Managing the Paradoxes of Place to Foster Regeneration

• Published in: Organization & environment Vol. 34; no. 4; pp. 595 - 618
• Main Authors: Slawinski, Natalie, Winsor, Blair, Mazutis, Daina, Schouten, John W., Smith, Wendy K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-12-2021; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Climate change; Ecosystems; Emission standards; Entrepreneurship; Environmental degradation; Fisheries; Fishing; Globalization; Organizational aspects; Organizations; Paradoxes; Regeneration; Resilience; Social conditions; Social entrepreneurship; Social factors; Social problems; Success; Sustainability; Fogo Island; place-based tensions; paradox theory; regeneration; business strategy and the environment; social or environmental entrepreneurship; regenerative organization; theoretical approach
• ISSN: 1086-0266; 1552-7417
• DOI: 10.1177/1086026619837131

Organizations face and contribute to mounting social problems and environmental degradation. Regenerative organizations seek to reverse this damage, emphasizing how to help local places flourish. Drawing on a six-year inductive study of one such regenerative organization, we derive an empirically grounded model which argues that regeneration depends on effectively managing place-based tensions paradoxically. Shorefast built social enterprises aimed at redeveloping the cultural and economic resilience of Fogo Island, Canada, a community devastated by the collapse of the North Atlantic cod fishery. They triggered place-based tensions and managed them paradoxically by creating conditions for meaningful exchange and by taking a patient approach. Together, these efforts facilitated both the discovery of place-based opportunities and the regeneration of place. Our model challenges organizational researchers studying place to move beyond considering place-based tensions as conflicts and, instead, to study their paradoxical nature and management. To paradox research, we contribute insight into paradoxes of place.