Dialectic, contradiction, or double bind? Analyzing and theorizing employee reactions to organizational tension

Abstract

Drawing from qualitative data gathered at two correctional facilities, this paper empirically illustrates employee reactions to organizational contradictions in a total institution and advances a theoretical model positing that organizational tensions may be framed as complementary dialectics, simple contradictions, or pragmatic paradoxes—each accompanied by attendant organizational and personal ramifications. The analysis suggests that organizations can create structures in which employees are more likely to make sense of organizational contradictions in healthy ways and avoid the debilitating reactions associated with double binds. Specifically, through metacommunication about organizational tensions (for instance, manifest in role play enactment of contradictory occupational goals), employees are better able to understand the paradoxes that mark work life and make sense of them in emotionally healthy ways.

Keywords:

• Burnout
• Contradiction
• Correctional Facility
• Double Bind
• Emotion
• Gender; Paradox
• Total Institution

Notes

Sarah J. Tracy (Ph.D., University of Colorado, Boulder) is Assistant Professor in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University. The author thanks Angela Trethewey, Karen Ashcraft, Joann Keyton and an anonymous reviewer for their helpful suggestions and feedback. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual conference of the National Communication Association, New Orleans, 2002. The article contains a portion of the data gathered for the author's doctoral dissertation, advised by Stanley Deetz. The project was partially supported by the College of Public Programs at Arizona State University. Correspondence to: Sarah Tracy, Arizona State University, PO Box 871205, Tempe, AZ 85287‐1205, U.S.A. Email: [email protected]

Names of facilities and subjects are pseudonyms.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sarah J. Tracy

Sarah J. Tracy (Ph.D., University of Colorado, Boulder) is Assistant Professor in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University. The author thanks Angela Trethewey, Karen Ashcraft, Joann Keyton and an anonymous reviewer for their helpful suggestions and feedback. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual conference of the National Communication Association, New Orleans, 2002. The article contains a portion of the data gathered for the author's doctoral dissertation, advised by Stanley Deetz. The project was partially supported by the College of Public Programs at Arizona State University. Correspondence to: Sarah Tracy, Arizona State University, PO Box 871205, Tempe, AZ 85287‐1205, U.S.A. Email: [email protected]