Abstract :
A substantial body of literature on new forms of organizing has forecast the end of
bureaucracy. More recent empirical studies, however, indicate that high-performing
organizations are adopting dual forms of organizing in which the controllability advantages
associated with traditional forms work to complement and support the responsiveness
attributes of new forms of organizing. The paradox is that, if organizations discard the key
planning, co-ordinating and direction-setting mechanisms of traditional forms of organizing,
they also remove the stabilizing dimensions of organizational form that are essential in
periods of uncertainty and change. The challenge for organizations lies in learning how to
manage the tensions or dualities between traditional and new forms of organizing, a process
demanding the arbitration of continuity and change. This paper explores the concept of
dualities and its salience in the management of organizing forms. First, the nature of
dualities is explained; secondly, a set of characteristics is developed to describe the behaviour
of dualities; and thirdly, suggestions are presented for arbitrating the tensions that exist in
organizing form dualities. These three contributions are relevant because they signal the
route to the effective creation and management of organizing form dualities, the benefit of
which is the constructive combination of dynamic capabilities (underpinning innovation
and responsiveness, the hallmarks of new forms of organizing) and operational capabilities
(underpinning stability and efficiency, the hallmarks of traditional forms of organizing).
