Organizational Mastery

Table of Contents

1. Frontmatter

2. Chapter 1. Organizational Ambidexterity

   İlknur Kumkale

   Abstract

   It is not possible for businesses to implement their strategic plans without changing them as the organizations that operate in a constantly changing environment and are not independent and nisolated from their environment. In the strategic management of organizations, it is important to organize and store all kinds of information (qualitative and quantitative) obtained under uncertain and variable conditions, to predict risks, and to take effective decisions by evaluating all resources and opportunities. Therefore, while the organizations need to look for most efficient ways of benefiting the resources they have, they ought to evaluate the opportunities around them. Even though it requires opposing strategies in organizational management, being able to use these two approaches at the same time is expressed with the concept of ambidexterity as an organizational capability. When organizational ambidexterity is considered with its structural dimension; it is the ability of reshaping the resources and capabilities of the enterprise according to changing conditions (exploitation), within the same process, by acquiring new resources and developing new skills (exploration) to evaluate the opportunities that occur in the environment, that is, the ability to carry out this process together. When it is considered with its contextual dimension; it is the ability to carrying out the activities within the organization in harmony (alignment) on one side, on the other side, it is the ability to restructure its activities in business units to meet the changing expectations and needs of consumers (adaptability). In this context, organizations with ambidexterity, which can be considered as a dynamic capability, can ensure sustainable competitive advantage by increasing their organizational performance both in the short run and in the long run. This study is conducted to research the impact of strategic leadership and organizational ambidexterity skills on the strategic agility of the organization by examining the literature on the subject. Furthermore, the role of organizational ambidexterity in the impact of strategic leadership on strategic agility of the organization is investigated. This study consists of four parts. In the first part, ambidexterity concept is discussed, and then the issue of organizational ambidexterity is explained with its dimensions. Exploratory and beneficiary innovation abilities and also adaptability and customization are examined as sub dimensions. In the second part, strategic leadership issue is being explained. Firstly it is handled conceptually; then follows the review in five dimensions as managerial strategic leadership, transformational strategic leadership, political strategic leadership, communicative strategic leadership and ethical strategic leadership. The third part focuses on strategic agility. The occurrence of agility concept, the concept of organizational agility and the importance of agility are explained; and agility in organizations with its competence, flexibility, responsiveness and speed dimensions is discussed. In the fourth part, place is given to field study, and the results are evaluated by analyzing the data obtained from the questionnaires applied to the managers of large and medium-sized enterprises. Organizational ambidexterity concept came up with Duncan’s study he made in 1976 (Kauppila in Strateg Org 8(4):283–312, 2010). Successful organizations being versatile and coherent in management of today’s business demands (Duncan in J Pers Soc Psychol 34:590, 1976; Tushman and O’Reilly in Calif Manage Rev 38:8–30, 1996) along with them displaying behavioral models adaptable to the changes that may occur in their environment in the future (Gibson and Birkinshaw in Acad Manage J 47(2):209–226, 2004) became a prominent subject. Such kinds of organizations are those, skilled and effectively adaptable to changes in their internal and external environments simultaneously, namely the organizations having ambidexterity competence. Therefore, the study of Duncan generated a stimulating effect and it has become an issue of increasing interest of the researchers working on management, strategy and organization (Raisch and Birkinshaw in J Manage 34(3):375–409, 2008). However, it seems that, more studies are needed.

3. Chapter 2. Strategic Leadership

   İlknur Kumkale

   Abstract

   Since today’s businesses generally try to survive by struggling in the red oceans, they have to make decisions (with incomplete information) in an environment of constant uncertainty or in conditions that lose their certainty in a very short period of time. For this reason, the classical and traditional managerial characteristics of business managers are not sufficient for the management of businesses operating in such environments. The long and the short of the matter, there is a need for leader managers who have the appropriate behavior and management skills in all conditions, who are capable of solving problems in an environment dominated by complexity and chaos, creative, strategic thinker, in a visionary structure that can adapt his enterprise to change and transformation, open to cooperation, communication and negotiations, supporting doing the right thing, using ethics as base, supervising when necessary to get the job done right. Leaders having these skills, which we can express as strategic leadership skills, are more and more important for organizations. When the studies on this subject and the theories that contribute to the literature are reviewed, although the basic points are similar, it is seen that there are different perspectives and different models are put forward. It is thought that each of the models discussed in this section will provide benefits to businesses in different ways and can be used in practices according to needs.

4. Chapter 3. Organizational Agility

   İlknur Kumkale

   Abstract

   In the first quarter of the twenty-first century we are in; global business trends and tackling environmental turbulence are pushing businesses more and more. From past to present, various factors such as natural disasters, epidemics, environmental and political problems affecting the world, as well as global economic crises, have affected organizations in some way during or at the end of the process. Besides many businesses affected negatively, it is seen that there are also organizations having strategic agility that emerge from the process by gaining strength. In order to talk about the strategic agility of organizations; their competencies in organization, human resources, technology resources, planning, etc. (ability to meet goals and intentions), their flexibility (its adaptability to changing market and environmental conditions with its resources), their responsiveness (being sensitive to recognizing changes, perceiving opportunities and threats, being able to meet changing customer demands) and to be able to use these abilities as quickly as possible (quickness) are all important. The crisis created by the Covid-19 Pandemic, which is still being fought, can also be seen as an opportunity for organizations to re-evaluate themselves in order to understand how speed and to what extent they can adapt to new conditions, and in a sense, their agility. Hence, an omnibus study conducted in 2021 showed that skill development efforts and closing skills gaps in the workforce for the companies became a high priority. Regardless of what the businesses live today and will experience in the future, it would be right to ensure they are strategically resilient against the unknown and to work on dynamic planning processes to rise to the top.

5. Chapter 4. Field Study to Evaluate the Effect of Strategic Leadership and Organizational Ambidexterity on Organizational Agility

   İlknur Kumkale

   Abstract

   Today’s dynamism has brought agility into question in business life, and considering the studies on this subject both in the corporate and academic world, it is possible to say that organizations need dynamic capabilities in the face of change. Managing different processes developing under the changing conditions requires different leadership skills. In other words, leaders having the ability to act in accordance with circumstances are needed. Considering that strategic leaders having these characteristics can both benefit from the resources within the organization in the most efficient way (exploitative) and carry out dynamic strategies that include innovative approaches (exploratory) in a balanced way (ambidexterity), the idea that achieving and maintaining organizational ambidexterity as well can be considered as a dynamic skill, shaped our research. Starting from this point of view, in our study, we investigated the effect of strategic leaders and organizational ambidexterity, which we see as a dynamic capability in achieving organizational agility. The research has been conducted on the first 500 Large Enterprises determined every year by the Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ICI) (Turkey) and 500 medium-sized enterprises with different fields of activity, which are selected from the geographical regions in which these companies operate. The data obtained from the research (339 valid questionnaires) were analyzed with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) by applying Confirmatory Factor Analysis. While it has been seen that different dimensions of strategic leadership and organizational ambidexterity have a direct positive effect on some dimensions of organizational agility, it has been observed that the dimension of ethical strategic leadership has a direct and reverse effect on organizational agility dimensions. At the same time, it has been determined that organizational ambidexterity has a mediating role in the relationship between strategic leadership and some sub-dimensions of organizational ambidexterity.

6. Backmatter