Embracing paradox

Abstract

“We all believe in team working but … ” was how Gareth Morgan introduced the notion of paradox in organizations, during a workshop on organizational dynamics that I attended in 1997. This provocation, and the conversations that it sparked, echoed my long-held view that an either-or mindset dominates management thinking and distorts much of its prac­tice. Of course team working is important. An excessive emphasis on individual performance can be divisive and lead to sub-optimal performance. At the same time, though, an excessive emphasis on team working can be equally dysfunctional. For a start, it can lead to “group think” and the obsessive pursuit of lowest-common-denominator consensus. Failing to foster individual excellence can also undermine motivation, stifle initiative and blunt an organization’ s competitive edge. Managers therefore need to encourage, support and enable both collaborative team perforance and, at the same time, individual excellence — even though the conditions for achieving these pull in opposite directions. The example used by Morgan reflects just one of countless situations in which managers are torn between two contending courses of action, both of which have merit but which — like team working and individuality — appear unable to co-exist. We will look at others below.

Paradox … cannot be resolved or harmonised, only endlessly transformed.

— Ralph Stacey