Building contextual ambidexterity in a software company to improve firm-level coordination

Abstract

Software organizations increasingly face contradictory strategic choices as they develop customized and packaged solutions for the market. They need to improve efficiency of development processes while at the same time adapting to emerging customer needs; they need to exploit software products in relation to existing customers while simultaneously exploring new technology and market opportunities; and, they need to consider both incremental and radical innovations. While the integration of such opposing strategies requires software organizations to become ambidextrous, there is limited actionable advice on how managers can develop such capability. Against this backdrop, we report from a two-year action research study into a small software firm, TelSoft. Based on Pettigrew's contextualist inquiry, we develop a framework that integrates existing theory on contextual ambidexterity with a generic process for improving software organizations, and we apply this framework to analyze how TelSoft improved its coordination of products, projects, and innovation efforts. As a result, we offer principles for how software managers can build ambidextrous capability to improve firm-level coordination.

Keywords:

• software organization
• contextual ambidexterity
• firm-level coordination
• action research

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nannette P Napier

About the authors

Nannette P. Napier is Assistant Professor of Information Technology at Georgia Gwinnett College. She engages in action research that addresses challenges of software development firms such as effectively managing software projects, creating and managing software requirements, and using agile development methodologies.

Lars Mathiassen

Lars Mathiassen is Professor in computer information systems at Georgia State University. His research interests include information systems, software engineering, and process innovation. He is coauthor of Professional Systems Development (Prentice-Hall, 1990), Computers in Context (Blackwell, 1993), Object Oriented Analysis & Design (Marko Publishing, 2000), and Improving Software Organizations (Addison-Wesley, 2002).

Daniel Robey

Daniel Robey is Professor and John B. Zellars Chair of Information Systems at Georgia State University. He is Editor-in-Chief of Information and Organization. He received a 2009 LEO award from the Association for Information Systems and the International Conference on Information Systems for a lifetime of distinguished contribution.