen the focus and widen the scope of a paradox perspective. Identifying core elements viewed from a paradox perspective-underlying assumptions, central concepts, nature of interrelationships and boundary conditions-offers a guide, informing the practice of paradox research. Next, we illustrate diverse uses of this lens. We conclude by exploring implications and next steps, stressing the rising need...
| Item type | Current location | Call number | Vol info | Status | Date due | Barcode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Articles
|
Ahmedabad (HO) | (Browse shelf) | Vol. 50, Issue. 2 | Available | 017950 |
Organizations are rife with tensions-flexibility versus control, exploration versus exploitation, autocracy versus democracy, social versus financial, global versus local. Researchers have long responded using contingency theory, asking Under what conditions should managers emphasize either A or B? Yet increasingly studies apply a paradox perspective, shifting the question to How can we engage both A and B simultaneously? Despite accumulating exemplars, commonalities across paradox studies remain unclear, and ties unifying this research community weak. To energize further uses of a paradox perspective, we build from past reviews to explicate its role as a metatheory. Contrasting this lens to contingency theory, we illustrate its metatheoretical nature. We then dive deeper to sharpen the focus and widen the scope of a paradox perspective. Identifying core elements viewed from a paradox perspective-underlying assumptions, central concepts, nature of interrelationships and boundary conditions-offers a guide, informing the practice of paradox research. Next, we illustrate diverse uses of this lens. We conclude by exploring implications and next steps, stressing the rising need...
There are no comments on this title.