Comply while keeping your autonomy, or the art of managing paradox through dialogue

Our paper analyses the role of dialogue in managing the autonomy and compliance paradox within a public authority. The literature on paradoxes presents management as being characterised by the coexistence of contradictory elements. We propose to build on this work by drawing on the literature on the concept of ‘dialogue’. By focusing on the case of a French Departmental Council that set up a procedure to manage travel authorisations for its staff, we study the way in which the dialogue between stakeholders ensured both the application of the framework prescribed by the procedure and the autonomy of the management teams when it came to managing these rules on the ground. Using a longitudinal analysis methodology combining semi-directive interviews and observations of working group meetings, we show that this space for dialogue provides an important opportunity for a face-off between the demands for compliance and autonomy and their further evolution. The research raises awareness among public managers of the importance of establishing forums as a way of managing the complementarity of the logics of autonomy and compliance. Discussion offers opportunities to explore together the different possibility of management. Our paper thus underlines the importance of the art of interaction and discussion between the stakeholders, by creating opportunities for brainstorming and convergence.