Books by Stefan Kuhl

Von der Wiege bis zur Bahre wird unser Leben durch Organisationen bestimmt. Aber wir sind nicht dafür ausgebildet worden, wie wir als Mitglied, Kunde, Wähler oder Patient mit Unternehmen, Verwaltungen, Universitäten, Schulen, Krankenhäusern, Gefängnissen, Parteien oder Armeen zurechtkommen können.Organisationen ¿ was sind das für ¿Gebilde¿, die unsere moderne Gesellschaft so stark bestimmen? Wie ticken sie? Welche Eingriffsmöglichkeiten gibt es? Anhand der drei zentralen Merkmale Zwecke, Hierarchien und Mitgliedschaften wird erklärt, wie Organisationen funktionieren.Mithilfe der Metaphern von Organisationen als Fassaden, Maschinen und Spiele werden die drei Seiten der Organisation ¿ die Schauseite, die formale Seite und die informale Seite ¿ so dargestellt, dass dem Leser ein breites Instrumentarium zum Verständnis von Organisationen zur Verfügung gestellt wird.

The belief that rainmakers bring rain is a superstition, but they are able to create cohesion among the people who believe in their powers. Stefan Kühl describes how the rainmaker effect works in the model of the learning organization. Many of the modern management principles that are billed as formulas for success - e.g., clear objectives, employee identification, participation, and continuous learning - fail to deliver on their promises. However, they do have other beneficial effects. They ensure that organizations keep evolving.

In the management discourse few words are thrown about more carelessly than 'organizational culture'. While the term is usually defined too broadly-including such phenomena as assumptions, values, traditions, articles of faith, myths and artifacts-this book applies a far more narrow concept. Organizational culture, or the informal structure of an organization, is a term used to describe the behavioral expectations in an organization that have not been decided on in a formal way but that evolved by means of repetition and imitation. This book shows how this narrow definition makes it possible to more precisely observe and understand an organization's culture and its changes. Management's only way for influencing organizational culture-and this may sound paradoxical at first-is to change the organization's formal structure as for example its incentive schemes, goal-setting processes, strategic directions or hierarchy.

The linear, goal-oriented approach to projects that is so popular in management literature is only appropriate if you are dealing with well-defined problems. For projects that address poorly defined problems, however, the principles of classic project management don't work; project managers attempt in vain to maintain a linear approach, even if targets, people affected and framework conditions cannot be determined precisely. We propose a fundamentally different approach based on current organizational theory: to start out with experiments, without predetermined conclusions. Projects are not evaluated by comparing the current status to the target, but rather by assessing whether stagnation has been overcome, conflicts put aside, and shared understanding about new opportunities has been created. Project groups and steering committees are not set up at all. Power "games" are harnessed and put to use, rather than prohibited.

Kaum ein Begriff wird im Managementdiskurs so leichtfertig gebraucht wie der der Organisationskultur. Wahrend es in der Diskussion bisher eher ublich ist, den Begriff weit zu definieren und darunter so unterschiedliche Phanomene wie Annahmen"e;, Werte"e;, Traditionen"e;, Glaubenssatze"e;, Mythen"e; und Artefakte"e; zusammenzufassen, wird in diesem Buch ein enger Begriff verwendet. Organisationskultur - die informale Struktur einer Organisation - sind die Verhaltenserwartungen, uber die nicht bewusst entschieden wurde, sondern die sich langsam durch Wiederholungen und Imitationen eingeschlichen haben. Es wird gezeigt, wie es mithilfe dieser engen Bestimmung moglich ist, die Kultur einer Organisation genau zu erfassen, um Ansatze fur Veranderungen identifizieren zu konnen. Denn: Die einzige Moglichkeit, die Organisationskultur zu beeinflussen, besteht fur das Management darin - und das mag zunachst paradox klingen -, die formale Struktur der Organisation zu verandern. 

During the Holocaust, 99 percent of all Jewish killings were carried out by members of state organizations. In this groundbreaking book, Stefan Kuhl offers a new analysis of the integral role that membership in organizations played in facilitating the annihilation of European Jews under the Nazis.

How - as members, customers, voters or patients - do we deal with Organizations: public administrations; universities and schools; hospitals; prisons; political parties; or the military?The systems theory developed by sociologist Niklas Luhmann is among the twentieth century's seminal scientific achievements.

This book shows that the introduction of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) of credit points as a new accounting unit at universities has led to increased bureaucracy and the schoolmaster-style regimentation of Bachelor's and Master's courses.