TY - JOUR

T1 - How organizational actors live out paradoxical tensions through power relations

T2 - The case of a youth prison

AU - Wenzel, Matthias

AU - Koch, Jochen

AU - Cornelissen, Joep P.

AU - Rothmann, Wasko

AU - Senf, N. Natalie

N1 - Funding Information: The authors are indebted to Linda Putnam, the other Guest Editors, and four anonymous reviewers for their excellent guidance and outstanding support. In addition, the authors thank Timo Braun, Anja Danner-Schröder, Bob DeFillippi, Moshe Farjoun, Damian Hodgson, Paula Jarzabkowski, Matthias Kipping, Eric Knight, Wendelin Küpers, Ann Langley, Jane Lê, Günther Ortmann, Jonathan Schad, Wendy Smith, and Hari Tsoukas for insightful comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. The authors declared that there is no conflict of interest. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Publisher Copyright: © 2019 The Authors

PY - 2019/11/1

Y1 - 2019/11/1

N2 - Drawing on a critical discursive analysis of qualitative data gathered at a juvenile detention facility, this study explores how organizational actors live out paradoxes through enacting power relations. Based on our analysis, we elaborate a theoretical framework that conceptualizes (1) individual, role-based responses to paradox through which actors construct positions of control and resistance; (2) collective responses to paradox through which organizational members enact these power positions; and (3) the macro-level effects of such dynamics. Our findings demonstrate how micro-level power struggles keep paradoxical tensions in play. Furthermore, our study shows how, ironically, such struggles participate in the macro-level reproduction of the status quo.

AB - Drawing on a critical discursive analysis of qualitative data gathered at a juvenile detention facility, this study explores how organizational actors live out paradoxes through enacting power relations. Based on our analysis, we elaborate a theoretical framework that conceptualizes (1) individual, role-based responses to paradox through which actors construct positions of control and resistance; (2) collective responses to paradox through which organizational members enact these power positions; and (3) the macro-level effects of such dynamics. Our findings demonstrate how micro-level power struggles keep paradoxical tensions in play. Furthermore, our study shows how, ironically, such struggles participate in the macro-level reproduction of the status quo.

KW - Management studies

KW - Paradox

KW - Power

KW - Control–resistance dialectics

KW - Discourse

KW - Prison

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85062802832&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.obhdp.2019.03.001

DO - 10.1016/j.obhdp.2019.03.001

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 155

SP - 55

EP - 67

JO - Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

JF - Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

SN - 0749-5978

ER -