Middle‐Managerial Deviance as a Response to Structural Strain: Rescoping, Reconfiguring and Replacing Norms

This paper examines how middle managers subvert organizational norms through diverse forms of deviance. Considering deviance not only in its negative sense, but including elements adaptability and innovation, we draw on Mertonian theorizing around structural strains to explain as resulting from mismatches between everyday work ‘on-the-ground’, with practices feeding back iteratively into norm formation itself. Drawing upon observations, shadowing interviews a Brazilian accounting firm, explore follows incompatible pressures across levels locations, is realized creative practical operationalizations of, reaction to, conflicting norms. Through thick descriptions three exemplary cases, examine middle-managerial at varying level detachment from, dialogical relation On this basis, advance multifaceted conceptualization – rescoping, reconfiguring replacing for conditions emergence, diversity mechanisms, repercussions managers' agency functioning Our findings demonstrate that paves the way new formation, reconciling contradictory constraints while consolidating power over beyond their official mandates.