Ambidextrous work in smart city project alliances: unpacking the role of human resource management systems

Abstract

Organizations that are competing in dynamic global markets are increasingly adopting ambidextrous strategies where exploration and exploitation capabilities are combined simultaneously. However, ambidextrous work raises new challenges for human resource management (HRM). Based on 21 interviews with managers in seven multinational firms in Europe, we investigate how ambidextrous work in smart city work is supported through HRM systems. Our findings suggest a complex mix of three different HRM systems (one at corporate and two at project levels) designed to support ambidextrous exploratory and exploitation work. Specifically, corporate HRM systems focused on incentives and development of dual capabilities for smart city managers (SCMs). At project levels, interconnected explorative and exploitative HRM systems offered tailored managerial tools to support social integration and knowledge management between internal and external employees. Theoretical contributions, future research paths, and practical implications are addressed.     

Bridging knowledge in ambidextrous HRM systems: empirical evidence from hidden champions

Managing the tension between efficiency and flexibility is one of the core challenges that organizations must tackle in order to survive in the global competitive environment. Ambidexterity has been identified in the literature as a key way of managing this tension. Despite the enormous popularity of the concept of ambidexterity, the questions of how HR practices influence exploration and exploitation and support organizational ambidexterity remain underexplored. Drawing on our empirical case studies of three mid-sized ‘hidden champions’ in different high-tech manufacturing industries, we show how an ambidextrous human resource management (HRM) system works. We demonstrate that ambidextrous HRM systems can be regarded as a special type of high-performance work system (HPWS) that facilitates the continuous integration of exploration and exploitation in the pursuit of flexibility and efficiency. In particular, we elucidate how firms apply integrative employment practices and integrative work practices to facilitate collaboration and to create and strengthen a common frame of reference that fosters knowledge integration. Finally, setting up an ambidextrous HRM system supports the complementary interplay between a common frame of reference and a firm's ability to integrate knowledge in order to manage the conflicting demands of exploration and exploitation.     

Options‐based HRM,intellectual capital,and exploratory and exploitative learning in law firms' practice groups

The current study intends to uncover the strategic contribution of human resource management by introducing a unique construct of options‐based (vis‐à‐vis project‐based) HRM and examining its links to intellectual capital and exploratory and exploitative learning in the context of law firms' practice groups. Empirical results show that options‐based HRM is positively related to the practice group's explorative and exploitative learning. The intellectual capital mediates the relationships between options‐based HRM and the practice group's learning for exploration and exploitation. This study makes a valuable contribution to the HRM literature by establishing the mechanisms by which HRM enables organizational learning and extending the scope of HRM research to professional service firms. Our findings also provide valuable implications for the literature of organizational learning. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Intellectual Capital Architectures and Ambidextrous Learning: A Framework for Human Resource Management

abstract    Both researchers and managers are increasingly interested in how firms can pursue ambidextrous learning; that is, simultaneously exploring new knowledge domains while exploiting current ones. Ambidextrous learning is derived from intellectual capital architectures that underlie unique configurations of human, social, and organizational capital. We identified two distinctive architectures of intellectual capital that facilitate ambidextrous learning. Refined interpolation is an architecture comprised of specialist human capital supplemented by cooperative social capital, and complemented by organic organizational capital. Disciplined extrapolation is an architecture comprised of generalist human capital, supplemented by entrepreneurial social capital, and complemented by mechanistic organizational capital. As organization contexts to support these architectures, we have also identified two alternative HR configurations that facilitate ambidextrous learning. One HR configuration combines job or function-based development, ILM-based employee relations, and error embracing performance/control systems to support refined interpolation. The other HR configuration combines skill-based development, market-based employee relations, and error avoiding performance/control systems to support disciplined extrapolation. Our framework may provide valuable theoretical implications for HRM systems regarding the issues of internal fits and best configurations.     

Does HRM generate ambidextrous employees for ambidextrous learning? The moderating role of management support

During the past decade, organizational ambidexterity has emerged as a central research stream in management science to investigate how organizations manage to remain successful over time. By using the lens of organizational learning, ambidexterity can be defined as the simultaneous pursuit of exploratory learning and exploitative learning. In this study, we attempt to bring human resource management into the forum by introducing and testing how human resource (HR) systems affect the firm's ambidextrous learning. We show how high-involvement HR systems may support ambidextrous learning by stimulating firm employees to behave ambidextrously. We also emphasize the moderating role of management support in sustaining ambidextrous learning through high-involvement HR systems. A field study of 182 companies from Spain showed that high-involvement HR systems were positively related to ambidextrous learning and validated the moderating role of management support.     

Managing tensions between exploitative and exploratory innovation through purchasing function ambidexterity

This paper investigates how companies can manage tensions between exploitative and exploratory innovation by developing an ambidextrous purchasing function. We identify four types of ambidexterity (structural, sequential, contextual and managerial) and discuss how these can be combined to complement each other. We present an in-depth case study of a large firm (S Corp), which has implemented an ambidextrous purchasing function to contribute simultaneously to exploitative and exploratory innovation. We observe how the four types of ambidexterity were manifested and applied to balance purchasing's contribution to both exploratory and exploitative innovations. The case study shows how the different types of ambidexterity can be combined to mitigate tensions. Based on our case study findings, we identify a two-stage process of developing purchasing ambidexterity, combining the four types of ambidexterity over time. Our findings enrich the understanding of how companies can develop an ambidextrous purchasing function to facilitate purchasing's contribution to exploitative innovation and exploratory innovation.     

The role of HRM practices in product development: Contextual ambidexterity in a US MNC’s subsidiary in India

Abstract

Recent studies have started exploring the linkages between organisational ambidexterity (OA) and HRM practices. OA is noted as a critical resource in achieving product, process, and business model innovations. By adopting an inductive case study of a US MNC subsidiary in India, we found empowerment-focused HRM practices were being used for exploration of new ideas and efficiency-focused HRM practices were adopted for the exploitation of the organisation’s existing strengths. Empowerment-focused HRM practices created a culture of openness and risk-taking, which facilitated the creation of an ambidextrous context. Further, ambidextrous learning was moderated by the adoption of a managerial/leadership style that focused on ‘mirroring competencies’ between the parent operation and its subsidiary. HRM practices were aimed at developing behaviours that valued the team-based co-development of graphic processor designs by means of a ‘parallel processing’ approach to product development. Additionally, the HRM practice of offering intrinsic employee rewards and both informal and formal training facilitated OA in delivering product innovation. This study represents a pioneering exploration of multiple levels of analysis (individual, functional, and organisational) for product innovation through the lenses of ambidexterity, innovation, and HRM practices. The implications for both theory and practice are also discussed.     

The relationship between knowledge search strategies and absorptive capacity: A deeper look

The present study analyzes how the breadth and depth of search strategies affect the dimensions of a firm's absorptive capacity: exploration, transformation and exploitation. Results of an analysis of a sample of 467 Spanish manufacturing firms reveal that openness of external knowledge search contributes to firms' exploratory, transformative and exploitative learning processes in different ways. In particular, a strong curvilinear effect of external knowledge search breadth on exploratory and exploitative learning was found. It is also important to establish deep relationships with external agents to achieve transformative and exploitative learning up to a certain point after which relationships become negative. Interestingly, for a firm to develop explorative learning, it is not important to establish deep relationships. And for a firm to develop transformative learning it is not important to establish broad relationships. Some suggestions for managers and future lines of research are provided.     

Senior Team Attributes and Organizational Ambidexterity: The Moderating Role of Transformational Leadership

abstract    Organizations capable of pursuing exploration and exploitation simultaneously have been suggested to obtain superior performance. Combining both types of activities and achieving organizational ambidexterity, however, leads to the presence of multiple and often conflicting goals, and poses considerable challenges to senior teams in ambidextrous organizations. This study explores the role of senior team attributes and leadership behaviour in reconciling conflicting interests among senior team members and achieving organizational ambidexterity. Findings indicate that a senior team shared vision and contingency rewards are associated with a firm's ability to combine high levels of exploratory and exploitative innovations. In addition, our study shows that an executive director's transformational leadership increases the effectiveness of senior team attributes in ambidextrous organizations and moderates the effectiveness of senior team social integration and contingency rewards. Hence, our study clarifies how senior executives reconcile conflicting demands and facilitate the balancing of seemingly contradictory forces in ambidextrous organizations. Implications for literatures on senior team attributes, transformational leadership and organizational ambidexterity are discussed.     

Managing human resources in dynamic environments to create value: role of HR options

HR options as firm investments in human assets in uncertain environments to create the capability to flexibly respond to future contingent events have been recognised as valuable. However, the black box of causal interlinkages between environmental uncertainties, HR options and firm performance is yet to be explored in strategic HRM literature. Based on the data obtained from 108 IT software firms in India, this study empirically explores these linkages using a multi-level causal model. The results suggest that the use of HR options positively mediates the effects of environmental uncertainties on firm performance. The mediating influences of different types of HR options, used by the firms to manage various types of uncertainties affecting their human assets, on the operational and the financial performance of the firms are found to be different. Implications of findings of the study for managing investments in human assets under uncertainty have been discussed.     

Exploration,exploitation and human resource management practices in cooperative and entrepreneurial HR configurations

Human resource (HR) practices for selection, performance appraisal, performance–compensation linkage and training are found to be less formalized in entrepreneurial HR configurations (exploratory) than in cooperative HR configurations (exploitative). Although less formalization may support more flexibility and improvisation, it was found to have the disadvantage of reducing process transparency, developmental feedback, performance–compensation linkage strength and the amount of training available. These findings are consistent with theories of exploration and exploitation, with their extensions to human resource management and leadership, and the view that HR systems and practice should be varied in light of the organizational processes to which they are being applied.     

HRM Systems for Knowledge Workers: Differences Among Top Managers,Middle Managers,and Professional Employees

This theoretical study contributes to the debate in the field of strategic HRM on whether HRM systems should differ across employee groups within the firm. It explores differences in the efficacy of two HRM systems—high‐involvement HR and internal labor market systems—across top management teams, middle managers, and professional employees. In addition, it examines factors that may prevent the adoption of effective HRM systems for these groups of knowledge workers. A model is proposed depicting how four job‐level moderators influence the HRM‐performance relationship and how these moderators apply to each of the three employee groups. Short‐term performance pressures and favoritism in staffing are proposed as factors that may hinder the adoption of effective HRM systems. Finally, HRM systems for different employee groups are classified based on their gains potential and barriers to implementation, yielding four categories of strategic HRM activity metaphorically labeled low‐hanging fruits, high‐hanging fruits, peanuts, and barren land. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Exploratory and exploitative innovation: To what extent do the dimensions of individual level absorptive capacity contribute?

Individuals are considered the frontline that allows firms to learn from external sources. However, a firm can only benefit from individual efforts if it understands to what extent the dimensions of individual-level absorptive capacity are related to its innovation strategy. A firm's innovation strategy is characterized by the notions of exploration and exploitation, which result in either radical or incremental innovation. This study examines the driving factors of individual-level absorptive capacity regarding a firm's exploration versus exploitation strategy. Using quantitative data from 104 individuals, partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis was conducted, verifying individuals' competencies in identifying external knowledge as a trigger for both exploratory and exploitative innovation. Consequently, these specific abilities also contribute to organizational ambidexterity. Furthermore, the results show the dichotomous contribution of individual competencies in assimilating external knowledge. While exploratory innovation thrives with individual assimilation efforts, realization of exploitative innovation is not significantly related to these efforts. Ultimately, individuals' competencies in utilizing external knowledge are significantly related to neither exploratory nor exploitative innovation. Moreover, this study provides means for managers to systematically position individuals in the external search process.     

The effect of an ambidextrous supply chain strategy on combinative competitive capabilities and business performance

This study investigates the influence of an ambidextrous supply chain strategy on manufacturers’ combinative competitive capabilities – the ability to excel simultaneously on competitive capabilities of quality, delivery, flexibility, and cost – and, in turn, on business performance. Drawing upon March's (1991) notions of exploration and exploitation, an ambidextrous supply chain strategy is conceptualized as a simultaneous pursuit of both explorative and exploitative supply chain practices. We operationalize this concept as a second-order latent construct that captures the co-variation between exploration and exploitation within the context of a manufacturer's supply chain management strategy. Using survey-based data gathered from 174 U.S. manufacturers, we find that an ambidextrous supply chain strategy coincides with combinative competitive capabilities and business performance. Our empirical finding contradicts conventional wisdom that argues for tradeoffs between exploration and exploitation. Instead, our empirical results are in line with an emerging complementarity view advocating that supply chain managers build practices to gain operational efficiency while simultaneously searching for opportunities to gain operational advantages. In addition, we provide insights regarding the role of combinative capabilities in mediating the relationship between an ambidextrous supply chain strategy and business performance.     

Control and commitment HR practices,job satisfaction and turnover intentions: a comparison between local and multinational firms in China

There is a growing body of literature and debate around control versus commitment human resource management (HRM) systems and their impacts on employees. However, the impacts of these constructs have not been widely examined in more emerging economies. Taking a specific sample of educated professionals working for multinational and local firms in China, this study investigated employee perceptions of control and commitment HR practices, job satisfaction and turnover intentions. A total of 311 respondents completed a structured survey questionnaire. Results revealed that those working for multinational firms reported more positive perceptions of their employers' control and commitment HR practices. In multinational firms, the use of commitment HR practices predicted lower intentions to leave. However, in domestic firms a lack of control HR practices predicted higher turnover intentions. Theoretically, the study adds to discussions about the nature and roles of these constructs, their impacts on HR outcomes and how institutional mechanisms might shape the degree of HRM homogeneity and hybridity across organizations in China. Practically, the study provides guidance to international and local firms on how to improve their HRM effectiveness to achieve a higher retention of their most talented professionals.     

Ambidextrous leadership,paradox and contingency: evidence from Angola

Abstract

The study departs from two assumptions. First, it considers that organizations, their leaders and the HRM function are inherently paradoxical and that, in that sense, dealing with paradox is a necessary component of the leadership process which requires ambidexterity capabilities. Second, it explores whether the paradoxes of leadership may manifest differently in different contexts. We explore the emergence of paradox in the leadership of Angolan organizations. Angola is an economy transitioning from a centrally planned to a market mode, and this makes it a rich site for understanding the specificities of ambidextrous paradoxical processes in an under-researched, ‘rest of the world’, context. The findings of our inductive study led to the emergence of four interrelated paradoxes and highlight the importance of ambidextrous paradoxical work as a HRM contingency.     

Strengthening organizational ambidexterity with top management team mechanisms and processes

Abstract

Organizational ambidexterity is the organizational capability to simultaneously pursue explorative and exploitative innovation strategies. Studies have examined the Top Management Team (TMT) actions and decisions with the ambidextrous orientation of a firm. Further, studies have also shown that a behaviourally integrated TMT is positively associated with organizational ambidexterity. However, there has been limited research examining the antecedents to the behaviourally integrated TMT. Anchored in the upper echelons perspective, we have examined the influence of TMT processes and mechanisms on organizational ambidexterity. The TMT is observed to positively influence ambidexterity by enhancing the firm’s ability to meet the differentiation-integration challenges, and by facilitating the effective deployment of ambidextrous Human Resource (HR) architectures for employee learning. Thereby, this investigation examines the effect of TMT processes and mechanisms in enabling structural as well as contextual ambidexterity. The results from a sample of 78 hi-tech Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across different industries were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. We find the mediating role of TMT behavioural integration in the effect of TMT connectedness and TMT cross-functional interfacing mechanisms on organizational ambidexterity. However, our results show that rewards contingent on organizational performance do not motivate the TMT members to facilitate organizational ambidexterity. The results from this study lend support to the upper echelons perspective and add to two distinct streams of literature namely organizational ambidexterity and behavioural integration.     

Uncovering competitive and institutional drivers of HRM practices in multinational corporations

Current international human resource management (IHRM) literature focusing on multinational corporations (MNCs) presents evidence of both similarities and differences in the HR practices adopted in different global locations. However, the drivers behind this duality require more detailed investigation. This article focuses on exploring why MNCs position themselves within global markets as they do, exploring how extant theory can help explain the drivers behind both global and national HR practices. Based on a worldwide sample of in‐depth interview‐based case studies of well‐known MNCs, we explore the ways in which different firms react to both institutional and competitive pressures in selecting their approach to HRM. The findings uncover a differentiation between external global competitive isomorphic pressures, external national institutional isomorphic pressures, and internal processes of strategic choice and competitive differentiation. It is suggested that MNCs face all three drivers of HRM simultaneously, leading to different patterns of practice adoption, adaptation and innovation.     

Environmental dynamism,human resource flexibility,and firm performance: analysis of a multi-level causal model

While strategic HRM scholars have conceptualized HR flexibility as an important source of sustainable superior firm performance in dynamic environments, the process through which HR flexibility creates value for the firm has not been empirically investigated. Based on a study of 98 manufacturing and 103 service firms from a wide array of industries in India, this paper attempts to illuminate the black box of causal linkages between environmental dynamism, flexibility of human assets, and firm level human-, operational-, and financial-outcomes by developing and testing a multi-level causal model. Evidence indicates that HR flexibility mediates the influence of environmental dynamism on firm performance and that irrespective of the nature of the industry and the degree of environmental turbulence, superior firm performance ensues when HR flexibility as actually possessed by the firm matches the environmental demands for such flexibility as perceived by the firm managers. The results also support the notion of HR value chain that postulates that HR system has direct impact on firm-level HR outcomes which are most proximal, and its effects on increasingly more distal operational- and financial-outcomes are mediated by HR outcomes. The findings of the study suggest that HR practices as a system have both direct and indirect (mediated by behavioral flexibility) effects on firm-level HR outcomes. Existence of significant direct effects signifies that HR practices play an important role as a structural mechanism in achieving superior firm performance.     

Strategic HRM and organisational learning in the Chinese private sector during second-pioneering

This study examines the relationship between strategic human resource management (HRM) and organisational learning in Chinese private firms during the second-pioneering stage, which involves a process of transition from ‘opportunism’ to ‘capability building’. It specifically examines how this relationship is influenced by environmental uncertainty and guanxi dependence. Using data from a face-to-face survey of 107 Chinese private firms, the findings show that strategic HRM has a positive effect on all four dimensions of organisational learning: knowledge acquisition, knowledge distribution, knowledge interpretation and organisational memory. In addition, task environmental uncertainty positively moderates the relationship between strategic HRM and organisational learning. However, the moderating effects of institutional environmental uncertainty and guanxi dependence on this relationship are not significant. These results highlight the importance of strategic HRM for organisational learning in uncertain task environments to promote organisational transition.