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Employees' ability to explore and exploit is a micro-foundational component of organizational ambidexterity and hugely influential for organizational performance outcomes. However, little research has directly examined the relationship between exploration and exploitation with a performance at the individual-level. Building on the hierarchical dynamic capability perspective of ambidexterity, we investigate how employee exploration and exploitation affect task performance. We argue that employees' ability to explore enhances task performance through employee exploitation. Furthermore, drawing on the strategic fit perspective, we examine how this employee exploration-exploitation-task performance relationship varies across different levels of organizational competitive orientation. Using a sample of 278 employees from three IT companies in China, our findings demonstrate that both employee exploration and exploitation have a positive effect on task performance, and employee exploitation acts as an effective mechanism which partially explains the relationship between employee exploration and task performance. Notably, we also find that the path relationship of employee exploration-exploitation-task performance is stronger when competitive orientation is low rather than high. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have traditionally distinguished leaders by the extent to which they are oriented to people and productivity, and meta-analytic results indicate that these orientations have consistent and practically important effects. But research is needed to understand the dynamics by which these orientations induce team effectiveness. This study empirically relates leader orientations to teamwork by suggesting that productivity- and people-oriented leaders develop cooperative goals among team members that in turn results in team effectiveness. A total of 146 team leaders from 21 organizations in China completed measures of productivity and people orientations and their encouraging cooperative goals among team members; 1067 team members rated their effectiveness. Results of the structural equation analysis support the theorizing that leader productivity and people values when complemented by strengthening cooperative relationships can contribute to making teams effective in China and perhaps in other countries as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employees from different departments of an organization often do not have the relationships and interaction patterns that facilitate integrating and applying their knowledge together. This study proposes that departments that develop collectivist rather than individualist relationships engage in constructive controversy (CC) and share knowledge. Results using data from CEOs and Vice Presidents of various industries and regions of China suggested that collectivist but not individualistic values promote open-minded discussion of views which results in knowledge sharing. Coupled with previous research, these results suggest that collectivist values and CC provide an important foundation for productive knowledge management in organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the authors used the theory of cooperation and competition to identify conditions that promote student team innovation. Through an investigation of student teams in Beijing, China, the authors found that teams with cooperative goals engaged in open-minded, constructive controversy, whereas teams with independent goals avoided open discussion. Teams with a high level of constructive controversy rated themselves as innovative and loyal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]