Abstract
“The real voyage of discovery… consists not in seeking new landscapes… but in having new eyes.”
From our vantage, reading Performing Organizational Paradoxes is like taking a journey with Gail Fairhurst and Linda Putnam, one in which they provide not just a single map of the field of paradox studies, but an atlas that guides us through the intricate landscape of organizational paradoxes and points us in interesting directions for uncharted territory. Indeed, they offer a comprehensive overview of different facets of paradox scholarship too vast for a single map (or article!) to possibly cover.
In each chapter, Gail and Linda invite readers into their scholarly world and offer a deep dive into relevant topics. With their curation of the topics, their reflective spirit, and their expert voice throughout, it almost feels as if the reader is taking an independent study course with them and the book could surely be used to structure academic courses on organizational paradoxes. As a rich atlas or guide for paradox scholars, this is a book to study, highlight, discuss, and reach out for when thinking through dynamics around paradox.
Yet, we note that this is not like a typical atlas that charts only what is known. Rather, as the quote from Proust suggests, it is a book that simultaneously provides us “new eyes”—a fresh perspective for understanding paradox. Specifically, the authors take us through a thoughtful development of the constitutive approach to paradox. They lay out the processes through which organizational paradoxes come into being, the dynamic relationships that enact and shape them, and how these evolve over time. This journey encompasses an impressively broad and deep examination of key elements that include, but are not limited to, dialectical tensions, materiality, discourse, structures, systems, power dynamics, and the ongoing sociomaterial performances that bring paradoxes to life. Through the development of the constitutive approach, readers are left with a valuable and transformative lens for understanding and embracing paradoxes in organizational life.
The journey begins with the foundational chapters, where Gail and Linda chart the terrain of paradox studies. The opening chapter reminds us of the ubiquitous presence of paradoxes in human life and how these have been a subject of interest since ancient times. This chapter sets the stage by introducing the key themes of the book.
Chapter 2 offers a detailed path for deepening our exploration of paradoxes, unpacking the constitutive approach as an alternative way of studying paradoxes that focuses on the dynamic, process-oriented nature of tensions. The result is a chapter that provides an important map for management scholars, particularly those interested in understanding how paradox relates to performativity, sociomateriality, and dialectics. After providing conceptual clarity, this chapter covers core ontological and epistemological debates that pervade paradox studies.
While readers with more familiarity with paradox studies are likely to be able to navigate the contours of the map more quickly, novices may need to revisit this map multiple times. Yet, the effort is worthwhile, as the insights laid out here come to life in subsequent chapters, offering rich material for reflection and discussion for all readers.
As we navigate through the atlas, chapter 3 moves us to the dimension of interlocking tensions: hierarchies, nests, families, and knots. The authors use a clear and straightforward example of Donald Trump’s deplatforming from social media in the wake of the 2021 US Capital insurrection to illustrate the concept of knots, highlighting the multiple interlocking tensions and the associated sociomaterial factors. We found the notion of “pulsating knots”—the ways knots alternatively tighten and loosen over time—particularly promising, as its imagery invites color into and pushes the exploration of interrelated tensions further.
In chapter 4, the authors put forward a useful way of thinking about how organizational actors respond to paradoxes: repertoires of dialectical responses. Building on their earlier work (Putnam et al., 2016) and in the same vein as Jarzabkowski and Lê (2017), they provide a repository of responses to paradox that fall into either-or, both-and, and more-than types. Yet, they move beyond existing studies to think about dynamics of responses, how they can be combined together in different repertoires, and how repertoires develop. This is one example, of many, where the authors are notably reflexive in revisiting their earlier work and expanding upon it. To our eyes, this chapter provides one of the most comprehensive reviews of responses to paradoxes available to date and is essential reading for any new adventurer.
Continuing with their constitutive approach, chapter 5 invites us to look a theoretically rich set of process outcomes. These include more commonly studied outcomes like reinforcing cycles and double binds alongside outcomes that have garnered less attention like unintended consequences and enabling/constraining action.
Although the book is enriched with numerous real-world examples, readers interested in an extended example will particularly enjoy this chapter. In using the Boeing 737 MAX-8 jet plane crashes as a case study, chapter 5 offers a firsthand understanding of process outcomes through detailed data from Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration. Their metaphor of a boat on a river is a compelling illustration of the relationship between regulatory capture, the crash, and public concern displayed in the case, allowing us to visualize the temporality and dynamics inherent in process outcomes. We appreciate how the authors show rich data to the readers, making their analytical process more transparent.
The following three chapters invite seasoned readers to engage deeply with the intersection of paradox with power (chapter 6), emotions and narratives (chapter 7), and categories (chapter 8). In chapter 6, the authors adapt Berti et al.’s (2021) framework of power-over, power-to, and power-with. Eager to push their readers toward unexplored areas, they emphasize the latter form of power which points to the less-explored, yet promising generative dimensions of power. Power is an important theme to the authors and unsurprisingly it remains prominent in the chapters that follow. Chapter 7 brings us into the lived experience of paradox, shedding light on the different narratives that appear as individuals experience and make sense of tensions. This chapter includes particularly moving and poignant examples of how the early stage of experiencing organizational paradox can cause individuals to feel trapped in their own narrative wrecks. We can only rejoice in seeing Gail and Linda revisit and expand on the topic of emotion, a subject close to our hearts (Pamphile, 2022; Pradies, 2023). With narratives, they advance the exploration of emotions within paradox studies in novel ways, continuing their career-long endeavor to challenge the emotional-rationality divide (Cunha and Putnam, 2019; Fairhurst, 2019; Mumby and Putnam, 2019). The concept of the “kaleidoscope of narratives” (p. 144) they introduce left us feeling inspired. Chapter 8 rounds out the adventure with an examination of how organizational actors use categories to create and respond to paradoxes, largely using examples from different churches.
In the concluding chapter, the authors provide a compass that scholars can use to chart the future directions of paradox studies. This chapter builds on the various opportunities for future research that they lay out throughout earlier chapters, offering interesting ideas such as further exploring morality and ethics in paradox studies. Here again, the constitutive view is proven valuable in challenging scholars to go further with understanding the processes related to paradox. Although a closing chapter, the authors provide sufficient depth such that scholars can understand ongoing, open debates and leave with actionable insights.
In short, this book is a treasure trove for paradox scholars and anyone interested in organizational studies. It is a masterful work that offers a profound understanding of the complexities inherent in organizational life. Gail and Linda’s ability to weave together theoretical rigor with conceptual clarity and methodological insights makes this book an essential read for anyone grappling with the tensions and contradictions that define modern organizations. Their insights not only shed light on the nature of paradoxes but also provide valuable tools for navigating them. This book is a testament to the power of thoughtful scholarship and its potential to transform our understanding of organizational dynamics.
Many insightful books on paradox scholarship have been published in the last five years, each contributing unique perspectives and each with different degrees of scholarly and practitioner foci (including but not limited to Berti et al., 2021; Cheal, 2020; Johnson, 2020; Nielsen et al., 2023; Smith and Lewis, 2022). Performing Organizational Paradoxes is not an incremental addition to the conversation. Rather, the constitutive view is both novel and complementary to existing scholarship, with Gail and Linda encouraging readers to reinterpret established ways of thinking. Indeed, the journey pushes further than their own earlier work, especially in the Annals piece (Putnam et al., 2016), making this book a useful resource for cultivating intellectual craftsmanship.
As we continue on the voyage of discovery for paradox, Gail and Linda help us avoid the pitfall of seeking new landscapes; instead, they equip us with the new lenses and approaches needed to more deeply engage with paradoxes in organizational life.
