The Role of Knowledge-Based Resources in Building Organizational Flexibility

Anna Lemańska-Majdzik, Małgorzata Okręglicka

Abstract


Theoretical background: Contemporary conditions for managing organizations are particularly difficult due to the variety of changes taking place in the environment, which is why they require the search for behaviors appropriately adapted to existing market conditions. The resources held by companies may not be sufficient in highly competitive markets. At this point, there is a need to look for adaptive behaviors that can be expressed through the imperative of organizational flexibility. The dynamic capabilities of enterprises are reflected in the dimensions of organizational flexibility, which have various conditions related to, among others, company resources. Organizational flexibility results from, among other things, opportunities, abilities, skills and practices that allow us to anticipate future market changes. These capabilities, in turn, depend on organizational resources, including knowledge-based resources that enable organizations to act strategically and tactically. The appropriate level of knowledge-based resources allows you to achieve the appropriate level of flexibility necessary in a difficult and turbulent environment. It is therefore important to present recommendations that will help achieve this state of affairs on the market.

Purpose of the article: The purpose of the paper is to identification the level of knowledge-based resources in enterprises and their impact on the organizational flexibility.

Research methods: The analysis and conclusions are based on the results of research on a group of Polish enterprises. The study used an original survey questionnaire with a 5-point Likert scale. In order to verify the validity of the research and the constructed research tool, its reliability was tested using the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The level of variables was identified using descriptive statistics, while the linear relationship between variables was examined using Kendall’s tau correlation coefficient.

Main findings: The research results indicated that the level of knowledge-based resources positively correlates with the level of organizational flexibility of Polish enterprises, and there is a positive, statistically significant relationship between the level of knowledge-based resources and individual dimensions of flexibility, including operational, financial, structural, and technological flexibility. The positive relationship between the variables also indicates the synergy effect, which allows for a higher level of organizational flexibility overall than in individual dimensions of the enterprise. The conclusions from the analysis made it possible to designate recommendations in the area of activities for building organizational flexibility, which is currently a necessary condition for the functioning of enterprises.


Keywords


knowledge-based resources; organizational flexibility; Polish enterprises

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/h.2024.58.2.65-78
Date of publication: 2024-07-05 15:44:51
Date of submission: 2023-10-17 10:06:29


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