The term paradox, used by scholars studying organizational behavior (e.g., Cameron & Quinn, 1998) denotes an apparent contradiction. Findings from this study give voice to faculty members’ positive and negative perceptions of the impact of online teaching on key elements of their work. Findings show that across the group of 19 faculty participants, and within the experiences of individual participants, there are positive and negative ways that online teaching impacts faculty members’ experiences of key elements of faculty work. On the one hand, faculty respondents reported perceiving that online teaching enhances key elements of faculty work. On the other hand, they also reported that online teaching diminishes key elements of faculty work. For example, while faculty members appreciate the flexibility of online teaching, the flexibility presents challenges related to how to manage their schedules. The mixed findings draw attention to the positive and negative ways in which online teaching impacts faculty work lives. Many organizational leaders attempt to ignore paradoxes because they are messy and illuminate areas of tension (Chen, 2002). Findings from this study suggest that higher education leaders would be remiss in ignoring faculty members’ perceptions of the paradoxical nature of online teaching. Instead, higher education leaders should embrace these paradoxes as opportunities to understand the diverse perceptions faculty members express in regard to the impact of online teaching on key elements of their work. By acknowledging the tensions and complexities presented by online teaching, faculty members and higher education leaders can view this form of work through a lens of faculty growth.Much of the literature about faculty work can be characterized as expressing a narrative of constraint that illuminates the difficulties and stresses of faculty work (O’Meara, Neumann, & Terosky, 2008). The literature about faculty members’ experiences teaching online often reflects this narrative of constraint by highlighting the obstacles that discourage faculty from teaching online (Allen & Seaman, 2013). Alongside this narrative of constraint is a counter narrative of faculty growth that illuminates faculty members’ capacity to persistently strive to overcome challenges in their work (O’Meara et al., 2008). The purpose of this study was to examine whether, alongside the barriers faculty encounter when they teach online, there are opportunities to experience elements of work that are associated with faculty satisfaction, productivity, and commitment: flexibility and balance, autonomy and academic freedom, relationships with students and colleagues, professional growth, and agency (Gappa, Austin, & Trice, 2007; O’Meara et al., 2008). Study participants were in the early middle, middle, or senior portion of the career, taught online undergraduate courses in a variety of disciplines, and held tenured and non-tenure-track appointments. Results from the study shed light on how to better support faculty who teach online and draw attention to the complexities and opportunities for growth inherent in this form of academic work. I argue that higher education leaders and scholars should use the paradoxical findings from this study to help their institutions develop strategic ways to support faculty who teach online. For example, faculty development specialists can consider how to help faculty members to maximize the flexibility afforded by this form of work while at the same time helping them to better manage their schedules. By taking into account both the positive and negative impacts of online teaching on key elements of faculty work, higher education leaders are better positioned to use a variety of promising strategies to support faculty who teach online.
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