Research focus
Find out more about my research topics: trust, innovation, sustainability and compliance.
Trust
Nowadays trust is a central topic for organisations to manage successfully. It is important they are aware of its value to them, as those who can harness its power can be more effective, more resilient both internally and with external partners. In the commercial world, companies use trust as a signal in their advertising. The media build their headlines around this topic when situations turn sour, adding an external dimension to the fronts on which organizations in trouble have to fight. Political leaders try to build their reputations on it, and again research we have done shows trust is vital to both organisation and political leaders.
Learn moreInnovation
Small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone for successful economies and key driver for social welfare. Entrepreneurs face challenges in identifying opportunities, gathering resources, and growing businesses in preparation for successful exit. The challenges are unique since entrepreneurs must work with a number of actors under extreme conditions of uncertainty where the different actor’s objectives are not always aligned with those of the entrepreneur. They usually have very limited resources, so they draw on the assistance of networks. However, most SMEs do not have the relationship management know-how for collaborative innovation without losing their competitive advantages.
Learn moreSustainability
Ideally all best business decisions were aligned with best ecological decisions regarding sustainability! Maybe you think that is the case? Taking a glance in the newspaper demonstrates: it is not. Recent scandals demonstrate how careless companies and in particular managers seem to decide and act. How can stakeholder anticipate those unethical behavior? Companies publish corporate sustainability reports almost every year to demonstrate their corporate ecological engagement but do companies keep what they promise?
Learn moreCompliance
Compliance is the topic since years now. Companies are challenged with high standards regarding ethical behaviour. External regulations and internal control mechanisms have been implemented over the last years. So called “compliance managers” have been hired but still compliance practices are regularly accused to be “useless”, “money burning” or “black holes”. Still, we read almost every day about a new compliance scandal in the world.
Learn moreVertrauenskommunikation – Trust Communication
Recent scandals tell us not to trust anybody or anything: banks fail, poisoned food, bullying at work or fake news worldwide do not allow us to trust anymore. However, Angela Merkel herself said once in the news: the most important currency is trust! So what can we do nowadays to become trustworthy? When selling a new product or managing employees, we need trust since we build all our relationships on trust – but how can we build trust? One decisive tool is trust communication. When you are able to communicate trustful, you will be trusted by others. Thus, managers in all fields (e.g. Human Resources, Organizational Behavior or, Information Technology) have to understand how they can use their words and habits to be seen as trustworthy.
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