John Storey & Graeme Salaman 
Managerial Dilemmas 
Exploiting paradox for strategic leadership

In the midst of the most severe recession for 80 years there is
little need to argue that organizations are beset by dilemmas and
paradoxes. Confidence in prevailing business models and in the
underlying assumptions underpinning business decisions over many
decades has now been shaken. But it is not enough to rail against
arrogance and greed. Within their own (flawed) assumptions bankers
and corporate leaders were acting rationally. A major reason for
the failure to anticipate and warn is that observers of
organizations usually tend to view organizations in terms similar
to those employed by the people who run them: as rational, sensible
and objective, whereas, in fact, they are usually confused and
confusing, paradoxical and contradictory entities. Paradox is at
the heart of how organizations work (or don’t work) yet the
phenomenon has been strangely unstudied.

In an age of crisis and uncertainty, dilemmas and paradoxes are
especially evident and prevalent. The fascination and the promise
of paradox is that there is also a sense that there is a hidden
truth entwined within the opposites. This we contend is a challenge
for leaders. The ultimate responsibility of leadership is to make
sense of these and to handle them in a competent manner.
This demands a new mode of leadership. The management
of dilemma and paradox it is contended, the essence of
leadership today. Paradoxical forces provide a dynamism which,
although often experienced as potentially threatening,
discomforting and negative can also be exciting, promising and
positive.

‘The assumption that organizations are rational entities is
challenged every day in the work environment by a rich reality of
asymmetries between conflicting forces, complexity, hidden
intentions and paradoxes. Anyone wanting to understand the real
forces that govern organizations should read this book. A must read
for modern leaders who have the intellectual honesty to lead
organisations with open eyes and not with the over simplifications
and clichés of the past’–Giovanni Ghisetti, Director
Business Transformation, Coca Cola Enterprises Europe

‘Storey and Salaman’s description of the paradoxes
which characterise leadership today is hauntingly accurate. Their
intelligent optimism that those dilemmas can be met is as
encouraging as it is challenging for those of us who have to do
just that. Having read the insights in this book I now understand
how their business advice was always so pertinent’.–Andy
Street, Managing Director of John Lewis

Table of Content

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

Ch 1: Exploiting Dilemmas and Paradoxes Through Leadership

Ch 2: The Nature of Dilemmas and Paradox

PART 2: THE SIX DILEMMAS AND PARADOXES

Ch 3: Dilemmas and Paradoxes of Strategy

Ch 4: Dilemmas and Paradoxes of Organizational Form & Structuring

Ch 5: Dilemmas and Paradoxes of Performance Management

Ch 6: Dilemmas and Paradoxes of Innovation

Ch 7: Dilemmas and Paradoxes of Managers’ Knowledge

Ch 8: Dilemmas and Paradoxes of Organizational Change

PART 3: CONCUSIONS

Ch 9: Implications for Leaders of Organizations

About the author

John Storey is Professor of Management at The Open
University Business School. He regularly consults for public and
private sector organisations and has served on several governmental
advisory panels. He is Chairman of the Involvement &
Participation Association (IPA). He has served as journal editor
and sits on several journal editorial boards. He has authored and
edited around 20 books and published widely in leading
international journals. He has led many large-scale research
projects; current work focuses health service organisation,
governance and management.

Graeme Salaman is Professor of Organisation Studies, Open
University Business School. He has written many books and articles.
He has worked as a consultant at senior levels in eight countries
for clients such as Sun Microsystems, Willis, BAT, Allianz, Ernst
& Young, the government of Ethiopia, Rolls Royce and Morgan
Stanley. Recent projects include work in Ethiopia where he has
worked on change issues in the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the
Ministry of Information. .