Managing organizational paradox through conciliation: a metaphorical analysis based on legal conciliation

Because paradox is an integral part of organizational life, it represents a real challenge for organizations – as shown by the many studies that have, since the late 1980s, sought to understand how these paradoxes can be managed. A number of studies in this field consider conciliation as a response to paradox, yet conciliation itself – which actually refers to heterogeneous methods of managing paradox – is not systematically explained. Also noting that there is no definition of the notion of conciliation in management sciences, this article proposes using a metaphor to understand conciliation as a paradox management mode. Our metaphorical process will be used to examine legal conciliation (an alternative dispute resolution method based on the search for arrangements) as a way of shedding light on the mechanisms of conciliation as a response to organizational paradox. The article aims to answer the following question: how does the use of a metaphor based on legal conciliation allow us to explore conciliation as a paradox management method? To this end, we transfer meaning from a known source object (legal conciliation) to the target object we wish to explore (conciliation for paradox management). Ultimately, our exploration of this metaphorical comparison makes it possible for us to draw out the meaning of conciliation as an active response to paradox that allows the coexistence of contradictory forces. The article thus provides managers and their teams with a framework for understanding how conciliation operates, in order to facilitate its implementation when faced with paradox.