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MBA
Leadership and Management

Topic Two: Paradoxical Leadership

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Key issues for this unit

• What competing organizational needs does a managerial

leader have to address, even though there is limited time
and limited resources?

• Why do managerial leaders have to be able to transcend

either/or thinking, complexity, ambiguity, and paradox?

• What have been the most influential ideas about how to lead
organizations in the past, and in what ways have those ideas
evolved over time?
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A theory explains the underlying causes of
surface phenomenon
• Leadership and management theory seeks to explain which
leadership and management actions matter most, and why.
• The best leaders and managers are able to use general
theoretical frameworks such as the competing values
framework, and apply them to particular situations.
• The Competing Values Framework is grounded in the idea
that to be effective, managers must negotiate a world filled
with paradox

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Introduction

The Competing Values Approach to Management

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Agenda

• Managing in a world of paradox

• The evolution of management models

• The competing values framework (CVF)

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Managing
in a World of Paradox
• What is a paradox?
• Why do effective managers
need to transcend paradox?
• Why is this a life-long learning process,
rather than something that can be
learned once and then done the
same way in the future?

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The Paradoxical Nature of Management?

• Paradox = A seemingly absurd or contradictory statement or

proposition, which when investigated may prove to be well
founded or true

For Example:
- Control vs Flexibility
- Internal Focus vs External Focus

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The Evolution of
Management Models
• What is a management model?
• Why do our models of
management change over time?
• What happens to old models
when a new model emerges?
• How do management models…
o help us become more effective managers?
o make us less effective managers?

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Foundational Management Models

• 1900-1925
o Rational goal model and Internal process model
• 1926-1950
o Human relations model
• 1951-1975
Human Open
o Open systems model Relations Systems

• 1976-1999
o “Both-And” assumptions Internal Rational
Process Goal
o Competing values framework
• 2000-Today
o Using the CVF to cope with
complexity, ambiguity, and paradox
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Human Relations Model

1. Criteria of effectiveness 1. Commitment and cohesion

2. Means-ends theory 2. Involvement results in
commitment
3. Action imperative 3. Collaborate
4. Emphasis 4. Participation, conflict
resolution, and consensus
building
5. Culture 5. Clan

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Internal Process Model

1. Criteria of effectiveness 1. Stability and continuity

2. Means-ends theory 2. Routinization leads to
stability
3. Action imperative 3. Control
4. Emphasis 4. Defining responsibility,
measurement,
documentation
5. Culture 5. Hierarchy

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Rational Goal Model

1. Criteria of effectiveness 1. Productivity and profitability

2. Means-ends theory 2. Clear direction leads to
productive outcomes
3. Action imperative 3. Compete
4. Emphasis 4. Goal clarification, rational
analysis, and action taking
5. Culture 5. Market

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Open Systems Model

1. Criteria of effectiveness 1. Change and adaptability

2. Means-ends theory 2. Continual adaptation and
innovation lead to acquiring and
maintaining external resources
3. Create
3. Action imperative
4. Political adaptation, creative
4. Emphasis problem solving, innovation,
and change management
5. Culture 5. Adhocracy

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Core Assumption of the
Competing Values Framework
• Effective managers and organizations must simultaneously embrace
the apparently competing values associated with all four of these
foundational management models

*
Caveat: “Effective” managers from the competing values
perspective may not be “successful” in organizations that
operate based on the assumptions of only one or
two of the foundational management models.

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Dimensions Underlying the
Competing Values Framework

Flexibility

Internal External

Control
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Master managers have high levels of

• Cognitive Complexity
o Appreciate the values and weaknesses of each of the four
fundamental management models
• Behavioral Complexity
o Acquire and use multiple
competencies associated
with each model
o Dynamically integrate competencies
from each model based on the situation

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Action Imperatives

COLLABORATE CREATE

CONTROL COMPETE

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Managerial Competencies (COLLABORATE)

• Understanding self and others

• Communicating honestly and effectively
• Mentoring and developing others
• Managing groups and leading teams
• Managing and encouraging creative conflict

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Managerial Competencies (CREATE)

• Using power ethically and effectively

• Championing and selling new ideas
• Fueling and fostering innovation
• Negotiating agreement and commitment
• Implementing and sustaining change

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Managerial Competencies (CONTROL)

• Organizing information flows

• Working and managing across functions
• Planning and coordinating projects
• Measuring and monitoring performance and quality
• Encouraging and enabling compliance

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Managerial Competencies (COMPETE)

• Developing and communicating a vision

• Setting goals and objectives
• Motivating self and others
• Designing and organizing
• Managing execution and driving for results

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Paradoxical thinking and dynamic equilibrium

• Wendy K. Smith, Marianne W. Lewis, and Michael L.

Tushman, 2016, “Both/And Leadership”, Harvard
Business Review, May 2016 pp63-70
• “the goal of leadership is to maintain a dynamic equilibrium in the
organization. Executives with this goal do not focus on being consistent;
instead they purposefully and confidently embrace the paradoxes they
confront. Senior teams build dynamic equilibrium by separating the
imperatives that are in conflict with one another in order to recognize and
respect each one (creating a separate unit to develop a new business model,
for example), while at the same time actively managing connections between
them in order to leverage interdependencies and benefit from their synergies”

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Smith et al identify three constantly recurring paradoxes:

•Are we managing for today or for tomorrow?
•Do we adhere to boundaries or cross them?
•Do we focus on creating value for our shareholders and
investors or for a broader set of stakeholders?

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