The paradox of exclusive-inclusive talent management: Towards a balanced approach

Paradoxes are one of the inevitable phenomena in organizational life that are manifested in the form of decision-making dilemmas. Managers experience paradoxical tensions in different situations and should be able to provide appropriate responses to resolve such tensions. One of these situations is the paradoxical tension of exclusive-inclusive talent management. The present study was conducted to discover the strategies for managing this tension. This research is practical in terms of purpose and is qualitative in terms of data collection method. The population was research and executive managers at different levels of the Information and Communication Technology Research Institute, and 28 of whom were selected using the snowball sampling. The data collection tool in this study was semi-structured interviews. The data obtained from the interviews were analyzed using the theme analysis method. The results showed that "the modifying factors of tensions" including "organizational justice", "the nature of interpersonal relationships" and "access to resources" will affect the formation of tension. In addition, two active responses including "acceptance" and "equilibrium and integration" as well as three inactive responses including "suppression", "separation" and "projection" were identified as tension management strategies.