Ambidextrous Organizations: Managing Evolutionary and Revolutionary Change

Abstract

Organizations evolve through periods of incremental or evolutionary change punctuated by discontinuous or revolutionary change. The challenge for managers is to adapt the culture and strategy of their organizations to its current environment, but to do so in a way that does not undermine its ability to adjust to radical changes in that environment. They must, in other words, create an ambidextrous organization—one capable of simultaneously pursuing both incremental and discontinuous innovation.