Organizational paradoxes persist. In their persistence, they resist closure; we demonstrate how, by using an exemplary project, that of the construction of the Sydney Opera House. By analyzing paradoxes encountered in the construction of a notable contemporary architectural project, we discuss how dialogical interactions enable options to emerge in the form of responses that were not previously evident. Engaging paradoxes dialogically requires accepting rather than denying contradictions, meaning that rather than resolving them in favor of one pole or the other, the contradictions remain in play. Monologic interactions—favoring dominant and singular voices, rather than producing consensus—repress dissent, leading to conflict, through suppressing paradox.
BakhtinM. M. (1987). Speech genres and other late essays. University of Texas Press.
4.
BansalP.CorleyK. (2011). The coming of age for qualitative research: Embracing the diversity of qualitative methods. Academy of Management, 54(2), 233–237.
5.
BargeJ. K. (2002). Enlarging the meaning of group deliberation. In FreyL. R. (Ed.), New directions in group communication (pp. 159–178). SAGE.
6.
BargeJ. K.LittleM. (2002). Dialogical wisdom, communicative practice, and organizational life. Communication Theory, 12(4), 375–397.
7.
BaxterL. (2004). Relationships as dialogues. Personal Relationships, 11(1), 1–22.
8.
BaxterL. (2004a). Dialogues of relating. In AndersonR.BaxterL.CissnaK. N. (Eds.), Dialogue: Theorizing difference in communication studies (pp. 107–124). SAGE.
9.
BaxterL. (2004b). A tale of two voices: Relational dialectics theory. Journal of Family Communication, 4(3–4), 181–192. doi:10.1080/15267431.2004.9670130
10.
BaxterL. A. (2004). Dialogues of relating. In AndersonR.BaxterL.CissnaK. N. (Eds.), Dialogue: Theorizing difference in communication studies (pp. 107–124). SAGE.
11.
BeechN.BurnsH.CaesteckerL. D.MacIntoshR.MacLeanD. (2004). Paradox as invitation to act in problematic change situations. Human Relations, 57(10), 1313–1332.
12.
BelovaO.KingI.SliwaM. (2008). Introduction: Polyphony and organization studies: Mikhail Bakhtin and beyond. Organization Studies, 29(4), 493–500.
13.
BensonJ. K. (1977). Organizations: A dialectical view. Administrative Science Quarterly, 22(1), 1–21. doi:10.2307/2391741
14.
BensonJ. K. (2013). Dialectical theory of organizations. In EricK. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of management theory (pp. 190–194). SAGE.
15.
BertiM.SimpsonA. (2021). The dark side of organizational paradoxes: The dynamics of disempowerment. Academy of Management Review, 46(2), 252–274.
16.
BévortF.SuddabyR. (2016). Scripting professional identities: How individuals make sense of contradictory institutional logics. Journal of Professions and Organization, 3(1), 17–38.
17.
BezemerJ.MaversD. (2011). Multimodal transcription as academic practice: A social semiotic perspective. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 14(3), 191–206.
18.
BhabhaH. K. (1994). The location of culture. Routledge.
19.
BradburyH.LichtensteinB. M. B. (2000). Relationality in organizational research: Exploring the space between. Organization Science, 11(5), 551–564.
20.
BradyT.MaylorH. (2010). The improvement paradox in project contexts: A clue to the way forward?International Journal of Project Management, 28(8), 787–795.
21.
BusheG. R.MarshakR. J. (2009). Revisioning organization development: Diagnostic and dialogic premises and patterns of practice. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 45(3), 348–368.
22.
BusheG. R.MarshakR. J. (2016). The dialogic organizational development approach to tranformation and change. In RothwellW.StavrosJ.SullivanR. (Eds.), Practicing organizational development (4th ed., pp. 407–418). Wiley.
23.
BygballeL. E.SwärdA.VaagaasarA. L. (2021). A routine dynamics lens on the stability-change dilemma in project-based organizations. Project Management Journal, 52(3), 278–286.
24.
CardellicchioL.StracchiP.TombesiP. (2021). Danish spheres and Australian falsework: Casting the Sydney Opera House. In History of construction cultures (pp. 786–794). CRC Press.
25.
CarlsenA.CleggS.GjersvikR. (2012). Generative resistance: How constraints and opposition can inspire your best ideas. In CarlsenA.CleggS.GjersvikR. (Eds.), Idea work (pp. 198–214). Cappelen Damm.
26.
CavesR. E. (2000). Creative industries: Contracts between art and commerce. Harvard University Press.
27.
ChristiansenJ. K.VarnesC. (2008). From models to practice: Decision making at portfolio meetings. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 25(1), 87–101.
28.
CleggS.CunhaJ. V.CunhaM. P. (2002). Management paradoxes: A relational view. Human Relations, 55(5), 483–503. doi:10.1177/0018726702555001
29.
CleggS.CunhaM.GaimM.WåhlinN. (2020). The temporal-enduring paradox: The case of Umeå capital of culture 2014. In TimoB.JosephL. (Eds.), Tensions and paradoxes in temporary organizing (Research in the Sociology of Organizations) (Vol. 67, pp.37–60). Emerald Publishing Limited.
30.
CleggS. R.BurdonS. (2019). Exploring creativity and innovation in broadcasting. Human Relations, 74(6), 791–813.
31.
CleggS. R.CourpassonD.PhillipsN. (2006). Power and organizations. SAGE.
32.
CleggS. R.CunhaM. P. (2016). Organizational dialectics. In SmithW.LewisM.JarzabkowskiP.LangleyA. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of organizational paradox (pp. 105–124). Oxford University Press.
33.
CleggS. R.SkyttermoenT.VaagaasarA. L. (2020). Project management: A value creation approach. SAGE.
34.
ColdevinG.CarlsenA.CleggS.PitsisT. S.AntonacopoulouE. P. (2019). Organizational creativity as idea work: Intertextual placing and legitimating imaginings in media development and oil exploration. Human Relations, 72(8), 1369–1397.
35.
CollinsJ. C.PorrasJ. I. (1994). Built to last: Successful habits of visionary companies (10th anniversary ed.). Random House.
36.
CunhaM. P.CleggS. (2018). Persistence in paradox. In FarjounM.SmithW. K.TsoukasH.LangleyA. (Eds.), Perspectives on process organization studies: Dualities, dialectics and paradoxes in organizational life (Vol. 8, pp. 14–34). Oxford University Press.
37.
CunhaM. P.CleggS. R.RegoA.BertiM. (2021). Paradoxes of power and leadership. Routledge.
38.
De KeyserB.GuietteA.VandenbemptK. (2019). On the use of paradox for generating theoretical contributions in management and organization research. International Journal of Management Reviews, 21(2), 143–161.
39.
DeFillippiR.GrabherG.JonesC. (2007). Introduction to paradoxes of creativity: Managerial and organizational challenges in the cultural economy. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 28(5), 511–521. doi:10.1002/job.466
Doust, S. (Writer) & D. Sam (Director). (2012). The opera house project: The story of an Australian icon. In aG. S.. S. Doust (Producer). Sydney: ABC Innovation and Sydney Opera House Trust Production.
42.
DrewP. (2006). Poetic paradox: Utzon’s sources for the Sydney Opera House. In WatsonA. (Ed), Building a masterpiece: The Sydney Opera House (pp. 68–83). Powerhouse Publishing. http://theoperahouseproject.com/#!/about-the-project
43.
EisenhardtK. (1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review, 14(4), 532–550.
44.
EngeströmY.SanninoA. (2011). Discursive manifestations of contradictions in organizational change efforts: A methodological framework. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 24(3), 368–387. doi:10.1108/09534811111132758
45.
ErikssonP. E. (2013). Exploration and exploitation in project-based organizations: Development and diffusion of knowledge at different organizational levels in construction companies. International Journal of Project Management, 31(3), 333–341.
46.
FarjounM. (2010). Beyond dualism: Stability and change as a duality. Academy of Management Review, 35(2), 202–225.
47.
FlyvbjergB. (2006). Five misunderstandings about case-study research. Qualitative Inquiry, 12(2), 219–245.
48.
FlyvbjergB. (2009). Survival of the unfittest: Why the worst infrastructure gets built—And what we can do about it. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 25(3), 344–367.
49.
FlyvbjergB.GarbuioM.LovalloD. (2009). Delusion and deception in large infrastructure projects: Two models for explaining and preventing executive disaster. California Management Review, 51(2), 170–194.
50.
FougèreM. (2005). Sensemaking in the third space: Essays on French-Finnish bicultural rxperience in organizations and their narrative (PhD thesis). Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration (Hanken), Helsinki, Finland (142).
51.
GaimM. (2018). On the emergence and management of paradoxical tensions: The case of architectural firms. European Management Journal, 36(4), 497–518. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2017.09.001
52.
GaimM.CleggS., & Cunha, M. P. e. (2021). Managing impressions rather than emissions: Volkswagen and the false mastery of paradox. Organization Studies, 42(6), 949–970. doi:10.1177/0170840619891199
53.
GaimM.WåhlinN.CunhaM. P.CleggS. (2018). Analyzing competing demands: A systematic comparison. Journal of Organization Design, 7(1), 1–16.
54.
GarudR.KarunakaranA. (2018). Process-based ideology of participative experimentation to foster identity-challenging innovations: The case of Gmail and AdSense. Strategic Organization, 16(3), 273–303.
55.
GibbsJ. (2009). Dialectics in a global software team: Negotiating tensions across time, space, and culture. Human Relations, 62(6), 905–935. doi:10.1177/0018726709104547
56.
GoodallJ. H.KellettP. M. (2004). Dialectical tensions and dialogic moments as pathways to peak experiences. In AndersonR.BaxterL.CissnaK. N. (Eds.), Dialogue: Theorizing difference in communication studies (pp. 159–174). SAGE.
57.
Hargrave, T. J., & Van de Ven, A. H. (2017). Integrating dialectical and paradox perspectives on managing contradictions in organizations. Organization Studies, 38(3–4), 219–339. doi:10.1177/0170840616640843
58.
JanssensM.SteyaertC. (1999). The world in two and a third way out? The concept of duality in organization theory and practice. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 15(2), 121–139. doi:10.1016/S0956-5221(98)00010-4
59.
JarzabkowskiP.LêJ. (2017). We have to do this and that? You must be joking: Constructing and responding to paradox through humor. Organization Studies, 38(3–4), 433–462.
60.
Jarzabkowski, P., Lê, J. K., & Van de Ven, A. H. (2013). Responding to competing strategic demands: How organizing, belonging, and performing paradoxes coevolve. Strategic Organization, 11(3), 245–280. doi:10.1177/1476127013481016
61.
JayJ. (2013). Navigating paradox as a mechanism of change and innovation in hybrid organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 56(1), 137–159.
62.
JewittC. (2012). An introduction to using video for research. NCRM Working Paper. NCRM. (Unpublished).
63.
Jing, R., & Van de Ven, A. H. (2016). Being versus becoming ontology of paradox management. Cross Cultural & Strategic Management, 23(4), 558–562.
KornbergerM.CleggS. R.CarterC. (2006). Rethinking the polyphonic organization: Managing as discursive practice. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 22(1), 3–30.
66.
LewisM. (2000). Exploring paradox: Toward a more comprehensive guide. Academy of Management Review, 25(4), 760–776.
67.
LewisM.SmithW. (2014). Paradox as a metatheoretical perspective: Sharpening the focus and widening the scope. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 50(2), 127–149. doi:10.1177/0021886314522322
68.
LiP. P. (2016). Global implications of the indigenous epistemological system from the east: How to apply yin-yang balancing to paradox management. Cross Cultural & Strategic Management, 23(1), 42–77.
69.
LimC.MohamedM. Z. (1999). Criteria of project success: An exploratory re-examination. International Journal of Project Management, 17(4), 243–248.
70.
LiuL.LeitnerD. (2012). Simultaneous pursuit of innovation and efficiency in complex engineering projects—A study of the antecedents and impacts of ambidexterity in project teams. Project Management Journal, 43(6), 97–110. doi:10.1002/pmj.21301
71.
LuscherL. S.LewisM. W. (2008). Organizational change and managerial sensemaking: Working through paradox. Academy of Management Journal, 51(2), 221–240.
MarshallN.BresnenM. (2013). Tunnel vision? Brunel’s Thames Tunnel and project narratives. International Journal of Project Management, 31(5), 692–704.
74.
MilesM. B.HubermanA. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. SAGE.
75.
Miron-SpektorE.IngramA.KellerJ.SmithW.LewisM. (2018). Microfoundations of organizational paradox: The problem is how we think about the problem. Academy of Management Journal, 61(1), 26–45.
76.
MontagueR. R. (2012). Genuine dialogue: Relational accounts of moments of meeting. Western Journal of Communication, 76(4), 397–416.
77.
MurrayP. (2003). The saga of Sydney Opera House: The dramatic story of the design and construction of the icon of modern Australia. Routledge.
78.
PalmerI.DunfordR. (2002). Managing discursive tension: The co–existence of individualist and collaborative discourses in flight centre. Journal of Management Studies, 39(8), 1045–1069.
79.
PanayiotouA.PutnamL. L.KassinisG. (2019). Generating tensions: A multilevel, process analysis of organizational change. Strategic Organization, 17(1), 8–37.
80.
PutnamL. L.FairhurstG. T.BanghartS. (2016). Contradictions, dialectics, and paradoxes in organizations: A constitutive approach. Academy of Management Annals, 10(1), 65–171. doi:10.1080/19416520.2016.1162421
81.
QuinnR.NujellaM. (2016). Foreword: Paradox in organizational theory. In SmithW.LewisM.JarzabkowskiP.LangleyA. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of organizational paradox. Oxford University Press.
82.
RichardsonR.KramerH. E. (2006). Abduction as the type of inference that characterizes the development of a grounded theory. Qualitative Research, 6(4), 497–513. doi:10.1177/1468794106068019
83.
RosalesV.GaimM.BertiM.CunhaM. (2022). The rubber band effect: Managing the stability-change paradox in routines. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 38(2), 101194.
84.
RutherfordJ. (Ed.) (1990). The third space: Interview with Homi Bhabha. Lawrence and Wishart.
85.
SabiniL.AldermanN. (2021). The paradoxical profession: Project management and the contradictory nature of sustainable project objectives. Project Management Journal, 52(4), 379–393. 87569728211007660.
86.
SchadJ.LewisM.RaischS.SmithW. (2016). Paradoxical research in management science: Looking backward to move forward. Academy of Management Annals, 10(1), 5–64.
87.
ShotterJ. (2008). Dialogism and polyphony in organizing theorizing in organization studies: Action guiding anticipations and the continuous creation of novelty. Organization Studies, 29(4), 501–524.
88.
SmithK.BergD. (1987). Paradoxes of group life. Jossey-Bass.
89.
SmithW. (2014). Dynamic decision making: A model of senior leaders managing strategic paradoxes. Academy of Management Journal, 57(6), 1592–1623. doi:10.5465/amj.2011.0932
90.
SmithW.LewisM. (2011). Towards a theory of paradox: A dynamic equilibrium model of organizing. Academy of Management Review, 36(2), 381–403.
91.
SmithW.LewisM.TushmanM. (2016). Both/and leadership. Harvard Business Review, 94(5), 62–70.
92.
SunX.ZhuF.SunM.MüllerR.YuM. (2020). Facilitating efficiency and flexibility ambidexterity in project-based organizations: An exploratory study of organizational antecedents. Project Management Journal, 51(5), 556–573. 8756972820912562. doi:10.1177/8756972820912562
93.
SundaramurthyC.LewisM. (2003). Control and collaboration: Paradoxes of governance. Academy of Management Review, 28(3), 397–415.
94.
TimmermansS.TavoryI. (2012). Theory construction in qualitative research: From grounded theory to abductive analysis. Sociological Theory, 30(3), 167–186.
95.
TsoukasH. (2009). A dialogical approach to the creation of new knowledge in organizations. Organization Science, 20(6), 941–957.
96.
TurnerN.SwartJ.MaylorH.AntonacopoulouE. (2016). Making it happen: How managerial actions enable project-based ambidexterity. Management Learning, 47(2), 199–222. doi:10.1177/1350507615610028
97.
UtzonJ. (2002). Sydney Opera House: Utzon design principles. Sydney Opera House.
98.
WachsM. (1987). Forecasts in urban transportation planning: Uses, methods, and dilemmas. Climatic Change, 11(1), 61–80.
99.
WachsM. (1989). When planners lie with numbers. American Planning Association. Journal of the American Planning Association, 55(4), 476–479.
100.
WangD.LiuY. (2021). The effect of political skill on relationship quality in construction projects: The mediating effect of cooperative conflict management styles. Project Management Journal, 52(6), 563–576.
101.
WatzlawickP.BavelasJ. B.JacksonD. D. (1967). Pragmatics of human communication: A study of interactional patterns, pathologies and paradoxes. WW Norton & Company.
102.
WegerifR. (2008). Dialogic or dialectic? The significance of ontological assumptions in research on educational dialogue. British Educational Research Journal, 34(3), 347–361.
103.
WenzelM.KochJ.CornelissenJ. P.RothmannW.SenfN. N. (2019). How organizational actors live out paradoxical tensions through power relations: The case of a youth prison. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 155(2019), 55–67.
WynnC.SmithL.KillenC. (2021). How power influences behavior in projects: A theory of planned behavior perspective. Project Management Journal, 52(6), 607–621.
