Managing dualities for efficiency and effectiveness of organisations

Purpose – The paper presents the concept of duality, which presupposes the synthesis of two apparently opposing organisation's properties. The purpose of the paper is to empirically verify whether management of dualities correlates with effectiveness and efficiency of organisations.Design/methodology/approach – The research examines 21 dualities at the normative and strategic level of organisational policy. The research was undertaken in two phases. In the first phase, effectiveness and efficiency indicators were defined by applying the analytic hierarchy process method within an expert group. In the second phase, a questionnaire was sent to 49 CEOs of mid‐size and large companies operating in the food, beverage and foodstuff production industry in Slovenia. The questionnaire applied the semantic differential scale.Findings – The fundamental research hypothesis argues that organisations that are able to transcend the so‐called duality paradox thus enhance their effectiveness or/and efficiency. The results...

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