Dynamic Management Capabilities

Flexibiltiy and agility require dynamic management capabilities. The traditional top-down routines designed to manage "business as usual" do not suffice to remain competitive in a turbulent environment. This theme investigates the constituent parts of dynamic management, expecially the relative importance of:

  • ambidextrous managers, i.e. the ability to perform both exploitation and exploration managerial activities;
  • broad management experience regarding various managerial roles and leadership styles;
  • profound domain expertise, significant knowledge absorption capacity and the ability to identify relevant clues in an early stage;
  • an entrepreneurial attitude;
  • the ability for higher order learning and tries to clarify their effect on social innovation.

Researchers working on this theme:

  • Frans A.J. Van Den Bosch (Coordinator)

    Frans A.J. Van Den Bosch is Professor of Management of Interfaces between Firms and their Environments at the Department of Strategic Management and Business Environment, RSM Erasmus University and a fellow of Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM).

  • Alex Alexiev

    Alexander Alexiev is a PhD candidate in the Department of Strategic Management and Business Environment of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University.

  • Bernardo Lima

    Bernardo Lima is a ph.D. candidate at the Department of Strategic Management and Business Environment of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University.

  • Ignacio Vaccaro

    Ignacio Vaccaro is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Strategic Management and Business Environment at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University.

  • Mariano Heyden

    Mariano Heyden is a PhD candidate in the Department of Strategic Management and Business Environment of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University.

  • Marten Stienstra

    Marten Stienstra is Assistant Professor at the Department of Strategic Management and Business Environment at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and associate member of Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM).

  • Michiel Tempelaar

    Michiel Tempelaar is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Strategic Management and Business Environment at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University.

  • Pepijn van Neerijnen

    Pepijn van Neerijnen is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Strategic Management and Business Environment of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University.

  • Sebastiaan van Doorn

    Sebastiaan van Doorn is a PhD candidate in the department of strategic management and business environment of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University.

  • Tom Mom

    Tom Mom is Assistant Professor at the Department of Strategic Management and Business Environment at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and associate member of Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM).

  • Understanding variation in managers' ambidexterity
    6 April 2009, Working Paper

    Previous research focuses on firm and business unit level ambidexterity. Therefore, conceptual and empirically validated understanding about ambidexterity at the individual level of analysis is very scarce. This paper addresses this gap in the literature by investigating managers’ ambidexterity,delivering three contributions to theory and empirical research on ambidexterity. First, by proposing three related characteristics of ambidextrous managers. Second, by developing a model and associated hypotheses on both the direct and interaction effects of formal structural and personal coordination mechanisms on managers’ ambidexterity. And third, by testing the hypotheses based on a sample of 716 business unit level and operational level managers.

    Findings regarding the formal structural mechanisms indicate that a manager’s decision making authority positively relates to this manager’s ambidexterity whereas formalization of a manager’s tasks has no significant relationship with this manager’s ambidexterity. Regarding the personal coordination mechanisms, findings indicate that both participation of a manager in crossfunctional interfaces and connectedness of a manager to other organization members, positively relate to this manager’s ambidexterity. Furthermore, results show positive interaction effects between the formal structural and personal coordination mechanisms on managers’ ambidexterity. The paper’s theoretical contributions and the empirical results increase our understanding about managers’ ambidexterity and about how different types and combinations of coordination mechanisms relate to variation in managers’ ambidexterity.