Antecedents enabling team ambidexterity: moving beyond mere microfoundation

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin P. Dean

PurposeAmbidexterity in teams represents powerful dynamic capabilities for innovation and adaptation in rapidly changing environments. This study focused on the emerging concept of team ambidexterity. Primary purposes were to consolidate emerging research on ambidexterity within teams and to synthesise antecedent inputs.Design/methodology/approachThis study applied a systematic content-based review method to collect articles relevant to enabling ambidexterity within teams. The study integrated relevant studies on ambidexterity and on teams and teamwork. It analysed content through theoretical frameworks of ambidexterity and dynamic capabilities.FindingsTeam ambidexterity constitutes a distinct and increasingly important organisational concept beyond just supporting firm-level ambidexterity. Team ambidexterity depends on inputs that can include ambidexterity's multilevel, generic mechanisms and additional team-centric inputs specially characterising teams.Practical implicationsOrganisational leaders need insights into the valuable potential of ambidextrous teams that can increase innovation and enable successful adaptation at an operational level for longterm survival and competitive advantage in volatile environments. The study highlights the essential inputs for designing and equipping ambidextrous teams.Originality/valueTeam ambidexterity research is growing, but so far it has mostly addressed team ambidexterity as a microfoundation supporting firm-level ambidexterity. Existing studies have remained mostly disparate and unorganized. This study appears unique in having identified and synthesised studies most relevant to developing ambidexterity within teams. The study articulated a more comprehensive understanding of team ambidexterity, derived a novel set of team-centric inputs and analysed ambidexterity as dynamic capabilities at operational unit level.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Blasi ◽  
Douglas Kruse ◽  
Dan Weltmann

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to understand how majority employee-owned firms responded to the pandemic compared to firms that were not majority employee-owned. The Employee Ownership Foundation partnered with Rutgers University and the SSRS survey firm to survey ESOP and non-ESOP firms about their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. A key purpose of the survey was to estimate firm-level changes in employment from mid-January to August (current employment figures were adjusted to August 5 using BLS industry employment trends). The survey also looked at other forms of adjustment and responses to the pandemic as reviewed below. The focus in this study is on the differences between firms that are majority owned by ESOPs and those that are not.Design/methodology/approachThe survey included 247 executives from ESOP Association member companies and 500 executives from an SSRS business panel constructed to be representative of US companies with 50 or more employees. The survey started on August 5 and ended on September 23, 2020.Findings(1) Majority ESOP firms had employment declines from January to August that were on average only one-fourth as large as for other firms. The difference is maintained when controlling for industry membership. (2) Majority ESOP firms were more likely to be declared “essential,” but the lower employment cutbacks among majority ESOP firms remain among essential and non-essential businesses. As essential businesses, majority ESOP firms were more likely receive Paycheck Protection Program or other government pandemic assistance, but both assistance recipients and non-recipients had lower employment cutbacks among majority ESOP firms. (3) The extent of employment cutbacks was higher for non-managers than for managers, but the manager/non-manager gap was higher among other firms than among majority ESOP firms.Research limitations/implicationsThis study supports empirical findings done previously.Practical implicationsThis study suggests to non-EO firms what they can do.Social implicationsThis study suggests strengths of EO firms.Originality/valueA very original and one-of-a-kind dataset.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings Companies can enhance their supply chain by combining data analytics and the digitization of activities. Manager focus on internal dynamic capabilities and effectiveness of data acquisition and utilization increases the possibility of improved operational and business performance. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Samson Omuudu Otengei ◽  
George Changha

PurposeThis qualitative research aimed to explore the relationship between adaptive dynamic capabilities and resident loyalty formation among African-ethnic restaurants (AERs) during COVID-19 in East Africa.Design/methodology/approachAnchored on the dynamic capabilities perspective, the study uses eight case studies to obtain data based on restaurant owner-managers' lived experiences.FindingsThe paper presents six factors: (1) sensory quality promise, (2) service personalization declaration, (3) openness of technology adoption, (4) healthy food and safety assurance, (5) authenticity pledge and (6) diversity provision as prerequisites for resident loyalty formation. The findings suggest adaptive capacity as an appropriate alternative for stimulating resident loyalty formation during difficult times.Practical implicationsThe findings help managers in formulating strategies that facilitate residents' display of willingness to revisit and/or recommend others. The local restaurants can now keep modifying and adjusting their practices and processes so as to exhibit the ability to handle customer unique demands during difficult times.Originality/valueThrough this work, a model of adaptive capabilities as enablers of resident loyalty formation is proposed, hence contributing the existing body of knowledge.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Mendoza-Silva

PurposeInnovation is considered an important stage in the process of competitiveness of companies. While there is an extensive literature in the management and innovation field that shows the characteristics that enhance a firm's ability to innovate, there is still no consensus on its determinants and nature. This study aims to advance the understanding of innovation capability (IC) by conducting a systematic review of relevant literature at the firm level.Design/methodology/approachThe study reviews the literature by applying the categorization and contextualization of qualitative strategies. The study gathered 137 peer-reviewed papers from Scopus and Web of Science databases.FindingsThe papers were analysed and synthesized into an integrated framework that links IC with its internal and external determinants, and its consequences. In doing this, this study proposes directions for future investigations that might enlighten a better understanding of IC.Practical implicationsThe study provides elements that can be useful during the design and implementation of innovative initiatives in a firm.Originality/valueThe paper jointly examines in the same model the nature, antecedents and consequences of IC. In the same vein, the framework provides the little-researched links between those themes in the IC literature.


2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 20-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clinton Longenecker ◽  
Laurence S Fink

Purpose – Presents the distilled wisdom of two human-resource (HR) award facilitators. Design/methodology/approach – Takes in the form of ten questions that make a difference for HR leadership. Findings – Asks: Are you trusted by the members of your organization? Do you possess a real and comprehensive understanding of how your business makes money? Do you keep yourself up to speed on the legal and compliance issues that are most important to your organization? Do you think strategically and execute operationally? Are you measuring and monitoring the most meaningful metrics that measure mission-driven performance? Are you working hard to create business partnerships with your stakeholders that increase the likelihood of success? Are you taking steps to help all managers in your organization to operate like great HR leaders? Are you using your talents and influence to build teams and solve organizational problems? Do you seek out and apply innovative HR practices that can truly affect your organization’s bottom-line performance? Do you ensure that people have the information they need to perform in an optimal fashion? Practical implications – Urges HR specialists to review, reflect on and assess their response to each of the questions. Social implications – Suggests that each question identifies key behaviors and activities that can become a target for improvement. Originality/value – Provides valuable insight rarely available to HR specialists.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 18-24
Author(s):  
Klavdia Markelova Evans ◽  
Ashley Salaiz

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how companies can retain their ability to recognize, seize and maintain opportunities. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual work is built on existing research about an organization’s dynamic capabilities and literature on judgment under uncertainty. Findings This study offers specific ways in which companies can develop the dynamic capability of identifying new opportunities and, most importantly, how firms can maintain this rare dynamic capability for significant periods, so that they can harvest the benefits offered by owning this capability. Practical implications This study’s specific insights equip practitioners with turn-key information on how to build or maintain a firm’s unique ability to sense and capture an opportunity via the enhancement of the firm’s portfolio of simple rules. Originality/value This research introduces a novel idea about micro-foundations of a firm’s dynamic capabilities and theoretically argues that a favorable organizational culture and individuals’ rules of thumb can form a company’s dynamic ability to sense and seize an opportunity in high-velocity markets.


2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tarek El Shafeey ◽  
Paul Trott

Purpose – The field of research on resource-based competition is full of nuanced terminology and misunderstandings. This has led to confusion, and thus the authors offer a critical review, which provides a structure and clarity to this subject. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – This analysis structures the literature on resources, capabilities, and competences into three distinct schools of thought: the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm, the rational-equilibrium school; the dynamic capability-based view of the firm, the behavioural-evolutionary school; and the competence-based view of the firm, the social constructionist school. Findings – The authors uncover 13 criticisms of the most widely adopted theoretical framework of the RBV of the firm – Valuable-Rare-Imperfectly imitable-Organisation (VRIO). Research limitations/implications – The misinterpretation and neglect of the classic scholarly work may help to explain why the VRIO framework has been elevated from a view to a theory and why it has received so much attention. Practical implications – The authors show how the relative ease of measuring resources as compared to (dynamic) capabilities and (core) competencies has helped raise the profile of RBV. Originality/value – This analysis contributes to management research by illustrating the deviation among the three schools of thought; the authors show how this has contributed to wide terminological confusion and offer a structure to help researchers situate their work within the relevant school of thought.


2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Zhu

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose an empirical linkage of intrafirm network characteristics to individual-level mindful marketing (MM). Design/methodology/approach – Based on current literature in network, market orientation and MM research, this paper presents one conceptual model to capture enablers of MM execution with a network approach. The authors identified a pair of antecedent/barrier to MM execution: individual employees’ shared cross-functional tie and firm-level segmentation of the network. Findings – The paper shows that to execute MM, employees possessing more cross-functional ties are more likely to develop higher level of MM. Meanwhile, it was also found that firm-level segmentation of intrafirm network will negatively affect employees in executing MM. Research limitations/implications – The paper shows that to execute MM, employees possessing more cross-functional ties are more likely to develop higher level of MM. Meanwhile, it was also found that firm-level segmentation of intrafirm network will negatively affect employees in executing MM. Practical implications – The proposed empirical linkage shows that a manager shall intervene and help employees to build cross-functional ties in advice network among themselves. Thus, firms are able to effectively maintain mindfulness of people and profit and ensure optimal execution of MM strategy. Meanwhile, they should offset possible negative effects of the advice network due to segmentation at firm level, which provides useful customer information flow throughout the firm. Originality/value – The paper is one of the first attempts to advance and examine the role of intrafirm network in executing the concept of MM. Methodologically, this paper also explores the use of network analysis in discussion of an organizational structure that favors MM.


2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Ruth Oakley ◽  
Kathryn Susan Kinmond

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a ground-breaking survey into people's experiences of church and Spiritual Abuse (SA), in a context of issues of safeguarding and policy. Design/methodology/approach – The survey was delivered online between April 2011 and December 2012. Findings – The findings showed many people had encountered negative church experiences. Most respondents had very limited knowledge and understanding of SA and related support and intervention. Research limitations/implications – This survey represents the views of a small percentage of those who attend, or have attended, church and further more extensive research is required to provide a more comprehensive understanding. Additionally research is required within other faiths and cultural contexts. Practical implications – It is evident that there is clearly a need to strengthen current safeguarding policy and practice with regards to SA. Originality/value – This paper offers an initial insight into the challenges for safeguarding together with some suggested intervention strategies.


foresight ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nakul Parameswar ◽  
Sanjay Dhir

Purpose This paper aims to explore dynamics of post termination interaction between international joint venture (IJV) partners and empirically examines IJV level and dyad level factors that influence the choice of post IJV termination interaction as supplier, complement or competitor. Design/methodology/approach In-depth literature review is undertaken to identify IJV and dyad level that could influence the choice of post termination interaction between terminated IJV partners. Hypotheses are empirically validated using multinomial logistic regression on data collected on terminated IJV headquartered in India. Findings The results denote that the choice of post-IJV termination interaction between IJV partners as supplier, complement or competitor is influenced by interdependence, bargaining power, foreign partner’s purpose of IJV, complementarity and type of IJV termination. Research limitations/implications This paper explores an under researched area in extant IJV literature that could be taken up for study by academicians. The paper upholds and strengthens the dynamic capabilities view of strategic management in IJV context. Practical implications This paper examines a practice adopted by businesses in emerging markets and determines important factors that influence the choice of interaction post IJV termination between partners. Practitioners will be encouraged to understand and plan post termination dynamics with their terminated IJV partner. Originality/value The paper undertakes examination of a practical business phenomena, i.e. interaction post termination between terminated IJV partners.


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