Managing Impressions Rather Than Emissions: Volkswagen and the false mastery of paradox
以大众汽车排放丑闻为例，批判性地探讨了组织如何通过印象管理而非实质性行动来应对悖论，揭示了虚假悖论掌控可能引发的功能失调行为，对管理者和学者具有警示意义。
The challenge of dealing with paradoxes has become a central issue in management and organization studies. Present research literature is largely inclined to idealize paradoxical framing in thinking and theorizing. We critically explore the perils paradoxes present when generated by stretch goals whose ‘achievement’ is accomplished through impression management. Using the Volkswagen emissions scandal we show how paradoxical promises, embraced discursively but not substantively, created false transcendence rather than paradoxical mastery. We contribute to paradox theory by discussing how the illusion of paradox embrace can trigger dysfunctional behaviours. In practice, the paper cautions organizations and their members from being overconfident in their ability to embrace paradoxes successfully.