Wk7: Ch8: Ambidextrous organisation

Question 1

Explicit vs tacit knowledge?

Answer 1

• Explicit knowledge is readily available, raw data possessing the same meaning for everyone. Easily codifiable. (e.g: textbook, journal article, website, videos)
• Tacit knowledge is know-how. Difficult to codify and complex, resulting from a combination of explicit knowledge and personal experiences. More often associated with competitve advantages in a firm because difficult to transfer to another firm. Difficlt to express to others.

Question 2

Describe the importance of organisational learning as a process and how to implement it.

Answer 2

• Allows for effective capture, processing and implementation of knowledge
• Incorporate review mechanisms for every project after it is completed
• Build up knowledge stores by interacting with external stakeholders to better understand their needs
• Learning should happen throughout the innovation process
• Learning from others is also important (Done through strategic alliances & partnerships with other firms, and within the firm by switching employees around to learn about other department functions)

Question 3

What is absorptive capacity?

Answer 3

• Firm’s ability to identify, process and exploit new external environment information
• Dynamic capability which helps create competitive advantage
• Ability to quickly and effectively change its resource distribution/strategic objectives
• Potential absorptive capacity: The ability to both acquire and identify relevant NB information as well as integrate information into the firm’s systems/processes/operations
• Realised absorptive capacity: Transformation of knowledge (ability to manage routines that combine existing knowledge with new acquired knowledge)
• **Action **(Ability to utilise knowledge to achieve goals, and leverage existing or create new competencies depending on the knowledge learned)

Question 4

What does it mean to be an ambidextrous organisation?

Answer 4

• Being able to manage both types of learning: exploitative learning and explorative learning.

Question 5

What is exploitative learning?

Answer 5

• A directed search with limited variety
• Includes activities such as refinement, choice, efficiency, selection, implementation & execution
• Often results in incremental innovations
• More safe and more common among large firms

Question 6

What is explorative learning?

Answer 6

• Includes search, variation, risk-taking, experimentation, flexibility, discovery & innovation
• Sometimes results in radical innovations
• Knowledge gained from this type of learning can be very unrelated to existingknowledge base and highly uncertain/ambiguous ito value, making this learning more risky
• Less common among large firms, but neccessary in the long term to sustain competitive advantage

Question 7

Since both exploitative and explorative learning are NB for a firm

How would you manage both types of learning at the same time?

Answer 7

2 ways:
* Structural ambidexterity: creating seperate business departments/functions to deal with different types of learning (e.g: R&D and product/sales department for Explorative & Exploitative respectively.
* Different support mechanisms, selection criteria and processes for different functions
* Contextual ambidexterity: Each individual employee decides between 2 learning types in everyday activities
* Employees need to possess the following 4 qualities to be ambidextrous:
* Take initiative & alert to opportunities beyond their job description
* Cooperative and look for opportunities to combine effort with others
* Brokers, looking to build internal linkages
* Multitaskers, comfortable doing multiple different activities
* Orgnisation must enable employees to be ambidextrous with appropriate structures, culture & reward mechanisms to encourage ambidextrous behaviour