Surviving Covid-19: The role of human resource managers in shaping organizational responses to societal paradox

This study examines the role played by Australian human resource (HR) managers in shaping organizational responses to the Covid-19 pandemic from the perspective of paradox theory. We argue that the Covid-19 crisis triggered a ‘societal paradox’ – protecting lives and the economy – that cascaded to organizations of all types. While studies suggest paradoxes cross levels of analysis, little is known regarding organizational responses to a societal paradox entailing interdependent and yet contradictory demands between socially significant objectives. We focus on HR managers because of their key role in providing Covid-19 advice and support. Using a combination of cross-sectional survey data (n = 680) and detailed semi-structured interviews (n = 43), we examine variations in HR managers’ experience of, and responses to, organizational tensions generated by societal paradox. We find that HR managers play a key role in shaping whether organizational responses ‘replicate’ the initial societal paradox, or ‘magnify’ existing latent paradoxical tensions in the organization. We show how applying a societal lens adds insight to paradox theory, elucidate the HR-related mechanisms that underpin variations in organizational experiences/responses and produce an inductive model to guide future studies.