Organisational Cultures in the Digital Age: The Importance of Cultural Ambidexterity and Inclusion

Digitalisation has been a megatrend with sweeping repercussions for quite some time now. Markets, products, communication, corporate behaviour and entire societies are changing as a consequence. Organisations must respond with a suitable organisational culture—the so-called digital culture. Yet many of them are struggling to bring about the required change. This paper aims to provide an overview and a discussion of the relative merits of the various ways in which organisations may attempt to achieve a digital culture. For that purpose, we draw on existing research into subcultures, ambidexterity and inclusion. We find, for example, that the mere establishment of a so-called ‘digital innovation unit’ is unlikely to yield the desired results if a suitable cultural environment is lacking. It is also questionable whether the creation of a uniform digital organisational culture is really to be aspired. The targeted use of subcultures may be a more viable strategy to meet the cultural requirements of the digital age. This may also help the organisation strike the right balance between exploitation and exploration. Yet a symbiotic relationship among its subcultures can only take effect given proper integration with the organisation’s overall culture.