„Ambidextrous organizations have built-in capabilities for efficiency, consistency and reliability on the one hand, and experimentation, improvisation and luck on the other. “

Tushman, Michael L. & O`Reilly Charles A. 2004


Journal of Business Strategy 2010

  • 19.09.10
  • Submitted by Udo Dierk
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Our recent paper “the ambidextrous organization – integrating managers, entrepreneurs and leaders” has been published in the Journal of Business Strategy 2010, issue 5. Please have a look. Phil Dover and I (Udo Dierk) welcome any comment on this article.

MEL Grid

The concept of nature vs nurture can be summarized in the MEL-Grid, which connects archetypes and roles according to their probability for successful performance.

Probability of success or fail of archetype x performing in role y

Any comment on this is very welcome.

Nature vs Nurture

Role versus Archetype or Nurture vs Nature

One very important question of our Manager – Entrepreneur – Leader model is : is the manager, the leader or the entrepreneur a function or a role to be performed and therefore can and has to change in a business lifetime (nurture) or is it an archetype, relatively fixed and hardly to change because it is based on traits, genes, early education and mentality (nature) – or is it both.

First of all, I strongly believe that having a dominance for manager, entrepreneur or leader is more of an archetype relatively fixed through lifetime. But it is by no means black or white and most of us are something in between with a strong expression for one or the other. So everyone has a portion of a manager-type, a leader-type and an entrepreneur-type and most of us have a strength or dominance for one of these three.

But in business life you don`t start as a leader, normally you start with a function that requires more the manager attitude than the leader or entrepreneur attitude. The more you grow and the better you perform the more likely  will you work in functions that require more of the leader attitude and less of the manager one. The same applies for the entrepreneur attitude.

But what is going to happen, if you’re are a manager-type and your job requires the leader role ? Let`s discuss the possibilities :

Manager archetype and leader role :

The role as a leader requires thinking about and into the future. A leader needs to be aware of trends and be curious about the world around him/her. He/she has to evaluate what of this is relevant for the business, what has an impact and what will be of influence. Setting a direction or a vision is a major part of the leader role and is requested from a leader`s subordinates.

In order to fulfil these requirements a leader needs to develop scenarios and alternatives, evaluate them and make a decision what would be the direction to go with the highest probability for success. This is what we mean by focusing on change.

All of this requires the ability to think and deal with uncertainty and ambiguity. To develop  scenarios for the future based on trends etc. means dealing with uncertainty. There are by no means enough and maybe even no data to support one or the other scenario, maybe it is based on the leader`s sensitivity, on his/her personal evaluation and guess or his/her experience and ability to visioning. The leader is walking on uncertain ground, but has to be absolutely convinced that the direction and to go into this direction with all the embedded consequences is right. This is the heart of the change being ahead. But change means to start on solid ground, which you know, and to move into an uncertain future which you don`t know but of which you are convinced to be the right one.

The second major task is to communicate all of this to his/her subordinates and peers and to create sensibility and support for the decisions and actions to be taken. But it is not only to communicate it is also to convince the people about the rightness of this new direction. Change creates fear and resistance and the leader has to overcome both by listening to people, talking to them, explaining the risks and chances of the new direction – the leader has to take the people seriously and accept their thinking and feeling, not necessarily to share them.

To summarize, the leader`s main role is to determine new directions, explain the necessity to go that way and to convince people to follow and to work hard to make it happen. He needs to be able to deal with uncertainty and to be people oriented.

The archetype of a manager in our MEL-model  is described to be focused on planning, organizing, controlling in order to reduce complexity to be able to handle it. The manager`s orientation is towards data that support decisions, describes the current status, thus dealing mainly with the presence or near future. A manager-archetype needs solid ground described by data, is focused on tasks and wants to improve processes and to be more efficient.

If a strong manager-archetype needs to perform in a strong leader role there is a high probability to fail, because the traits and skills that a manager brings to the table are by no means appropriate to deal with uncertainty and to motivate people. A manager-archetype needs solid ground with lots of data, the leader role requires thinking into the future and liking change which means uncertainty and unpredictability. The manager-archetype likes tasks and targets, the leader role requires liking people and motivating them.

The more someone is just a strong manger-archetype the higher will be the probability to fail in a dominant leader role.

Here is just one consequence coming out of these findings :

Promotion and Hire

What does this mean for hiring and promoting. In order to get a high level of probability for success, two steps have to be taken :

  1. Analyse with rigor and honesty what is really required from this role or function ? Is it more a leader role or more a manager role ? What do the subordinates and superiors require from the person that will perform this role. The more intense this evaluation is done the better it will be for filling this position with the right person. In other words create an MEL-Index for the role or for this function.
  1. Based on this analysis define the requirements the person to fill this vacancy should have. Is it more of the manager-archetype skills and traits or more of the leader archetype ones.  In other words define the ideal MEL-Index the future incumbent should have.
  1. Evaluate the applicants according to the requirements defined in point 2 and make a clear and fair evaluation about their archetypes, which means measure the MEL-Index of the applicant.
  1. The more the functional MEL-Index and the applicant`s MEL-Index fit, the higher will be the probability for success for the new hire.

MEL Partnering with Companies

We at MEL would welcome partnering with companies at one or more of the following levels:

  • Acting as a participating company in the data collection process. It is our goal to build a substantial repertoire of case studies so that we continuously improve our confidence in the inferences drawn from cumulative findings. The company`s benefit will come from executive contribution in the process – participants typically both enjoy and gain deep insights from involvement – as well as a short summary report on the findings. No fee is charged in this case.
  • This would replicate the process above but in this setting a diagnostic report would be provided that not only summarizes the results but presents prescriptive guidance to the participating firm. A fee is charged for this service.
  • The MEL procedure would be embedded into a workshop/seminar in which participants would complete the MEL questionnaire and ratings, analyze the results and be involved in devising real-time recommendations – with the guidance of MEL partners – for innovation and sustainability in their own “ambidextrous organization.” A fee is also charged for this service.

Interested ?

Please contact either Phil Dover (phil.dover@mel-institute.com) or Udo Dierk (udo.dierk@mel-institute.com) via e-mail.


The Entrepreneur-Manager

In 2008 Peter Lorange and Bala Chakravarthy published an article about driving renewal, in which they introduced a new type or role of an executive : the entrepreneur-manager. They defined the following profile :

  • Skills
    • see the big picture and shape strategy
    • communicate and market strategy
    • manage stakeholders, gain support and mobilize resources
    • assemble and motivate a team of experts
  • Personal traits
    • propensity to take risks
    • passion and inner fire
    • action orientation
    • Self-confidence
  • Professional experience
    • established track record – buys freedom and trust
    • long tenure and varied experience – helps with networking

In our MEL-model of the thre archetypes  Manager – Entrepreneur – Leader (see Post “Manager – Entrepreneur – Leader”) we predicted and found, that a strong combination of the archetypes Manager and Entrepreneur is very rare, because they have conflicting or contradicting strength or traits. While the Manager is concentrated on efficiency and control, the entrepreneur is appealed by opportunity and  making things happen. So we claim that there is no entrepreneur-manager, as Lorange and Chakravarthy suggest. Their description of the entrepreneur-manager would lead in our MEL-model to an individual that combines the archetypes leader and entrepreneur, which you find quite often, because both are future oriented and very much people focused.

We are looking forward to your opinion. What do you think ?

Prof. Dr. Udo Dierk

MIC 2009

On November 26th 2009 Udo Dierk presented the paper “Sustaining Innovation in the Global Corporation : The Role of Managers, Entrepreneurs and Leaders” on the 10th MIC Conference about “Creativity, Innovation and Management” in Sousse, Tunesia.

MIC2009 Annual Conference

MIC2009 Annual Conference

About 120 papers were peresented. Our paper was evaluated as one of the best 5 papers of the conference. See also the MIC Website . Download the Article MIC 2009 here.

Manager – Leader – Entrepreneur

archetype modell

The basic assumption of our research is the existence of three archetypes of leadership : the Manger focusing on reducing complexity and optimizing through planning and organizing, the leader focusing on new directions and change, thus on people, and the entrepreneur focusing on business opportunities and innovation, thus on the market.

What do you think about these archetypes ? Are they in line with your observations and thinking ?

Our initial findings are that there are some individuals, who have a strength both in the Manager and Leader role, some are both strong Leaders and Entrepreneurs, but very rarely we found individuals who are strong as Manager and as Entrepreneur.

Launch of MEL Institute

Dear all,

Phil Dover from the US and I, Udo Dierk from Germany, have just launched our new website and our new Institute, the MEL-Institute. This Institute serves as a platform for research and debating on the topic of the role of the leadership team for sustainable growth through continuous innovation. We strongly believe that the leadership team of a company plays the most important role in making a company sustain over a longer period. The composition of the leadership team and its individual talents does and will make the difference. Our approach reflects the importance of this composition and widens the role of the leadership team.

Most companies face the paradox of finding ways to sustain in their longer future and in parallel finding ways to survive in the presence. The ambidexterity of most organizations and companies and the role of the leadership team in it is our fascinating topic of research .

We like to invite you to actively contribute to our research and comment on our findings, on our methodology, on our ideas and on our approach.

Become a member of the MEL-community and contribute to the future !

Phil and Udo

Conference Presentations

Phil Dover and Udo Dierk are going to present their findings on “Manager – Leader – Entrepreneur” on two more conferences.

MIC2009 Annual ConferenceThe first one is the “5th European Conference on Management, Leadership and Governance (ECMLG 2009)“, to be held at the Hellenic American University, Athens, Greece on 5 – 6 November 2009.

The second one is the “Management International Conference MIC 2009” on Creativity, Innovation and Management, to be held in Sousse, Tunisia on November 25th to 28th.

Strategies in an Uncertain World

Phil Dover and Udo Dierk will present a paper on the 29th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE of the Strategic Management Society in Washington DC about :

2009 Annual SMS Conference

2009 Annual SMS Conference

Sustaining Innovation in the Global Corporation:

The Role of Managers, Entrepreneurs and Leaders

How can we understand the role of key personnel in sustaining innovation within corporations around the globe? This article presents the results from the pilot study of a two-stage research project. It is underpinned by the concept that three basic archetypes exist – managers, entrepreneurs and leaders. We tested a new tool: the MEL-Index, a numerical and graphical representation of executives’ evaluation of their own and their corporation’s performance as managers, entrepreneurs and leaders. It was shown to have considerable diagnostic potential. Improvements were made in the test instrument, which will form part of a subsequent extended study.