The Interface Between Organizational Capabilities And Leadership: How Leadership Relates To The Process Of Responding To A Changing Environment Through Dynamic Capabilities

The purpose of this study is to observe the process of responding to a changing environment through dynamic capabilities. The study is focused particularly on cooperation at the organizational site level and on leadership. Dynamic capabilities include the inherent capabilities of a firm’s executive management as well as the organizational capabilities process including leadership of the firm. The factor of leadership is important both theoretically and empirically, as a microfoundation of dynamic capabilities as organizational capabilities. The framework of the study shows that dynamic capabilities, organizations, and leadership have a close theoretical relationship. To demonstrate that the theoretical relationship was also empirically valid, a case study of a Japanese firm is referred to describe the interface between leadership and the environmental adaptation process in an actual cooperation situation. The findings are that shared leadership and situational leadership facilitate the coordinated work in the activity process and play a significant role in making use of organizational capabilities. The research implies that we must reconsider the process of manifesting organizational capability in today’s Japanese companies from the aspect of coordinated workings of each organizational member and leadership rather than the inherent capabilities of a firm’s executive management. The originality of this research is that it highlights shared leadership in the organization’s adaptation process as strategic factor both theoretically and empirically as a microfoundation for dynamic capabilities of the firm.