Mindful ambidexterity: An ethnographic study of how managers navigate exploitation and exploration

Ambidextrous organizations outperform their peers, yet how ambidexterity is achieved in practice remains unclear. In light of this gap, we draw on a longitudinal ethnographic study of a service firm's pursuit of an ambidextrous strategy to ask: How do the social processes of collective mindfulness help managers to anticipate and contain the challenges and tensions inherent in pursuit of organizational ambidexterity? We extend understanding of the potential role played by collective mindfulness in navigating the logic contradictions and social tensions produced by the pursuit of ambidexterity. We highlight previously untheorized connections and propose “mindful ambidexterity” as a new qualitative construct.