Developing Ambidextrous Routines in the IT Service Provider Industry

Abstract

This study explores ambidextrous practices and distinctive leadership styles in interorganizational settings of two German medium sized IT service providers. We draw on the theory of routines-as-practices and on the organizational ambidexterity literature to analyze organizational practices aiming at both potential for change (exploration) and stability (exploitation). We identify two distinct modes of contextual ambidexterity, whereby one capability is used to improve the other, i.e. 'exploration for exploitation', an orientation towards continually improving the quality of the service delivery, and 'exploration through exploitation', an approach of project-driven learning. We highlight and classify a multi-layered repertoire of ambidextrous routines across the three levels of analysis: leadership, project team, and client relations. Our findings illustrate elaborate management repertoires of interventions with respect to culture, structures, policies or practices, which are aligned with the ecosystem within which both companies are operating.

Leveraging Ambidexterity in a Digital Platform Ecosystem: Insights from a Complementor’s Perspective

“…Based on an all-embracing philosophy and wellnurtured culture of employee-empowerment, the two VPs have fostered a repertoire of social mechanisms (internal hackathons, lunch-&-learn, tip-&-tricks) that facilitated causal relationships between 'deep' and 'surface' structures during a process of explorationfor-exploration (Vieru et al 2021). These instantiations of an ambidextrous work design enacted an innovation culture through the design of structures, policies, and practices.…”