Ambidextrous organization
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Organizational ambidexterity refers to an organization's ability to be efficient in its
management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...
of today's business and also adaptable for coping with tomorrow's changing demand. Just as being
ambidextrous Ambidexterity is the ability to use both the right and left hand equally well. When referring to objects, the term indicates that the object is equally suitable for right-handed and left-handed people. When referring to humans, it indicates that ...
means being able to use both the left and right hand equally, organizational ambidexterity requires the organizations to use both
exploration Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
and
exploitation Exploitation may refer to: *Exploitation of natural resources *Exploitation of labour ** Forced labour *Exploitation colonialism *Slavery ** Sexual slavery and other forms *Oppression *Psychological manipulation In arts and entertainment *Exploi ...
techniques to be successful.


Origin and development

Organizational ambidexterity was defined as an organization's ability to be aligned and efficient in its management of today's business demands as well as being adaptive to changes in the environment at the same time.Duncan, R. (1976). ''The ambidextrous organization: Designing dual structures for innovation''. Killman, R. H., L. R. Pondy, and D. Sleven (eds.) The Management of Organization. New York: North Holland. 167-188. This term of organizational ambidexterity was first used by Duncan, however, it was
March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Marc ...
March, J. G. (1991). Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning. ''Organization Science, 2'', 71-87. that had been credited for developing and generating greater interest in this concept, especially in the late 20th and early 21st century.
Ambidexterity Ambidexterity is the ability to use both the right and left hand equally well. When referring to objects, the term indicates that the object is equally suitable for right-handed and left-handed people. When referring to humans, it indicates that ...
in an organization is achieved by balancing
exploration Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
and
exploitation Exploitation may refer to: *Exploitation of natural resources *Exploitation of labour ** Forced labour *Exploitation colonialism *Slavery ** Sexual slavery and other forms *Oppression *Psychological manipulation In arts and entertainment *Exploi ...
, which allows the organization to be creative and adaptable, while also continuing to rely on more traditional, proven methods of business.
Exploration Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
includes things such as search, variation, risk taking,
experiment An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into Causality, cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome oc ...
ation,
flexibility Stiffness is the extent to which an object resists deformation in response to an applied force. The complementary concept is flexibility or pliability: the more flexible an object is, the less stiff it is. Calculations The stiffness, k, of a bo ...
, discovery or
innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entity ...
, whereas exploitation includes such things as refinement,
choice A choice is the range of different things from which a being can choose. The arrival at a choice may incorporate motivators and models. For example, a traveler might choose a route for a journey based on the preference of arriving at a giv ...
,
production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...
,
efficiency Efficiency is the often measurable ability to avoid wasting materials, energy, efforts, money, and time in doing something or in producing a desired result. In a more general sense, it is the ability to do things well, successfully, and without ...
,
selection Selection may refer to: Science * Selection (biology), also called natural selection, selection in evolution ** Sex selection, in genetics ** Mate selection, in mating ** Sexual selection in humans, in human sexuality ** Human mating strategie ...
,
implementation Implementation is the realization of an application, or execution of a plan, idea, model, design, specification, standard, algorithm, or policy. Industry-specific definitions Computer science In computer science, an implementation is a realiza ...
, and
execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the State (polity), state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to ...
. Companies that focus only on exploration face the risk of wasting resources on ideas that may not prove useful or never be developed. On the other hand, companies that focus only on exploitation may accept
status quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, political, religious or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the current state of social structure and/or values. W ...
performance and products and fail to reach optimal levels of success. Organizational ambidexterity is defined broadly, and several other terms are also highly related or similar to the construct of ambidextrous organization, including
organizational learning Organizational learning is the process of creating, retaining, and transferring knowledge within an organization. An organization improves over time as it gains experience. From this experience, it is able to create knowledge. This knowledge is bro ...
, technological innovation, organizational adaptation,
strategic management In the field of management, strategic management involves the formulation and implementation of the major goals and initiatives taken by an organization's managers on behalf of stakeholders, based on consideration of Resource management, resour ...
, and
organizational design An organizational structure defines how activities such as task allocation, coordination, and supervision are directed toward the achievement of organizational aims. Organizational structure affects organizational action and provides the foundat ...
. Things such as reconciling exploitation and exploration, the
simultaneity Simultaneity may refer to: * Relativity of simultaneity, a concept in special relativity. * Simultaneity (music), more than one complete musical texture occurring at the same time, rather than in succession * Simultaneity, a concept in Endogeneit ...
of induced and autonomous strategy processes, synchronizing incremental and discontinuous innovation, and balancing search and stability also tend to refer to the same underlying construct as ambidextrous organization.Raisch, S., & Birkinshaw, J. (2008). Organizational ambidexterity: Antecedents, outcomes, and moderators. ''Journal of Management, 34'', 375-409. There are studies on how structural and behavioral mechanisms affect organizational ambidexterity and studies on how ambidextrous organizational designs affect organizational ambidexterity. Whereas earlier studies on structural and behavioral mechanisms regarded the trade-offs between exploration and exploitation to be insurmountable, more recent research has paid attention to a range of organizational solutions to engender the existence of ambidexterity. One recent hot research topic in this area focused on the
leadership Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets view ...
characteristics that enable organizations to manage the contradictions that they face and achieve ambidexterity,Beckman, C. M. (2006). The influence of founding team company affiliations on firm behavior. ''Academy of Management Journal, 49'', 741-758.Lubatkin, M. H., Simsek, Z., Ling, Y., & Veiga, J. F. (2006). Ambidexterity and performance in small- to medium-sized firms: The pivotal role of top management team behavioral integration. ''Journal of Management, 32'', 646-672.Smith, W. K., & Tushman, M. L. (2005). Managing strategic contradictions: A top management model for managing innovation streams. ''Organization Science, 16'', 522-536. which is the origin of the concept ‘ambidextrous leadership’. Several antecedents, outcomes of organizational ambidexterity as well as related moderators have also been identified in the studies on structural and behavioral mechanisms.


Ambidextrous organizational designs and organizational ambidexterity

The studies on "ambidextrous organizations" take the organization as the unit of analysis and ambidextrous organizing is conceptualized as the simultaneous pursuit and combination of incremental and discontinuous innovation. "Ambidextrous organizations" are needed if the failure to balance exploitation and exploration is to be overcome: "the ability to pursue simultaneously both incremental and discontinuous innovation results from hosting multiple contradictory structures, processes, and cultures" (Tushman and O'Reilly, 1996: page 24). It has been empirically found that competence exploitation is negatively related to radical innovation performance whereas the effect for competence exploration is positive; competence exploration will be more valuable to the firm when it is matched with lower levels of competence exploitation, and vice versa. It has been theorized that the "ambidextrous organization" does not solve the tension between alignment and adaptability but allows for coping with the tension between different types of alignment in order to produce incremental and discontinuous innovation. "Ambidextrous organizations" do not alternate between exploration and exploitation, but they do both simultaneously. There's work that empirically investigates the processes of ambidextrous organizing by analyzing the implementation of the "ambidextrous organizations" concept in order to study whether there is evidence on how companies applying the concepts (suggested by "ambidextrous organizations" proponents) actually manage the processes of exploitation and exploration.


Structural and behavioral mechanisms that lead to organizational ambidexterity

Organizational ambidexterity can be considered primarily from two angles. One is architectural or structural ambidexterity, which uses dual
organizational structure An organizational structure defines how activities such as task allocation, coordination, and supervision are directed toward the achievement of organizational aims. Organizational structure affects organizational action and provides the foundat ...
s and strategies to differentiate efforts towards exploitation and exploration.Adler, P., Goldoftas, B., & Levine, D. (1999). Flexibility versus efficiency? A case study of model changeovers in the Toyota production system. ''Organization Science, 10'', 43-68.McDonough, E. F., & Leifer, R. (1983). Using simultaneous structures to cope with uncertainty. ''Academy of Management Journal, 26'', 727-735. Tushman, M. L., & O’Reilly, C. A. (1996). Ambidextrous organizations: Managing evolutionary and revolutionary change. ''California Management Review, 38'', 8-30.
Structural A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such a ...
ambidexterity includes dual parts, with one part focusing on exploitation and the other focusing on exploration. It's also known as the spatial separation of the dual strategies concepts outlined above. The other approach is contextual ambidexterity, which uses
behavioral Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as well ...
and
social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...
means to integrate exploitation and exploration at the organizational unit level.Gibson, C. B., & Birkinshaw, J. (2004). The antecedents, consequences and mediating role of organizational ambidexterity. ''Academy of Management Journal, 47'', 209-226.McCarthy, I.P., & Gordon, B.R. (2011). Achieving Contextual Ambidexterity in R&D Organizations: A Management Control System Approach. R&D Management, 41, 240-258. Contextual ambidexterity is a balanced type that takes a mid-level position between exploitation and exploration, also known as parallel structures or hybrid strategies. Although both angles are related to the theme of organizational ambidexterity, they strongly differ in the way how they are configured. There has always been a debate of which of the two different approaches is right. The dual type allows both discrete orientations and fit across dimensions at the unit level but creates a misfit between organizational units. Some researchers argued that inconsistent structures may lead to low performance.Doty, H. D., Glick, W. H., & Huber, G. P. (1993). Fit, equifinality, and organizational effectiveness: A test of two configurational theories. ''Academy of Management Journal, 36'', 1196–1250.Miller, D., & Friesen, P. H. (1986). Generic strategies and performance: An empirical examination with American data Part I: Testing Porter. ''Organization Studies, 7'', 37-55. There are also some researchers trying to investigate the external and internal
contingencies The American Academy of Actuaries, also known as the Academy, is the body that represents and unites United States actuaries in all practice areas. Established in 1965, the Academy serves as the profession's voice on public policy and professional ...
under which different configurations can be found. One factor would be the speed and type of
technological change Technological change (TC) or technological development is the overall process of invention, innovation and diffusion of technology or processes.From ''The New Palgrave Dictionary otechnical change by S. Metcalfe.  •biased and biased techn ...
that organizations confront. On the other hand, the balanced type (i.e. contextual ambidexterity) is consistent with the systems approach of fit across multiple dimensions,Drazin, R., & Van de Ven, A. H. (1985). Alternative forms of fit in contingency theory. ''Administrative Science Quarterly, 30'', 514-539.Nadler, D., & Tushman, M. L. (1997). ''Competing by design: The power of organizational architecture''. New York: but contradicts the opinion that organizational choice is discrete.Meyer, A. D., Tsui, A. S., & Hinings, C. R. (1993). Configurational approaches to organizational analysis. ''Academy of Management Journal, 36'', 1175–1195.Nickerson, J. A., & Zenger, T. R. (2002). Being efficiently fickle: A dynamic theory of organizational choice. ''Organization Science, 13'', 547-566. In an environment where changes are slow, there will be sufficient time to react to the radical changes by constructing dual structures and strategies. However, in a high-competitive environment, balanced structures may be better prepared to deal with the constant need for alignment. In future studies, the different organizational ambidexterity configurations can be compared to find a better solution for dealing with the exploitation and exploration paradox.


Antecedents of organizational ambidexterity

Ambidexterity is often considered a capacity or skill and can therefore be facilitated by managers such as
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
s and top executives.Tang, S., Nadkarni, S., Wei, L., & Zhang, S. X. (2021). Balancing the yin and yang: TMT gender diversity, psychological safety, and firm ambidextrous strategic orientation in Chinese high-tech SMEs. ''Academy of Management Journal'', 64(5), 1578-1604. Cantarello, S., Martini, A., & Nosella, A. (2012). A multi-level model for organizational ambidexterity in the search phase of the innovation process. ''Creativity and Innovation Management, 21'', 28-48. From the structural ambidexterity's view, organizations can solve the paradox by temporarily cycling through periods of
exploitation Exploitation may refer to: *Exploitation of natural resources *Exploitation of labour ** Forced labour *Exploitation colonialism *Slavery ** Sexual slavery and other forms *Oppression *Psychological manipulation In arts and entertainment *Exploi ...
and periods of
exploration Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
.Brown, S. L., & Eisenhardt, K. (1998). ''Competing on the edge: Strategy as structured chaos''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press.Siggelkow, N., & Levinthal, D. A. (2003). Temporarily divide to conquer: Centralized, decentralized, and reintegrated organizational approaches to exploration and adaptation. ''Organization Science, 14'', 650-669.Venkatraman, N., Lee, C. H., & Iyer, B. (2007). ''Strategic ambidexterity and sales growth: A longitudinal test in the software sector''. Unpublished Manuscript. From the other point of view (contextual ambidexterity), firms ought to address exploitation and exploration simultaneously and internally to achieve the goal ambidexterity. Contextual ambidexterity is more difficult to achieve than structural ambidexterity because managing two inconsistent alignments within an organization simultaneously is far more complex than managing one consistent strategy after another.Gupta, A. K., Smith, K. G., & Shalley, C. E. (2006). The interplay between exploration and exploitation. ''Academy of Management Journal, 4'', 693-706. Thus most studies on how to build ambidextrous organizations in literature focused on contextual ambidexterity rather than structural ambidexterity. The role of
leaders Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets view ...
(or managers) is always highlighted towards building an ambidextrous organization. Several recommendations have been made to organizations on how to achieve contextual ambidexterity, including using of meta-routines and job-enrichment schemes, building
trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another * Trust (bus ...
with supervisees, being supportive, using complex behavioral repertoires,Denison, D., Hooijberg, R., & Quinn, R. E. (1995). Paradox and performance: Toward a theory of behavioral complexity in managerial leadership. ''Organization Science, 6'', 524-540.Lewis, M. W. (2000). Exploring paradox: Toward a more comprehensive guide. ''Academy of Management Review, 25'', 760-776. the creation of a shared vision.Bartlett, C. A., & Ghoshal, S. (1989). ''Managing across borders: The transnational solution''. Boston: Harvard Business School Press., and having more gender balanced executive teams In addition, several characteristics of
organizational culture Historically there have been differences among investigators regarding the definition of organizational culture. Edgar Schein, a leading researcher in this field, defined "organizational culture" as comprising a number of features, including a s ...
are also emphasized on building an ambidextrous organization. Successful organizations should be able to balance the hard elements (
discipline Discipline refers to rule following behavior, to regulate, order, control and authority. It may also refer to punishment. Discipline is used to create habits, routines, and automatic mechanisms such as blind obedience. It may be inflicted on ot ...
and stretch) and the soft elements (
support Support may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Supporting character Business and finance * Support (technical analysis) * Child support * Customer support * Income Support Construction * Support (structure), or lateral support, a ...
and
trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another * Trust (bus ...
) in their organizational contexts. It was also suggested that establishing shared goals, developing a
collective identity Collective identity is the shared sense of belonging to a group. In sociology In 1989, Alberto Melucci published ''Nomads of the Present'', which introduces his model of collective identity based on studies of the social movements of the 1980s ...
, creating a culture of support, and giving personal meaning to individuals’ contributions to the overall purpose of an organization all contributes to ambidexterity. A decentralized structure and a culture of excellence,
recruitment Recruitment is the overall process of identifying, sourcing, screening, shortlisting, and interviewing candidates for jobs (either permanent or temporary) within an organization. Recruitment also is the processes involved in choosing individual ...
and
training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or Physical fitness, fitness that relate to specific practicality, useful Competence (human resources), competencies. Training has specific goals of improving on ...
are also important aspects of establishing an ambidextrous organization.


Outcomes of organizational ambidexterity

Ambidexterity is beneficial to organizations in many aspects. As it is the ability to keep a balance between explorative and exploitative processes, the most core outcome of ambidexterity is innovation because innovation needs both explorative and exploitative aspects.
Innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entity ...
is defined as "the sequence of activities by which a new element is introduced into a
social unit The term "level of analysis" is used in the social sciences to point to the location, size, or scale of a research target. "Level of analysis" is distinct from the term "unit of observation" in that the former refers to a more or less integrated s ...
, with the intention of benefiting the unit, some part of it, or the wider society" (West & Farr, 1990). The new element need not be entirely novel or unfamiliar to members of the unit, but it must involve some discernible change or challenge to the
status quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, political, religious or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the current state of social structure and/or values. W ...
(West & Farr, 1990). Most theoretical models of innovation differentiate at least two processes: idea generation and idea
implementation Implementation is the realization of an application, or execution of a plan, idea, model, design, specification, standard, algorithm, or policy. Industry-specific definitions Computer science In computer science, an implementation is a realiza ...
(e.g., Amabile, 1988; West, 2002). The generation phase is closely linked to explorative activities while the implementation phase is highly linked to exploitative activities. An ambidextrous organization is able to pursue innovation (creating new products/services) while also maintaining itself through the continued use of proven techniques/products. In addition, ambidexterity can promote some other positive organizational outcomes besides innovation. It has been proved in literature that the interaction between explorative and exploitative innovation strategies (in other words, ambidexterity) is positively related to sales growth rate, and imbalance between explorative and exploitative innovation strategies is negatively related to sales growth rate (He & Wong, 2004). Various organizations have been able to overcome organizational challenges and become more innovative because of ambidexterity. A study looking at 41 businesses found that ambidexterity was highly correlated with
performance A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Management science In the work place ...
. Similarly, another study of 34 high-tech organizations showed that their ability to simultaneously execute exploration and exploitation was associated with higher performance (Chandrasekaran et al. 2012). Companies such as
Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
,
General Radio General Radio Company (later, GenRad) was a broad-line manufacturer of electronic test equipment in Massachusetts, U.S. from 1915 to 2001. History On June 14, 1915, Melville Eastham and a small group of investors started General Radio Company ...
,
Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original Wallin & Nordstrom store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and ...
and
British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...
have all had continued success throughout the years because of their capacity for ambidexterity. From 1981 to 1986,
British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...
experienced increased profits and customer satisfaction. The top executives of
British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...
credited the formation of a more ambidextrous
culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...
and
leadership Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets view ...
with the company's improved performance.


Related moderators between organizational ambidexterity and organizational outcomes

Moderators exist in the relationship between organizational ambidexterity and organizational outcomes. Environmental dynamism and
competitiveness In economics, competition is a scenario where different economic firmsThis article follows the general economic convention of referring to all actors as firms; examples in include individuals and brands or divisions within the same (legal) firm ...
moderate the relationship between exploitation/
exploration Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
and
performance A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Management science In the work place ...
(Levinthal & March, 1993; Lewin, Long & Carroll, 1999). Empirical studies also showed that pursuing exploratory innovation is more effective in dynamic environments, whereas pursuing exploitative innovation is more beneficial to a unit's financial performance in more competitive environments (Jansen, van den Bosch, & Volberda, 2006). Although they were not directly testing an ambidextrous orientation, results indicated a positive performance effect of simultaneously pursuing exploitative and exploratory innovation under high dynamic and competitive environments. The effects of exploitative, explorative and balanced corporate alignment activities on performance were compared under varying environmental conditions (Raisch & Hotz, 2008). The construct of "environmental munificence" was developed to reflect an organization's opportunities and dynamism (Zahra, 1993). They found that, although exploration was positively related to performance under high environmental munificence, a balanced orientation failed to significantly affect performance in times of low environmental munificence (Raisch & Hotz, 2008).
Market orientation Market orientation perspectives include the decision-making perspective ( Shapiro, 1988), market intelligence perspective (Kohli and Jaworski, 1990), culturally based behavioural perspective (Narver and Slater, 1990), strategic perspective (Rueker ...
was also proved to moderate the relationship between exploitation/
exploration Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
and performance.
Market orientation Market orientation perspectives include the decision-making perspective ( Shapiro, 1988), market intelligence perspective (Kohli and Jaworski, 1990), culturally based behavioural perspective (Narver and Slater, 1990), strategic perspective (Rueker ...
was defined as "the capability to generate, disseminate, and respond to intelligence pertaining to current and future customers" (Kohli & Jaworski, 1990). A longitudinal study by Kyriakopoulos and Moorman (2004) showed that market orientation positively moderates the impact of pursuing high levels of exploitative and exploratory marketing strategies on new product performance; however, firms that pursue an ambidextrous orientation without strong market orientation display a significant reduction in new product financial performance. Another factor that may moderate ambidexterity's effect on performance is firm
resource Resource refers to all the materials available in our environment which are technologically accessible, economically feasible and culturally sustainable and help us to satisfy our needs and wants. Resources can broadly be classified upon their ...
s (Kyriakopoulos & Moorman, 2004). Firms with rich resources have the ability to exploit and explore simultaneously, whereas firms with less resources may not be able to afford such a complex strategy. Similarly, Lubatkin et al. stated that small firms "lack the amount of slack resources and the kind of
hierarchical A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an important ...
administration systems that can help or impede larger firms in managing their contradictory knowledge processes and, thus, affect the attainment of ambidexterity" (p. 647). This idea was supported by empirical evidence that small firms may benefit more from a one-sided orientation than from mixed strategies (Ebben & Johnson, 2005). Boundary conditions were also addressed on choosing between
structural A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such a ...
and contextual ambidexterity. For example, spatial separation was suggested as an appropriate solution for environments characterized by long periods of stability, disrupted by rare events of discontinuous change. Research also found that firms operating in dynamic competitive environments rely on contextual ambidexterity rather than developing spatially separated units (Jansen, van den Bosch, & Volberda, 2005).


Levels of ambidexterity

The functional definition of ambidexterity was originally used to describe organizations, but recently this concept was extended to multiple organizational levels, including individuals, teams, and leaders. On the most general level, the concept of ambidexterity implies successfully managing the
dichotomy A dichotomy is a partition of a whole (or a set) into two parts (subsets). In other words, this couple of parts must be * jointly exhaustive: everything must belong to one part or the other, and * mutually exclusive: nothing can belong simulta ...
of explorative variability creation and exploitative variability reduction. Whenever there are needs to be both explorative and exploitive,
conflict Conflict may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Conflict'' (1921 film), an American silent film directed by Stuart Paton * ''Conflict'' (1936 film), an American boxing film starring John Wayne * ''Conflict'' (1937 film) ...
occurs (Bledow, Frese, Anderson, Erez, & Farr, 2009). That's when ambidexterity is necessary. Actually, regulating the conflicting demands of innovation is not only a challenge for the upper echelon of an organization but also a phenomenon that spans all levels of an organization. Employees as individuals, collectives of employees such as work teams, and the organization as a whole all have to find strategies to deal with conflicting demands in order to succeed in innovation and adaption to changing markets. Some examples of strategies and tactics that could be implemented at all three levels of analysis were also listed out (Bledow et al., 2009). These examples are presented in Table 1, including a separation strategy (in the Separation column) or an integration strategy (in the last two columns).


Ambidextrous leadership

Recently the focus on organizational ambidexterity has become more concentrated on how leaders act ambidextrously to achieve organizational ambidexterity. Senior managers may be the key for facilitating the context and social base for ambidexterity. Noting that ambidextrous organizations require significant amounts of mobilization, coordination, and integration activities to maintain both exploitation and exploration, informal and social integration of the senior team as well as the cross-functional interfaces of the formal organization contribute to the success of organizational ambidexterity significantly (Jansen, Tempelaar, van den Bosch, & Volberda, 2009). A recent model of ambidexterity and leadership suggests that
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
s and top management teams (TMT) play an integral role in establishing ambidexterity in small-to-medium-sized organizations (Cao, Simsek, & Zhang, 2010). The model suggests TMTs are where processes such as information sharing and knowledge processing, which influence ambidexterity, are likely to occur. Furthermore, it is the CEO who has the ability to access the most valuable and diverse information needed to avoid separation of explorative and exploitative behaviors. The greater the interface between TMTs and CEOs in small-to-medium-sized organizations, the greater the amount of ambidexterity. The concept of ambidexterity was first formally introduced into the leadership area by the Rosing, Frese and Bausch (2011) paper, holding the idea that leaders should be able to lead their team to match the complexity and the pace of innovation (Ancona, Goodman, Lawrence, & Tushman, 2001).
Ambidextrous leadership Ambidextrous leadership is a recently introduced term by scholarsRosing, K., Frese, M., & Bausch, A. (2011). Explaining the heterogeneity of the leadership-innovation relationship: Ambidextrous leadership. ''The Leadership Quarterly''. 22(5), 956†...
was defined as the leaders’ ability to foster both explorative and exploitative behaviors in followers by increasing or reducing variance in their behavior and flexibly switching between those behaviors (Rosing et al., 2011). The construct of ambidextrous leadership has also been linked to the combination of
leadership styles A leadership style is a leader's method of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people. Various authors have proposed identifying many different leadership styles as exhibited by leaders in the political, business or other fie ...
(Jansen et al., 2009). Leaders who are transformational encourage "out of the box thinking", information sharing and question assumptions. Transformational leaders promote exploration and innovative thinking. Transactional leaders focus on making incremental improvements and making the best use of existing processes. The transactional leadership style promotes exploitative behaviors. An ambidextrous leader is able to switch back and forth between transformation/exploration and transaction/exploitation as needed, in other words, being able to switch between different leadership styles at the appropriate time, in order to foster innovation and then implement plans. Ambidextrous leadership consists of three elements (1) opening leader behaviors to foster exploration, (2) closing leader behaviors to foster exploitation, (3) and the temporal flexibility to switch between both as the situation requires (Rosing et al., 2011). Opening leadership behaviors include: allowing for multiple ways to accomplish a task, experimentation and errors, whereas closing behaviors include; monitoring routines, sticking to plans and minimizing errors. The Rosing et al. (2011)'s model of leadership and innovation was shown in Figure 1.


Controversy and future directions

Some scholars as well as practitioners have argued that established companies simply lack the flexibility to explore new territories. One contributing reason could be the so-called success trap (i.e. the focus on their, historically successful, current business activities) (Walrave, Van Oorschot, & Romme, 2011). A possible solution for big companies is to adopt a venture capital model – funding exploratory expeditions but otherwise not interfering too much with their operations. Another suggestion is for the use of
cross-functional team A cross-functional team, also known as a multidisciplinary team or interdisciplinary team, is a group of people with different functional expertise working toward a common goal. It may include people from finance, marketing, operations, and human ...
s to achieve breakthrough innovations. Still others have suggested that a company may be able to alternate between different organizational models, focusing on exploitation and
exploration Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
at different time periods. For example, in a study of biotechnology firms it is shown how an organization's
management control system A management control system (MCS) is a system which gathers and uses information to evaluate the performance of different organizational resources like human, physical, financial and also the organization as a whole in light of the organizational ...
can be adjusted periodically to achieve this changing focus on exploitation and exploration. Researchers also debate if
ambidexterity Ambidexterity is the ability to use both the right and left hand equally well. When referring to objects, the term indicates that the object is equally suitable for right-handed and left-handed people. When referring to humans, it indicates that ...
can be attained because
exploration Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
and exploitation tend to emerge from contradictory information and knowledge inputs and because success due to
exploration Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
/exploitation tends to be self-reinforcing leading to the use of the same methods in the future.Floyd, S. W. & Lane, P. J. (2000). "Strategizing throughout the Organization: Managing Role Conflict in Strategic Renewal". ''The Academy of Management Review, 25'', 154-177. An empirical study of
ambidexterity Ambidexterity is the ability to use both the right and left hand equally well. When referring to objects, the term indicates that the object is equally suitable for right-handed and left-handed people. When referring to humans, it indicates that ...
in organizations (He & Wong, 2004) further cautions that very low levels of both
exploration Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
and exploitation are not sufficient to contribute to superior firm performance. High firm performance may however need to be sustained through continuous exploitation both on the market side, through
business model A business model describes how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value,''Business Model Generation'', Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Alan Smith, and 470 practitioners from 45 countries, self-published, 2010 in economic, social, ...
innovation and technology innovation. Ambidexterity can also be hampered by employee desire to receive organizational rewards. If organizations base their evaluation and
reward system The reward system (the mesocorticolimbic circuit) is a group of neural structures responsible for incentive salience (i.e., "wanting"; desire or craving for a reward and motivation), associative learning (primarily positive reinforcement and class ...
s on the completion of routine tasks, employees will be more likely to conform to standardized procedures. To avoid hindering ambidexterity, organizations should be sure to reward innovative thinking as well as completion of routine tasks. Despite the controversy surrounding the possibility of organizational ambidexterity, it is likely to continue to be a highly researched concept in the future. Future research is likely to focus on the role of ambidextrous leaders, ambidextrous teams and the
social context The social environment, social context, sociocultural context or milieu refers to the immediate physical and social setting in which people live or in which something happens or develops. It includes the culture that the individual was educate ...
of organizational ambidexterity. (Rosing et al., 2011).


See also

*
Ambidexterity Ambidexterity is the ability to use both the right and left hand equally well. When referring to objects, the term indicates that the object is equally suitable for right-handed and left-handed people. When referring to humans, it indicates that ...
*
Communities of innovation Communities that support innovation have been referred to as communities of innovation (CoI),Grimaldi, M., and F. Rogo. 2009. Mindsh@re in Fimmecanica: An organizational model based on communities of innovation. Proceedings of the European Conferen ...
*
Contingency Theory A contingency theory is an organizational theory that claims that there is no best way to organize a corporation, to lead a company, or to make decisions. Instead, the optimal course of action is contingent (dependent) upon the internal and ext ...
* Labour exploitation *
Exploration Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
*
Innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entity ...
*
Knowledge management Knowledge management (KM) is the collection of methods relating to creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information of an organization. It refers to a multidisciplinary approach to achieve organisational objectives by making ...
*
Leadership Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets view ...
*
Organizational culture Historically there have been differences among investigators regarding the definition of organizational culture. Edgar Schein, a leading researcher in this field, defined "organizational culture" as comprising a number of features, including a s ...
*
Organization design Organizational architecture has two very different meanings. In one sense it literally refers to the organization's built environment and in another sense it refers to architecture metaphorically, as a structure which fleshes out the organizatio ...
*
Organizational learning Organizational learning is the process of creating, retaining, and transferring knowledge within an organization. An organization improves over time as it gains experience. From this experience, it is able to create knowledge. This knowledge is bro ...
*
Organizational structure An organizational structure defines how activities such as task allocation, coordination, and supervision are directed toward the achievement of organizational aims. Organizational structure affects organizational action and provides the foundat ...
* Success trap *
Tacit knowledge Tacit knowledge or implicit knowledge—as opposed to formal, codified or explicit knowledge—is knowledge that is difficult to express or extract, and thus more difficult to transfer to others by means of writing it down or verbalizing it. This ...
*
Technological change Technological change (TC) or technological development is the overall process of invention, innovation and diffusion of technology or processes.From ''The New Palgrave Dictionary otechnical change by S. Metcalfe.  •biased and biased techn ...
*
Transactional leadership Transactional leadership or transactional management is the part of one style of leadership that focuses on supervision, organization, and performance; it is an integral part of the Full Range Leadership Model. This type of management was born duri ...
*
Transformational leadership Transformational leadership is a theory of leadership where a leader works with teams or followers beyond their immediate self-interests to identify needed change, creating a vision to guide the change through influence, inspiration, and executing t ...


References


Further reading

* Amabile, T. M. (1988).
A model of creativity and innovation in organizations
'. In B. M. Staw & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in Organizational Behavior, Vol. 10 (pp. 123–167) Greenwich, Connecticut: JAI Press Inc. * Ancona, D. G., Goodman, P. S., Lawrence, B. S., & Tushman, M. L. (2001). Time: A new research lens. ''Academy of Management Review, 26'', 645–663. * Bledow, R., Frese, M., Anderson, N., Erez, M., & Farr, J. (2009). A dialectic perspective on inn ovation: conflicting demands, multiple pathways, and ambidexterity. ''Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, 2(3)''. * Cao, Q., Simsek, Z., & Zhang, H. (2010). Modeling the joint impact of the CEO and the TMT on organizational ambidexterity. ''Journal of Management Studies, 47'', 1272–1296. * Chandrasekaran, A., Linderman, K., Schroeder, R., 2012. Antecedents to ambidexterity competency in high technology organizations. Journal of Operations Management 30, 134–151 * Ebben, J. J., & Johnson, A. C. (2005). Efficiency, flexibility, or both? Evidence linking strategy to performance in small firms. ''Strategic Management Journal, 26'', 1249–1259. * He, Z. & Wong, P. (2004). Exploration vs. Exploitation: An Empirical Test of the Ambidexterity Hypothesis. ''Organization Science, 15'', 481–494. * Jansen, J. J. P., Tempelaar, M. P., Van den Bosch, F. A., &
Volberda, H. W. Henk W. Volberda (born 1964) is a Dutch organizational theorist, management consultant, and Professor of Strategic Management and Innovation at Amsterdam Business School, University of Amsterdam. He is known for his contributions in the field of str ...
(2009). Structural differentiation and ambidexterity: The mediating role of integration mechanisms. ''Organization Science, 20'', 797–811. * Jansen, J. J. P., van den Bosch, F. A. J., &
Volberda, H. W. Henk W. Volberda (born 1964) is a Dutch organizational theorist, management consultant, and Professor of Strategic Management and Innovation at Amsterdam Business School, University of Amsterdam. He is known for his contributions in the field of str ...
(2005). Exploratory innovation, exploitative innovation, and ambidexterity: The impact of environmental and organizational antecedents. ''Schmalenbach Business Review, 57'', 351–363. * Jansen, J. J. P., van den Bosch, F. A. J., &
Volberda, H. W. Henk W. Volberda (born 1964) is a Dutch organizational theorist, management consultant, and Professor of Strategic Management and Innovation at Amsterdam Business School, University of Amsterdam. He is known for his contributions in the field of str ...
(2006). Exploratory innovation, exploitative innovation, and performance: Effects of organizational antecedents and environmental moderators. ''Management Science, 52'', 1661–1674. * Kohli, A. K., & Jaworski, B. J. (1990). Market orientation: The construct, research propositions, and managerial implications. ''Journal of Marketing, 54'', 1-18. * Levinthal, D., & March, J. (1993). Myopia of learning. ''Strategic Management Journal, 14'', 95-112. * Lewin, A. Y., Long, C. P., & Carroll, T. N. (1999). The co-evolution of new organizational forms. ''Organization Science, 10'', 535–550. * McCarthy, I.P., & Gordon, B.R. (2011). Achieving Contextual Ambidexterity in R&D Organizations: A Management Control System Approach. ''R&D Management, 41'', 240-258 * Raisch, S., & Hotz, F. (2008). Shaping the Context for Learning: Corporate Alignment Initiatives, Environmental Munificence, and Firm Performance. ''Strategic reconfigurations: Building dynamic capabilities in rapid-innovation-based industries'', 62–85. * Rosing, K., Frese, M., Bausch, A. (2011).Explaining the heterogeneity of the leadership-innovation relationship: Ambidextrous leadership. ''The Leadership Quarterly, 22'', 956–974. * Walrave, B., Van Oorschot, K. E. & Romme, A. G. L. (2011). Getting trapped in the suppression of exploration: A simulation model. ''Journal of Management Studies, 48'', 1727–1751. * West, M. A. (2002). Sparkling fountains or stagnant ponds: An integrative model of creativity and innovation implementation in work groups. ''Applied Psychology: An International Review, 51'', 355–387. * West, M. A., & Farr, J. L. (1990). ''Innovation and creativity at work: Psychological and organizational strategies''. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. * Zabiegalski, E. P.(2015).Learning Ambidexterity in Organization: The George Washington University,177 pages; Proquest. * Zabiegalski, E. P.(2019).The Rise of the Ambidextrous Organization, the secret revolution happening right under your nose. Amazon and Waterstones Books. * Zahra, S. A. (1993). Environment, corporate entrepreneurship, and financial performance: A taxonomic approach. ''Journal of Business Venturing, 8'', 319–340. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ambidextrous Organization Innovation Management science