Achieving contextual ambidexterity with communities of practice at GDF SUEZ
Authors
P. J. Barlatier, and O. Dupouët
Reference
Global Business and Organizational Excellence, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 43-53, 2015
Description
Exploring paths for new business while exploiting current opportunities is a difficult task to fulfill, as it may make conflicting demands on organizational resources. Ambidextrous firms are able to achieve this goal by either splitting their resources between the two tasks or by allowing sufficient flexibility for employees to move between them within a network of communities of practice (CoPs). An analysis of the experiences of GDF SUEZ, a French multinational firm, show that CoPs at the business unit level serve as platforms from which knowledge is produced and broadcast to the rest of the organization and provide an environment in which individuals are able to move freely between exploration and exploitation activities. The study also offers practical guidance on how managers can best capture and leverage the knowledge that is generated through such collaborative endeavors. ©2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
