Current research projects

Digital communication technologies such as zoom and Skype for Business or social media messengers such as Slack are now part of everyday social communication. They play a central role in companies in particular, as they enable virtual collaboration and accelerate communication processes, among other things. However, this is also changing the way in which employees work together in companies.

This research project deals with the question of what effects these new technologies have on strategy processes in companies, which place special demands on communication due to the importance of creativity or future orientation. Strategic practices such as planning or the discursive design of strategy meetings should therefore not be viewed in isolation from the use of such technologies. The ‘strategy-as-practice’ research, which deals with the analysis of such practices, has so far paid only limited attention to this interplay.

In the course of this research project, the shift of the strategy process and the associated strategy practices into the digital communication space will be examined from a practical perspective. Implications for characteristics and properties of the strategy process are derived from this. The role of strategists and their handling as well as the instrumentalization of digital communication technologies are explicitly considered in the study. The data for this study is collected by means of ethnography in an international company.

This paper examines the conditions and practices under which abductive leaps of thought—i.e., creative moments of insight—become possible in qualitative social research. Building on Charles Sanders Peirce’s concept of abduction, it is argued that such flashes of insight cannot be consciously generated, but may be facilitated by certain epistemological, social, and methodological conditions. The focus is on the role of experience, diagrams, and communication as triggers for abductive thinking. The paper critiques a naturalistic and individualistic view of abduction, as originally proposed by Peirce, and instead advocates for a socially embedded, communicative, and methodologically reflective perspective on creative processes of insight.

(together with Jo Reichertz)

In response to growing ecological challenges, organizations are increasingly turning to participatory climate interventions—such as workshops and simulations—to foster awareness, emotional engagement, and action-oriented thinking. Tools like the "Climate Fresk" enable participants to imagine and reflect on alternative climate futures, encouraging strategic decisions aligned with long-term sustainability goals.

This research project explores how such interventions influence organizational thinking and behavior over time. Specifically, it examines how these tools shape imaginaries of the future, how they affect strategic practices, and under what conditions their effects become embedded in organizational routines and narratives. Rather than viewing interventions as neutral knowledge-transfer mechanisms, the study conceptualizes them as performative, socio-material spaces where organizations can experiment with new identities, assumptions, and future scenarios.

Using a comparative case study approach, the project combines ethnographic observation, interviews, and document analysis in several corporate settings. It investigates how emotional engagement, sensemaking, and the material design of interventions contribute to their impact—and how organizational structures, temporal logics, and power dynamics either enable or constrain long-term transformation.

(together with Clara Scheve)

This project explores how interactive processes of identity work in organizations not only enable change but can also lead to a state of standstill—a “organizational deadlock.” Based on an ethnographic case study of the founding of a private university, we analyze how identity-related tensions become entrenched in recursive interaction patterns. The focus is on three types of interactions and their relationship to recurring forms of collapse. The aim is to better understand how and why identity work gets stuck—and what this means for theories of organizational development.

(together with Melanie Rainer and Dominik van Aaken)

This study investigates how different family structures—particularly monogamous and polygamous configurations—are intertwined with social inequalities in the entrepreneurial activities of women in rural Sub-Saharan Africa. Based on qualitative data, it reconstructs the social mechanisms through which familial arrangements shape entrepreneurial practices and either enable, reinforce, or challenge social inequalities. The paper combines configurational thinking with a mechanism-based approach to develop a deeper understanding of how structural and micro-dynamic conditions shape entrepreneurial action in the context of inequality.

(together with Christiana Weber and Maren Iwastschenko)