Managing paradox, resilience and performance with visuals: A study of an airline during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Visuals and visual management have been increasing in importance for various organizational processes and found their application in strategic and operational settings. Despite some perceived effects of the visual tools and systems, little has been understood about their impacts and how visuals operate. They, however, have relevance for sectors like aviation due to their strategic and operational applications and ability to enhance management in settings of complexity and volatility. I address the calls for greater insight into visual and material matter in organizations by examining visuals from three different perspectives: performance, resilience and paradox in an airline setting. The first study explores the effects of visual performance management systems through the lens of transaction cost economics and performance, showcasing perceived relevance of visuals as important for their use and deployment, as well as uncovering visuals’ role in keeping transaction costs low, and establishing phenomenon of proportional accountability. Study II explores the effects of visual performance management systems through the lens of resilience. It uncovers how teams in prolonged extreme contexts respond to adversity. Drawing on extreme contexts and team resilience literature, this study clarifies that the process of bouncing back from adversity under prolonged crisis conditions entails both persistence and adaptation at the same time. The third article, explores material-discursive practices around a malleable visual management tool and its role in the management of a compliance and improvisation paradox. Our findings suggest that the material-discursive dialectic at the heart of relational materiality influences the framing and management of paradox under changing environmental conditions of plurality and scarcity. This thesis highlights how visual artefacts might have effects beyond their expected application, as well as in the context of prolonged crisis conditions.