Abstract:

Public sector organizations are by nature multifunctional and complex entities. Indeed, these organizations are always trying to reconcile partially conflicting objectives and considerations (Perrow, 1972). In this study, we address the paradoxical nature of the daily work of proximity managers in public organizations and identify the paradoxes they face. We will identify how the four categories of organizational paradoxes proposed by Smith and Lewis (2011) are present in their daily work. The results indicate the presence of seven dualities through which the paradoxes are perceived by the proximity managers. The latter must show a behavioural complexity that allows them to manage paradoxes in order to take into account the multiplicity of tendencies that are expressed within the organisation.