dichotomy

At the heart of any theory of strategy and organizational change is how it treats opposing ideas that form in organizations and groupings of people . Opposing ideas may be seen as dichotomies, dualisms, or paradoxes, (Stacey, 2003, pp 2-6, 12-13), or are they seen as logical flaws to be eliminated.

In the dichotomy view, opposing ideas are seen as a whole split into two non-overlapping parts, typically viewed as opposites (Stacey, 2003, pp 2-6, 12-13). Viewed this way, the treatment of opposing ideas is to keep them separate and largely ignoring any potential for interaction.

Dualism or duality takes a step in the direction of one belief system, where the conflicting ideas, the opposite 'things,' make up the whole, where the thing is either one or the other 'thing' but not simultaneously both.>/p?

In the paradoxical view, conflicting ideas, opposites, simultaneously exist without being resolved. This take on opposites permits the genuine simultaneous coexistence of two contradictory movements.

The diametrical view to paradox is reconciliation. In the reconciliation view, opposing unreconciled ideas are a logical flaw. With this view, management focuses on resolving the conflict as opposed to embracing it. In the real-world, the paradoxical-world, this is an effort in futility.