Purpose

This paper aims to explore the relationship between owner-manager or leader’s ambidextrous leadership style and its effect on human resource management (HRM) practices, contextual ambidexterity and knowledge-intensive small- and medium-enterprises (SMEs) strategic agility.

Design/methodology/approach

This study presents an in-depth qualitative case study analysis of two knowledge-intensive SMEs from India’s information technology and health-care products industry serving a range of global clients. Using the theoretical lenses of empowerment-focused HRM practices, ambidextrous leaders, contextual ambidexterity and strategic agility, semi-structured interview data of leaders, managers and employees of the case organizations were analysed. Through a two-staged analytical process, we abductively developed a novel conceptual framework at the intersection of the above theoretical lenses.

Findings

The findings suggest that the knowledge-intensive SME’s strategic agility, ambidexterity and empowerment-focussed HRM approach was influenced by the owner-manager or leader’s ambidextrous leadership style and their philosophy towards managing people and had a positive impact in creating a culture of trust, participation, risk-taking and openness, and led to delivering innovative products and services as well as several positive employee-level outcomes.

Originality/value

Recent literature reviews on HRM In SMEs highlight several gaps, including the impact of owner-manager or leader’s philosophy of managing people in shaping HRM practices and employee outcomes. This paper thus adds to the existing literature on HRM and knowledge-intensive SMEs.

中文翻译：

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揭示知识密集型中小企业中双元领导风格与人力资源管理实践之间的关系

目的

本文旨在探讨所有者-经理或领导者的双元领导风格之间的关系及其对人力资源管理（HRM）实践、情境双元性和知识密集型中小企业（SME）战略敏捷性的影响。

设计/方法论/途径

本研究对印度信息技术和保健品行业的两家知识密集型中小企业（为全球客户提供服务）进行了深入的定性案例研究分析。使用以赋权为中心的人力资源管理实践、双元领导者、情境双元性和战略敏捷性的理论视角，对案例组织的领导者、经理和员工的半结构化访谈数据进行了分析。通过两个阶段的分析过程，我们在上述理论镜头的交叉点上溯因发展了一个新颖的概念框架。

发现

研究结果表明，知识密集型中小企业的战略敏捷性、双元性和以赋权为中心的人力资源管理方法受到所有者兼经理或领导者的双元领导风格及其管理人员理念的影响，并对创建信任、参与的文化产生了积极影响。 、冒险精神和开放性，并带来了创新产品和服务以及一些积极的员工层面的成果。

原创性/价值

最近有关中小企业人力资源管理的文献综述强调了一些差距，包括所有者经理或领导者的管理理念对塑造人力资源管理实践和员工成果的影响。因此，本文对人力资源管理和知识密集型中小企业的现有文献进行了补充。