The “active struggle” of the hybrid middle manager: exploring the notion of ethical resistance

Purpose This paper brings attention to the role of hybrid middle managers. In particular it explores the relationship of organisational purpose and role requirements. Design/methodology/approach The primary research question for the original research was: What does it mean to hybrid managers to lead and deal with imposed changes (restructuring) to services? A novel narrative approach based on a synthesis of Czarniawska, Gabriel and Boje was applied. Accounts from interviews were condensed into narratives by initially using the categories defined by Gabriel (2000) as epic, tragic, comic and romantic and then further categorised into stories, themes and a serial (Czarniawska, 1997). The final stage of the three-way synthesised narrative approach incorporated Boje’s (2001) notion of “antenarrative” to include pre-emplotment elements. Findings Four narratives are provided that give insight to the nature of the struggles the hybrid middle managers were in the midst of. A struggle to address incongruent demands being placed on them that cause tension with their sense of purpose, organisational goals and their hybrid clinical roles and management roles. In the midst of these struggles the narratives illustrate the dynamic of ethical resistance that seeks a way forward. However, this appears to come at a health and well-being cost to the middle managers. Originality/value The paper offers up the notion of an added third bind to the traditional double, that of “ethical resistance”, a struggle to align organisational purpose with clinical and management role requirements. Theorising this third bind provides a new insight into understanding the context and dynamics of the hybrid middle manager role and behaviour. Indeed, the idea of ethical resistance may cause a revision of how resistance is understood.