Michael Armanious and Jared D. Padgett
The purpose of this study was to explore what agile learning strategies businesses need to develop agile core competencies to respond to the uncertainty of the rapidly changing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to explore what agile learning strategies businesses need to develop agile core competencies to respond to the uncertainty of the rapidly changing business environment and sustain their competitive advantage. Technology advances and unexpected crises have created an ever-changing environment in which traditional static corporate training methods have failed to continuously provide employees with the ability to listen to and interpret the rapid changes and respond accordingly.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative exploratory multi-case study was useful to explore what agile learning strategies businesses need to develop agile core competencies to sustain their competitive advantage. Snowball sampling enabled the discovery of 15 participants who represented 10 different industries. Participants represented both management and non-management roles. Data were collected from multiple sources such as interviews, observations, researcher notes and document reviews. A thematic analysis model was used to analyze the collected data.
Findings
The findings substantiated that organizations are operating in a fast-changing environment where agile learning strategies are vital to surviving. The data also showed that agile learning strategies must include individual learning paths to continuously develop employees’ agile skills to build their organizations’ agile core competencies.
Originality/value
This study underlined the importance of adopting agile learning strategies to help employees listen and accurately interpret their organizations’ external environments to enable quick responses to changes. Without agile learning strategies, organizational agile core competencies and competitive advantage will progressively decline.
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Keywords
This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.
Design/methodology/approach
This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.
Findings
Agile learning strategies and agile core competencies are crucial to the success of organizations in the digital economy. These principles can be adopted by others to gain and maintain competitive advantage. 10; 10;
Originality/value
The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.
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Megan Lee Endres and Sanjib K. Chowdhury
The purpose of this study is to apply the motivation–opportunity–ability (MOA) framework to investigate the relationships between ambiguity tolerance (AT), reflective thinking…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to apply the motivation–opportunity–ability (MOA) framework to investigate the relationships between ambiguity tolerance (AT), reflective thinking (RT) and performance in a complex task to predict knowledge-sharing intent.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, 190 subjects performed a complex scheduling task in which they were randomly assigned to either participate in RT or not.
Findings
Results show that factors of the MOA framework positively predicted knowledge-sharing intent. In addition, RT significantly increased intention to share for individuals with low performance or with low AT.
Research limitations/implications
More research is needed to determine relationships between complex task performance and knowledge sharing, and the role of learning strategies, particularly self-directed ones such as RT. Future studies may use a larger sample size for more complex analysis.
Practical implications
RT may be used to create a sustainable and low-cost method of increasing knowledge sharing in complex tasks, without which those with low AT or low performance may not have participated.
Originality/value
The study supports the importance of contextual influences and points to how organizations can use RT in addition to individual motivation and ability to encourage knowledge sharing.