Praise for The Ambidextrous Organization

Transcription

1 Praise for The Ambidextrous Organization Jens does a masterful job of defining the ambidextrous organization that can manage the paradoxes of individual competencies and organization capabilities, managing culture as a shared mind-set and personal behavior, and leadership as personal abilities and organization capabilities. This book offers ideas with impact and can be useful in defining organizations as bundles of capabilities more than structure. Dave Ulrich, Rensis Likert Professor of Business, University of Michigan; Partner, The RBL Group Many company leaders want innovation and profitable growth without changing the way they ve operated for years. Other leaders want to rapidly explore new business opportunities without nurturing established practices that ensure financial and operating stability. Jens Maier helps us see in this insightful and accessible book how to do both in order to lead effectively. Jeff Semenchuk, Chief Innovation Officer, Hyatt Hotels Corporation Jens Maier s erudite and entertaining book explains how companies and individuals can use both hands to exploit existing competitive advantages and explore new ones. It is a commendable blueprint for tomorrow s corporate world. Prof. Eric Cornuel, Director General and CEO, EFMD Executives around the world and across industries are challenged to make innovation decisions in an environment often characterized as digitization. This book offers practical insights for executives on how to frame the challenges and to develop solutions for both their organizations and their own leadership careers. Zeger Degraeve, Dean, Melbourne Business School

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3 The Ambidextrous Organization Jens Maier Lecturer, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland Exploring the New While Exploiting the Now Palgrave macmillan

4 Jens Maier 2015 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6 10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act First published 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number , of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India.

5 To my parents Gerda and Gerhard Maier

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7 Contents List of Tables, Figures, and Boxes Foreword xi Acknowledgments xii ix Introduction The Case for Ambidextrous Organizations and Ambidextrous Leaders 1 Part I: Challenges Introduction to Part I 17 1 Strategic Challenges 25 2 Leadership Challenges 45 3 Process Challenges 65 4 Mindset Challenges 85 Summary: Part I 110 Part II: Solutions Introduction to Part II Solution Linking Leadership Development to Corporate Development Solution: Scouting Looking Beyond 165 vii

8 viii Contents 7 Solution: Convergence Engineering Solution De-risking: Creating Robust Organizational Architectures 217 Summary: Part II 246 Conclusion 249 References 261 Further Reading 264 Index 266

9 List of Tables, Figures, and Boxes Tables Table I.1 Roles of Managers and Leaders 19 Table 3.1 Comparison: Exploitation Exploration 78 Table 5.1 Performance Criteria for Corporate Universities 148 Figures Figure 1.1 Example of Innovation Landscape 36 Figure 2.1 The T-Model 53 Figure 3.1 Shaping Game Projects/Exploration Prototyping 75 Figure I.II.1 Current Role of L&D Experts in Ambidexterity 120 Figure I.II.2 What Should the Learning and Development Community do to Support Ambidexterity in Organizations? 121 Figure 5.1 Linking Leadership Development to Corporate Development 133 Figure 5.2 Corporate Universities: Focus over Time 140 Figure 5.3 Case Examples: Corporate Universities 149 Figure 5.4 Amcor AFEA s Demand Plotted within the Environment of Executive Education and Leadership Development Measures 151 Figure 5.5 The Three- Level Impact of the LTO II- Program 155 Figure 7.1 The Circle of Actionability 210 ix

10 x List of Tables, Figures, and Boxes Boxes Box 2.1 Zurich Financial Services Example 47 Box Box Box Box 2.5 An Imaginative Situation 62 Box 3.1 Case Example: The Energy Business 69 Box 4.1 Case Example: Insurance Company 86 Box 4.2 Case Example: Banking 87 Box 4.3 Case Example: Energy Company 87 Box 4.4 Key Terms 89 Box 4.5 Financial Services Example 102 Box 5.1 Case Example: Packaging/Manufacturing 150 Box 5.2 Case Example: Bank 156 Box 5.3 Case Example: Services 157 Box 5.4 Case Example: Financial Services 159 Box 6.1 Case Example: Simultaneity of Ideas 174 Box 6.2 Case Example: New York 178 Box 6.3 Case Example: Germany 179 Box 6.4 Case Example: Intel 181 Box 6.5 Case Example: Insurance 182 Box 7.1 Case Example: Daimler Benz Aerospace 189 Box 7.2 Thomas Meyer on Convergence Engineering 191 Box 7.3 Interview with Dr. Christian Garbe of FiZ 195 Box 7.4 An Interview with Prof. Dr. Roger Moser of the ACC 199 Box 7.5 Interview with Heidi Mason 204 Box 8.1 Illustration 221 Box 8.2 Triple III Overview 223 Box 8.3 The Kotter Model 241

11 Foreword Ambidexterity the use of both hands at first sounds odd to a business professional. At one level it sounds simplistic of course we are creating the future in our businesses with full energy and with the use of both hands; at another level it sounds quite complicated can we not have an easier word to describe the fact that in the area of innovation we have to simultaneously improve existing products and processes, whilst exploring new opportunities beyond existing products and processes? However, as anyone who has ever been assigned to the running of exploration projects in large organizations can attest to, the challenges of ambidexterity are very real for both organizations and the individual leaders. For organizations the real danger of being stuck in existing markets is leaving open opportunities to be taken advantage of by new contenders. For individuals, handling both the risk of project success and the risk of having to deal with the enormous personal challenges are the particular political pressures inside organizations. This book is building a bridge between the ambidextrous organization and the ambidextrous leader. The challenges at both the org anizational level and the personal level are clearly identified. In Part II, practical, down to earth approaches are suggested that allow both organizations and individual leaders to be successful at being ambidextrous. Professor Wolfgang Renz; McGill University xi

12 Acknowledgments This book would not have existed without the insistence of the founder of the FutureWork Forum, Mike Johnson. Mike has observed over many years how my thinking and experience have developed. When I showed him a brief working paper he immediately suggested expanding it into a book. Now, for him, as a prolific author of numerous books, that was easy to say. For me, this book is a first. Mike Johnson s suggestion was quite a challenge. Having spent years as a Business School Scholar, as senior executive in leading global organizations, and as a consultant, my written output has been sparse to put it mildly After crossing the Rubicon of deciding to write the book under the great encouragement of first Tamsine O Riordan and later Stephen Partridge at Palgrave Macmillan, I was pleasantly surprised: It was fun and it was fast. It was fun because I was able to reconcile many happy, successful experiences remembering numerous occasions with great colleagues, clients, and business partners. It was fast, from start to finish in less than nine months. Ok, with a clear structure in place it was straight- forward to connect the various pieces, which I had the chance to test with many executives around the world through both teaching and consulting. However, with speed comes allocation of time: I am very grateful for the encouragement and support from my family because they saw me even less than usual. My particular thanks go to my partner Paat, whose patience and support was much tested, but relentlessly provided. This book is very much influenced through close collaboration with key colleagues spanning sometimes many years. xii

13 Acknowledgments xiii From the strategic thinking perspective, the late C.K. Prahalad, Gordon Hewitt, Günter Müller- Stewens, Costas Markides, and Julian Birkinshaw. From a leadership perspective, Dave Ulrich, the late Sumantra Ghoshal, Heike Bruch, Wolfgang Loos, Gareth Jones, Brent Smith, Thomas Sattelberger, and Hanneke Frese. From an innovation perspective, Larry Keeley, Roger Moser, Markus Frank, Nader Tavassoli, Christian Garbe, Armin Möhrle, Thomas Meyer, and Heidi Mason. In the book I have tried to attribute key ideas to the specific individual. However, I do apologize in advance if in the spirit of collaboration I may have missed a clear attribution when it may have been required. Finally, my special thanks go to Janna Maier who had to go through each chapter in detail, ensuring that her father s writings remain comprehensible and on track.