Multi-level framing and organizational ambidexterity in small and medium-size creative service firms

Abstract

This thesis is about the role of frames and framing between different levels and within each level in integrating explorative and exploitative units in a small creative service firm. This is a single-case study comprised of semi-structured interviews of the staff of a small digital creative service agency in Hanoi. The research delved into how they employ frames and framing practices to integrate different products and functions to cope with the market condition. Over the last ten years, digital creative service has grown significantly (McLeod et al, 2011). However, the literature inquiring about this type of firm, especially small firms, is rare. Meanwhile, the ambidexterity literature had become a topic of great interest for researchers. In recent years, there have been growing calls to investigate ambidexterity in practice and across different levels (Simsek, 2009). O’Reilly and Tushman (2013), for example, called for future qualitative ambidexterity research to focus on the interfaces between the old and the new and how to resolve the eventual conflicts between these groups. It is at this intersection that I propose framing practices to be a mechanism to integrate exploration and exploitation. This can be considered a supporting argument to the role that organizational culture and integrative behavior can play in enabling ambidexterity (Gibson and Birkinshaw, 2004). From this premise, my thesis offers these main contributions. The first is that while exploration can be difficult due to uncertainty, integration between exploration and exploitation can also be difficult due to the different growth trajectories of the individuals within a firm. Integration may demand people in different units to abandon part of their mindsets and require significant ongoing intervention from the top managers. Therefore, it might be useful to keep track of the innovation/creative trajectory of the firm and of the employee to adjust the intensity of transition from exploration to exploitation and vice versa. As such, this thesis is also a step following the line of research into different phases of balancing exploration and exploitation as Canterello (2012) recommended. In the framing literature, this research delves deeper into the framing contest model proposed by Kaplan (2008) by exploring the possible effects of frame repertoires on how an individual. In terms of context, focusing on a small digital creative service agency, this research sheds light on how a firm can pursue new markets along with satisfying the demand of current clients in a highly fluctuating environment.