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Ambidexterity - Wikipedia
Ambidexterity - Wikipedia
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1Etymology
2Writing
3Sports
Toggle Sports subsection
3.1Baseball
3.2Basketball
3.3Board sports
3.4Combat sports
3.5Cricket
3.6Cue sports
3.7Figure skating
3.8Football codes
3.8.1Association football
3.8.2American football
3.9Golf
3.10Hockey
3.11Lacrosse
3.12Martial arts
3.13Professional wrestling
3.14Racing
3.15Racket sports
3.16Rugby
3.17Volleyball
4In art
5In music
6Tools
7Medicine and surgery
8Ambisinistrality
9See also
10Note
11References
12Further reading
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Ambidexterity
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ability to do any task equally well with either hand and/or foot
"Ambidextrous" redirects here. For the novel by Felice Picano, see Ambidextrous (novel).
Not to be confused with Cross-dominance.
Ambidexterity is the ability to use both the right and left hand equally well.[1][2] When referring to objects, the term indicates that the object is equally suitable for right-handed and left-handed people. When referring to humans, it indicates that a person has no marked preference for the use of the right or left hand.
Only about one percent of people are naturally ambidextrous, which equates to about 80,000,000 people in the world today.[3] In modern times, it is common to find some people considered ambidextrous who were originally left-handed and who learned to be ambidextrous, either by choice or as a result of training in schools or in jobs where right-handedness is often emphasized or required.[citation needed] Since many everyday devices such as can openers and scissors are asymmetrical and designed for right-handed people, many left-handers learn to use them right-handedly due to the rarity or lack of left-handed models. Thus, left-handed people are more likely to develop motor skills in their non-dominant hand than right-handed people.
Etymology[edit]
The word "ambidextrous" is derived from the Latin roots ambi-, meaning "both", and dexter, meaning "right" or "favorable". Thus, ambidextrous is literally "both right" or "both favorable". The term ambidexter in English was originally used in a legal sense of jurors who accepted bribes from both parties for their verdict.[4]
Writing[edit]
Some people can write with both hands. Famous examples include Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin,[5] Nikola Tesla,[6] James A. Garfield,[7] and Leonardo da Vinci.[8]
In India's Singrauli district there is a unique ambidextrous school named Veena Vadini School in Budhela village, where students are taught to write simultaneously with both hands.[9][10]
Sports[edit]
Baseball[edit]
Ambidexterity is highly prized in the sport of baseball. "Switch hitting" is the most common phenomenon, and is highly prized because a batter usually has a higher statistical chance of successfully hitting the baseball when it is thrown by an opposite-handed pitcher. Therefore, an ambidextrous hitter can bat from whichever side is more advantageous to them in that situation. Pete Rose, who had more hits than anyone else in the history of Major League Baseball, was a switch hitter.[11]
Switch pitchers, comparatively rare in contrast to switch hitters, also exist. Tony Mullane won 284 games in the 19th century.[12][13] Elton Chamberlain and Larry Corcoran were also notable ambidextrous pitchers. In the 20th century, Greg A. Harris was the only major league pitcher to pitch with both his left and his right arm. A natural right-hander, by 1986 he could throw well enough with his left hand that he felt capable of pitching with either hand in a game. Harris was not allowed to throw left-handed in a regular-season game until September 1995 in the penultimate game of his career. Against the Cincinnati Reds in the ninth inning, Harris (then a member of the Montreal Expos) retired Reggie Sanders pitching right-handed, then switched to his left hand for the next two hitters, Hal Morris and Ed Taubensee, who both batted left-handed. Harris walked Morris but got Taubensee to ground out. He then went back to his right hand to retire Bret Boone to end the inning.
In the 21st century there is only one major league pitcher, Pat Venditte of the Seattle Mariners, who regularly pitches with both arms. Venditte became the 21st century's first switch pitcher in the major leagues with his debut on June 5, 2015, against the Boston Red Sox, pitching two innings, allowing only one hit and recording five outs right-handed and one out left-handed. During his career, an eponymous "Venditte Rule" was created[14] restricting the ability of a pitcher to change arms in the middle of an at-bat.[15]
Billy Wagner was a natural right-handed pitcher in his youth, but after breaking his throwing arm twice, he taught himself how to use his left arm by throwing nothing but fastballs against a barn wall. He became a dominant left-handed relief pitcher, most known for his 100+ mph fastball. In his 1999 season, Wagner captured the National League Relief Man of the Year Award as a Houston Astro.
St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Brett Cecil is naturally right-handed, but starting from a very early age, threw with his left. As such, he writes and performs most tasks with the right side of his body, but throws with his left.
Basketball[edit]
In basketball a player may choose to make a pass or shot with the weaker hand. NBA stars Larry Bird, Kyrie Irving, Carlos Boozer, David Lee, John Wall, Derrick Rose, Chandler Parsons, Andrew Bogut, John Henson, Michael Beasley, and Jerryd Bayless are ambidextrous players, as was Kobe Bryant. Bogut and Henson are both stronger in the post with their left-handed hook shot than they are with their natural right hands. Brothers Marc and Pau Gasol can make hook shots with either hand while the right hand is dominant for each. Bob Cousy, a Boston Celtics legend was forced to play with his left hand in high school when he injured his right hand, thus making him effectively ambidextrous. Mike Conley shoots left-handed, but has preferred to shoot floaters right handed, as he does everything else right-handed off the court. Ben Simmons and Luke Kennard are also natural right-handers shooting left-handed. Tristan Thompson is a natural left-hander, and was a left-handed shooter, but has shot right-handed since the 2013–2014 season.[16] He does perform left-handed hook shots more often. Los Angeles Lakers center DeAndre Jordan who is left-handed, shoots with his left hand but has been known to dunk with his right hand, spin clockwise in his 360 dunks,[17] and shoot right handed hook shots more accurately and from further out. Charlotte Hornets small forward Miles Bridges is a left-handed shooter; however, he dunks the ball and blocks shots more frequently with his right hand. Former Los Angeles Lakers center Roy Hibbert shoots his hook shots equally well with either hand. Former Oklahoma City Thunder left-handed point guard Derek Fisher used to dunk with his right hand in his early years. Candace Parker, forward for the Chicago Sky, also has equal dominance with either hand. Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant shot with either hand, although his right hand was dominant: due to an injury to the right hand, he was forced to shoot with his left. Paul George, Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter are all noted to be right-handed, but rotates clockwise for dunks, but Carter is able to also spin counterclockwise, as he did during high school.[18] McGrady also spins anti-clockwise for his baseline dunks. Larry Bird, LeBron James, Paul Millsap, Russell Westbrook, Danny Ainge and Gary Payton shoot right-handed, but do almost everything left-handed off the courts, but Bird once had a game in which he only shot left-handed running hook shots, cross passes and layups. Ronnie Price, however has a tendency to dunk with his left hand, but he is a right-handed shooter. Josh McRoberts is known to be a left handed shooter but does everything with his right hand such as his famous dunks. Ivica Zubac is a right handed shooter, but can shoot hook shots with both hands, and is more accurate with his left handed hooks.
Trevor Booker is left handed for shooting a basketball but writes with his right hand. Ben Simmons shoots jumpers and free throws left-handed, but does everything else right-handed, including dunking, throwing long passes and writing. He also shoots more right-handed non-jumpers (layups, floaters and hook shots).
Board sports[edit]
In skateboarding, being able to skate successfully with not only one's dominant foot forward but also the less dominant one is called "switch skating", or "skating goofy", and is a prized ability.
To illustrate the stances further; there is "Regular" which is left shoulder and foot towards the front of the board and the opposite (right shoulder foot towards the front) is referred to as goofy. These terms hold true to surfing and snowboarding. With skateboarding, whether one pushes with their front or back foot determines whether they are considered regular v. regular-mongo or goofy v. goofy-mongo. The ability to ride both regular and goofy is considered to be "switch stance".[19][20]
Notable switch skateboarders include Rodney Mullen, Eric Koston, Guy Mariano, Paul Rodriguez Jr., Mike Mo Capaldi, and Bob Burnquist.[citation needed] Similarly, surfers who ride equally well in either stance are said to be surfing "switch”. Also, snowboarding at the advanced level requires the ability to ride equally well in either.[citation needed]
Combat sports[edit]
In combat sports fighters may choose to face their opponent with either the left shoulder forward in a right-handed stance ("orthodox") or the right shoulder forward in a left-handed stance ("south-paw"), thus a degree of cross dominance is useful. In boxing, Manny Pacquiao has a southpaw stance in the ring even though he is really ambidextrous outside the ring. Also, in mixed martial arts, many naturally left-handed strikers like Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva will switch stances in order to counter opponent's strikes or takedown attempts to stay standing. Additionally, some fighters actually choose to fight in a southpaw stance despite their dominant hand being their right, one such fighter being Vasyl Lomachenko. This is done as it gives access to a strong and precise jab from the lead hand, which is arguably the most important strike in boxing for setting up combos and interrupting your opponent during their attacks. Bruce Lee also practiced this same method of fighting with his dominant hand forward.[citation needed]
Cricket[edit]
In cricket, it is also beneficial to be able to use both arms. Ambidextrous fielders can make one-handed catches or throws with either hand. Sachin Tendulkar uses his left hand for writing, but bats and bowls with his right hand, it is the same with Kane Williamson. There are many players who are naturally right-handed but bat left and vice versa. Sourav Ganguly uses his right hand for writing and bowls with the right hand, too, but bats with his left hand. Players due to injuries may also switch arms for fielding.
Zaheer Khan bowls left-arm fast-medium but bats right handed. Phillip Hughes batted, bowled, and fielded left-handed before a shoulder injury. Australian batsman George Bailey also due to sustaining an injury, taught himself to throw with his weaker left arm. He is now often seen throughout matches switching between arms as he throws the ball. See also reverse sweep and switch hitting. David Warner has batted right-handed in high school, and has practiced right-handed as well, when he is normally a left-handed switch-hitter. Alastair Cook, Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ben Dunk, Ben Stokes, Adam Gilchrist, Eoin Morgan and Kagiso Rabada are natural right-handers, but bat left-handed.
Akshay Karnewar is an ambidextrous bowler. Originally, he only bowled with his right hand, but since he does everything else with his left hand, he was taught to bowl left-handed as well but needs to signal to the umpire when he switches hands when bowling to allow for the field to change. He is a left-handed batsman. As an off-spinner and left-arm orthodox spin, the ball will always spin towards the batsman (OB vs. RHB; SLO vs. LHB), or away from opposite-handed batsmen, which is the predominant role of switch-handed spinners.
Sri Lankan Kusal Perera started his cricket as a right hand batsman, until he changed to left hand to mimic his favourite cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya. Another Sri Lankan Kamindu Mendis is also a handy ambidextrous bowler.[21] He can bowl orthodox left-arm spin and he can bowl right-arm offspin as well.[22] Yasir Jan, however is a fast bowler both right and left handed and tops over 140 km/h with both hands, with his right arm being faster.[23]
Jofra Archer warms up with slow orthodox left-arm spin, and Jos Buttler practiced left-handed as a club cricketer.[24]
Cue sports[edit]
In cue sports, players can reach farther across the table if they are able to play with either hand, since the cue must either be placed on the left or the right side of the body. English snooker player Ronnie O'Sullivan[25] is a rarity amongst top snooker professionals, in that he is able to play to world standard with either hand. While he lacks power in his left arm, his ability to alternate hands allows him to take shots that would otherwise require awkward cueing or the use of a rest. When he first displayed this ability in the 1996 World Championship against the Canadian player Alain Robidoux, Robidoux accused him of disrespect. O'Sullivan responded that he played better with his left hand than Robidoux could with his right.[25] O'Sullivan was summoned to a disciplinary hearing in response to Robidoux's formal complaint, where he had to prove that he could play to a high level with his left hand.
Figure skating[edit]
In figure skating, most skaters who are right-handed spin and jump to the left, and vice versa for left-handed individuals, but it also down to habit for ballerinas. Olympic Champion figure skater John Curry notably performed his jumps in one direction (anti-clockwise) while spinning predominantly in the other. Very few skaters have such an ability to perform jumps and spins in both directions, and it is now considered a "difficult variation" in spins under the ISU Judging System to rotate in the non-dominant direction. Michelle Kwan used an opposite-rotating camel spin in some of her programs as a signature move. No point bonus exists for opposite direction jumps or bi-directional combination jumps, despite their being much harder to perfect. Nobody can perform a jump sequence (because it requires change of edge, whereas a combo is maintained on the same edge) from clockwise to anti-clockwise, or vice versa.
Football codes[edit]
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Association football[edit]
In association football, being able to kick with either foot provides more options for both passing and scoring, as well as the ability to play on either side of the pitch. Therefore, players with the ability to use their weaker foot with proficiency are valuable in any team. Examples of ambidextrous footballers include Andreas Brehme, Johan Cruyff, Obafemi Martins, Santi Cazorla, Ivan Perisic, Adam Lallana, Diogo Jota, Adriano Correia, Pedro Rodriguez, Diego Forlán, Glenn Hoddle, Alfredo Di Stéfano, Sócrates, Paolo Maldini, George Best, Michael Laudrup, Pelé, Marc Overmars, Michel Platini, Roberto Baggio, Carlos Valderrama, Bobby Charlton, Zico, Tom Finney, John Barnes, John Charles, Ousmane Dembélé, Mason Greenwood, Ronaldo Nazário, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Wayne Rooney, Kevin De Bruyne, Han Kwang-song[26]
Most of them were actually left-footed or right-footed, but have developed proficiency on both feet.[27] Former goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca was cross-dominant. He punched and threw with his right, but kicked with his left.[citation needed]
American football[edit]
In American football, it is especially advantageous to be able to use either arm to perform various tasks. Ambidextrous receivers can make one-handed catches with either hand; linemen can hold their shoulders square and produce an equal amount of power with both arms; and punters can handle a bad snap and roll out and punt with either leg, limiting the chance of a block. Naturally right-handed quarterbacks may have to perform left-handed passes to avoid sacks. Chris Jones is cross-dominant. Although he is a left-footed punter, he throws with his right.[28] Chris Hanson was dual-footed, able to punt with either foot.[29]
Golf[edit]
Some players find cross-dominance advantageous in golf, especially if a left-handed player utilizes right-handed clubs. Having more precise coordination with the left hand is believed to allow better-controlled, and stronger drives. Mac O'Grady was a touring pro who played right-handed, yet could play "scratch" (no handicap) golf left-handed. He lobbied the USGA for years to be certified as an amateur "lefty" and a pro "righty" to no avail.[30] Although not ambidextrous, Phil Mickelson and Mike Weir are both right-handers who golf left-handed; Ben Hogan was the opposite, being a natural left-hander who played golf right-handed, as is Cristie Kerr. This is known as cross-dominance or mixed-handedness.
Hockey[edit]
Ice hockey players may shoot from the left or right side of the body. For the most part, right-handed players shoot left and, likewise, most left-handed players shoot right as the player will often wield the stick one-handed. The dominant hand is typically placed on the top of the stick to allow for better stickhandling and control of the puck. Gordie Howe was one of few players capable of doing both, although this was at a time when the blade of the stick was not curved.[31]
Another ice hockey goaltender Bill Durnan, had the ability to catch the puck with either hand. He won the Vezina Trophy, then for the National Hockey League's goalie with the fewest goals allowed six times out of only seven seasons. He had developed this ability playing for church-league teams in Toronto and Montreal to make up for his poor lateral movement. He wore custom gloves that permitted him to hold his stick with either hand. Most goaltenders nowadays choose to catch with their non-dominant hand.
Field hockey players are forced to play right-handed. The rules of the game denote that the ball can only be struck with the flat side of the stick. Only one player Laeeq Ahmed on Pakistan National Hockey team, played with unorthodox left hand below and right hand up side of stick grip with full command. He played from 1991 to 1992 for the national team. Perhaps to avoid confusing referees, there are no left-handed sticks. In floorball, like ice hockey, right-handed players shoot left and, likewise, most left-handed players shoot right as the player will often wield the stick one-handed. Floorball goalkeepers do not use a stick, so they have two glove hands, and act much like a soccer goalkeeper, but with an ice hockey helmet. When they venture out of the goal box, they act just like an outfield soccer player.
Lacrosse[edit]
In field lacrosse, which is more popular in the United States, it is extremely advantageous to be able to use both hands, as players can play on both sides of the field and are harder to defend against. Usually in field lacrosse, all players except goalies, but especially offensive players, are expected to be able to catch and throw with their weak hand. However, in box lacrosse, which is more popular in Canada, players often only use their dominant hand, like in hockey.[32]
Martial arts[edit]
The traditional martial arts tend to feature a larger number of practitioners who have intentionally developed ambidexterity to a high degree, compared to athletes in combat sports. This is because unlike sports, which have structured rules and common player preferences, traditional martial arts are intended for situations such as self-defense, in which a wider array of physical challenges may occur.
Some arts and schools practice all or most techniques and movements with both sides, while others emphasize that some techniques should only be trained on the right or the left (though both sides tend to eventually receive nearly equal attention). This may be for a number of reasons. Some of these arts rely on the tendency of right-handed people to move differently with the left side than with the right, and attempt to take advantage of this. Similarly, certain weapons are more often carried on one side. For instance, most weapons in ancient China were wielded primarily with the right hand and on the right side; this habit has carried on to the practice of those weapons in modern times. As an example, in Xing Yi Quan, most schools that teach spear-fighting only practice on the right side, although much of the rest of the art is ambidextrous in practice.
Professional wrestling[edit]
Shawn Michaels is ambidextrous. He typically kicks with his right leg in Sweet Chin Music, but uses either arm for his signature elbow drop, depending on the position.[33]
Racing[edit]
In professional sports car racing, drivers who participate in various events in both the United States and Europe will sometimes encounter machines with the steering wheel mounted on different sides of the car. While steering ability is largely unaffected, the hand used for shifting changes is . due to the fact that the shift pattern relative to the driver changes, e.g. a gear change that requires moving the lever toward the driver in a left-hand-drive vehicle becomes a movement away from the driver in a right-hand-drive vehicle. A driver skilled in shifting with the opposite hand is at an advantage.[citation needed]
Racket sports[edit]
In tennis, a player may be able to reach balls on the backhand side more easily if they're able to use the weaker hand. An example of a player who is ambidextrous is Luke Jensen.[34] Due to a physical advantage on the space of time needed when matching the ball with the racket simultaneously with tagging the opponent's movement, being laterality-crossed on eyedness with handedness may be a decisive factor for outstanding performance, since the hand which strikes the ball can do it while the overriding eye, matching with this hand, can be tagging the opponent's movement-decisions.[27] Such have the case of Rafael Nadal who uses his right hand for writing, but plays tennis with left. There are many players who are naturally right handed but play lefty and vice versa. Evgenia Kulikovskaya is also an ambidextrous player, Kulikovskaya played with two forehands and no backhand, switching her racket hand depending on where the ball was coming. Jan-Michael Gambill is the opposite case of Kulikovskaya, since he played with a two handed forehand and backhand, although he served with his right hand. Other famous examples of a two handed forehand are Fabrice Santoro and Monica Seles. Seles' playing style was unusual in that she hit with two hands on both sides and, at the same time, always kept her (dominant) left hand at the base of her racket. This meant that she hit her forehand cross-handed. Maria Sharapova is also known to be ambidextrous.[citation needed] Cheong-eui Kim is a truly ambidextrous player with no backhand, and can serve left-handed as well as right-handed.[35]
Some table tennis players have used their ability to hit with their non-dominant hand to return balls out of reach of their dominant hand's backhand,[36] most notably Timo Boll, a former world #1 player.
Although it is quite uncommon, in badminton, ambidextrous players are able to switch the racquet between their hands, often to get to the awkward backhand corner quickly. As badminton can be a very fast sport, at professional levels of play, players might not have time to switch the racquet, as this disrupts their reaction time.[citation needed]
Rugby[edit]
In rugby league and rugby union being ambidextrous is an advantage when it comes to passing the ball between teammates as well as being able to use both feet by the halves is an advantage in gaining field position by kicking the ball ahead. Jonny Wilkinson is a prime example of a union player who is good at kicking with both feet, he is left handed and normally place kicks using his left, but he dropped the goal that won the Rugby World Cup in 2003 with his right. Dan Carter is actually right handed, but kicks predominantly with his left, sometimes with his right.[37]
Volleyball[edit]
A volleyball player has to be ambidextrous to control the ball to either direction and performing basic digs. On the other hand, the setter has to be proficient in performing dump sets with either hand to throw off blockers.[38] Wing spikers that can spike with either hand can alter trajectories to throw off receivers' timing.
In art[edit]
Although most artists have a favored hand, some artists use both of their hands for arts such as drawing and sculpting. It is believed that Leonardo da Vinci utilized both of his hands after an injury to his right hand during his early childhood.[39]
A contemporary artist, Gur Keren, can draw with both his hands and even feet.[40][41] Thea Alba was a well-known German who could write with all ten fingers.[42]
Tribalogy is the artistic study of creating abstract lines and shapes on a surface using both hands at the same time. An artist who studies tribalogy is referred to as a tribalogist.[43]
In music[edit]
In drum and bugle corps (and drum and bell corps), snare drummers, quads (tenors), and bass drummers need to be somewhat ambidextrous. Since they have to abide by what the composer/arranger has written, they have to learn to play evenly in terms of dynamics and speed with their right and left hands.
Former Beatles member Paul McCartney is left-handed (guitar and bass guitar) and played left-handed when performing (as can be seen in many photos and videos throughout his musical career). The drummer of The Beatles, Ringo Starr, is left-handed as well, but he plays a right-handed drum kit. American instrumental guitarist Michael Angelo Batio is known for being able to play both right-handed and left-handed guitar proficiently. Irish guitar player Niall Horan, from boyband One Direction, applies on this case. He writes with the left hand but plays the guitar with the right one.
The ambidexterity of Jimi Hendrix has been explored in a psychology, but he was known for playing a standard right-handed guitar with his left hand. The guitarist Duane Allman was the reverse of Hendrix, playing right-handed but left-handed in all other tasks. Shara Lin is naturally left-handed, but plays the violin and guitar right handed.[44] She can also play the piano with her left hand while playing the zither with her right.[45] Also, naturally left-handed musicians have to play with right-handed-only instruments (violin, viola, cello).
Kurt Cobain, frontman of Nirvana, was naturally ambidextrous. He grew up having a slight preference for his left-hand (as can be seen in many of his childhood photographies), but as an adult he wrote right-handed. He played guitar exclusively left-handed.
Tools[edit]
With respect to tools, ambidextrous may be used to mean that the tool may be used equally well with either hand; an "ambidextrous knife" refers to the opening mechanism and locking mechanism on a folding knife. It can also mean that the tool can be interchanged between left and right in some other way, such as an "ambidextrous headset," which can be worn on either the left or right ear.[46][47] Many tools and implements are made specifically for use in the right hand, and will not work properly if used in the other hand. There exist shops dedicated to selling implements and tools made specifically for left-handed use.[48] For example, left-handed, and ambidextrous, scissors are available.
Many knives are sold sharpened asymmetrically for right-hand use, and resharpened in the same way. It is possible to buy knives sharpened for left-handed use,[49] and to sharpen any knife in that way.
Medicine and surgery[edit]
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A degree of ambidexterity is required in surgery because surgeons must be able to tie with their left and right hands in either single or double knots. This is usually due to factors like the positioning of the surgeon, whether they have an assistant and the angle required to throw and secure the knot.
Ambidexterity is also useful after surgery on a dominant hand or arm, as it allows the patient to use their non-dominant hand with equal facility as the limb which is recovering from surgery.
Ambisinistrality[edit]
A related variation to one that is ambidextrous is a person who displays "ambisinistrality" or is "ambisinistrous". This term is a near inverse to ambidexterity as Latin root of the word ambi- means both and the Latin root of the word -sinistral means "left", being derived from the word sinister. The term "ambisinistral" can be directly interpreted as "both left" or "both sinister".
The term is used in non-scientific manners to describe individuals who have two non-dominant hands, as both hands are either clumsy or insufficient in motor skill and are therefore used equally as much.[50][51] In an 1992 New York Times Q&A article on ambidexterity, the term was used to describe people "...with both hands as skilled as a right-hander's left hand."[52]
See also[edit]
Brain asymmetry
Cross-dominance
Dual brain theory
Handedness
Laterality
Lateralization of brain function
Note[edit]
^ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). "Ambidexter". Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1st ed.). James and John Knapton, et al. p. 76.
References[edit]
^ "ambidextrous - Definition of ambidextrous in English by Oxford Dictionaries". Oxford Dictionaries - English. Archived from the original on December 8, 2015.
^ "Right, Left, Right, Wrong! - What is Handedness?". www.rightleftrightwrong.com.
^ "Mixed-handed children more likely to have mental health, language and scholastic problems, study finds". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
^ 1811 MMADEHof the Vulgar Tongue, page 12, ISBN 0-695-80216-X
^ "26 Celebrities Who Are Ambidextrous". Ranker.
^ "Other Handedness Issues - Handedness and Intellect". Right Left Right Wrong.
^ "The First Left-handed President Was Ambidextrous and Multilingual". History.com. September 2018. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
^ "Was Leonardo da Vinci, a Famous Lefty, Actually Ambidextrous?". Smithsonian Magazine. 11 April 2019.
^ "200 kids in remote MP school can beat any other left and right". Times of India. 9 July 2014.
^ "Bizarre! Students from this 'ambidextrous' school can write using both hands together and finish exams in half the time". India Today. 5 April 2018.
^ Seattletimes.com paragraph 2
^ 50 Biggest Baseball Myths by Brandon Toropov, page 75
^ Seattletimes.com paragraph 4
^ Abraham, Peter (2008). "The switch-pitcher rule change". LoHud Yankees Blog. Archived from the original on 2008-10-08. Retrieved July 3, 2008.
^ Kleinschmidt, Jessica (2018-12-19). "Why Venditte has a rule dedicated to him and everything". NBC Sports Bay Area. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
^ Garrison, Drew (11 August 2013). "Tristan Thompson will switch shooting hands next season". Retrieved 2015-06-02.
^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: TricksHD (2017-02-18), NBA 2017 Dunk Contest ALL DUNKS HD, retrieved 2017-06-16
^ "YouTube". YouTube. 16 December 2015. Archived from the original on 16 December 2015.
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^ Klein, Jeff Z. (16 February 2010). "Hockey Stick Divide: Canada Leans Left, U.S. Right". The New York Times.
^ "Going back to "Righties" and "Lefties" | Lacrosse Library". 2013-11-18. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
^ Lowson, Thomas (2018-09-06). "6 things you probably didn't know about Shawn Michaels". www.sportskeeda.com. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
^ "Luke Jensen Biography". USTA New England. Archived from the original on 16 September 2009.
^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Stefan Dimov (2017-08-10), Tennis pro has TWO FOREHANDS and serves (lefty and righty), retrieved 2018-05-22
^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Top 10 Hand Switch Shots". YouTube.
^ "Dan Carter highlights art of kicking with both feet is lost". Telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2022-01-12. Retrieved 2017-02-03.
^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: The Art of Coaching Volleyball (2016-02-09), The setter dump - The Art of Coaching Volleyball, retrieved 2017-01-24
^ McManus, IC; Drury, H (2004). "The handedness of Leonardo da Vinci: a tale of the complexities of lateralisation". Brain Cogn. 55 (2): 262–8. doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2004.02.042. PMID 15177791. S2CID 15774729.
^ Scene360. "Quasistochastic Morphogenesis". Archived from the original on 2014-06-06. Retrieved 2014-06-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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Further reading[edit]
Hill, Benjamin. "Venditte: Pitcher or Pioneer? Staten Island's ambidextrous hurler could spark baseball revolution". milb.com. Minor League Baseball. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
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Organisational ambidexterity | London Business School
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Think - AT LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL
Organisational ambidexterity
Understanding an ambidextrous organisation is one thing, making it a reality is another.
Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez
01 October 2014
Strategy
Strategy execution
Operations management
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Understanding an ambidextrous organisation is one thing, making it a reality is another. Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez provides an execution roadmap.
Imagine you had to do your work using both hands; sometimes the left, sometimes the right and other times both of them simultaneously. Imagine if everyone in your organisation faced the same challenge.
Being able to use both of your hands adroitly is known as ambidexterity. And this is a phenomenon increasingly applied to companies where the tension between two different business models is described as “organisational ambidexterity”. The concept was first applied to managerial contradictions by the academic Robert Duncan in 1976 and has since entered various streams of research - in strategic management as alignment versus adaptability; and in operations management as flexibility versus efficiency; or in innovation management as radical versus incremental.
Research has shown that ambidexterity leads to higher performance but at the same time it emphasises that the tension between two distinct capabilities is a key challenge.
Exploration and exploitation
The most accepted definition of ambidexterity is a balance between explorations and exploitation; organisations capable of exploiting their existing competencies while simultaneously exploring new opportunities. James March refers to this as the exploration of new possibilities and the exploitation of old certainties. Exploitation includes such things as choice, refinement, production, selection, execution efficiency and implementation. While exploration encompasses knowledge creation and analysis of future opportunities.
Organisations that engage in exploration to the exclusion of exploitation are likely to find that they suffer the costs of experimentation but without gaining many of its benefits. These companies exhibit too many undeveloped new ideas and often too little distinctive competence. A well-known example of too much emphasis on exploration is Ericsson, the telecom giant that led the development last century of the global system for mobile communications. At its peak, its R&D organisation employed 30,000 people in 100 technology centres and with considerable duplication of work. Despite its strong focus on exploration, the company’s results went into steep decline. Ericsson laid of around 60,000 employees and closed most of its technology centres to put focus back on exploitation in order to return its businesses to profitability.
Conversely, organisations that engage in exploitation to the exclusion of exploration are likely to find themselves trapped in stable equilibrium; going nowhere fast but efficiently.
Maintaining an appropriate balance between exploration and exploitation is a primary factor in the prosperity of any corporate system.
Problem solving
Most of the academic work and research has focused on trying to explain the problem of organisational ambidexterity. Julian Birkinshaw and Cristina Gibson in their 2004 article ‘Building Ambidexterity into an Organisation’, (MIT Sloan Management Review 2004), are among the very few scholars trying to provide a framework for businesses to become ambidextrous. They describe organisational ambidexterity as the capacity to simultaneously achieve necessary alignment (exploitation – excellence in daily operations) and adaptability (exploration - referring to the organisation’s ability to innovate and change in response to the changing demands in the environment). To ensure long-term success, an organisation needs to be able to master both adaptability and alignment. Focusing too much on that alignment can often make an organisation lose long-term vision, while emphasising adaptability over alignment means building tomorrow’s business at the cost of today’s.
Birkinshaw and Gibson explain that the two forms of organisational ambidexterity come under two categories - structural and contextual:
Structural ambidexterity is all about creating separate organisations or structures for different types of activities - organisations that are either solely aligned or solely adaptive, where employees have clear mandates and then they are rewarded accordingly.
Contextual ambidexterity is when individuals make choices between either the exploitation-oriented or the exploration-oriented activities in their daily work. And to allow this, it is necessary for the organisation context to be more flexible, allowing employees to use their own judgement as to how they divide their time between their adaptation-oriented and their alignment-oriented activities.
Unfortunately, in today’s world, very few organisations can afford to have independent structures to focus solely on exploration. This was the case for many companies which invested heavily in R&D (such as Ericsson). These companies usually had a fairly independent organisation, with its own management and own budgets, isolated from the core day-today business. But after the crisis and the resulting extreme focus on efficiency and cost control most of these independent structures have been drastically reduced or dismantled.
A new view
It is clear that the structural separation focused on by much academic research is unrealistic. It is mostly focused on theory rather than practice and riddled with jargon like “exploitation, context, exploration and organic systems ambidexterity”. So it is little wonder that organisational ambidexterity often fails to resonate with executives as an important concept, and yet, it has been proven that it leads to greater returns.
As a practitioner I have had to develop an effective means to communicate and execute these concepts. And to do so, I describe this concept of organisational ambidexterity as the tension between two different business models: running-the-business versus changing-the-business.
Running-the-business is the alma mater of the organisation. It includes the core processes, such as operations, sales, customer services and finance. Most of the revenues generated by any given firm will come from the running of business activities. Running-the-business keeps the company alive, if you stop running it, the company will quickly die. And the focus of running-the-business is a short-term one; objectives are mainly commercial, financial and performance-driven; it is about efficiency, productivity, speed; in academic terms it is about exploitation. It is akin to writing with the right-hand.
Changing-the-business is the future of the organisation. It includes all the initiatives, projects and the strategic and tactical programmes. Organisations often have hundreds and thousands of initiatives running in parallel. Changing-the-business creates future value for the organisation; the objectives are often more strategic and closer to the vision, but the benefits are only achieved in the medium and long-term, and, as such, are less tangible and quantifiable than operational objectives. These targets aim at transforming the business to significantly increase its growth and its profitability. In addition, it is highly risky and there is no certainty that benefits will be achieved at all. In academic terms this is exploration. It is akin to painting left handed.
The main trouble that senior executives have in practice is that it is very difficult to focus on both dimensions at the same time. If you focus too much on the short-term objectives, the competition will soon catch up as market conditions evolve. On the other hand, if you put too much into changing-the-business, you sacrifice today in the hope of a better future.
And, to make it even more complicated, being successful in a single dimension is also extremely difficult. Revealing research by Manuel Hensmans and colleagues investigated 215 of the largest publicly listed UK firms over a period of 20 years, from 1984 till 2003. First they looked at how well companies could run their business over a long period. Out of the 215, only 28 of the companies were able to consistently perform at the frontier of their sector over the two decades. Of this 28, only three were able to make major strategic changes while still performing consistently over the 20 years.
Ambidextrous real time
So, how does all of this affect strategy execution and the management of the business? To better understand the dichotomy between running and changing-the-business and the implications in terms of strategy execution, I looked at the strategies of 40 of the Fortune Global 500 in 2010. I assumed that when defining their strategies, most companies do not differentiate between their operational and their strategic objectives. As an illustration, listed below are the strategic objectives of three of the top companies in the world. In parentheses I assess whether those strategic objectives will be achieved through either running-the-business, changing -the-business, or both:
Walmart
Rank: 1
2010 revenues: $408,214m
Dominate the market wherever Walmart has a presence. (Run the business).
Grow by expansion in the US and internationally (Change the business).
Create widespread name recognition and customer satisfaction with the Walmart brand, and associate the retailer with the reputation of offering the best prices. (Both run and change the business).
Branch out into new sectors of retailing such as pharmacies, automotive repair, and grocery sales. (Change the business).
Royal Dutch Shell
Rank: 2
2010 revenues: $285,129m
Reinforce position as a leader in oil and gas to provide competitive shareholder return while helping to meet global energy demand responsibly. In a new period of growth sharpen performance and achieve a reduction in overall costs. (Change the business).
In Upstream, explore new oil and gas reserves and develop projects where the company’s technology and know-how add value to the resource holders. Assessing more than 35 new projects from some 8 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources, which should underpin Upstream growth to
2020. (Change the business).
Downstream continues to focus on profitability, with plans to exit 15 per cent of refining capacity and 35 per cent of retail markets and growth investment to enhance the quality of manufacturing and marketing portfolios. (Both run and change the business).
Toyota
Rank: 5
2010 revenues: $204,106m
Increase supply of low CO₂ / fuel-efficient vehicles (HVs and compact). (Both run and change the business).
Improve profitability through cost reduction. (Change the business).
Expand all operations in resource-rich countries and emerging markets - full entry into the Indian and Brazilian markets. (Change the business).
Accelerate PHV and EV development (Change the business).
As it can be seen, the leading companies in the world mix short with long-term objectives and they lack a clear finish line. Most of the time it is a mix of running and changing the business’s activities; more proof that organisations need to build ambidexterity capabilities, especially considering that strategic objectives of organisations competing in the same industry are very similar.
The dominant context
The trouble is that while the mix is the thing, the organisation context (all of the systems, processes, governance, values, culture, rewards and so on that make up an organisation) tends to focus on running-of-the business as explained in the table (right), and yet, the company’s future value is mostly created by changing-of-the business:
Six pillars
Building organisational ambidexterity requires a radical change in every single element that composes a company (the organisational context). I have developed and road-tested a framework that addresses these six critical pillars:
1. Leadership and culture
Leadership is where everything starts and ends in a company. Although the company’s culture and values are defined over time and can remain unchanged for decades, the CEO and top management can alter these elements at any point with their messages and actions. In an ambidextrous organisation, the CEO is the main driver of change; thus, he or she needs to be the first one to adopt the culture and values and to gain top management’s support in transmitting these principles to the rest of the organisation. Top management needs to be aware of how run-the-business and change-the-business activities operate independently as well as being aware of how they interact (Jack Welch at his time as General Electric’s CEO is the perfect example).
2. People and skills
The biggest challenge to the People and Skills pillar of an ambidextrous organisation is often to seamlessly align two different sets of HR models. The organisation must first define the change-the-business aspect and then integrate it fully with the run-the-business model. Highly motivated employees will gain experience in both dimensions alternately, for example, spending two years in a marketing position and then moving on to manage a CRM implementation project. Employees cannot become managers if they have not previously managed a large project (which is the case in the Dutch company, Philips). It is important that HR management is aware of these different models and that it takes them into account when defining the organisation’s HR policies.
3. Structure and governance
Having the right organisational and governing structure is probably the biggest challenge of becoming ambidextrous. Making changes within an organisation is extremely complicated and this is for two fundamental reasons: those that pertain to history and those relating to human behaviour. First, organisations are built over many years; and over time, they become rusty, expensive to run, and out of touch with reality. Second, the hundreds and sometimes thousands of individuals that make up an organisation have their old habits, which they are often reluctant to change. Some of these individuals are also influenced by decision-making power, which often means who has the largest department, the highest budgets, and the biggest salary.
This pillar is one of the most difficult business elements for which to find the right balance, because both the organisation and the external environment are constantly evolving and changing. (Microsoft has recently announced a large reorganisation to adjust its imbalance and become more agile) Implementing the right connections between the change-the-business and the run-the-business activities is fundamental for the execution of the strategy.
If this optimal balance is achieved, the organisation will become extremely responsive to the changed environment and able to quickly react to the competition. Eventually, the organisation can become a trendsetter in its industry. (Companies that excel in execution establish a Strategy Execution Office that connects both dimensions. Harvard professors Robert Kaplan and David Norton call it the Office for Strategy Management.)
4. Processes and methods
Processes, methods, and standards are necessary to ensure that work is performed consistently throughout the organisation. Each process has a specific objective, which requires the performance of certain activities to produce the desired output. Not only do processes help to gauge performance and efficiency, they also facilitate continuous improvements and they give management better control over the company. Nevertheless, most organisations have mature run-the-business processes. This is not so with the change-the- business dimension, whose processes are not fully developed and which are also much less embedded in the organisation, or for the link between the two dimensions.
Project- and programme-management are the central change-the-business processes. This methodology comprises a set of standards, templates, roles, responsibilities, and governing bodies whose objectives are to always ensure consistency in management and execution of projects.
The layer that rests on top of all project and programme management activities is project portfolio management. And this is the cockpit of the change-the-business dimension. It should be a structured approach for collecting all of the new project ideas; a procedure to prioritise and select the new project ideas.
Ongoing projects must also be prioritised, particularly the first time the prioritisation process is implemented. The selection process has to be fair and transparent, based on criteria against which the new proposal is assessed. Some of the common criteria for analysing the new ideas are net present value (NPV), return on investment (ROI), payback period, strategic alignment, as well as risk and complexity, and interdependencies. One very important selection criteria involves ensuring that the company has the right competencies to deliver the project; this is determined by performing a capability check. I recommend not developing formulas that automate the process of prioritising and selecting the projects. The exercise is mainly to provide management with different orientations and viewpoints, but the ultimate decision has to be made by management based on human intelligence.
To become an ambidextrous organisation, the run-the-business and the change-the-business processes and methods must interconnect at certain critical points. If these connection points are missing, the company will remain very strongly unbalanced in the direction of its run-the-business side, as this is generally its dominant dimension.
5. Systems and tools
None of the improvements above can be achieved without a set of critical systems and tools that support the execution and management of both the run- and change-the-business components. Organisations today are composed of an amalgam of applications. Each dimension has specific applications that are needed to efficiently perform its role in the business. If we consider that strategy execution is the combination and integration of the run and the change, then we can conclude that companies today don’t have any software to plan and to execute their strategies.
This is one of the reasons why strategy execution is so difficult; and although many IT vendors claim to have produced a strategy execution tool, this is not the case. In fact, there is no single tool that can cover both sides of the business and consolidate the information to allow management to follow up the execution of their strategies. The all-embracing strategy execution tool has not yet been invented. On the other hand, being regularly confronted with the lack of such a tool has led me to find a temporary solution that I believe should form the basis for its future development.
This temporary solution involves building a strategy execution system based on a dynamic enriched data warehouse with simulation functionalities. The data warehouse connects to all the relevant systems used in the run- and the change-the-business dimension and extracts only the relevant data needed for management to build and follow up on the strategy. The tool also establishes controls on the quality of the data, monitoring the accuracy of the information but ensuring that the data is corrected at the source.
6. Enterprise performance management
Enterprise performance management is the name given to a framework (e.g., processes, tools, performance indicators) that manages performance and measures it against predefined operational, commercial, and strategic goals. Some of the very well-known strategy execution management methodologies include something called total quality management (TQM), Economic Value Added (EVA), Six Sigma (6Σ), and Activity Based Costing (ABC); but the one that is most widely used is the Balanced Scorecard, developed in 1992 by Kaplan and Norton. The main drawback of the Balanced Scorecard, and the other enterprise performance management methodologies, is that they address only the run-the- business dimension, thus failing to account for a large and key element of strategy execution. Enterprise performance management should always be a top-down framework that focuses on managing the execution of the firm’s strategic goals. It should cover both run-the business and change-the-business dimensions and monitor the execution of commercial and operational goals with the company’s strategic roadmap.
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Ambidexterity Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
Ambidexterity Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
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ambidexterity
noun
am·bi·dex·ter·i·ty
ˌam-bi-(ˌ)dek-ˈster-ə-tē
-ˈste-rə-
: the quality or state of being ambidextrous
Examples of ambidexterity in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Company – and even national – characteristics of openness, agility and ambidexterity provide a cultural context that promotes innovation.
—Ted Ladd, Forbes, 9 Mar. 2023
There’s a difference between mixed-handedness and the more common phenomenon of ambidexterity.
—Ben Cohen, WSJ, 14 May 2021
In due course, firms with this ambidexterity became the digital winners of the new era—Amazon, Apple, Facebook Google, Microsoft, and Tesla.
—Steve Denning, Forbes, 9 Aug. 2022
But Yeoh has defied this, cultivating a sort of full-body ambidexterity, shifting at will between modes of movement that have lived in her for years.
—New York Times, 15 Mar. 2022
Myers saw Hickman use it to compensate for the lack of ambidexterity sought in high-level lacrosse midfielders.
—Nathan Baird, cleveland, 30 Sep. 2021
Garner’s playing technique was defined partly by executing octaves with his right hand, and ambidexterity factored in his work.
—David Lindquist, Forbes, 13 Sep. 2021
But Hoyle likes the movie beyond Montoya's renowned ambidexterity.
—Christian Ortega, USA TODAY, 28 July 2021
His ambidexterity and stunning sense of time enabled him not only to render and develop different rhythms in each hand, but also to play his two hands out of sync with one another.
—John Edward Hasse, WSJ, 15 June 2021
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ambidexterity.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
ambidexter "using both hands with equal ease" (or its source, Late Latin ambidexter) + -ity, after dexterity — more at ambidextrous
First Known Use
1593, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of ambidexterity was
in 1593
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Dictionary Entries Near ambidexterity
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ambidexterity
ambidextrous
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Merriam-Webster
“Ambidexterity.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ambidexterity. Accessed 9 Mar. 2024.
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Medical Definition
ambidexterity
noun
am·bi·dex·ter·i·ty
ˌam-bi-(ˌ)dek-ˈster-ət-ē
plural ambidexterities
: the quality or state of being ambidextrous
More from Merriam-Webster on ambidexterity
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about ambidexterity
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