RMI Day of Corporate Management 2024

Once again this year, the Reinhard Mohn Institute invites you to a current topic with top-class contributions and lively discussions.

The "RMI Day of Corporate Management 2024" continues the tradition of previous RMI symposia and promotes dialog between science, business and society on future issues. In previous years, the focus was on questions such as "Responsibility: Who is ready?" (2018), "How do values become reality" (2019), "How strong are diverse corporate cultures?" (2020), "What does corporate responsibility mean today?" (2021), "How do we save the future?" (2022) and "New Co-Work? Transformations of cooperation" (2023).

The speakers included, among others Roland Auschel (adidas), Jens Beckert (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies), Wibke Brems (The Greens), Immanuel Hermreck (Bertelsmann), Annette Kehnel (University of Mannheim), Alexander Kluge (Kluge + Konsorten), Brigitte Mohn (Bertelsmann Stiftung), Sonja Sackman (UniBW Munich), Ann-Marie Nienaber (Coventry University), Christian Neuhäuser (TU Dortmund), Thomas Voigt (Otto Group), Jürgen Weibler (FU Hagen), Silvia Wiesner (unilever).

If you have any questions or would like to pre-register, please contact rmi@uni-wh.de

Sabine Hossenfelder and Christina Hoon highlighted new approaches to science communication in their keynote speeches. In the discussion that followed, we talked with you about applications, boundary conditions and unintended consequences of science communication in the natural and social sciences. The lively exchange between you and the speakers made the evening something special.

For all those who unfortunately missed the evening or would like to experience the impulses of Sabine Hossenfelder and Christina Hoon again, you can find the audio recording of the lectures in the media library of the Stadtakademie Bochum here.

Event report

With Alexander Kluge, Birgit Gebhardt, Alexandra Heinzelmann and interactive impulses from the RMI, the focus was on what the major changes of our time mean for leadership and collaboration.

Major transformations in business and society are in full swing. The corresponding buzzwords are on everyone's lips: digitalization, climate crisis, geopolitics, diversity, demographics and much more that derives from it. The change of times is multidimensional. But if the overarching structures are (supposed to be) in a state of flux, what needs to change in day-to-day practice? What do the many facets of "New Work" look like, for example? What forms of cooperation within and between organizations will be important in the future?

These questions were in focus at the RMI Corporate Management Day 2023. In addition to the impulses of prominent speakers, there was the opportunity to exchange ideas on selected topics on which the RMI is working intensively and to deepen one's own focal points. Openness, interaction and networking were what made this event so appealing.

Alexander Kluge accompanies companies on their way through digital and, above all, cultural transformation. He sees himself as a coach, travel companion, idea provider and translator at the interface between IT, organizational development and communication. With Sabine Kluge, he has published the book "Graswurzelinitiativen in Unternehmen: Without a Mission - with Success!".

Birgit Gebhardt is a trend researcher, consultant and author focusing on the "Future of the Working World." The former managing director of the Hamburg Trendbüro researches new models of networked business and work. Her most recent publications include the book "Future Pics - Outlooks into our new living and working world".

Alexandra Heinzelmann manages the Germany-wide New Work network HALLO ARBEIT. As an organizational developer with a doctorate and lecturer, she is committed to a sustainable working world with people at the center. She has developed a quality label on the topic of employer attractiveness and is active as an auditor.

RMI's Corporate Leadership Day 2023 thus continues the tradition of previous symposia, fostering dialogue between academia and business on important issues that affect executives, researchers, students, and society at large.

Event report:

"How can we save the future?“ was a very challenging topic at this year's annual symposium - Symposiums  - on the 07th of September 2022 at the Universität Witten/Herdecke - we tackled this insumountableand complex challenge with the support of our wonderful guests and our key-speakers who provided us with ideas, examples and role models on where the answers may lie.

The initial introduction by the university's president  Martin Butzlaff already underscored the need for a new approach: Does the present situation demand a compulsory "make it good again year" for all the damage that mankind has caused?

The politician  Wibke Brems received highly critical questions from the audience and demonstrated her dedication and openness to the challenges we face, whilst upholding the need for continued support for industries during this period of necessary transformation within the energy sector and beyond.

The historian  Annette Kehnel held a deeply intersting talk considering historical references to the topic of sustainability. It is welcoming to reflect that her her bestselling book, »Wir konnten auch anders. Eine kurze Geschichte der Nachhaltigkeit« (We can do things differently. A Short Story of Sustainability) was inspired during a seminar with students.

During the so called "Future Chat" we asked Tobias Esch, Annette Kehnel, Brigitte Mohn und Katharina Weghmann which individuals served as role models were during these challenging and uncertain timesdifficult times. The choice fell between Mother Teresa and the anti-hero Elon Musk there was certainly no lack of inspiring suggestions.

Tobias Esch presernted the concept of generativity: It is an important aspect of our social well-being and overall contentment when we believe that we have something that is a worthy of passing on.

We are interested to know what left a lasting impression on our participants. What provided them with a lasting sense of inspiration? Which thoughts and ideas did you take with you? What thoughts are generated when we consider the future perspectives?

We will continue this dialogue and the next opportunity is already at the upcoming event  "RMI Distinguished Lecture" held by Professor Mark Ebers (University of Cologne) on the 12. Oktober 2022, at 18:00 at the University of Witten/Herdecke in our university's new audotorium - Unternehmensführung unter VUCA Bedingungen: Erstens kommt es anders, und zweitens als man denkt“ "Corporate Management according to VUCA conditions: It's always different than anticipated"

Wibke Brems MdL Faction Leader for the GRÜNEN in the State Parliament of NRW. She has a degree in electrical engineering with a focus on renewable energy. She is an expert in climate change and energy politics and as a politcitan has experience in mining, economics and digital technologies, and town planing. She is a member of various advisory boards in tertiary education, associations and companies..

Prof. Dr. med. Tobias Esch is a medic and health scientist with a focus on neurology. He heads the "Institut für Integrative Gesundheitsversorgung und Gesundheitsförderung" (Institution for Integrative Medicine and Well-being) at the University of Witten/Herdecke. He studied and received his PhD in Göttingen, and works as a senior doctor for gerneral practice and integrative medicine, he has also researched at the Harvard Medical School. He is well known as the 'happiness researcher' and is the author of books such as »Mehr nichts!« and »Die bessere Hälfte«.

Prof. Dr. Annette Kehnel has held the Chair of Medieval History at the University of Mannheim since 2005. After completing her doctoral studies at Trinity College Dublin (PhD 1995), she taught and researched at the TU Dresden, where she habilitated in 2004, before being appointed to Mannheim. Her bestseller "Wir konnten auch anders. A Short History of Sustainability" was awarded the NDR Non-Fiction Book Prize in 2021.

Dr. Brigitte Mohn is a member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Executive Board and the supervisory boards of the Bertelsmann Group and a shareholder in Bertelsmann Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH. She studied political science, art history and German literature in Bamberg, Münster and Augsburg, earned her doctorate at UW/H in 1993 and is a member of the RMI Board of Trustees. Topics close to her heart include health, community affairs, civil society and entrepreneurship.

Katharina Weghmann is a Partner and Global ESG Forensics Leader at Ernst & Young (EY). She holds a PhD from Columbia University in New York and is an expert in business ethics and systems learning. Capital named her one of the "Top 40 under 40" in 2018. In addition to her consulting work for many well-known companies, she has held international teaching positions and is a member of the Supervisory Board of UW/H and the RMI Board of Trustees.

Event report:

The RMI Debate on May 18, 2022, the Reinhard Mohn Institute brought one of the current controversial issues in business research to the University of Witten/Herdecke: Can facts and assumptions be separated in management research along the lines of Evidence-Based Medicine, as the term Evidence-Based Management suggests?

Strategic decisions such as the market entry of the company, the choice of a management concept for the design of work processes in the company, or the question of which team is best suited for which task are often difficult decisions for managers. This is because the data and facts that make such a decision easier or even possible are often lacking. It is therefore not surprising that managers' (and management researchers') eyes turn toward medicine and the hard criteria of evidence-based medicine: Randomized controlled trials with large groups of patients show whether a treatment helps or not. Evidence-based medicine - the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of the current best external, scientific evidence to make medical care decisions for individual patients - in practice means integrating individual clinical expertise with the external evidence from systematic research. There is no doubt that evidence-based medicine saves lives.

Evidence-based management aims to follow this example. Research in this tradition examines whether, for example, specific entrepreneurship training has a positive effect on indicators of business success. In many countries, such interventions can have a positive influence on the ability of individuals to ensure the survival of their families.

Prof. Dr. Nicole Skoetz (Universitätsklinik Köln) introduced the approach of evidence-based medicine as a physician and computer scientist. Her presentation "Evidence-based Medicine in the context of COVID-19: from hopes to facts" used the example of different treatment options for COVID-19 to show how evidence-based guidelines are developed on the basis of numerous studies.

Prof. Dr. Michael Frese (Leuphana Universität Lüneburg und Asia School of Management, in Zusammenarbeit mit MIT Sloan Management) asked in his presentation, "Evidence based - What else?" and showed how randomized controlled trials in management research create evidence on the effectiveness of training.

Prof. Dr. Alfred Kieser  (Universität Mannheim and long-time associate professor at RMI)  took a critical position towards such evidence-based management. In his presentation, he raised the question "Does evidence-based management actually improve the quality of management research and thus management?".

Prof. Dr. Hendrik Wilhelm (RMI) moderated the debate, which focused not only on the constraints on the feasibility of randomized controlled trials but also on the challenges of implementing evidence. The 50 or so participants present, a colorful mix from business, medicine and science, repeatedly took the opportunity to ask questions and join in the discussion - and were then able to exchange ideas more intensively in person at a small reception following the event.

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Inhaltlich war das Symposium nach vier Prinzipien Reinhard Mohns gegliedert

Grußworte von Liz Mohn (BVG)

Universitärer Ausblick von Prof. Dr. Martin Butzlaff (UW/H)

Die Moderation übernahmen Guido Möllering und Hendrik Wilhelm (beide RMI / UWH)

„Partizipativ führen“ – Wie weit soll die Beteiligung gehen? diskutiertenJürgen Weibler und Martin Spilker, moderiert von Guido Möllering

Jürgen Weibler (FernUniversität Hagen)

Martin Spilker (Bertelsmann Stiftung)

Das Thema „Unternehmenskultur entwickeln“ – Wie gelingt Digitalisierung kulturell? wurde von Thomas Voigt und Annette Gebauer beleuchtet

Thomas Voigt (Otto Group)

Annette Gebauer (ICL GmbH)

„Leistungsbeitrag erbringen“ – Welche Rolle spielt Kooperation? erörterten Christiana Weber und Birgit Riess

Christiana Weber (Universität Hannover)

Birgit Riess (Bertelsmann Stiftung)

Zum Abschluss diskutierten Brigitte Mohn und Silvia Wiesner über „Menschen bewegen“ – Wie fördert man Zukunftsgestalter?

Silvia Wiesner (Unilever)

Brigitte Mohn (Bertelsmann Stiftung)

Verabschiedung und Ausblick erfolgte wieder durch Guido Möllering und Hendrik Wilhelm (beide RMI / UWH)

Event report:

To mark the 100th anniversary of Reinhard Mohn's birth, the institute named after him invited people to a dialog between academia and business to reflect on topics that were close to Mohn's heart and that continue to move executives, researchers and society today. For the "RMI Corporate Management Day 2021," the RMI also published in cooperation with the Bertelsmann Foundation (BSt) the book (Buch) - title: „Was heißt unternehmerische Verantwortung heute? Reflexionen zum 100. Geburtstag Reinhard Mohns“ erschienen (ISBN 978-3-86793-940-9). 

In terms of content, the symposium was structured according to Reinhard Mohn's four principles: Lead Participatively; Develop Corporate Culture; Contribute to Performance; Move People. For each of these, there was an overarching discussion question as a stimulus (see program ). Each program item was introduced with a short impulse, which was then followed by a moderated discussion among the respective speakers and with the audience.

The speakers were: Martin Butzlaff (UW/H), Annette Gebauer (ICL GmbH), Guido Möllering (UW/H), Brigitte Mohn (BSt), Liz Mohn (BVG), Birgit Riess (BSt), Martin Spilker (BSt), Thomas Voigt (Otto Group), Christiana Weber (University of Hanover), Jürgen Weibler (FernUniversität Hagen), Silvia Wiesner (Unilever) and Hendrik Wilhelm (UW/H).

The event took place as a hybrid event, where the speakers and some officials were on site in the Audimax of the UW/H and about 50-60 guests participated interactively online via Zoom. For each program point after the greetings, there was the possibility to actively contribute to the discussion with requests to speak or in the chat.

For those interested the zoom recording of the event: https://youtu.be/3UBoqnYkv38

Event report:

On the topic of "How strong are diverse corporate cultures?", top-class speakers exchanged views with around 80 guests from business and academia at the "RMI Corporate Management Day 2020" in the UW/H Audimax on March 5.

Introduction (Grußworte und ersten inhaltlichen Impulse) from Dr. Heike Schütter (UW/H) und Martin Spilker (Bertelsmann Foundation) was followed by the keynote address by Prof. Sonja Sackmann, PhD (University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich), a pioneer of research on the topic. She highlighted the challenges but also the opportunities of cultural diversity and complexity, as well as the possibilities of dealing with them strategically and organizationally. During the first coffee break, the guests were able to discuss further how good communication can make the potential for conflict productive. Link to the presentation: Link zum Vortrag von Sonja Sackmann

Afterwards, Prof. Dr. Guido Möllering from the RMI presented five central theses of his new: Publikation „Vielfalt in Unternehmenskulturen“  in cooperation with the Bertelsmann Stiftung. The guests exchanged views on this intensively in marble breaks and in the plenary session, and a common understanding was developed that managers should understand culture as a versatile "toolbox" and take on a mediating role. Link to the presentation: Link zum Vortrag von G. Möllering

After a midday snack, Dr. Immanuel Hermreck, Chief Human Resources Officer of Bertelsmann SE and member of the RMI Board of Trustees, presented the guests with his particularly exciting presentation:Vortrag  „Verbindendes bei aller Vielfalt“  the perspective of a group that attaches great importance to its "essentials" of creativity and entrepreneurship and at the same time needs diversity as an essential prerequisite for this.

Afterwards, Dr. Hermreck continued the discussion with many guests at one of the discussion booths that were set up this year for the coffee breaks. At the other booths, topics were discussed that had been suggested by the guests in the run-up to the event, such as the implications of cultural diversity for HR work.

Prof. Dr. Günther Ortmann and Clemens Wagner also spoke about new, agile ways of working in an automotive company, which encountered a firmly established bureaucracy. The case study is also included in the publication by Prof. Möllering presented in the morning and shows how new cultural elements can enter a company through the back door, as it were, disrupt things, but can be used together with established elements. Link: Link zum Vortrag von Prof. Ortmann und Clemens Wagner

The afternoon was rounded off by a methodological outlook by RMI Prof. Dr. Hendrik Wilhelm on the topic of "Capturing Corporate Culture Better „Unternehmenskulturen besser erfassen“, who showed how important it is, when analyzing culture, to first clarify the epistemic interest and then to go in sufficiently broad and deep.

After Prof. Dr. Möllering's closing remarks and words of thanks, all guests had another opportunity to exchange ideas and make contacts with each other and with the speakers at the closing reception. There was lively communication around the event on Twitter and LinkedIn. There was a live streaming via the YouTube channel of the UW/H and the recording of the entire event is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpYt6fApfw8 .

Grussworte durch Heike Schütter (WIGE Fakultät der UW/H)

Weiteres Grusswort von Martin Spilker (Bertelsmann Stiftung)

Sonja Sackmann (Bundeswehr-Uni München) hielt die 1. Keynote zum Thema "Kulturelle Komplexität managen"

Guido Möllering (RMI) präsentierte die neue Studie "Vielfalt in Unternehmenskulturen"

In den Pausen gab es Gelegenheit zum Netzwerken

Die 2. Keynote war ein Praxisvortrag von Immanuel Hermreck (Bertelsmann SE) zum Thema "Verbindendes bei aller Vielfalt"

In der 3. Keynote referierten Clemens Wagner (RMI) und ...

...Günther Ortmann (ebenfalls RMI) über "Kulturclash? Agilität trifft Bürokratie"

Das Jazz-Duo Strings sorgte für musikalischen Background

Einen methodischen Ausblick aus Forschung & Praxis gab Hendrik Wilhelm "Unternehmenskulturen besser erfassen"

für alle Fotos: © RMI (T. Witte)

Philip Balsiger (Université de Neuchatel)

Ignais Martí Lanuza (ESADE, Barcelona)

Francesa Forno (Universidade di Trento)

Tim Bartley (Washington University, St. Louis)

Simone Schiller-Merkens (RMI)

für alle Fotos: © RMI

Some 30 international scientists discussed the topic on November 21 and 22, 2019, during a conference organized by Simone Schiller-Merkens (RMI) and Philip Balsiger (Université de Neuchatel). RMI-Workshops  alternative forms of organization in the economy.

Keynote presentations by three renowned scientists framed the discussions.

Ignasi Martí Lanuza (ESADE, Barcelona) referred to the persistence of institutions of injustice and critically discussed the extent to which marginalized people have the possibility of resistance, and finally addressed possibilities for social restoration.

Francesca Forno (Universidade di Trento) spoke about the rise of local forms of mobilization following the global justice movement and the attempts of so-called "sustainable community movement organizations" to develop alternative ways of organizing economic exchange at the local level.

Tim Bartley (Washington University in St. Louis) reflected on the difficulties in regulating global supply chains, both publicly and privately, and reminded us of the limits in the "hope for transcendence" that these regulations are supposed to provide.