Fostering exploration and exploitation behavior in management teams to enhance organizational performance: the LearnOvation leadership development program

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the impact and effectiveness of the LearnOvation leadership development program in the welfare services sector in Sweden.Design/methodology/approachLearnOvation was based on ambidexterity theory for the program content and the research study design. A mixed-method design was applied, using questionnaires among staff (n = 523) and written evaluations with the management teams (n = 60).FindingsQuantitative analysis of the questionnaires indicated little change in managers' and staffs' innovation behaviors, though employee exploration behaviors were strongly and positively correlated with their innovation behaviors. Qualitative leader-written evaluations reported increased understanding of innovation management and the use of exploration and exploitation activities to involve staff in the implementation of creative ideas within the organization.Practical implicationsThe authors argue that innovating is about creating a fertile ground for exploration and exploitation processes of learning that support staff's willingness to meet goals, as well as their capability to explore new ideas and experiment in new ways of working. Leadership development activities that engage the entire management team can build the necessary capacity and power to lead innovation processes in highly structured welfare services and free the employees' innovativeness, potentially leading to improved services and employee satisfaction.Originality/valueWith the goal of enhancing the innovation capacity in daily practice, this study adds to the scarcity of research in welfare services on how to actually support management's work on leading successful implementation of creative ideas.

Empowering leadership and organizational exploration: the role of preoccupation with failure and leader gender

“…In addition, Zhang et al (2022b) showed that empowering leadership and psychological empowerment were related to high innovation capacity. Employees tend to engage in creative and innovative activities when their leaders offer them empowering leadership feedback (Kim et al, 2018;Kjellstr€ om et al, 2022). As such, this empowering feedback encourages exploratory activities.…”

“…Past empirical research has shown that empowering leadership can promote various elements of organizational exploration, such as experimentation and innovation (Dahleez et al, 2022;Kim and Beehr, 2022;Kim et al, 2018;Kjellstr€ om et al, 2022;Lin et al, 2022;Naqshbandi et al, 2019;Rohlfer et al, 2022;Supriyanto et al, 2023;Zhang et al, 2022a, b). Aiming to advance theoretical and empirical research on the relationship between empowering leadership and organizational exploration per se (and not only several of its components), we tested the indirect relationship between empowering leadership and organizational exploration through preoccupation with failure.…”

“…Given that empowering leadership fosters core elements of organizational exploration, such as experimentation and innovation (Kim and Beehr, 2022;Kim et al, 2018;Kjellstr€ om et al, 2022;Naqshbandi et al, 2019;Supriyanto et al, 2023), we examine the role of empowering leadership in determining the specific outcome. In doing so, we highlight the underlying mechanism of preoccupation with failure, one of the five main principles of highreliability organizations.…”

Weaving Layers of Learning: Multiplex Learning Networks in the Workplace

“…The literature concerning organizational ambidexterity (OA), which encompasses exploration and exploitation, has been widely explored. Furthermore, the OA framework has been tested and supported across various contexts (Hardy III et al, 2019; Kjellström et al, 2022; Zacher et al, 2016). As such, the exploration-exploitation has been empirically demonstrated in the management literature, which provides a solid foundation to establish and propose our 3-E typology in the workplace context.…”

“…Exploration and exploitation represent knowledge expansion and refinement, respectively (Hardy III et al, 2019). Although the typology was coined to describe organizational-level learning strategies (March, 1991), it can be applied to individual-level learning to explain individuals’ distinct strategic choices, mindsets (Greco et al, 2019), and behaviors (Hardy III et al, 2019; Kjellström et al, 2022; Zacher et al, 2016).…”