Organizing for Flexibility: Addressing Dynamic Capabilities and Organization Design

The increasingly dynamic nature of organizational environments has led the research community to study organizational flexibility. Although the research literature stresses the complexity of the organizational flexibility construct, it lacks a comprehensive empirical study addressing the relationships among various dimensions of organizational flexibility. This chapter develops a theoretical framework specifying the linkages between types of flexibility and organization design characteristics. We argue for a hierarchical structure with increasing levels of flexibility and supporting organizational design. The theoretical framework is linked to observables based on a dataset of 3,259 respondents and provides strong support for the specified statistical model.

[1]  Charles Edgar Summer,et al.  THE PROCESS OF MANAGEMENT: CONCEPTS, BEHAVIOR, AND PRACTICE. , 1961 .

[2]  D. Teece,et al.  DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES AND STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT , 1997 .

[3]  Avi Fiegenbaum,et al.  Output flexibility—A competitive advantage for small firms , 1991 .

[4]  L. Cronbach,et al.  Construct validity in psychological tests. , 1955, Psychological bulletin.

[5]  Kathleen M. Eisenhardt,et al.  DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES, WHAT ARE THEY? , 2000 .

[6]  T. Lupton,et al.  A Conceptual Scheme for Organizational Analysis , 1963 .

[7]  William H. Glick,et al.  Conceptualizing and Measuring Organizational and Psychological Climate: Pitfalls in Multilevel Research , 1985 .

[8]  G. Hofstede,et al.  Measuring organizational cultures: A qualitative and quantitative study across twenty cases. , 1990 .

[9]  L. Donaldson.  The Contingency Theory of Organizations , 2001 .

[10]  Ron Sanchez,et al.  Modularity, flexibility, and knowledge management in product and organization design , 1996 .

[11]  Allan P. Jones,et al.  Apples and Oranges: An Empirical Comparison of Commonly Used Indices of Interrater Agreement , 1983 .

[12]  Paul Bate,et al.  The Impact of Organizational Culture on Approaches to Organizational Problem-Solving , 1984 .

[13]  J. Hair.  Multivariate data analysis , 1972 .

[14]  Hans G. Krijnen.  The flexible firm , 1979 .

[15]  P. Adler,et al.  Two Types of Bureaucracy: Enabling and Coercive , 1996 .

[16]  Peter T. Ward,et al.  Fit, Flexibility and Performance in Manufacturing: Coping with Dynamic Environments , 2004 .

[17]  I. Cockburn,et al.  Measuring competence?: exploring firm effects in pharmaceutical research , 1994 .

[18]  W. J. Stevenson,et al.  PRODUCTION OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT , 1992 .

[19]  Gary D. Scudder,et al.  Managing innovation and change processes: Findings from the Minnesota innovation research program , 1986 .

[20]  Paul S. Adler,et al.  Managing Flexible Automation , 1988 .

[21]  L. J. Williams,et al.  Recent Advances in Causal Modeling Methods for Organizational and Management Research , 2003 .

[22]  James C. Anderson,et al.  STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING IN PRACTICE: A REVIEW AND RECOMMENDED TWO-STEP APPROACH , 1988 .

[23]  P. Bentler,et al.  Significance Tests and Goodness of Fit in the Analysis of Covariance Structures , 1980 .

[24]  A. Pettigrew,et al.  Determinants of Organizational Flexibility: A Study in an Emerging Economy , 2006 .

[25]  C. Perrow.  A FRAMEWORK FOR THE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ORGANIZATIONS , 1967 .

[26]  L. Zucker.  Institutional Theories of Organization , 1987 .

[27]  Tom R. Burns,et al.  The Management of Innovation. , 1963 .

[28]  L. Bourgeois.  Performance and consensus , 1980 .

[29]  Christopher S. Boerner,et al.  Dynamic capabilities, competence and the behavioral theory of the firm , 2008 .

[30]  Joan C. Woodward.  Industrial Organization: Theory and Practice , 1966 .

[31]  A. V. D. Ven,et al.  Central problems in the management of innovation , 1986 .

[32]  Kjell Grønhaug,et al.  Uncertainty, flexibility, and sustained competitive advantage , 2004 .

[33]  L. James,et al.  rwg: An assessment of within-group interrater agreement. , 1993 .

[34]  D. Aaker,et al.  THE NEED FOR STRATEGIC FLEXIBILITY , 1984 .

[35]  S. Winter.  Understanding dynamic capabilities , 2003 .

[36]  George P. Huber,et al.  Organizations: Theory, design, future. , 2011 .

[37]  Henk W. Volberda,et al.  Towards The Flexible Form: How To Remain Vital in Hypercompetitive Environments , 1996 .

[38]  Francisco Javier Lloréns Montes,et al.  Flexibility, fit and innovative capacity: an empirical examination , 2005, Int. J. Technol. Manag..

[39]  David J. Collis,et al.  Research Note: How Valuable are Organizational Capabilities? , 1994 .

[40]  Andrew Campbell,et al.  The Oxford handbook of strategy , 2006 .

[41]  M. Casson,et al.  Models of the Multinational Enterprise , 1998 .

[42]  D. Teece.  Explicating dynamic capabilities: the nature and microfoundations of (sustainable) enterprise performance , 2007 .

[43]  P. Schoemaker,et al.  Strategic assets and organizational rent , 1993 .

[44]  J. B. Quinn,et al.  Managing Innovation: Controlled Chaos , 1985 .

[45]  Briance Mascarenhas,et al.  Coping with Uncertainty in International Business , 1982 .

[46]  Timothy W. Ruefli,et al.  Schumpeter's ghost: Is hypercompetition making the best of times shorter? , 2005 .

[47]  Henk W. Volberda.  Strategic Flexibility Creating Dynamic Competitive Advantages , 2006 .

[48]  Erik Johnsen.  William H. Newman and Charles E. Summer, Jr., The Process of Management Concepts, Behavior, and Practice, Pren tice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N. J. 1961, 675 s. , 1964 .

[49]  M. D. Dunnette.  Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology , 2005 .

[50]  Richard A. D'Aveni,et al.  Hypercompetition: Managing the Dynamics of Strategic Maneuvering , 1994 .

[51]  Constance E. Helfat,et al.  Dynamic capabilities : understanding strategic change in organizations , 2007 .

[52]  Richard P. Bagozzi,et al.  Assessing Construct Validity in Organizational Research , 1991 .

[53]  C. Galbraith.  Transferring Core Manufacturing Technologies in High-Technology Firms , 1990 .

[54]  G. Hofstede.  Motivation, leadership, and organization: Do American theories apply abroad? , 1980 .

[55]  V. Narayanan,et al.  Strategic schemas, strategic flexibility, and firm performance: the moderating role of industry clockspeed , 2007 .

[56]  Sten Jönsson.  Institutions and Organizations , 1997 .

[57]  D. Eppink.  Planning for strategic flexibility , 1978 .

[58]  D. Pugh,et al.  Operations Technology and Organization Structure: An Empirical Reappraisal , 1969 .

[59]  B. Kogut,et al.  Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and the Replication of Technology , 1992 .

[60]  D. Dougherty,et al.  Sustained product innovation in large, mature organizations: Overcoming innovation-to-organization problems. , 1996 .

[61]  Will Mitchell,et al.  When is more better? The impact of business scale and scope on long-term business survival, while controlling for profitability , 2007 .

[62]  R. Sanchez.  Strategic flexibility in product competition , 1995 .

[63]  Matthew S. Kraatz,et al.  How Organizational Resources Affect Strategic Change and Performance in Turbulent Environments , 2001 .

[64]  Henk W. Volberda,et al.  Building the Flexible Firm: How to Remain Competitive , 1998 .

[65]  Henk W. Volberda,et al.  On the concept of flexibility: A dual control perspective , 1996 .

[66]  Alberto De Toni,et al.  Definitions and linkages between operational and strategic flexibilities , 2005 .

[67]  Scott B. MacKenzie,et al.  Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. , 2003, The Journal of applied psychology.

[68]  Maurizio Zollo,et al.  Deliberate Learning and the Evolution of Dynamic Capabilities , 2002 .

[69]  Jack R. Meredith,et al.  The strategic advantages of new manufacturing technologies for small firms , 1987 .

[70]  S. Briggs,et al.  On the nature of self-monitoring: Problems with assessment, problems with validity. , 1988 .

[71]  James Richardson.  Vertical Integration and Rapid Response in Fashion Apparel , 1996 .

[72]  J. Pennings,et al.  Technological Networking and Innovation Implementation , 1992 .

[73]  M. Lindell,et al.  Climate quality and climate consensus as mediators of the relationship between organizational antecedents and outcomes. , 2000, The Journal of applied psychology.

[74]  P. M. Podsakoff,et al.  Self-Reports in Organizational Research: Problems and Prospects , 1986 .

[75]  Henry Mintzberg,et al.  The Structuring of Organizations , 1979 .

[76]  R. Sanchez.  Understanding competence-based management: Identifying and managing five modes of competence , 2004 .

[77]  Colin F. Camerer,et al.  The economic efficiency of corporate culture , 1988 .

[78]  Jeannie L. Johnson,et al.  Market-focused strategic flexibility: Conceptual advances and an integrative model , 2003 .

[79]  P. Lawrence,et al.  Organization and environment , 1967 .

[80]  G. Pisano,et al.  Beyond World-Class : The New Manufacturing Strategy , 1994 .

[81]  H. Ansoff,et al.  A Language for Organization Design: Part I , 1971 .

[82]  Robert E. Hoskisson,et al.  BOARD OF DIRECTOR INVOLVEMENT IN RESTRUCTURING: THE EFFECTS OF BOARD VERSUS MANAGERIAL CONTROLS , 1993 .

[83]  R. Grant,et al.  Environments: Organizational Capability as Knowledge Integration , 2022 .

[84]  W. Ouchi.  A Conceptual Framework for the Design of Organizational Control Mechanisms , 1979 .

[85]  Dragutin M. Zelenović,et al.  Flexibility—a condition for effective production systems , 1982 .

[86]  John Hulland,et al.  Use of partial least squares (PLS) in strategic management research: a review of four recent studies , 1999 .

[87]  A. V. D. Ven,et al.  Measuring And Assessing Organizations , 1980 .