Managing in a Material World: How Middle Managers Orchestrate Frontline Responses to Paradoxes

Middle manager interactions with frontline employees are a key nexus in strategizing and prone to paradoxical tensions that need to be managed. Based on a 34-month video ethnography, we show the material and discursive interplay involved in responding to paradoxes in-the-moment, with middle managers using material practices to elicit different types of proactive and defensive responses to paradoxical tensions. We contribute to the middle management literature by reconceptualizing their role as “material managers,” shaping how frontline employees, in particular, co-construct their response to tensions. We conclude that the use of materials gives middle managers a distinct managerial toolkit compared to top managers, which is crucial to paradox management.