Title of Dissertation:
Private Governance as an Institutional Response to Wicked Problems

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Philipp Schreck
University: Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg
Scholarship: KSG Scholarship
Cohort: 2. Cohort, 2015-2018

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[item title="Short Abstract"]

From fatalities in textile factories to child slavery on cocoa farms, lead firms are repeatedly involved in horrendous episodes and immoral business practices. Any statutory regulations or individual entrepreneurial efforts to improve these circumstances seem to be limited and widely ineffective. Yet, another idea is becoming increasingly popular: private governance through collective action. The idea behind this is that companies collectively and voluntarily take it upon themselves to create compulsory customs with the intention of triggering constitutional change. Drawing on the case of the German Partnership for Sustainable Textiles, this monograph discusses the mechanism as well as the conditions under which private governance institutions are formed.

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[item title="PhD Related Publications"]

• Grimm, J.: Private Governance as an Institutional Response to Wicked Problems: A Study of the German Partnership for Sustainable Textiles. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag. Monograph in preparation.
• Grimm, J.: When Can Collective Action Serve as an Effective Form of CSR? A Selective Review of Literature from the Vantage of Institutional Economics. Manuscript in preparation.
• Ruehle, R. C., Grimm, J., Thakhathi, A. and Schreck, P. (2017): Bitter Sweet: Child labor in the chocolate industry - a clear case of double standards? In: Case Centre (https://www.thecasecentre.org/main/products/view?id=151153)
• de Biasi, K., Grimm, J., Piest, S. and Schreck, P. (2017): Rana Plaza and the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles: Collective Action in the Name of Human Rights. In: Case Centre (https://www.thecasecentre.org/educators/products/view?id=145705)

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[item title="Awards"]

• 2020, Academy of Management, Social Issues in Management Division Winner of the “SIM Best Book Award 2020” (http://sim.aom.org/new-item1)

• 2020, Case Centre, Subject Category Ethics and Social Responsibility Listed among the “2020 Best Selling Case Prize” (https://www.thecasecentre.org/educators/ordering/selecting/popularcollections/b estsellers/2020eth)

• 2017-2018, Mathilde-Planck-Lecturer Program Lectureship Funding (1.275€)

• 2015, University of Applied Sciences Konstanz Emma-Herwegh Award for Extraordinary Social Engagement (500€)

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Title of Dissertation:
Continuity in Times of Change - An Oxymoron? Solving the Change Paradox by Means of Trust

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Andreas Suchanek
University: HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management
Scholarship: KSG Scholarship
Cohort: 2. Cohort, 2015-2018

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[item title="Short Abstract"]

The ability to innovate and adapt to continuously changing environments has become a critical factor to the economic success of today’s organizations and equally crucial for their long-term survival. In a world that is commonly referred to as being VUCA—volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous—only few things last, but change is constant. Therefore, mastering organizational change has been identified as one of the “Management Challenges for the 21st century” (Drucker, 1999). Inclined to assume that the more often organizations are confronted with and go through the process of change, the more successful they become, one encounters a completely different reality: The results of several studies conducted over the last two decades repeatedly suggest an average failure rate of organizational change of 70—sometimes even up to 90—percent. This provokes the question why traditional change management theory has not proven successful in serving its purpose of effectively implementing change and transforming organizations.

As advocated in literature, this is due first and foremost to the people involved in and affected by the process of change which tend to react with resistance. Given the uncertainty inherent to change and the resultant fear of the unknown, they are unwilling to positively support and play an active part in the change endeavor which is thence doomed to failure.

In her attempt to answer the above mentioned question, Katharina de Biasi’s work offers a corner stone of the requirements for successful organizational change. As a result of her structured analysis she spotlights continuity and proposes to leverage the alleged change paradox – constituted in the oxymoron “continuity in times of change” – and to solve it by means of trust. In particular, she derives a trust-based formula for successful change which states that the outcome of any change process is the sum of the initial level of trust within the organization and the amount of trust created or destroyed throughout the process. For any change to be successful, this sum always has to present a positive result. From there it follows that the more profoundly the change is going to affect the organization, the higher the level of trust or the more deep-rooted trust within the organization has to be. Hence, the formula further comprises the second finding that trust-formation must precede transformation. Concludingly, de Biasi’s work outlines two levers for effecting a positive outcome of change. These are (1) framing an organizational context conducive to trust, i.e. creating a trust-friendly organizational atmosphere and nurturing a climate conducive to enlarging trust and (2) shaping the conditions conducive to change, i.e. capitalizing on the context and managing the process of change under the premise of respecting the legitimate trust expectations of the individuals involved. Beneficial context features – an organizational climate in which the organization’s members feel safe, informed, respected, valued, and understood – as well as distinctive management behaviors – 1) managing expectations, 2) establishing boundaries, 3) delegating appropriately, 4) encouraging mutually serving intentions, 5) honoring agreements, 6) being consistent – are discussed and eventually incorporated into a holistic change framework with trust at its core.

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[item title="PhD Related Publications"]

Katharina de Biasi. Solving the Change Paradox by Means of Trust. Schriftenreihe der Hhl Leipzig Graduate School of Managementt. Wiesbaden: Springer Gabler, 2019.

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Title of Dissertation:
Metaphysics of Trust

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Andreas Suchanek
University: HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management
Scholarship: KSG Scholarship
Cohort: 1. Cohort, 2014-2017

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[item title="Short Abstract"]

The scope of Social Science is limited to the world of observable phenomena. Therefore, most studies on trust had reduced the concept to a tolerable risk situation, so that trust was devalued and replaced by the concept of trustworthiness. This led to the belief that one should only “trust” if enough information about the psychology and institutional environment of others are known. This work revealed that the resultant perspective is both unjustified and very worrying, as it: 1) condemns trust in strangers as irrational; 2) excludes any appeal to forgiveness and the possibility of moral and personal growth; 3) promotes the use of stereotypes, discrimination and negative generalizations; and 4) conflates those results that are obtained because of trust, with those that are achieved despite distrust. It had consequently been shown that the widely accepted axiom of risk was a mere negative potentiality of its more general and underlying axiom of freedom. To positively determine freedom as autonomy, thus not subjugated to natural causation, it was equated with the infinity of life and the endless questioning of reason. Therefore, the inherent striving of life to be alive and of reason to aim for truth were determined as universal moral principles. Reasonable beings thus ought to be truthful and aim for universal health. This work thereby laid the foundation for a paradigm change, in which positive expectations can both be attained by trust – the hopeful expectation of unconditional respect – and confidence, the minimization of fear through the prospect of acceptable risk.

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[item title="PhD Related Publications"]

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Title of Dissertation:
Neural Value Representation and Cognitive Style – Psychological Underpinnings of Value-Based Corporate Leadership

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Josef Wieland
University: Zeppelin Universität Friedrichshafen
Scholarship: KSG Scholarship
Cohort: 1. Cohort, 2014-2017

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[item title="Short Abstract"]

The PhD project investigates neural correlates of individual decision-making with regard to normative information in economic settings. In two studies, hypotheses were tested that address recruitment of specific brain areas for integration of value-based information. It is assumed that an abstract value is assigned to choice options in a decision-making process allowing to balance options not only with regard to potential gain in financial aspects, but also considering social and normative aspects. The literature suggests that distinct brain areas in the prefrontal cortex, which is important for higher cognitive functions such as reasoning and judging, are involved in attributing and integrating parameters for valuation, resulting in a subjective value triggering a choice.

The thesis aims at examining to which extent neuroscientific research can contribute to the study of behavioural business ethics and the conceptual framing of this field of research. In traditional moral philosophy, the distinction between deontological and utilitarian behaviour is drawn frequently and while this is a fundamental theoretical contribution, the question remains whether this is a valid approach for describing intentions and motivations of individuals in specific situations from the perspective of cognitive processing. Functional magnetic resonance imaging allows to identify relative activation of quite specific spatial regions in the brain. Experimental designs that rely on categorizable behavioural responses of subjects can suggest structure function relationships in the brain which can be put into context with aspects of observable behaviour. Studies on empathy (prosocial behaviour) and utility (expected value) have shown that preference can be shaped by several motives which correlate with activation in specific brain areas. It could even be shown that subjects derive from their typical choice patterns when the dorsolateral part of the prefrontal cortex was stimulated externally.

For the thesis, data of almost 50 subjects was acquired, prepared for preprocessing and taken into account for first and second level analysis. While in one study food brands were used to assess subjects’ processing of potentially rewarding input based on differing normative attributes, in another incentivized study subjects had the opportunity to maximize their financial outcome by engaging in unethical behaviour (i. e., cheating). Both studies reveal insights into decision-making processes in situations close to real-world scenarios. Data analysis could show evidence and tendencies regarding involvement of activation patterns allowing to better under-stand the motives for a certain decision. Further research will be necessary to evaluate the paradigms in terms of their predictive power considering real-world decision-making.

A theoretical reflection combines the approaches and suggests that individual decision-making can contribute to better understanding of corporate structures in consumer markets as motivations are based on criteria that established to evaluate distinct entities with regard to their favourability. Organizations (coming to the consumer most often in the shape of a brand) have the property of serving as the reference unit for such evaluations. Using the concept of brands in this regard can not only help to assess CSR activities as something inherent to economic activity and added value, but also allows for investigation of consumer attitudes by using concepts of empathy.

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[item title="PhD Related Publications"]

• Simmank, Fabian. "Shared temptations: An fMRI study of dishonest profit maximization." PsyCh journal 6, no. 4 (2017): 326-327.
• Fehse, Kai, Fabian Simmank, Evgeny Gutyrchik, and Anikó Sztrókay-Gaul. "Organic or popular brands—food perception engages distinct functional pathways. An fMRI stu-dy." Cogent Psychology 4, no. 1 (2017): 1284392.

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Title of Dissertation:
Cooperation between Large-Scale Enterprises and Nonprofit-Organisations in Sport: A Social-Scientific Inquiry

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Josef Wieland
University: Zeppelin Universität Friedrichshafen
Scholarship: KSG Scholarship
Cohort: 1. Cohort, 2014-2017

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[item title="Short Abstract"]

Business-sport cooperation has long been established. There is a solid tradition of both commercial relationships between businesses and professional sport clubs or leagues mainly based on sponsorship and philanthropic relationships rather in amateur, mass and leisure sport. Lately though, these traditions and their corresponding cooperation routines have been slightly irritated. International debates on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Citizenship (CC) promoted new concepts and instruments for enterprises' involvement in society. Thereby, new forms of cross-sectoral cooperation especially between large-scale enterprises and non-profit-organisations have been suggested as innovative ways to pursue business and social goals at once. According to this idea, enterprises and non-profits would work together on common projects in various social areas such as education, culture, environment, social affairs or sport. However, surprisingly little has been said so far about how such disparate organisations whose behaviour grounds on different sectoral logics can work together at all. Against this backdrop, the study focuses on three questions: 1. Why do large-scale enterprises and non-profits cooperate in sport within the context of CSR? 2. Which characteristic cooperation problems do they face? 3. How do the organisations deal with these problems, i.e. how do they handle ambiguous and conflicting organisational demands? For these purposes, typical features of enterprises and member-serving non-profits are contrasted in a conceptual framework so as to reveal problematic issues of their cooperation conduct. These insights are then reflected in an empirical analysis based on 30 interviews with experts from German large-scale enterprises, sport clubs, sport federations and CSR consultancies.

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[item title="PhD Related Publications"]

• Pillath, M. (2020). Kooperationen zwischen Großunternehmen und Nonprofit-Organisationen im Sport. Eine sozialwissenschaftliche Studie (Angewandte Forschung im Sport). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

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Title of Dissertation:
Implementation of Supplier Relationship Management for the Purpose of Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD)

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Andreas Suchanek
University: HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management
Scholarship: KSG Scholarship
Cohort: 1. Cohort, 2014-2017

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[item title="Short Abstract"]

Supply Chain Due Diligence (SCDD) is conducted by companies to minimise or even eliminate risks of being involved directly or indirectly in human rights violations. It is part of Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) requirement. Through their suppliers companies may be exposed to irresponsible business practices. Considering this, companies should be able to systematically formulate concise demand from their suppliers that they practice responsible business practices which respect human rights. Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) as management tool commonly assist companies to direct suppliers methodically in achieving their financial goals. This research attempts to repurpose SRM concepts to enable companies to conduct SCDD methodically. Defining human rights requirements into practical supplier’s evaluation system is a challenging task. Possible criteria and their indicators are discussed. The structure and processes to implement SRM framework for SCDD purposes are also described.

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[item title="PhD Related Publications"]

Inggrid Panontangan. Implementation of supplier relationship management framework for supply chain due dilligence. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa2-161132, 2017.

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