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Paradox Subtheme - EGOS 2014 - Call for papers

  • 1.  Paradox Subtheme - EGOS 2014 - Call for papers

    Posted 12-06-2013 12:47
    Dear PNP scholars,

    Marianne Lewis, Ina Ehnert and myself, Valérie Michaud, hope you consider submitting a proposal to come discuss paradoxes, tensions and contradictions with us in Rotterdam, next July!

    Following is the call for papers.

    More info about the EGOS 2014 conference can be found at http://egosnet.org/2014_rotterdam/general_theme 

    Very best,

    Valérie Michaud, Ph.D.
    Assistant Professor
    ESG UQAM
    Montreal (Quebec) Canada
    michaud.valerie@uqam.ca
    -------------------------

    EGOS 2014 – Call for short papers

    Leveraging a paradox perspective to reimagine, rethink and reshape organization tensions

    Marianne W. Lewis (University of Cincinnati, USA)
    Ina Ehnert (Louvain School of Management, Belgium)
    Valérie Michaud (Université du Québec à Montréal</x>, Canada)

    Organizations today face unprecedented tensions, fueled by economic, social and ecological
    challenges. Intensifying competition, innovation, climate change, pollution, resource
    consumption and population growth as well as ethical and economic crises pose tremendous
    challenges. Indeed, the impact is unsettling on a global scale. Organizations, teams and
    individuals struggle to meet competing demands, support diverse stakeholders, manage complex
    processes, and face shifting and multiple commitments, identities and roles.

    In these unsettled times, scholars increasingly question traditional, either/or mindsets and
    practices (e.g. Gladwin et al., 1995; Wilkinson et al., 2001). Change, pluralism and scarcity
    exacerbate tensions (Smith & Lewis, 2011) and call for stimulating ways to reimagine, rethink
    and reshape organizations and organizational research. A paradox perspective offers a promising
    lens to address complex tensions (e.g. Ehnert, 2009).

    Over the last two decades, tensions, contradictions, dilemmas and other paradox-related terms
    have gained considerable attention (Smith & Lewis, 2011). Paradox scholars seek to transform
    management mindsets and practices, exploring both/and approaches to cope with competing
    forces simultaneously, and thereby fuel long-term success and sustainability (e.g., Andriopoulos
    & Lewis, 2009; Luscher & Lewis, 2008). While prior paradox research has examined two
    opposing forces or one paradox from a universal stance (Bouchikhi, 1998), studies of
    organizational paradoxes are becoming increasingly rich and sophisticated, accentuating
    complexity and fluidity – especially in pluralistic organizations (Denis, Langley & Rouleau,
    2007).

    Leveraging a paradox perspective, organizations, teams and individuals may accept and better
    manage tensions between multiple identities, goals and/or logics. For instance, social enterprises
    combine social and financial goals (e.g., Diochon & Anderson, 2010; Jäger & Beyes, 2010),
    while hybrid forums and roundtables bring together multiple, diverse stakeholders (e.g., Gray &
    Wood, 1991; Phillips, Lawrence & Hardy, 2000). Likewise, organizations seek ambidexterity to
    enable exploitation, enhancing the attributes and efficiency of existing products, while fostering
    exploration, fueling radical innovation that ensures future opportunities (Jansen, Simsek & Cao,
    2011; Mom, Van den Bosch & Volberda, 2009).

    In the paradox subthemes held at EGOS 2010 (Lisbon), 2012 (Helsinki) and 2013 (Montreal), a
    growing community of paradox researchers first "energized", "explored" and then "embraced"
    paradoxes and tensions. Building upon this tradition, we now ask how scholars might leverage a
    paradox perspective to reimagine, rethink and reshape organizations and organizational research
    to fuel sustainability. More specifically, we seek to share and motivate research that advances
    understandings of tensions and fosters short-term performance, while enabling long-run survival.
    For example, we invite conceptual and empirical papers that explore some of the following,
    illustrative questions:

    • Multiple and shifting stakeholders – What tensions emerge in the process of dealing with
    different and changing organizational stakeholders? How do organizations successfully
    respond to these tensions? For example, does a paradox lens help shift traditional
    definitions based on a profit motive to broader and pluralistic stakeholder assessments?

    • Multiple and shifting goals and logics – How might organizations be designed to be
    efficient and effective but also regenerative and agile? How can competing and often
    dynamic goals (e.g. profit, innovation, and social responsibility; short-term performance
    and long-term survival) be embraced and achieved simultaneously?

    • Multiple and shifting individual roles, identities and personal demands – How might
    individuals cope with plurality in their lives (e.g., task demands, professional identity,
    personal values; reducing resource consumption and meeting personal needs)? What
    coping strategies are being used at individual, team and organizational levels and how are
    they interrelated?

    This subtheme extends the overall EGOS theme of 'Organizational Scholarship in Unsettled
    Times' by offering an alternative lens to reimagine, rethink and reshape frameworks in
    organization and management theory. In lieu of rising economic, social and ecological
    challenges, a paradox perspective may offer novel, creative and vital insights, helping unfreeze
    conventional mindsets and practices that limit our potential and our future.

    Andriopoulos, C., & Lewis, M. W. 2009. Exploitation-Exploration Tensions and Organizational
    Ambidexterity: Managing Paradoxes of Innovation. Organization Science, 20(4): 696-
    717.
    Bouchikhi, H. 1998. Living with and Building on Complexity: A Constructivist Perspective on
    Organizations. Organization, 5(2): 217-232.
    Denis, J.-L., A. Langley and L. Rouleau 2007. Strategizing in pluralistic contexts: Rethinking
    theoretical frames. Human Relations, 60(1): 179-215.
    Diochon, M. & A. Anderson. 2010. Ambivalence and ambiguity in social enterprise; narratives
    about values in reconciling purpose and practices. International Entrepreneurship and
    Management Journal, 7(1): 93-109.
    Ehnert, I. 2009. Sustainable human resource management: a conceptual and exploratory analysis
    from a paradox perspective. Contributions to Management Science, Heidelberg,
    Physica, Springer-Verlag.
    Gladwin, T. N., J. J. Kennelly, et al. (1995 ). Shifting Paradigms for Sustainable Development.
    Implications for Management Theory and Research, 20(4): 874-907.
    Gray, B. & D. J. Wood. 1991. Collaborative alliances: Moving from practice to theory. Journal
    of Applied Behavioral Science, 27(1): 3-22.
    Jäger, U. & T. Beyes. 2010. Strategizing in NPOs: A Case Study on the Practice of
    Organizational Change Between Social Mission and Economic Rationale. Voluntas, 21:
    82-100.
    Jansen, J. J. P., Simsek, Z., & Cao, Q. 2011. Ambidexterity and performance in multi-unit
    contexts: Cross-level moderating effects of structural and resources attributes. Strategic
    Management Journal. Forthcoming.
    Luscher, L., & Lewis, M. 2008. Organizational Change and Managerial Sensemaking: Working
    Through Paradox. Academy of Management Journal, 51(2): 221-240.
    Mom, T. J. M., Van den Bosch, F. A. J., & Volberda, H. W. 2009. Understanding variation in
    managers' ambidexterity: Investigating direct and interaction effects of formal structural
    and personal coordination mechanisms. Organization Science, 20(4): 812-828.
    Phillips, N., T. B. Lawrence & C. Hardy. 2000. Inter-organizational collaboration and the
    dynamics of institutional fields. Journal of Management Studies, 37(2): 23-43.
    Smith, W. K., & Lewis, M. W. 2011. Toward a Theory of Paradox: A Dynamic Equilibrium
    Model of Organizing. Academy of Management Review, 36(2): 382-403.
    Wilkinson, A., M. Hill, et al. 2001. The sustainability debate. International Journal of
    Operations & Production Management, 21(12): 1492-1502.

    About the convenors
    Lewis, Marianne W. – University of Cincinnati, Carl H. Lindner College of Business, USA
    Marianne Lewis (marianne.lewis@uc.edu) is professor of management and associate dean for
    undergraduate programs. Her research explores tensions, conflicts, and paradoxes that both
    impede and enable innovation. Her paper, "Exploring paradox: Toward a more comprehensive
    guide" received the Academy of Management Review Best Paper Award in 2000. She has since
    applied her paradox lens to varied areas of innovation with representative articles appearing in
    such journals as the Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Journal of
    Operations Management, and Human Relations. Marianne served as a co-convener of the
    paradox EGOS subtrack in 2010 and 2012.

    Ehnert, Ina – Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain School of Management, Belgium
    Ina Ehnert (ina.ehnert@uclouvain.be) is assistant professor of human resource management with
    a specialization in CSR and sustainability at the Catholic University of Louvain. She received
    her Ph.D. in business and management studies at the University of Bremen, Germany and
    published the book "Sustainable Human Resource Management: A conceptual and explorative
    study from a paradox perspective" with Springer publishers. Her research focuses among others
    on paradox and tensions in HRM. Ina has attended EGOS in 2007 and the paradox subtrack of
    EGOS in 2010 and 2012 where she chaired one session. Together with Wendy Smith, she has
    been editing a newsletter on paradox since 2010 and has been active in building the EGOS
    community around paradox.

    Valérie Michaud – École des Sciences de la Gestion, UQAM, Canada
    Valérie Michaud (michaud.valerie@uqam.ca) is assistant professor at ESG UQAM. She does
    research on and teaches the management of social and collective enterprises. Her Ph.D. thesis
    (ESG UQAM, 2011) explored the mediating roles played by sociomaterial tools in some tensions
    experienced by a multistakeholder co-op. Valérie participated to the EGOS 2010 and 2012 subthemes
    on paradox and was awarded the EGOS 2010 conference Best Student Paper Prize for
    her paper on the role of numbers in the collaboration-control paradox of governance. She is a coconvenor
    of the paradox subtrack at EGOS 2013 in Montreal.


    --
    Valérie Michaud
    Professeure
    Département d'organisation et ressources humaines
    Chaire de recherche du Canada en économie sociale
    ESG UQAM, local R-3275
    1(514) 987-3000, poste 5102