Managing contradiction and sustaining sustainability in inter organizational networks through leadership: a case study

The broadly-based literature on organizational studies has concentrated mainly on resolving organizational issues through acquisition of resources, decreasing transaction costs and incentives. In other words, scholars commonly examine the organization itself, at the expense of inter-organizational relations. However, with the emergence of “network governance” organizations are no longer to be considered as isolated but rather as actors that actively seek to maintain themselves in a given situation by collaborating with other actors, forming organizational networks. This study utilizes a network perspective to examine the influence of leadership on management of unity/diversity contradiction in educational program implementation. A deductive approach is used to generate propositions by analyzing implementation efforts in respect of educational program in Azerbaijan: “State Program on education of Azerbaijan youth abroad in the years 2007-2015”. The analysis examined a research question: How do leadership activities affect to manage unity/diversity contradiction in network? This question was addressed using qualitative method. In education program, unity and diversity were found to exert an important influence on success of network. At the implementation level, understanding of unity and diversity concept helps network managers to attract diverse actors to the network and unite them around network’s goal. The coordinating units of network manage the unity/diversity contradiction by activating member organizations, facilitating interaction, framing the structure and mobilizing network members. Thus, effective management of contradiction increases the network’s capacity to access information, financial resources and experiences.