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The purpose of this study is to review literature relevant to leader transition and the navigation of polarities, paradoxes, and dilemmas that exist in organizations. Furthermore, the researchers aim to critique the literature and provide suggestions for practitioners and researchers interested in leader transition through the lens of polarity, paradox, and dilemma.

The authors conducted an extensive review of the literature for this study. They searched the following databases: ABI/INFORM, Academic Search Premier, Business Source Premier, PsychInfo, and Dissertations Abstracts. To conduct their search, the researchers used the terms; leader, manager, and supervisor in conjunction with the terms transitions, adaptation, socialization, assimilation, polarity, paradox, dilemma, polarity thinking, polarity management, leadership, team, organization, conflict management, creativity, and combinations of the same.

There is very little research conducted on either topic independently and no research conducted on both collectively. The literature on leader transitions also states that transitions are times of uncertainty and stress. The findings suggest that some of this uncertainty and stress could result from the inability to recognize and manage polarity, paradox, and dilemma. Furthermore, the literature does not acknowledge this connection nor does it specify the polarities that exist for leaders in general or leaders in transition.

Based on personal experiences working with organizational leaders and training and organization development professionals, the authors believe that there is great potential to help train new leaders on polarity thinking. If training and development professionals see value in polarity thinking for transitioning leaders and can respond with timely training interventions, it could have a positive impact on new leader effectiveness and subsequent organization performance.

This article aims to analyze the strategic work of Polish entrepreneurs in the furniture industry following the political changes in 1989. The authors examined how these entrepreneurs transitioned from local craftsmen or importers into leaders of international manufacturing companies and how their strategizing contributed to the unprecedented growth of the Polish furniture sector.

The authors examined extant data, specifically biographical interviews conducted with 11 prominent leaders in the Polish furniture industry (Hryniewicki, 2015, 2018). They analyzed within a theoretical framework that integrates J.C. Spender’s theory of strategic management with Barry Johnson’s concept of polarity management. Polarity is a way of understanding and managing interdependent, opposing pairs of values or perspectives that give rise to conflict.

The analysis reveals key patterns of strategic challenges at the level of human agency, history and sense-making. The authors identified four key polarities: life and business, knowledge presence and absence, concordance and discordance, and instrumental and non-instrumental sense-making.

The polarity concept illuminates the interplay of agency and determinism in strategic decision-making, offering valuable insights for methodology and a deeper understanding of Poland’s furniture industry.

This paper aims to show how polarity coaching can foster meaningful change among executive clients through sponsoring a deeper understanding and acceptance of interdependent opposites.

The study explores what is required from the coach and the coaching relationship and how clients can be supported in overcoming polarity traps. A social constructionist and sense‐making approach to coaching is followed and the paper draws on relevant literature from the fields of psychotherapy, coaching, and dialogical change.

It is shown that before engaging in polarity coaching it is important for coaches to become aware of the polarity tensions that are prevalent in their own work and to explore their personal preferences when facing these tensions. A coach who is able to hold interdependent opposites with ease in the coaching encounter will allow clients to experience transformation on a deeper level.

The core of the paper is the polarity‐coaching model, which describes how coaches can guide their clients through a process of discovering polarized thinking, pole exploration, and boundary softening for becoming more comfortable with interdependent opposites. The paper will be of interest to those in the field of coaching executives.

Describes a workshop recently conducted by the author, at which managers were introduced to polarity management. Outlines a model and a set of principles which can be useful to executives in looking at their own, personal ways of leading, at their system′s functioning, and at the relationship between their system and influences outside it.

Successful firms must exploit existing markets while simultaneously exploring new market opportunities. However, skills required to do both simultaneously are often at odds with each other. To reconcile this dilemma, the authors aim to discuss the new concept of “strategic ambidexterity”, which is conceptualized as the ability to simultaneously pursue exploitation and exploratory strategies in ways that lead to enhanced organizational effectiveness.

The authors conceptually integrate literature from organizational theory, strategic management, and marketing to yield three new theoretical propositions.

It is argued that a relatively new dynamic capability, organizational capacity for change, is the primary antecedent of strategic ambidexterity and that this relationship is moderated by environmental uncertainty and organizational slack.

Most organizational and marketing theories rely on linear assumptions and models. However, twenty‐first century organizations must reconcile competitive realities that are often nonlinear in nature. This study provides a conceptual framework which transcends traditional thinking, and provides a comprehensive yet concise framework for researching this new competitive reality further.

Describes work currently being done by the Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) in action‐based learning and its use in the development of graduates and regional industry. Examines a pilot scheme – the Company Associate Partnership Scheme (CAPS) – which aims to increase the employment of graduates within small businesses. This, it is hoped, will enable companies to introduce strategic change projects. Includes observations of LMU associates, companies involved, academic institutions and the Department of Trade and Industry. Concludes that the greatest challenge for associates is managing the integration of academia and industry to form a learning partnership.

Surveys the development of employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) in the USA, Canada, Japan and the EU. Suggests that ESOPs are driven by management in the USA but are culturally approved by both sides of industry in Japan. Describes the European system as emphasizing profit sharing instead because of traditional polarity between management and workers. Concludes that the propensity to save, risk aversion and industrial relations are more important factors than tax or business climate.

In a recent essay for the German news magazine Der Spiegel, Rolph Dahrendorf, head of the London School of Economics, as something of an “outsider” to the British IR scene, stated:

Suggests that graduates face a crucial challenge in attempting to transfer new ideas into British small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Claims that many find their ability to act limited, resulting in frustration and disillusionment. Examines how graduates involved in the Company Associate Partnership Scheme (CAPS) at Leeds Metropolitan University attempt to tackle the problems that they face via a process of problem management and learning. Highlights some of the crucial features of technology transfers into SMEs.

Educators who work in community settings often encounter participants with a wide array of individual leadership beliefs, attitudes, and experiences. Given this situation, one of the challenges we face is to identify effective methods and tools to teach leadership in community and organizational settings. As an educator, it is important to understand and use quality scholarship and theory in leadership education. At the same time, it is important to use educational methods that respect the life experiences of the participants and that are easy to understand and communicate. At the University of Minnesota Extension Service U-Lead program, we seek to balance the academic and scholarship portion of our work with the application of practical tools and methods that connect with the real-life leadership experiences of our participants. The purpose of this paper is to review the comprehensive leadership education framework we currently use and outline how it addresses this balance.