Die Dreidimensionalität der Organisationsparadoxie – Prozessstudie eines Krankenhauses im Umgang mit der COVID-19 Pandemie

During the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals and their members had to handle multiple paradoxes that surfaced as permanent contradictions between different expectations. Informed by systems theory, the analysis of the data from a longitudinal process study of a hospital managing the pandemic focuses on the relationship between the expectation of treating COVID-19 and all other patients, which illustrates the organizing paradox of part-whole tensions. The analysis shows the three-dimensionality of this paradox. In the factual dimension, there are different alternatives to choose from. The social dimension involves balancing between centralized decision-making of a few actors and broad participation to ensure acceptance. Timewise, managing the pandemic requires to consider the current situation and the future developments. This three-dimensionality characterizes the practical challenge of dealing with an extreme situation such as the pandemic, the onset of which, its intensity, its dynamic and its duration cannot be predicted. In addition to this practically relevant reconstruction, the theoretical contribution for the English-speaking literature on paradoxes in organizations lies in expanding its focus from one to the three dimensions thereby enlarging the explanatory scope of paradox theory.