Rebecca Bednarek

Union‐Division: On the Paradoxes of Purpose and Membership Scope in Union Mergers

Union mergers raise central questions about a unions raison detre and the range of constituents it can serve effectively. Whereas the challenges posed by union purpose and scope of membership have long engaged researchers, few studies have fleshed out the contradictory issues that engage committed members and leaders during a merger. We argue that in mergers, fundamental themes in unionism intersect in paradoxical ways. We analyse a merger of tertiary education unions in New Zealand and situate its debates within a changing context for industrial relations. The case provides insight into the tensions inherent in union mergers by addressing the drivers for integration and differentiation as well as the role of leaders in shaping these. The findings elucidate paradoxical dynamics inherent in mergers: the paradox of purpose confronts the tension between industrial and craft unionism and the paradox of membership scope considers critical mass and communities of interest. The conclusion reflects on identity, leadership and context during mergers and poses contributions to research and practice.

Practicing transcendence : rhetorical strategies and constructing a response to paradox

This paper is about the rhetorical micro-foundations of transcendence and how those rhetoric strategies construct transcendence as a response to paradox. We provide additional insight into transcendence and address the dearth of empirical investigation into the micro- activities that constitute it. Drawing from a dataset of three qualitative cases in a science sector where participants describe a capacity to transcend contradictory strategic emphases (a performing paradox), we offer two contributions to the paradox literature. First, we elaborate on the concept of transcendence through outlining four rhetorical strategies of: Ordering; Aspiring; Signifying and Embodying. By surfacing multiple rhetorical strategies, we offer new empirical insight into the constitutive elements of transcendence. Second, we develop a framework of Situating Paradox to show how rhetorical strategies construct transcendence as a response to paradox. We highlight an array of enabling features (‘focus’, ‘time’ and ‘space’) inherent to each rhetorical strategy and show how these are balanced across the four strategies. Together these findings show the complex interactions between an array of rhetorical response strategies and the enabling features inherent to those strategies, extending insight into the micro-foundations of transcendence as a response to paradox.

Studying Paradox as Process and Practice

This chapter develops a strong process and practice methodological approach to nstudying salience and latency in paradox. It assumes, first, that both paradoxes nand responses to them are socially constructed within people’s moment-by- nmoment activities and practices. Second, that the experience of paradox as nsalient or latent is not inevitable but is constructed within these activities and npractices. It develops three process- and practice-based indicators, language, nemotion, and action, through which the construction of paradox as salient may nbe identified and studied empirically. It then looks at latent paradox, showing nhow the study of mundane everyday practices, and the juxtaposition of salience nwith non-salience across time and within different spaces, provide indicators of nlatent paradox. It extends existing paradox research by reasserting the need for nembedded, qualitative, processual research designs that enable us to go beyond nthe study of paradox through response, cognition, and discourse.