RESPONSIBLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP VISION DEVELOPMENT AND ETHICS

In search of balance. Managing ambidexterity in a fast growing techno-SME 355
Managerial ambidextrous activities
Because managerial ambidextrous activities are seen both as a measure of ambidexterity
and as an important precedent of ambidexterity (Mom et al., 2007), this measure can be compared
to, or is a check on, the previous measure. Managerial ambidextrous activities are measured
through the managers’ view as to what extent they are active in explorative and
exploitative activities. The results show (figure 3) that on average, managers have more balance
between exploration (average score 5.1) and exploitation (average score 5.1) than Ampelmann
in general des. Since the largest difference between the scores of the two measures is
only 5.5%, this difference is interpreted as small. What stands out is that innovation project
managers (label 23, 24 and 25 in figure 3) score consistently lower than average (average
score on exploration is 4.5 and on exploitation 4.4), while engineering managers (label 19,
20, 21 and 22 in figure 4) vary the most in the extent to which they engage in explorative
activities (from score 3: ’not really’ to score 7: ’to a very great extent’). The difference for
the innovation project managers can be explained by observing that the innovation department’s
main task is project management. As a result, innovation managers may not really
identify with either exploration or exploitation activities.
Figure 4: Managers exploration and exploitation activities at Ampelmann
Performance context
The more a company emphasizes performance management and social support, the more
likely are its employees to behave in an ambidextrous manner, and the more likely the organization
is to perform well (Birkinshaw & Gibson, 2004). The results show that there are decent
boundary conditions to create a true high performance context. Performance management (5:
to some extent) and social support (4.9: to some extent) at Ampelmann score in the lower