Thesis

Between strategic flexibility and operational efficiency: A review of individual ambidexterity

Today, managers in the business world need to cope with complex, sometimes even paradoxical challenges. A new, more integrative and synergetic way of doing things is required. A way to be able to exploit and explore simultaneously; answering short-term as well as long-term questions. Pertusa-Ortega et al. analyzed the state of individual ambidexterity in 2020 and can serve as a foundation for this research project. You will go on a journey to unravel the current state of research on individual ambidexterity and help answering some of the following questions:
- how conflicting goals can complement each other (synergy vs. trade-off)
- how tensions caused by for example resource scarcity can be seen as an opportunity
- how individual ambidexterity is evolving in comparison to other research streams on ambidexterity

Keywords: Individual ambidexterity, tensions, paradox, synergies, trade-off