Doerte Resch

This study examines the effect of artificial intelligence (AI) on leadership in internationally operating insurance companies. Because insurance is a model example of a data-intensive industry, companies are already applying AI-powered technology and searching for opportunities for further use. However, any important step in automation may trigger a leadership shift and a research gap has been identified in the development of leadership positions in insurance companies confronted with the use of AI. Specifically, the objective is to investigate how leadership could change due to the introduction of AI as an example of digitalization. For this study within an interpretive paradigm, qualitative data were collected in 19 semi-structured interviews, with interviewees representing five insurance companies headquartered in Western Europe. The findings suggest that the use of AI and its implications for leadership are closely linked to the underlying structures of the industry, which has led to the existing leadership discourse and organizational metaphor in the first place. The implications of AI, in turn, depend on the leadership discourse and existing structures. Thus, if AI is used only in accordance with the current discourse, the implications for leadership are minimal. Therefore, it can be concluded that the use of AI-powered software itself is unlikely to trigger change in leadership. Nevertheless, AI holds significant potential for insurers. For example, AI could support the insurer’s core competencies, and connect companies with broader ecosystems and customer communities.

Wie konnen individuelle Coaching- und organisationale Supervisionskonzepte auf das Coaching von Gruppen im Rahmen von Weiterbildungen an Hochschulen ubertragen werden? Wenn es um das Coaching von individuellen Anliegen im Rahmen von Gruppen in einem Weiterbildungssetting geht, dann stellen sich mehrere Herausforderungen. Anders als in "klassischen" Supervisionssettings gibt es keinen gemeinsamen Arbeitskontext, keine gemeinsamen Erlebnisse die reflektiert werden. Anders als in Beratungsausbildungen werden keine Skills zu Methoden, die an den jeweiligen Fallen geubt werden konnen, vermittelt. Wie kann also ein Coachingkonzept fur Erwachsene an Hochschulen etabliert werden. Es wird ein methodisches Konzept vorgestellt und kritisch reflektiert, das Ansatze aus Coaching und Supervision integriert. Coaching in Gruppensettings wird gerade in der Weiterbildung von Erwachsenen an Hochschulen immer popularer. In diesem Beitrag werden Herausforderungen reflektiert und im Rahmen einer methodischen Integration ein Konzept vorgestellt und kritisch diskutiert.

Resch, Doerte ; Hoyer, Patrizia ; Müller, Björn ; Schulz, Florian ; Steyaert, Chris: Jahresbericht 2010 der Psychologischen Beratungsstelle der Universität St.Gallen : Jahresbericht. Universität St. Gallen : Lehrstuhl für Organisationspsychologie, 2011. ... Wenn Sie Interesse am ...

Die adäquate Verwendung von Ressourcen stellt eine wichtige Grundlage für die Bewältigung von persönlichen und arbeitsbezogenen Anforderungen dar. Gelingt es nicht die notwendigen Ressourcen zu aktivieren kann dies zu Krisen mit entsprechenden psychischen ...

Die adäquate Verwendung von Ressourcen stellt eine wichtige Grundlage für die Bewältigung von persönlichen und arbeitsbezogenen Anforderungen dar. Gelingt es nicht die notwendigen Ressourcen zu aktivieren kann dies zu Krisen mit entsprechenden psychischen ...

ABSTRACT Immer mehr wird über die mehr oder weniger befriedigende Situation von PraktikantInnen aus eben dieser Perspektive der PraktikantInnen berichtet. Was aber sollten Organisationen beachten, wenn sie vorhaben Plätze für Praktika anzubieten? Unter der Prämisse, dass ein Praktikum sowohl für die Organisation, wie auch für den Praktikanten sinnvoll sein soll wird erläutert, welche Überlegungen und Massnahmen hinsichtlich eines tragfähigen psychologischen Vertrages unternommen werden können.

Introduction Social relations in organizations are predominantly discussed as either bonds between individuals or, alternatively as team-based matters. Moreover, social relations are often viewed as the objects to be improved by means of training and education, a view that is heavily influenced by the humanist ideal of personal development and growth. Neglected in these ideas on social relations are often the structures and discourses the organization itself produces. The co-dependence of the organizational and the social discourse is the main target of this study. Objective and Method To gain an understanding of the relation between organizational discourses and how those effectuate relations within the organization, an in-depth study encompassing two large organizations was carried out. The objective was to investigate both the organizational as well as the social discourses in the organization, whereby taking a special interest in the interrelation of the two. Based on problem-centred interviews and group discussions with over hundred participants within the organizations, a discourse analysis was carried out. Results This study shows how the level of organizational discourse interrelates with the social discourse of the organizations. Surprisingly, the results show that rather traditional discourse of the organizations such as Taylorism formed the pivotal reference point for the organizational discourse. This was posed in a sharp contrast with discourses of social relations, as those were very much inspired by humanist ideals. As the organizational discourse influencing the social was never discussed within the organizations, frictions between the two levels were carried out on individual level. Both the gap and the wider implications between constructions of organizational realities relying on pre-Human Relations concepts of organizations and claims on the social discourse very much based on just those humanist ideals became explicit through this study. Conclusion Inquiries of organizational discourses have a long tradition in the field of Organizational Psychology as is evident, in the debate on Taylorism or the Human Relations. Equally prominent in Organizational Psychology is the discussion of people's relational competencies in organizations. This study shows how organizational discourse en- and disables certain qualities of relations in organizations, thus bringing two traditionally separated fields of Organizational Psychology together. Implications for an integrative approach that focuses on both relational and organizational levels are discussed on the basis of empirical and theoretical arguments.

Wie werden Unterschiede zwischen Systemsicher Therapie und Systemischer Beratung erzeugt? Die zwei Bereiche sind in unterschiedlichen Kulturen verhaftet. Systemische Therapie schliesst sich den Kulturen auch anderer Psychotherapeutischer Schulen an, Systemische Beratung scheint einer Breite von Kulturen sowohl der Sozialen Arbeit wie auch der Beratung von grosseren Systemen bis zu Organisationen verortet. Beide sind in unterschiedliche Kulturen von Kontexten wie Organisationen, Strukturen und Anbindungen verbunden. Gleichzeitig eint sie die Kultur des systemischen Ansatzes der Intervention und Veranderung. Welchen Sinn kann es also ergeben diese Unterschiede zu machen; welche Sinn kann es ergeben, dass sich die Kulturen einander annahern? In der Betrachtung der jeweiligen Verortung der unterschiedlichen Kulturen und Traditionen wird reflektiert, welche (Aus)Wirkungen dies hat und wie eine Konstruktion von Kulturen, die positive Wirkungen fur beide Bereiche entfalten kann, vorgehen konnte.

In recent years it has become increasingly popular in the German speaking part of Europe to train individuals in so called 'social competences' or 'soft skills', thus presumably enabling both individuals and organizations to better relate with each other and thus 'function' more efficiently and effectively - at least this seems to be the inherent promise. Yet, within this fashion of 'training soft skills', most notably promoted by HRM, the individualistic agency isn't questioned. I will thus take issue with this omission through a discursive study of two Swiss organizations. Based on problem-centred interviews and group-discussions I have been asking people in these organizations to talk about their 'social life' i.e. how they relate with each other in the context of their professional life. First going about deconstructing the popular individualistic discourse, interpretive repertoires could even offer explanations how these 'soft skills' are rendered that important, that they seem to have become a prerequisite for employment (even schools and universities include soft-skills trainings in their curricula). I will thus reveal that the talk of soft skills, when constructed as 'finished' after leaving parents home, seems to reify the idea of stable personalities - thus rather discouraging than enabling the much-lauded flexibility of the workforce. In an attempt to reflect individual utterances on the level of organizational metaphors, I used Morgan's scheme to inquire how the realities of 'the social' vary according to the organizational metaphor. Somewhat surprising however is that most accounts of the interviewees were construing organizations as machine - as a result of which 'the social' was placed either outside of the organization (and thus represented as disturbance) or inside the organization where it was conceived as a useful, instrumental element. On the face of it, the apparently 'hot fashion' of social skills could be reconnected to the rather 'old stories' of Taylorism and Human Relations. In view of the aim of the study, i.e. to analyse the construction and sensemaking of 'the social' within organizations, the results show how the growing popularity of 'social skills' trainings, on the one hand neglect the level of co-construction of contexts and on the other hand obscure that the supposedly 'altruistic social' is subject to a perspective which strongly stresses the utility function of human labour and thus helps to envisage the individual as 'useful workforce' for and within the organization.

ABSTRACT Wie im Buch "Soziales Miteinander in Organisationen" (2007, Carl-Auer-Verlag) angekündigt, finden Sie an dieser Stelle den Anhang, der erweiterten Einblick in Diskursanalyse gibt, auf der das Buch beruht. Das Dokument ist als pdf hinterlegt und kann entsprechend heruntergeladen werden - viel Spass beim Lesen! Dörte Resch

Abstract In this paper we focus on the consequences that emerge for organizations when they attempt to implement value-laden concepts such as family friendliness. Such new concepts are often taken on board without realising how fundamentally the structure of the ...

Within the increasing fashion of “training soft skills” in organizations, the individualistic agency isn’t questioned. This study shows how the individualistic discourse hinders rather than facilitates change in organizations. The study is grounded in a social constructionist approach (Gergen, 1994), using discourse analysis as methodology (Grant et al., 2004). For gathering text, 21 problem-centred interviews (Witzel, 2000) and 13 group discussions (Steyaert and Bouwen, 2004) with altogether 106 participants were carried out in two large retail-organizations. The following analysis showed, that one of the main discourses constructing social relations is, that only one person renders responsible for the quality of the social relation, thus ignoring the feature of the ‘in between’ of the social situation. Here soft skills get constructed as part of a person’s ‘character’ rather than his or her ‘abilities’. This ‘character’ is seen as originating in upbringing and school. When the person enters the organizations (s)he is constructed as ‘finished’, thus the organization hardly gets any agency to train or change the social realities. Consequences of these results for organizations are to closely consider how they stage their training and education regarding ‘soft skills’ or ‘team building’. In a second step discourses from the study which de-focus from the individual and thus offer a more flexible approach for changing realities of social relations within organizations will be offered. Key words: Soft skills,