Projects Are Key to Securing the Future of Businesses

Becoming a large and successful company does not guarantee long-term survival (O’Reilly & Tushman 2007).  In today’s world of continuous and sometimes disruptive change (e.g., COVID-19 pandemic, war in Ukraine), organizations must not only exploit their existing business and related competencies but also prepare for a changed future and build the necessary competencies (exploration); the latter requires organizational change, typically implemented through projects (Nieto-Rodriguez 2021, p. 4).

In the past, the focus was on optimizing operational processes to increase productivity, but today organizations must increasingly focus on projects and project-oriented work.  A firm’s ability to strike the necessary balance between exploitation and exploration is referred to as organizational ambidexterity (e.g., O’Reilly & Tushman 2007; Raisch et al. 2009).  It is considered to be a prerequisite for the sustainable survival of organizations (e.g., Duncan 1976; Abernathy 1978; Tushman & O’Reilly 1996; Brenner & Tushman 2003; O’Reilly & Tushman 2013—all cited in Meisinger & Moldaschl 2021) and has also been empirically confirmed as a reliable indicator of success in several studies (e.g., Katila & Ahuja 2002; He & Wong 2004; Atuahene-Gima & Murray 200 7; Cao et al. 2009; Raisch 2008; Uotila et al. 2009; McCarthy & Gordon 2011; Luger et al. 2018—all cited in Meisinger & Moldaschl 2021).

To combine the management and successful implementation of change and major strategic initiatives, more and more companies are creating the role of a Chief Project Officer (CPO) at the board level (Nieto-Rodriguez 2022).  This opens interesting career opportunities for project professionals.

References

Abernathy WJ (1978) The Productivity Dilemma: Roadblock to Innovation in the Automobile Industry (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD).

Atuahene-Gima K, Murray JY (2007) Exploratory and exploitive learning in new product development: A social capital perspective on new technology ventures in China. Journal of International Marketing 15(2):1–29.

Brenner MJ, Tushman ML (2003) Exploitation, exploration, and process management: The productivity dilemma revisited. Academy of Management Review 28(2):238–256.

Cao Q, Gedajlovic E, Zhang H (2009) Unpacking organizational ambidexterity: Dimensions, contingencies, and synergistic effects. Organization Science 20(4): 781–796.

Duncan R (1976) The ambidextrous organization: Designing dual structures for innovation. Kilmann RH, Pondy LR, Slevin D, eds. The Management of Organizational Design: Strategies and Implementation (North Holland, New York, NY), 167–188.

He ZL, Wong PK (2004) Exploration vs. exploitation: An empirical test of the ambidexterity hypothesis. Organization Science 15(4):481–494.

Katila R, Ahuja G (2002) Something old, something new: A longitudinal study of search behavior and new product introduction. Academy of Management Journal 45(6):1183–1194.

Luger J, Raisch S, Schimmer M (2018) Dynamic balancing of exploration and exploitation: The contingent benefits of ambidexterity. Organization Science 29(3):449–470.

McCarthy IP, Gordon, BR (2011) Achieving contextual ambidexterity in R&D organizations: A management control system approach. R&D Management 41(3):240–258.

Meisinger N, Moldaschl M (2021) Reduced to the max: Firm performance and organizational ambidexterity research. Journal of Strategy and Management 14(1):96–106.

Nieto-Rodriguez A (2021) Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook: How to  Launch, Lead, and Sponsor Successful Projects (Harvard Business Review Press, Boston, MA).

Nieto-Rodriguez A (2022) The rise of the chief project officer. Harvard Business Review (online, April 26), https://hbr.org/2022/04/the-rise-of-the-chief-project-officer.

O’Reilly CA, Tushman ML (2007) Ambidexterity as a dynamic capability: Resolving the innovator’s dilemma. Research paper no. 1963, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Stanford, CA.

O’Reilly CA, Tushman ML (2013) Organizational ambidexterity: Past, present, and future. Academy of Management Perspectives 27(4):324–338.

Raisch S (2008) Balanced structures: Designing organizations for profitable growth. Long Range Planning 41(5): 483–508.

Raisch S, Birkinshaw J, Probst G, Tushman, ML (2009) Organizational ambidexterity: Balancing exploitation and exploration for sustained performance. Organization Science 20(4):685–695.

Tushman ML, O’Reilly CA (1996) Ambidextrous organizations: Managing evolutionary and revolutionary change. California Management Review 38(4):8–30.

Uotila J, Maula M, Keil T, Zahra SA (2009) Exploration, exploitation, and financial performance: Analysis of S&P 500 corporations. Strategic Management Journal 30(2):221–231.