Managing Paradox in Organisations

If only . . . we could anticipate and manage the tensions and unintended outcomes that always seem to arise whenever we take decisive action.

Even when organisations take decisive action to deal with threats and opportunities in their external environment, or to overcome perceived weaknesses internally, the results are often disappointing. Despite the apparent logic of the proposed actions, old beliefs and practices continue to exert their influence. As a result, intended outcomes often fail to materialise and other, unforeseen consequences emerge.

Also, these problems never seem to go away or become resolved in a 'once and for all' way. For example, the devolution of decision-making responsibility to operating units almost invariably leads those at the centre to feel that they have lost control, that activities are being duplicated unnecessarily, or that a lack of strategic perspective is resulting in waste and sub-optimal performance. The predictable consequence of this is likely to be the eventual reassertion of central control, and the reversal of many of the policies and practices spawned by the earlier devolution.

This stop-go cycle is likely to be accelerated if people change at the top of the organisation, and this is not limited to questions of decision-making responsibility. Other 'cycling' often occurs between, for example, cost cutting and investment, downsizing and recruitment, acquisition and divestment, and so on.

The question therefore is: Can these queasy rides on the managerial 'big dipper' be avoided, or are they - and their performance-sapping consequences - an inevitable fact of organisational life?