The Structural Squeeze: Middle Managers’ Communicative Navigation of Tensional Knots

Middle managers occupy a critical but structurally paradoxical position, often serving as the primary communicative conduit between strategic leadership and operational teams. Drawing on organizational paradox as a metatheory, this qualitative study utilizes in-depth interviews with 66 middle managers and an abductive thematic analysis to investigate how this liminal role functions as a nexus for competing communicative demands. The findings demonstrate that the role is structurally configured as a communicative tensional knot, where vertical pressures result in the convergence and interpenetration of three core paradoxes: Authority (enable/constrain), Information (ambiguity/transparency), and Performance (task accomplishment/relationship management). This research theoretically extends the concept of the tensional knot by grounding it in the structural liminality of the middle manager role, illustrating how these paradoxes are not merely encountered but are constitutive of the position itself. Practical implications shift the focus from pursuing role clarity to embracing a paradox mindset and utilizing strategic communicative responses (reframing, spatial/temporal separation, and synergy) to manage the irreducible friction inherent in the role.