Strategic agility of organizations

Strategic agility of organizations In order to talk about the strategic agility of organizations, organization, human resources, technology resources and planning issues are important. Since, strategic agility involves predicting future events and preparing for them in a systematic and realistic way, planning is also an issue that should not be ignored in this process (Oyedijo 2012). It should also be expressed that, strategic agility is an enterprise-wide capability that includes a holistic understanding involving many processes, such as organizational structures, information systems, logistics processes besides the structure, and in short mindsets (Araza and Aslan 2016). Yusuf et al. (1999) also stated that agility includes four main concepts that are increasingly gain acceptance, and these concepts are core talent management, creating virtual organizations, the ability to reshape, and knowledge-based enterprise. According to Jin-Hai et al. (2003), expressed core thought leader competencies as very important and key in agility, and defined core competency as collective learning that focuses on developing and coordinating different skills and abilities. They likened these differences in skills and abilities to the hidden roots of a tree, arguing that together they increase their strength and that they should be used to create basic products to be utilized in various business operations. They are of the opinion that the core talent at the highest level in the hierarchy is the best use of all resources and abilities and exceeds the boundaries of enterprises. At this point, it is possible to talk about the benefit of creating virtual organization structures. This is because companies participating in the virtual organization benefit from more than their own assets. In other words, the organization will increase its competitive advantage due to the wider organizational scope of the virtual organization.

On the other hand, this wide organizational scope can also cause integration problems. For crossing the boundaries of the organization/enterprise, integrating the core competencies requires organizational learning, intense relationship, involvement and commitment. It seems useful to address the basic elements of knowledge and learning at this point.

The learning of explicit knowledge is the ability to obtain knowledge from external sources, but accessing knowledge in this way is not an institutional core competence. However, if knowledge is captured, imbibed, internalized and used in the organization's practice in its area of expertise, it can be a core capability of the business to a certain extend and represent a potential core competence.

Work learning, also referred to as process learning, is “learning by doing”. During the process of a job, all kinds of transactions and activities performed allow to gain many experiences and information. This is of great importance for an organization as it broadens the scope of knowledge and core competence.

Learning through R&D can be considered as the most important form of learning. Because it is not possible for innovation to develop without R&D, and at the same time, innovation is the basis and source of sustainable advantage.

Tacit knowledge refers to the knowledge in minds, that is, non-coded, non-formal knowledge, and can be shared experientially and transferred by mutual learning. This form of learning can provide connectivity to core competence and expand the scope of the core competencies. In order to become explicit knowledge, tacit knowledge should be put on the record. However, this requires the sharing of information in a reliable environment and the integration of information.

Organizational Characteristics of Agile Organization Considering that organizations as an open system are in constant interaction with their environment, it is important for an agile organization to have some organizational characteristics in order to respond quickly to changing internal and external environmental conditions. Organizations are not only in a dynamic environment consisting of many systems larger or smaller than themselves, but also a whole consisting of many sub-systems that interact dynamically with each other. Since subsystems are interdependent, changes in one subsystem will affect the behavior of other subsystems and the whole (Alıç 1995). This interaction will show differences in different organizational structures (mechanical-organic) and leadership qualities.

Thus, the concepts of mechanical and organic organization have been formed in literature and their differences from each other have been revealed.

Mechanical organizations are the structures where clearly defined hierarchy gains importance, expert roles are distributed within this hierarchical order, and orders and instructions flow from top to bottom. Job descriptions are clear, rules are strict, and everyone is expected to follow procedures and protocols (Jewczyn 2010). On the other hand, in organic organizations, unlike mechanical organizations, there is a minimum level of hierarchy and a flexible structure. They perform the coordination not with vertical commands, but at the lateral level, through “consulting”. In organic organizations, the ideas of employees are taken into account; this in turn paves the way for teamwork and strengthens existing teams. They have functional expertise and the knowledge received from outside is valuable to organic organizations. In an organic organization, there are no rigid job descriptions; instead there is a strong central communication network (Sine et al. 2006).

There is a shared set of values and goals rather than managed behavior, instructions, and rules.

Downward communication from senior executives has the characteristics of advisory rather than instruction (Jewczyn 2010).

Considering the mechanical organization and organic organization structures; It is claimed that the studies showing that bureaucratic structure and thus formality are ineffective and unsuccessful in coping with innovation and change are more than the studies with positive effects (Kılıç et al. 2012).

While mechanical organizations are seen as suitable for more static environments, organic structures are seen as the structures suitable for more dynamic environments.

The characteristics of agile organizations and their organizational characteristics are discussed.

When the table is examined in terms of authority, rules and procedures, coordination, structure and human resources practices, it is seen that the features are compatible with the organic organizational structure. With a horizontal structuring with less hierarchy, less rules and procedures, connections between functions are emphasized and teamwork is preferred with loose boundaries.

Although top management has an important function in determining direction, the hierarchy in agile organizations is not a hierarchy of authority, but a hierarchy of competence. The organization operates with an interactive communication dynamic, both horizontally and vertically (Denning 2016). Employees are strengthened through technical and ambidexterity training and human resources management practices such as workforce development, rotation, and job enrichment.

Autonomy in decision-making is ensured by facilitating access to information and knowledge, expanding authorization related to the task and empowering personnel, and coordination is carried out in an informal way.

The role of human resources, which is the most important resource for an organization, is very important in the creation of agile organizations. In other words, if the human resource of an organization is not agile, then it is not possible to mention about the agility of that organization.

Because being agile is not only being able to anticipate change and adapting to it, but also to create the conditions yourself as an organization by noticing the change that may occur in the future and taking action in a proactive way. For this, there is a need for a workforce that can both create the structure, adapt to the newly created structure, change, new ideas and technology by displaying a positive attitude, take measures by sensing the problems that change will create, and provide solutions by taking initiative when necessary. Uncertainty and change always create stress. A flexible and resilient workforce that can cope with stress, namely that can be tolerant to unexpected situations is one of the fundamental skills of an organization. To put it briefly, having an agile workforce and making this competence sustainable are the most important factors that will bring competitive advantage.