Paradoxes in a family business

• Author: Horia Moasa
• Position: Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 99-108

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 10 (59) No. 1 - 2017

PARADOXES IN A FAMILY BUSINESS

Horia MOAȘA1

Abstract: Attention to the subject of organizational paradoxes has been

increasing in the last several years as organizational scholars have extolled

the opportunities offered by tensions, contradictions and oppositions in

understanding organizations, organizing and the organized. This paper

demonstrates the theoretical and empirical value of applying a paradox lens

on family businesses that undergo a fundamental process of change by

discussing three interrelated paradoxes: the paradox of ownership, the

paradox of consultancy and the family business paradox.

Key words: family business, paradox, owners, consultants, organizational

change.

1. Introduction

The complex nature of organizational life has led to an abundance of tensions,

contradictions and paradoxes in the organizational literature (Putnam, 1986; Lewis, 2000;

Stohl & Cheney, 2001; Smith & Lewis, 2011). It seems that there is no need for a fine

tooth comb in finding paradoxes in organizations and organizing. This paper adds to the

provocative diversity of ironies, contradictions and paradoxes present in organizational

life by introducing three types of paradoxes encountered in a case study of a Romanian

Fish Company.

Similar to previous research on paradoxes, I consider them to be “contradictory yet

interrelated elements” (Smith & Lewis, 2011), or underlying tensions, which are based in

interaction (Stohl & Cheney, 2001), reflect back on each other and sometimes trap each

other and become a double bind. Paradoxes imply competing goals that undermine each

other (Stohl & Cheney, 2001) and sometimes paralyze organizational members.

Unlike such research however, this paper tries to demonstrate that although some

organizational paradoxes are constructed and reproduced in local interactions through the

use of language and discourses as means to create reality, most organizational paradoxes

have historical and cultural roots and can be established, composed, designed and

sustained by social, economic and political discourses or ideologies that exist outside

organizations.

2. Case and Methodology

The Fish Company, which was born through the privatization of the former state owned

County Fish Enterprise, is a middle sized enterprise in Romania. During the last decade,

1 Transilvania University of Braşov, horia.moasa@unitbv.ro