ORGANIZATIONAL AMBIDEXTERITY IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

misbe2011 Tracking Number 228

Organizational ambidexterity refers to an organization’s ability to both exploit existing knowledge, assets, and positions for short-term profits and also explore new knowledge, technologies, and markets to enhance long-term development. Ambidexterity research has mostly focused on firm or business unit levels. Studies dealing purely with project or alliance levels in project-based industries are non-existent. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to examine if it is a useful concept for discussing sustainability and competitive advantage in the construction industry, to what degree ambidexterity is present, and how it may be affected by procurement procedures and project governance. Short-term project focus and decentralization inhibits learning from one point in time and space to another, making it more difficult to reap the benefits of exploration than of exploitation. Due to strong path dependence there is an apparent risk that construction industry actors may be trapped in suboptimal stable equilibrium by focusing too heavily on exploitation and too little on exploration. This paper discusses how procurement procedures and project governance can affect the possibilities to achieve ambidexterity in construction projects. Joint specification, partner selection, incentive-based payment, and collaborative tools are important means to affect ambidexterity so that a suitable balance between exploitation and exploration can be obtained in construction projects.