On April 29-30, 2021, the online conference  "The 'Betrieb' (organization, firm, firm's establishment) as corporate actor - a theoretical and empirical challenge" will take place, hosted by Dorothea Allewell (University of Hamburg) and Wenzel Matiaske (Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg). The topic is important because of the question whether companies can and even must be considered as economically, but also legally and morally responsible actors.

The conference features well-known researchers. Participants include Kirsten and Nicolai Foss (Copenhagen Business School), David Marsden (London School of Economics), Walter W. Powell (Stanford University) and Dieter Sadowski (University of Trier).

For the RMI, Günther Ortmann will present a paper "On Elias Khalil's 'Is the firm an individual?' ". Khalil, not as well known in Germany as many representatives of the new institutional economics (NIÖ), such as Ronald Coase and Oliver Williamson, is one of the most perceptive representatives of theoretical economics beyond the mainstream, and in his contribution he argued that companies are corporate actors with a "common, consented goal" and their own interests. He argues that this criterion, which he considers crucial for distinguishing markets and other loose networks on the one hand from corporations on the other, is missed by NIÖ. Ortmann presents Khalil's approach and his critique of NIE and adds his own additions and criticisms, especially a problematization (and then not complete rejection) of Khalil's delicate concept of consensus.

Innovative leadership and crisis management is needed to prevent social isolation while working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic. At this online event on April 15, 2021, more than 50 interested participants from a wide range of sectors discussed results of a study on this topic by the Bertelsmann Stiftung and the Reinhard Mohn Institute for Corporate Management (RMI).

The current leadership radar shows: Crisis management in organizations is rated positively and working from home usually works well. However, many managers and their employees would like to be able to return to the office as soon as possible. In the long run a lack of exchange and support could become a problem. But what can be done if working from home remains necessary for a longer period of time?
Prof. Dr. Guido Möllering and Sabrina Schuster from the RMI presented figures from the Leadership Radar. Martin Spilker, Director of the Bertelsmann Stiftung's Competence Center "Leadership and Corporate Culture" discussed the results. This was followed by a lively exchange of experiences and a vivid discussion among the participants.

You can find the live recording of the event on this YouTube channel

A total of 67 participants joined us on December 09, 2020 at 6:00 p.m.for a guest lecture by Dipl.-Kfm. Christian von Daniels hosted by the RMI and the Witten University Group (bdvb e.V.)  on "Mask have! How van Laack makes the best of the Corona crisis". The CEO of the textile manufacturer reflected on how van Laack GmbH dealt with the pandemic and, became the largest mask producer in Germany, but recently also experienced criticism.

Not only the students, but also managers, consultants and journalists had a vivid discussion about the management of this challenging crisis.

Below you find a WAZ report and the YouTube recording of the event.

They strengthen the region with innovative ideas, they create digital platforms for communal living, and they make supply chains sustainable. For these efforts, six companies are being rewarded: They are winners of the "My Good Example" 2020 competition. For the ninth time, the Bertelsmann Stiftung, the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts, DIE JUNGEN UNTERNEHMER and the Reinhard Mohn Institute at Witten/Herdecke University are honoring sustainable and socially committed companies.

By video message  the jury rewards the exceptional companies: Neumarkter Lammsbräu Gebr. Ehrnsperger KG, Silicon Vilstal gUG, Patchwork Communities UG (bring-together.de), Followfood GmbH, Deutsche Amphibolin Werke (DAW) SE and Johann Herges GmbH. Because social cohesion counts more than anything else in the covid-19 crisis, the jury offered a special prize "Strong Region - Strong Community" this year.

Prof. Dr. Guido Möllering from the RMI was once again member of the jury and in his video message announced two prize winners in the categories "small and medium-sized enterprises" and "large companies". He particularly acknowledges that Followfood and DAW not only pursue an ecologically sustainable approach, but also one based on partnership. Prof. Möllering: "Corporate responsibility increasingly requires working with others."

Details on the competition and all award winners at the website mein-gutes-beispiel.de and at the Bertelsmann Stiftung.

As part of the master seminar "Strategizing Corporate Social Responsibility" by Dr. Simone Schiller-Merkens, on November 11, 2020, more than 25 students from the seminar and external participants took part in a 90-minute online lecture by Ariane Piper on the topic of Insights and possibilities of campaigning: for more responsibility and transparency in the fashion industry via Zoom.

Ariane Piper is an absolute expert on sustainable fashion and sheds light on topics such as production conditions, consumption and possibilities for action from various perspectives. She works as project manager for Green Fashion Tours, as country coordinator for Fashion Revolution Germany at future fashion forward e.V., as multiplier for FEMNET e.V., and is a freelance speaker for sustainability in the textile industry.

As a multiplier for FEMNET e.V., she discussed possibilities of campaigning for better working conditions in the fashion industry and illustrated this with the examples of FEMNET and the Clean Clothes Campaign, as well as considering the challenges of certification seals and transparency to control - usually global - value creation processes.

Building on this, an internal workshop took place on 18.11.2020, in which Ms. Piper shed light on the credibility and transparency of selected textile seals with the students.

In cooperation with the University of Siegen, the Alfred Toepfer Foundation and the RMI, an interdisciplinary conference on the topic of "Organization and Imagination" was held at Gut Siggen in Schleswig-Holstein, conceived and organized by Prof. Dr. Thomas Klatetzki, University of Siegen and Prof. Dr. Günther Ortmann, RMI. For many it was the first non virtual conference for a long time, in a small circle and with the necessary covid precautions.Three of the lectures with subsequent discussion were held via Zoom.

The 15 participants came from the fields of business administration, organizational sociology, psychology and pedagogy, cultural studies, media sociology, film studies, psychoanalysis, literary studies and philosophy. Günther Ortmann, research professor at RMI, spoke about "Theory Scenes in Organizational Theory", Guido Möllering, RMI Institute Director, about "Imagined Goal Consistency as the Basis of Trust in and between Organizations".

Concepts and figures of thought such as Gareth Morgan's images of organization, fictions of organizing, symbols, metaphors, story telling, image, image, etc. were illuminated in a surprisingly new light when they were examined from different disciplinary perspectives - practiced interdisciplinarity not in the sense of systematic integration, but of mutual inspiration.

The world's largest association of management researchers, with more than 18,000 members, also had to hold its a virtual annual conference ; instead of taking place in Vancouver as plannedonline instead of in Vancouver as planned. From August 7-11, 2020, many live sessions were offered, but much many of the papers were also made available asynchronously with recorded videos and other materials and discussion opportunities.

The RMI is pleased to announce that a total of four research papers submitted in January were accepted for presentation at the Academy of Management Meeting and featured on the AOM platform under the appropriate session number.

In addition to the presentation of current research, Professional Development Workshops are an important component of the AOM program. This year, Hendrik Wilhelm was part of the workshop "For a Limited Time Only: A Practice-Based View of Strategizing in Temporary Organizations" (Session 529) in this pre-conference program. The aim of the workshop was to bring together researchers to discuss practice-theoretical perspectives on temporary organizations (such as projects or alliances) and temporary organizing. The workshop stems from an anthology in the Research in the Sociology of Organizations series, in which Hendrik Wilhelm - together with Indre Maurer and Clarissa Weber (University of Göttingen), Suleika Bort (University of Passau) and René Abel (VTG AG) - contributed a paper on the temporal dynamics of alliance portfolios.

Leona Henry, now Assistant Professor at the University of Tilburg, presented two papers from her completed RMI PhD project. In Session 811 she presented "Coping with the Inclusiveness-Efficiency Paradox in Cross-Sector Partnerships" together with Andreas Rasche (Copenhagen Business School) and Guido Möllering (RMI), in Session 1039, "Orchestrating Interstitial Networks: Dynamics of High-potential, Low-expectation Collaboration" with Guido Möllering. The overarching theme of both papers is dealing with tensions in the course of collaborative relationships.

For some time now, Guido Möllering has been working with Simon Schafheitle and Antoinette Weibel of the University of St. Gallen on a study showing different ways in which leaders develop trust in their employees. With the paper "How Leaders Develop Trust in High Trust Organizations - Many Routes to Active Trusting" in Session 1190, Simon Schafheitle was nominated as a finalist for the MOC Division Best Student-led Paper Award.

Finally, Hendrik Wilhelm in Session 1222 presented results from an ongoing research project, parts of which he had also presented as part of his inaugural lecture at UW/H: "When Do Incumbents Identify Entrants as Competitors?" co-authored with Klemens Klein and Sascha Albers (University of Antwerp). The study combines behavioral science research on teams with insights from strategy research in order to better understand why incumbents often overlook new competitors and thus experience competitive disadvantages.

"We are pleased that the RMI's research is very visible at this important event again this year," says Guido Möllering, and Hendrik Wilhelm adds, "The AOM also provides an important virtual space for an intensive exchange of current research with colleagues."

All details about the conference here:

At this year's virtual Annual Meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE ), Simone Schiller-Merkens, Senior Researcher at the RMI, presented two papers, one in the research network "Alternatives to Capitalism" and the other one at the mini-conference "Possible Worlds: Practice, Ethics, Hope and Distress".

In her contributions "Scaling up Alternatives to Capitalism: A Social Movement Approach to Alternative Organizing" and "Pathways towards Possible Worlds: A Social Movement Approach to Social Transformation" she discussed the question of how and under which conditions alternative forms of organizing economic exchange processes can become widespread in society and thus contribute to a social-ecological transformation of our economic system.

"Managers doubt tech competence" is the headline of an article in Capital (issue 7/2020, p. 13), which reports on a special evaluation of the 2019 Managers' Radar with regard to innovations and digitization in Germany. Prof. Dr. Guido Möllering and Sabrina Schuster from the RMI work together with the Bertelsmann Foundation Stiftung onin this project. The general evaluation has already shown that many executives have doubts aboutdoubt their own role. Little optimism can now also be reported specifically on the topic of digital transformation, which could give rise to concern that innovation impulses efforts are being dampened rather than strengthened at important interfaces in German companies. "Because a manager who is still in the dark is not the one who is particularly driving a topic forward," Capital Prof. Möllering also quotes online.

From the point of view of the RMI, it is necessary to provide greater support for managers and establish new, more collective forms of management. Young managers in particular see a great need to catch up in Germany and would like to see a different, less heroic understanding of leadership. Further study results and interpretations can be found in a Bertelsmann Foundation Stiftung publication published in conjunction with the Reinhard Mohn Award Prize 2020. At the Reinhard Mohn Award Roundtable on June 17, 2020, with the prizewinner Nechemia Peres, one of the questions asked was what conditions are needed to make better use of the innovative potential in Germany, especially in corona times of Covid-19. Prof. Möllering, as a participant, argued that in addition to technological and political conditions, the social dynamics of transformation must be understood and, above all, managers must be strengthened in their motivation and competence.

Prof. Möllering also discussed the question "Do digitalization and innovations fail at the level of executives?" at an online dialogue event of the United Leaders Association (ULA) on June 18, 2020. The study results provided the opportunity to find reasons for the negative assessments of the respondents and to derive implications. As the overarching findings of the Leadership Radar already suggested, the issues of innovation and digitization also requires creating better conditions for contemporary leadership in order to "get out of the frustration spiral", as the title of a contribution by Prof. Möllering in Wirtschaftspsychologie aktuell (issue 2/2020, pp. 33-36) on the topic of re-inventing leadership states.

For further information on the publications and the study please contact  rmi@uni-wh.de

An article by Guido Möllering with his Norwegian co-authors Helge Svare and Anne H. Gausdal was published in the renowned journal "Industry and Innovation". Based on empirical case studies, the importance of different aspects of trust in innovation networks is examined. Even more important than competence and integrity is the perceived benevolence for the development of trust, which in turn promotes cooperation and innovation. The authors also show different dynamics of the development of trust among participants in the network as a whole and among individual members among themselves. For work in innovation networks, the article offers important indications on how certain accents in trust development should be set in different phases and depending on the currently relevant risks.

Link to the article: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13662716.2019.1632695

A strong, uniform culture is often propagated, but doesn't the complexity and dynamics of today's world require a diverse corporate culture? What needs to be done in companies, not least by managers, so that diversity can become productive? How has the view of corporate cultures developed in science in this regard? How should we deal with concepts such as "agility", which seem to call for a strong cultural change?

To this end, top-class speakers were invited by the Reinhard Mohn Institute to the "RMI Corporate Management Day"  to exchange views with the audience and discuss how strongly diverse corporate cultures are. After the welcome addresses and initial ideas from Heike Schütter and Martin Spilker, Sonja Sackmann, one of the leading researchers on the topic of corporate culture, especially subcultures and cultural complexity, gave a keynote speech. RMI Director Guido Möllering then presented the new publication "Vielfalt in Unternehmenskulturen" (ISBN 978-3-86793-881-5 ) in cooperation with the Bertelsmann FoundationStiftung, which aims to give managers a basis for understanding culture as a "toolbox" and for assuming their own mediating role.

Immanuel Hermreck, Chief Human Resources Officer of Bertelsmann SE, then introduced the perspective of a group that, despite the diversification in its business areas and a diverse, international workforce, has always placed value on its "essentials" and has recently updated them. Günther Ortmann and Clemens Wagner also gave a practical presentation on new, agile working methods in an automotive company, which came through the back door and encountered a firmly established bureaucracy. In his outlook, Hendrik Wilhelm then looked at the methodological challenges of adequately grasping cultures in all their diversity if you want to understand them or even change them. 

The approximately 80 guests from business and science took advantage of the opportunity during the breaks to actively and very animatedly exchange views with the speakers and with each other at several discussion stands on the topics, as well as to address the aspects that interest them in their own professional environment.

A short impression of the day can be gained by taking a look at the recap video, more detailed information and all links to the presentation videos can be found in the event report.

The "RMI Day of Management" continues the tradition of previous symposia and promotes the dialogue between science and business on important topics of concern to executives, researchers and society.

On 1 March 2020, Dr. Maximilian Heimstädt moved to a position as research group leader at the Weizenbaum Institute in Berlin. The Weizenbaum-Institute conducts interdisciplinary and basic research on the changes in society caused by digitization and develops options for shaping politics, business and civil society. As head of the research group "Reorganizing Knowledge Practices", Dr. Heimstädt will deal with new organizational forms of knowledge production and knowledge mediation. For example, a first project of the new research group will deal with "Science Slams" as a new form of (business) science communication in times of digital public spheres. One of the cooperation partners in this project is RMI-Alumna Dr. Leona Henry (now: Tilburg University).

After completing his doctorate at Freie Universität Berlin, Dr. Maximilian Heimstädt took up his postdoctoral position at the Reinhard Mohn Institute in September 2016. "At the Reinhard Mohn Institute I had the opportunity to work on an understanding of management that relies on trust, openness, and the ability to deal with uncertainty," says Dr. Heimstädt, "The experience gained from working closely with the RMI team will also shape the way my new research group works.

He was employed at the University of Witten/Herdecke University for three and a half years. "During this time, he not only published extremely very successfully and contributed to public debates, but also supported courses in strategy and organization, incorporating aspects of his research on the organization of expertise in times of digitality," RMI Director Guido Möllering praises Dr. Heimstädt's contribution and is pleased that he will remain associated with the RMI as a postdoctoral fellow even after his move to Berlin.

The RMI team wishes Maximilian Heimstädt a good start and much success at the Weizenbaum Institute!

The fact that one third of managers in Germany despair of their role is a the starting point for a press release  and a short paper   on the "Führungskräfte-Radar 2019", now issued by the Bertelsmann FoundationStiftung. The majority of managers are committed to leadership and see positive effects in their own work areas. However, given the often still all too heroic image of "leadership", it is too seldom seen that managers not only motivate others, but also need motivating and supportive conditions for their leadership tasks.

This is the result of a joint Bertelsmann Stiftung project with Guido Möllering and Sabrina Schuster from RMI. Nearly 1,000 executives were surveyed on how they perceive their leadership conditions, their own leadership behavior and various other relevant aspects, including the current topics of digital transformation and innovative ability. It is planned to conduct a similar survey annually. The current results are received with great interest in the media, for example e.g. by Handelsblatt Online , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Spiegel.

Gitta Neuhaus-Galladé was the first female graduate to complete the new Master of Science at Witten/Herdecke Universitythe University of Witten/Herdecke.

Guido Möllering, director at the RMI and also responsible for this course of studies, is pleased that Gitta Neuhaus-Galladé's career as executive board spokesperson at Comma Soft AG in Bonn got off to a successful start seamlessly after completing her master's thesis, which he also supervised. In the meantime, she has officially received her diploma as the first graduate of the Master's program "M.Sc. Strategy & Organization", which was newly started in Witten in 2018, as UW/H reports on its homepage (to german press release).

Applications for the "M.Sc. Strategy & Organization"  are accepted and processed at any time. The program is aimed atdesigned for graduate students in economics and  students who already have a degree in economics and business administration. Students will learn to think entrepreneurially, try to develop and implement strategies, and develop a feeling for responsible decision-making processes – not only from the profit maximization perspective, but in particular by taking societal changes into account, as well as an organization’s global, economic, social, cultural and ethical contexts.

The Bertelsmann Stiftung is sponsoring the Reinhard Mohn Institute of Management (RMI) at the University of Witten/Herdecke University for another six years. The RMI can thus continue to research and teach on strategy, organization, leadership and corporate responsibility.

"We are very pleased about the further cooperation because the Reinhard Mohn Institute for Corporate Management provides impulses an impetus on topics of entrepreneurship and management combined with social responsibility, which were already important to my father and are trend-setting," said Brigitte Mohn, member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Executive Board and new chair of the RMI Board of Trustees, confirming the decision.

"This renewed vote of confidence strengthens our resolve to make business administration more compatible with the responsible handling of major social challenges," says institute director Prof. Dr. Guido Möllering, looking ahead:. "We are doing this with new projects in research, teaching and practical dialogue, for example on trust, cooperation, organizsational cultures and management conditions in today's world.

The extension of the contract between the Bertelsmann Stiftung and Witten/Herdecke Universitythe University of Witten/Herdecke was signed at a meeting of the Board of Trustees. Katharina Weghmann, partner at Ernst & Young in Forensic & Integrity Services and thus a proven expert on many RMI topics, was welcomed to the RMI Board of Trustees. Aart De Geus, former chairman of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Executive Board, was bid farewell with great thanks.