Isn't it ironic: Using irony to explore the contradictions of organizational life

This study brings together two promising strands of research in organizational communication‐postmodern theories and contradiction‐centered analyses of organizational discourse and practice by employing irony, as articulated by postmodern and/or feminist scholars, as a theoretical lens to analyze the contradictions that structure a social service organization. While many scholars have pointed to ironic organizational outcomes (e.g., agencies that foster client dependence while claiming to encourage independence), few have teased out the discursive complexities that create those ironic conditions (Fraser, 1989; Trethewey, 1997). This case study shifts our focus away from manifestations of contradictions toward the theoretical tools, namely irony, with which we can better understand how ambiguities and paradoxes structure organizational reality.