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Transcendence through rhetorical practices: responding to paradox in the science sector

Lookup NU author(s): Professor John Sillince

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).


Abstract

Organizations are often required to meet contradictory objectives. An important response to such paradoxical tensions is transcendence, the ability to view both poles of the paradox as necessary and complimentary. Despite the centrality of transcendence to existing conceptual frameworks within the paradox literature, we still know little about its practice. We address this gap by analysing rhetorical practices across three science organizations. We develop a dynamic view of transcendence by outlining four rhetorical practices: Ordering, Aspiring, Signifying and Embodying and by exploring the underlying enabling features of these practices in order to explain how they construct a response to paradox. In particular, we develop a framework to show the bundling together of these rhetorical practices and the process of oscillation between focus (paradoxical content/context), time (stability/change) and distance (maintaining/reducing) to construct transcendence. Finally, we show how this response unfolds dynamically and how these practices interrelate to construct moments of transcendence.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Bednarek R, Paroutis S, Sillince JAA

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Organization Studies

Year: 2017

Volume: 38

Issue: 1

Pages: 77-101

Print publication date: 01/01/2017

Online publication date: 13/08/2016

Acceptance date: 01/03/2016

Date deposited: 05/04/2016

ISSN (print): 0170-8406

ISSN (electronic): 1741-3044

Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0170840616655486

DOI: 10.1177/0170840616655486


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