To be competitive, it is important for companies to create a breeding ground for innovation without jeopardizing productivity. The challenge posed by industrial companies and the innovation research community is how to promote innovation while achieving efficient execution. The ability to balance execution and innovation is referred to as organizational ambidexterity (OA), which includes several dimensions, concepts and approaches where a central task can be identified. The purpose of this paper is to investigate what consequences result from different dimensions of a task in relation to the types of its actions, and their effects on OA. The focus of the task is firstly investigated, followed by the development of nine scenarios via combining the designers’ and the performers’ perspectives of the task. A brief analysis of the scenarios indicates that there is no single optimal scenario; rather, the scenarios represent different states that are appropriate for certain conditions, and dynamic adaptation should be encouraged in relation to the changing conditions. This type of dynamics is particularly expected to prevail in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) because the roles that are responsible for tasks in these organizations are less specialized. Therefore, SMEs must define tasks that include both explorative and exploitative parts, either simultaneously or sequentially, to stimulate employees to work ambidextrously and thereby develop the concept of task-based ambidexterity.

Organizational Ambidexterity (OA)–the ability to simultaneously pursue exploration and exploitation–is increasingly being advocated as a way to gain competitive advantage. Most of the work on OA has focused on large, multi-divisional organizations, resulting in frameworks and prescriptions that have little utility for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). With this in mind, we report on the first year of an exploratory, quasi-experimental study of ambidexterity within six small-to-medium manufacturing enterprises in Sweden. The research is characterized by an emic, ‘invented here’ approach, where companies closely examine their current exploration and exploitation practices, use their findings to formulate more advanced OA approaches uniquely suited to their values and circumstances, and iteratively apply and refine these over a four year period. It appears that the construct of ‘unplanned’ and associated sub-constructs such as ‘disturbance, crashes, and interruption’ could be an important key to framing and improving OA within these SMEs and perhaps more generally.

Learning processes have an impact on both specific problems and provide wider knowledge of different work processes. For this, managerial work has been identified as crucial. Managerial work is ad hoc and full of daily disturbances, and as learning in organisations often occurs unplanned, it is of interest to study learning processes during unplanned managerial work. A theoretical framework with two learning logics, developmental and executional learning were used. These logics are interpreted as an interdependent duality and not only as two equally important entities. The purpose of this study is to understand learning processes during unplanned managerial work in practice, from an ambidextrous perspective. An in-depth qualitative approach was used, where four learning processes were identified and analysed. We identify two ambidextrous learning logics, within complex work processes, based on either the executional or developmental mode, as a complement to existing knowledge on learning in organisations.

Knowledge capability and innovation performance are essential drivers of organizational success, with managerial work playing a crucial role in fostering these factors. This paper examines planned and unplanned managerial work from a knowledge creation perspective, analyzing 21 short interviews and 21 days of shadowing seven leaders, alongside interactive analyses with management teams in four manufacturing SMEs. A four-step analysis of 2125 activities revealed four categories of managerial work, with unplanned activities accounting for 52% of work time, highlighting the complexity and ad-hoc nature of managerial work. Internally initiated unplanned managerial work was crucial for tacit knowledge conversion. If policymakers want to support lifelong learning initiatives and strengthen innovation capabilities in manufacturing SMEs, they need to encourage the unplanned aspect of managerial work, as it is crucial for knowledge creation, fostering the evolutionary aspect of organizational learning and enhancing innovation capabilities.